Co-ops are a way for families to come together in fellowship and gives children an opportunity to learn with others. There are so many positives to being a part of a community this way. The first thing to know about co-ops is they come in many shapes and sizes. Depending on the area you are in, you will have the ability to shop around for a co-op that fits your family's rhythm.

Some things to know about co-ops:

• They are not normally drop off programs and require some sort of parental involvement. Even if that is just watching the exits and cleaning up after.
• Some can offer ala-carte classes while others follow a specific curriculum.
• Co-ops are typically locally run by fellow homeschool families. They are stand-alone organizations.
• There is generally a low cost. Any fees collected are used to help cover the cost of the space being used or supplies that are needed for individual classes
• Co-ops are generally open about beliefs. One of the points of being in a co-op is to come together with like-minded families to fellowship and learn together. There are both secular and religious co-ops. You just have to search them out.
• They are not hybrid schools.

While co-ops are great for a flexible way to get your children to learn with others, there are a few negatives to joining and attending a co-op.

• Once you join a co-op, you are financially committed. Typically, if you find you can't attend anymore, you won't be able to get a refund. This is due to co-ops typically being non-profit. All fee's collected do go to the needs of the co-op.
• You don't really have any control over the curriculum or content of the curriculum being taught.
• Lastly, in order for co-ops to be successful, you really do need to be consistent with attending. This can be hard for families to have this type of rigidity in their schedules.

If you are wanting to try and find a co-op local to you, check out the HSLDA website for co-ops listed by state. If you are on Facebook, check out your states FB pages for co-ops in your state.

Check out my latest eBook about helping families start homeschooling with the end in mind.  It will help provide you with so much information to get started with homeschooling today! See book here!

To Know God and to Make Him Known

Lori

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There is culture shift happening. More and more parents, religious or not, are realizing that they are able to raise AND educate their own children. We have all grown up in the “age of experts” and are slowly starting to realize, that we are actually the experts of our own children.

I'm sure the growth of homeschooling today would just blow the minds of those homeschoolers that came before us. It's an exciting time to start homeschooling!

Lori

To Know God and To Make Him Known

My new eBook is available for purchase for JUST $5! It is a simple, how-to guide on how to get started homeschooling today. How To Start Homeschooling With the End in Mind will help you:

• Learn what homeschooling is and isn't.
• Determine the educational philosophy for your family.
• Learn how to determine the best homeschool curriculum for your children.
• A solid list of resources to further your own education.

5. Overloading the Schedule

When you start homeschooling, it is usually pretty easy to see all the freedom that comes along with that pretty quickly. RESIST the urge to overload your schedule. This can happen in a couple of ways.

First, resist the urge to plan lots of field trips. While on hands learning is especially beneficial, not everything has to be a field trip. This can be especially difficult to avoid though once you are plugged into a local homeschool community. You just need to set a limit for your expectations of what field trips look like for your family.

Tip: 2 field trips a semester. One fun, learning opportunity and one fine arts opportunity. (This is what we do, and it is working wonderfully so far.)

Ok, second, you do not need to homeschool for 5 days a week, 8 hours a day. Even the kids in public school aren’t “doing” school for this long. Because of the sheer number of children to manage, public schools have to have 8-hour days. There is a lot of wasted time going on. 

Most homeschooling is going to be learning how to be a part of the home "business" with drops of curriculum in between. John Taylor Gatto says that it only takes about 50 hours to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic. After that, a child can learn by themselves. Our jobs are not to make our children think, but to create an environment that encourages learning for themselves. If daily schedules get overloaded, our children are not free to pursue their own learning, just ours.

Tip: Create a flexible daily routine that includes breaks, physical activity such as play, and time for interests outside of academics.

4. Not Tailoring the Curriculum to the Child’s Learning Style

Every child really does learn differently, even within the same family. It can be easy to make the mistake of choosing a one-size-fits-all curriculum that doesn’t take into account their child’s individual learning style—whether it’s visual, auditory, kinesthetic, or something else.
 
I have 2 main thoughts here: 

• Beware of picking out a curriculum that fits YOUR learning style. A lot of us can get super distracted by curriculums that we would've loved in school. But that doesn't mean your child will thrive while doing it.
• Don't be afraid to change curriculums if the one you picked isn’t working. You will not set your child back and, especially early on, there really isn’t any virtue in pressing on in this tough situation. If it’s not working, stop and find something else.

Tip: Research different learning styles and choose or adapt a curriculum that suits your child. Check out the HSLDA article that tells you all about children's learning styles and why understanding these are important. Remember, picking a curriculum doesn't have to happen TODAY. Simply reading, writing, and working on math skills is more than enough to carry your child's learning while you search for a curriculum. 

