The time has come when you should bring your children to school, and you have courageously decided not to do so and become first-time homeschoolers parents.
I remember it, the fears, the doubts, the insecurity, the nerves, the uncertainty …
Despite having informed me and believing that this was the best possible alternative at that time for the education of my daughters, the questions as first-time homeschoolers parents kept going through my head: What if it does not work? I can do it? Am I enough? And if they do not obey me? What if I do not know what or how to continue? What if they can not certify their studies? What if what we do is not enough? And if they fall behind? What if I’m harming them instead of helping them?
If my experience on this path is useful, I want to share some tips for first-time homeschoolers parents that were passed on from other homeschoolers, I hope you can be helped in this first “official” year of education without school.
Tips for first-time homeschoolers parents
JUST RELAX!
Breathe. Go slow. They make us believe that learning is a career, but it is not like that. It is something completely individual. Do not try to have an extensive curriculum and every day full of activities and subjects.
Especially if you have started homeschooling after having tried the traditional school system, you need time to adapt to a new lifestyle. Give yourself time and give your children time for free play, exploration and especially mental un-schooling.
Take it easy.
DO NOT WASTE MONEY!
Do not compare yourself with schools, nor try to copy what is done in schools. Take into account that many of the things that happen within the school system have little to do with real learning, but are made for the management and administration of students, to facilitate the work of teachers or to justify budgets and expenses.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS THE RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR CHILDREN
Sometimes we can get caught up in what we “should” do, in what we “have” to do, we initiate a struggle for power and control, we forget our relationship, and we forget that within that “student” there is a person to whom we are teaching more with our attitude and our example than with books and exercises.
So enjoy your children, be present and available to them, have conversations, go for a walk, do things together, learn together, share experiences. That the academic is not a priority over their relationship. Strengthen your ties and keep the family together.
