Our Experience As Homeschool Newbies

When weighing out the pros and cons about choosing this new lifestyle, the idea of homeschooling our kids was a big con. When schools shut down at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, our son was in kindergarten and our daughter was in preschool. Our son finished kindergarten virtually and our daughter's preschool attempted something similar but as you can imagine, engaging preschoolers via a screen is quite the task so this only lasted for a few weeks. On the following school year, we chose to keep the kids home because I worked part time from home and had the ability to do so. The rationale being that by doing so, we'd be helping in keeping the classroom sizes smaller and thus safer for the kids whose parents had no other choice. Our son did first grade virtually and I homeschooled our daughter, which didn't involve too much as she was still a preschooler. Being in the background during our son's virtual year, helped us gain a higher respect for teachers and all the work they do. They truly don't get paid enough. This experience also gave us a small taste of what homeschool life could potentially look like. It demystified it and made it look not as taunting as we imagined it to be. However, we were also very happy to have them return to school on the following year.

Fast forward to the point when we are ready to put our house up for sale... and discussing the possibility of traveling around the US in an RV. The only way to make that work as we envisioned, was by homeschooling the kids. We knew it would be a challenge and a big adjustment for all but we had the feeling it would be worth it considering all they would also learn while on the road. While the thought of homeschooling was overwhelming to us, our experience with the kids at the height of COVID made us much more open to considering this. But we also knew our strengths and weaknesses and since neither Paul nor I had a background on education or the patience to fully do this on our own, we set out to research online homeschool programs to see if we could find one that would be a good fit for both of our kids.

We started off by reaching out to friends that had previous experience with homeschooling and then took our search online to find what was available to us. As I usually do when looking up options for any service, I created an excel sheet so I could easily compare all programs at a glance. Not all programs have good websites though, and even those with decent ones, don't provide all the information you need on them. With this in mind, I set up interviews with representatives of each of the programs that seemed interesting to us. This allowed for me to ask them all the questions I had in mind (which were many), and address all of my concerns (which were also quite a few lol).

Our goal was to get a program that worked well for both our 1st and 3rd grader. Some of our parameters were:

- Online program

- Teacher support - grading, lesson support, etc.

- Flexible timeline (flexible start and end date)

- Self-paced

- Accredited program

- Workbooks in addition to online exercises

- Option for live sessions

- A program that required approx 2-3hrs a day

While the state of Florida offered a virtual program, we soon realized it wouldn't be a good fit for us as it had a very rigid format that wouldn't allow the flexibility we were hoping for. We wanted to be able to take time off when we wanted to and occasionally do school on the weekends so we could go on adventures during the week (less crowds). Flexibility was important. The other programs we considered were K-12 Private Academy, Bridgeway Academy, Calvert Academy, Laurel Springs School, International Virtual Learning Academy, Acellus Academy, and Coastal Connections Academy. Following all the interviews, Paul and I reviewed and compared all the options... looked at all pros and cons for each, and came up with our top three choices, per our parameters: K-12, Laurel Springs School, and Bridgeway Academy. I then spoke to representatives of each of these for a second time to further clarify/confirm how the program worked.

Our homeschool nook

Being first-time homeschoolers, we felt the pressure of not screwing this up and making the best choice for our kids. There were so many 'what if's' that circled our minds. What if they hate it? What if we hate it? What if it's too much? What if the kids don't learn at all? What if they fall behind? In the end, we had to set those worries aside and follow our gut. We ended up choosing Laurel Springs School. It's pricey, but we liked the flexibility it offered along with the teacher support, plus the fact that both grade levels would be provided workbooks and iReady assignments (which we liked the idea of the kids continuing since eventually we would return to Florida).

Let me tell you, the first month was tough. Who am I kidding, it was tough throughout the entire year but, the first month I wanted to quit. Turns out that while our kids were model students at school, they had a hard time seeing me as the teacher and felt it was ok to whine and complain about their assignments. A lot. While the lessons are online, I am still the one that guides them along (more so with our 7 yo than our 9 yo), and tells them what to do each day. By week 4 we did find our flow and while some days were harder than others, it became manageable. During the first half of the school year, we started school at 8:30a and were usually done around 11a. Our schedule varied a bit depending on how the kids were feeling. On some days we took playtime breaks, on others we powered through. Before starting the second half, I asked the kids their input about how school was going and if they had any suggestions. They asked to start school at 9a so they could play a little in the morning which we implemented. Giving them ownership of our schedule helps in keeping them accountable.

With the program we chose, the kids have to complete 5 subjects: English, Math, Social Studies, Science, and Health and Wellness. We start our mornings with English since this is the subject our kids find the most challenging. We follow with math, which we find is the second most demanding subject, and end with the subjects they enjoy the most, Social Studies and Science. For Health and Wellness they usually only need to read a few lessons once a week in addition to making sure we get some physical activity in on each day so this subject is the least demanding. Ideally, we'd spend half hour on each subject but English sometimes requires a bit more - to complete written assignments. The best part of this all is that once we are done with school for the day, the only homework they have is reading for 30 mins. This is great as it's helping create a love for books and reading.

For this new school year, we considered looking into other homeschool programs but ended up signing up again with Laurel Springs. The kids know what to expect with this program, they know how to navigate it, and they are learning. We figured that starting a new program would make things a lot more challenging. But maybe we will do this if we continue next year. If you have any recommendations, send me a message to let me know!