3. Neglecting to Establish Boundaries Between Home and School Life

So many homeschooling families can often struggle with maintaining a clear separation between school time and family time. I really think this is because so much learning can come from just doing life together. Just to try to avoid making every single moment into a learning moment by constantly quizzing them. Your kids are learning. Simply correct incorrect information as you go while avoiding turning living life into a schoolroom type lecture.

Tip: Set up a designated learning space, even if it's just a small corner of a room. Avoid the urge to constantly “test” your children to see if they are learning while doing life together.
Create a schedule for your day that includes a clear balance for school education and regular family time. This isn’t a schedule to live and die by. But just to help you get the feel for how a regular day can go. Click here for an example of a daily schedule designed for elementary age kids.

2. Feeling Isolated and Not Seeking Support

Homeschooling can be lonely, especially for those who don't know any other homeschooling families. It can be hard to see the need for community and support when you don't even know where to find it. This lack of community and support will not make homeschooling impossible at all, it will just make the long hard days feel harder and you to feel more isolated and lonelier. 

Tip: Find community! Join a local or online homeschooling group to connect with other homeschooling families. Whether through social media, forums, or local co-ops. The HSLDA website has a fantastic resource for finding local and state support groups. Click here to head over to that page.

1. Focusing Too Much on Bringing “School” into the Home

 At the end of the day, educating our children is simply a continuation of us parenting them. This is why public schools themselves are not necessarily the bad guys. ( Although, I say that ignoring the conversation about the amount of propaganda and bad morals in state run schools. That is an important conversation for another day.) Schools are simply the tool a lot of parents use to educate their children.

Avoid trying to duplicate “school” within your home. The school and how they do things isn’t the end all be all in education and it simply wasn’t designed to be replicated in the home. You are in charge of designing how to parent, and educate, your child. You are their expert, and you know what it is they need best. Create a learning environment that is tailored to your child so they can thrive and grow!

Tip: Cultivate what education in your home looks like. One way to do this is determine what YOUR education philosophy is and apply it to the way you educate your child. There are many curriculums designed to cultivate help you cultivate your family rhythm. Go over to the curriculum page to start exploring the different learning styles to see what fits best for your family!

My Final Thoughts:

Chances are you are a brand-new homeschooling family and probably don't know very many other families who do homeschool. Try to not let that intimidate you or discourage you. It is so ok to not know what you are doing at first and adjust as you go. As I said before, you are your child's expert, and you are going to know best what they need to be educated well! You are doing a great job!

Lori

To Know God and to Make Him Known

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Tell me what you think of these ideas! I love how some of these activities allow for multiple kids to play together, so they are great for siblings. 

Lori

To Know God and To Make Him Known

Seriously blogging is hard. I'm not a strong writer and I feel like every time I sit down to write something I get caught up in feeling like I should have something better to say.

I'm not polished. 

I clearly haven't cared about grammar since the 7th grade.

I super struggle with feeling embarrassed about my thoughts.

Imposture syndrome is real guys. It's super real and I know I CANNOT be the only one struggling with it.  So, if you are reading this, I really appreciate you and the time you are giving to read these words. 

This is the last week of summer before co-op is in session for the new school year. Samuel is very excited to go back to seeing friends each week. Every time we go somewhere he asks which friend is going to be there. It's super sweet.

This year will be rough. I am tutoring his class. On community days, the class leader is called a tutor. We are still in the littles class, which is actually a perfect fit for us. Sam still needs the flexibility of the little ages and Colson will be with me as well. I am his childcare too! It's fine, we're fine, this year will be fun! 

Back to tutoring. My job is to model what a CC (Classical Conversations) day looks like. I am modeling what it looks like to go over the information, teach the content, and show ideas for what to do. My goal is to show how I would do this in my own home too. What I am hoping, is that as I model going over the content once a week, my confidence will grow to actually do the work here at home each day. 

Last year as so hard, with Colson just being a baby and with Sam learning so many basic social things. I don't even know what is reasonable to expect from this year... We will see and it will be fine :) 

Ok, that's it for this morning! I hope today is beautiful!

Lori

To Know God and To Make Him Known

In Indiana, July 1st marks the start of the NEW SCHOOL YEAR. I don't even know how time went so fast to get us here, but here we are. We will be starting school today. And while I am still working on what curriculum and rhythm looks like, we are getting started with a few things.

One thing that will be different this year, is we will be walking a little bit in step with my sisters-in-law family.  And we don't know exactly what that looks like yet. Also, she's new to homeschooling like me, so we're going to take advantage of learning things together. One thing we are doing together this year is co-op which is going to be so great!

Moving along to the purpose of today's blog!

​Each week I will blog what is coming up in our week, both academically and activities. This is definitely an accountability thing. If I put it out into the internet, my follow though will be better, right?

So, anyways, this year I have actually tried to map out a bit what our day looks like. One thing that has been so hard for me is getting into good routines here at home. It's hard for ME to stay on track. AND it's been hard for me to cut back on some of our tv habits. I will say, I've worked pretty hard on cutting out electronic devices, which I have been fairly successful at. Sams behavior has been all the better for it. Now we just need to adjust how much tv we're actually watching. Like this thing does not need to be on all day.

Ok, this is what we have on deck for activities this week. It's going to be a pretty slow week:

Monday- Start our new routine.
Tuesday- Woods and Books creek play in the morning
Wednesday- Regular homeschool day
Thursday- Holiday! No school.
Friday- Regular homeschool day
Saturday- Regular homeschool day
Sunday- Church

For anything curriculum this week, we are focusing mostly on reading right. Sam is VERY VERY ready to read. So, my goal is to ramp up reading times. Later this week I will post what our daily schedule looks like and give an update on how well I'm following through. Eventually we will be adding in other subjects.

Reading list:
Proverbs- 1 chapter each morning at breakfast
Winnie the Pooh- Finish at least 3 chapters
Bob Books- Officially move past the first 5 books. Sam has struggled with remembering certain key words, such as the word and. It's been a month or so since we last read any of these books. So, I am hoping some of these reading word issues have resolved themselves.

Bible memory:
Deuteronomy. 6:5

Thats it for now friends! Have a lovely week!

Lori

To Know God and To Make Him Known

This is not a post about how to make mom friends. Thats a tough one that I HAVE NOT figured out yet. But this is a post about getting plugged into community. Because that's a must. We are not meant to walk life alone, and fellowship with other likeminded people is a great cup filling thing for our lives. 

You know, the whole socialization thing is a big myth in homeschooling. Honestly, even if you don't get plugged into any type of "community" you can still have highly socialized kids. Unless you are locking your children in the house, you children will be socialized. I do think we all need to reframe our mindsets of how we are interacting in the world.

We can't think of socialization as just about peer-to-peer interaction. While this is important for some social skills, we really don't spend much time in life socializing with direct peers. Some of the people I enjoy talking to the most in life are the older ladies at my church. By definition, they would not be considered in my peer group. So think about where you go and spend the most time. Places like:

• Church
• Work
• Grocery Store
• Doctors Office
• Gas Stations

These are the places socializing happens!

When we socialize while out and about, we teach our children to socialize everywhere they go. We are teaching them kindness, empathy, and how to be in the moment. We are teaching them to think outside of themselves and think about the others around them. Teaching our children to say hello to the shelf worker at the grocery store is teaching them in real time that person isn't just a bad stranger but a human who deserves a little kindness too. These are learning moments that simply have a much harder time happening in the public schools.

Sidenote, not saying stranger danger isn't real. Just saying we shouldn't always be in stranger danger mode. We should be aware of our surroundings but not every stranger is someone we should be afraid of.

    Connecting with other homeschooling families

Connection, connection, connection. 

There really is no one way to plug in as you start homeschooling. While none of things are required, I do highly recommend them:

Co-op

This is a way to learn with others. There are so many positives. Co-ops come in many shapes and sizes. Depending on the area you are in, you will have the ability to shop around for a co-op that fits your family's rhythm.

Some things to know about c-ops:

• They are not normally drop off programs and require some sort of parental involvement. Even if that is just watching the exits and cleaning up after.
• Some can offer a la-carte classes while others follow a specific curriculum.
• Co-ops are typically locally run by fellow homeschool families. They are stand-alone organizations. 
• There is generally a low cost. Usually, to help cover the cost of using the space being used or supplies that are needed for individual classes
• Co-ops are generally open about beliefs. One of the points of co-ops is to bring together like-minded families to fellowship and learn together. 
• They are not hybrid schools. 

Convention

Got to a convention. This is a fantastic way to see a large assortment of curriculums and resources at one time. 

While convention is fantastic for this it is also overwhelming at the exact same time because there are so many options. My suggestion would be to attend convention with the goal of just learning and NOT purchasing anything. Chances are all those great convention sales will also be offered at other times of the year. Do not let fomo get the best of you. 

The thing with conventions is they offer chances to go to workshops that will teach you different aspects of homeschooling.

Groups

-Moms Clubs
-Nature Clubs
-Library Activities
-Forest Schools
-Start your own group

 Find community! Join a local co-op, nature group, moms club. There really are so many different options. We need connection, somehow, somewhere.

    Utilizing online forums and social media communities

Social media is a mixed bag. While it is great for seeing what other moms are doing, it can be hard to withstand the peer pressure of it all. Social media can make us feel like we aren’t doing enough or doing the right things. 

Facebook

Facebook groups can offer a lot of support. One great thing about FB groups is that you can find a group that is catered specifically to the way you want to homeschool. Want a classical education group? There’s 10 for that. Want one that is all about secular homeschool? There are groups for you. Want a group that helps find good Christian curriculums and resources? There are a lot of groups for your as well.

Forums

Here’s the plug for my group!

Join me over at Journey2Homeschool community! This is your place to find like-minded parents trying to figure out homeschooling too. Forums are great because they are out of the social media space and tend to mimic real life more. There aren't a bunch of third-party rules we have to follow and stuff like that. We decide what kind of group we want.

Support Groups

HSLDA offers a page that lists the different support groups by state. This is a fantastic starting point for you to actually find local groups. Especially if you are NOT on Facebook. Click here to go straight to their page!

Ok, that was a lot to absorb. Becoming a part of community is hard but important for us all! 

Until next time friends!

Lori

​To Know God and To Make Him Known

I think 20-30 years ago, this question was not on any parents' radar. What does worldview matter? The world did not seem so topsy-turvey and it felt like everyone was on the same page, more or less, about reality.

It does not seem that way today.

One of the things that has happened is the worldview of our society has shifted. What we thought was not important before actually was. 

What is a worldview? A worldview is a philosophy that guides and informs our decisions and judgements in life. Depending on who you ask, there are many worldviews. 

What are these different worldviews? Here is a very quick, overview of 5 of them:

Naturalism- This is the view that there are only natural laws and forces. There is nothing supernatural.

Pantheism- This is the view that the world and universe around us IS god. All of reality is god. It is all supernatural.

Theism- This is the belief that the world exists because of one god being. You find the manifestation of the worldview in the different world religions. Each religion has its own set of rules and constructs on reality and who god is. (Biblical worldview falls in this category. I have placed little g's within the definitions due to my statements also encompassing the gods of other religions.)

Post-Modernism- This view believes there are multiple truths, everyone can see reality their own way. We can create reality into what we want it to be because each of us holds our own truth. The only absolute truth is that there are no absolute truths. (This is the worldview that runs rampant through our society today. There are statistics coming out showing it affects everyone, even Christians who proclaim to hold a biblical worldview.)

Modernism- This one could be called humanism. It sees the world in a scientific, empirical way. The truth of reality can only be seen in the physical world around us, in humans themselves, in the data that we create. (This is the worldview that got us to post-modernism.)

    Incorporating worldview education into curriculum

Worldviews are going to be built into the curriculum that you are using. This is why children are coming out of the public-school systems with a post-modern worldview. They are being taught there isn’t just one truth, we all hold our truth. 

As you look into the different companies, check out the belief statements of the companies. They will tell you what they believe in, where they stand, and what they hope the student will believe by the end of schooling. 

On my website, as you are searching through the different curriculums, I have labeled which curriculums are secular to help make some parents searching a little easier.


    Nurturing critical thinking and open-mindedness

Now one thing that is very important, we can’t teach kids in a bubble. They must know what the different beliefs are so that they can make informed choices as adults and converse with others who think differently than them well. It is simply not enough to tell children that others just think different than us and that's ok. Thats post-modern thought.

While picking a well-rounded curriculum is important (one that teaches an appropriate worldview) remember it is just a tool. It is also up to us parents to ensure our children are thinking through tough subjects and thoughts critically and well. Lead by example, allow them to observe and engage them in hard conversations that give them a chance to think critically and apply their developing worldview.

If you found any of this helpful, let me know!

Lori

To Know God and To Make Him Known

When you are picking out and deciding what how to educate your children, you need to start with the end in mind. And seriously guys, this woks with sending your public-school kids as well. 

1. What worldview do you want your children to have?

2. What career/path will your children be going down?

3. What role do electronics play in your home?

The answers to the questions are what illuminate the path you are walking. They don't just get you out the door. When you KNOW the end, it's just a little easier to pick a curriculum, and style of learning, to get you guys started.

• Now, starting with the end in mind won't tell you if it works for your child's personality.

• Or if it will fit into your family's rhythm TWO seasons from now.

• Or if you will even LIKE the curriculum once you've added 3 more children.

Life changes and there IS an ebb and flow. BUT, by picking your end point now, you give yourself a point to look towards. This will help you and your family walk a little bit of a straighter line. 

Come to the How to Start Homeschooling 101 Workshop to get more help on starting to homeschool. We will:

• take an in-depth look in how to find your states homeschool laws,
• where to find local support for YOU, 
• we will walk through answering those questions from above
• we will get into the different styles of learning
• lastly there will be discussion time.

The workshop is only $20, but the confidence and encouragement you will receive can't really be measured in price. So seriously sign up today! Click here to register!

Lori
To Know God and to Make Him Known