12 Tips for New Homeschoolers

After my first year of homeschooling, I am more confident and feel equipped enough to do a better job in our second year. I learnt what worked and what didn’t work for our kids and myself. Here are 12 tips I wished I knew before I starting my homeschooling journey.

For example, for my kids I learnt they needed a reliable schedule. They needed me to be consistent in setting up routines for them and what they needed to do during the day. If I didn’t discipline myself and forget things, our days would be messed up. It was critical for me to discipline myself day in and day out. For me, I learnt how to communicate with my kids based on my expectations and daily schedules.

I am sharing with you what I did in our first year as tips for your starting points.

There is nothing right or wrong about how you start your homeschooling. It depends on how much research you have done and how much you know about homeschooling.

If you are starting out like me, knowing nothing about homeschooling, not confident about yourself, and don’t know where to start, I hope these tips are useful for you. 

This post may contain affiliate links and I may earn a small commission when you click on the links at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Trust your gut and do it:

If you don’t know where to start, just start!

If you don’t know if homeschooling is good for your kids, trust your mother instinct.

I am glad I stepped into homeschooling with fear. I took action without doubt. I jumped with both fear without knowing what I was doing.

I followed my mother’s instinct without any research. I gave myself 2 months of testing by teaching my son how to read and do level 2 math.

After 2 months, his reading improved. He was more confident with his reading and wasn’t afraid of reading on his own. The moment he picked the book and read it on his own in the morning while he was waiting for his breakfast lit up my heart. Deep down I knew I did something right.

At this point, the wheel was slowly spinning, I just kept going. The longer I went, the more the wheel would spin. It was true! Our days are getting easier and easier as the days have gone by.

I am more confident than I was 12 months ago. I knew more than I was back in June 2020. My second homeschooling year has a plan and ready for us to start anytime.

If I didn’t start back in June 2020, I wouldn’t be here.

If you want to try and your heart is calling you for homeschooling, just try! If you don’t try you won’t ever know. 

Use the first year as a test:

How did I try? I used the first year as a test for me. We always have other options like public schools or private schools to fall back to.

It helps you put less pressure on yourself and avoid any unreasonable expectations for both children and you.

It will never be perfect. If we don’t test, we don’t know.

This mentality may not work for other parents. But it worked for me, especially on saving tons of money on buying homeschooling decorations and materials.

I wanted to test my capability and what worked and didn’t work in homeschooling for our kids.

As many other things we do in life, it is all about learning at first.

I didn’t jump in with buying a lot of curriculums and go all out with decorations. I focused on our schedule and habits first.

I learnt how to teach math and reading first. During this process, I learnt about myself how impatient I was and how many unreasonable assumptions I had for little kids.

I learnt about my son’s and daughter’s resistance and not getting too personal about it but being consistent and focusing on daily targets and goals.

In the meantime, I researched for curriculums that I think I liked to teach and fit the best for my kids’ interest.

What do you want to test in the first year? Commit to one year at the time! 

Set small goals for collecting wins:

I don’t have a morning basket like many other homeschoolers.

I didn’t teach or use textbooks for science in our first year. Instead, I used natural walks and science kits.

I didn’t add a full curriculum in the first year but focused on two main subjects: Math and Language art.

My reason was simple. History, biology, geography, and science kids can learn any time after they are good with basis like math, reading and writing. They can learn those subjects on their own when they have a solid foundation for math and language art under their belts.

I didn’t want to do it all but chose a couple important things to focus on our first year.

I didn’t feel overwhelmed and neither did my kids.

At the end of our first year, I collected a couple big wins which gave me confidence in myself and homeschooling. First, my son is reading chapter books and working on his division now. My daughter is reading and knows her number up to 100.

For growing personal interests, my son asked for a guitar for his birthday instead of a new set of Legos. His love for music is growing through practicing his piano lessons daily. My daughter loves her library trips and picks out her own books.

For discipline, my son now can sit 45 minutes to 1 hour straight without distraction and able to get all his work done in one sitting. It is a blessing to see him growing in this area. Same thing for my daughter, she can sit down and read a book independently for 20 minutes without asking me to sit with her.

Yesterday was the first time I was able to pack up-stairs while they were downstairs working on their independent time without fighting and playing with each other. It was a huge win for the three of us.

Small wins boost my confidence and give me reasons to believe that everything is possible.

Maybe it would do the same for you.

Don’t have to buy the whole curriculum:

What do I mean about the whole curriculum? The curriculum includes math, reading, science, and writing in one.

Do you want to spend $600 and find out in the middle of your school year that it doesn’t work for your kids?

I have to say it is convenient. I have a lot of friends who did that. They are happy because of less preparation on their parts.

In addition, I also learnt that not all curriculums work for all. Many moms on YouTube are talking about spending money on curriculums and programs that didn’t work for them and they have to change in the middle of the year.

For my daughter, instead of spending $600 on Prekindergarten curriculum like my friends did, I bought 5 different workbooks from Evan Moor on Amazon and one reading book to teach her to read.

I bought a lot of workbooks for my son from different companies. And through this process, I learnt which workbooks were good and what not to buy again. 

At least for the first 4 months I didn’t spend money on any curriculum.

Look for curriculums that have A la carte options

I like to test different teaching techniques and also like to do a lot of research on what I am spending my money on.

The only one curriculum I bought in the first year was the Go Math curriculum because that was what my son learnt at his school and I decided to not change it. I bought it from Amazon for $30.

After 4 months of homeschooling, I bought the All About Reading curriculum for reading, Spelling You See for spelling, IEW primary writing language art for writing.

It may be more expensive spending this way, but at least if the program doesn’t work, you only waste $150 or less, depending on the programs.

With these 3 different companies and after 3 months using them, I would know which program we like. For example, I like Spelling You See but I may not use it again.

Math is another example. Now I know for sure that I am looking for one program that not only meets the grade requirements but also provides different workbooks if we want more practice or even go higher. It was my challenge to go online and search for more workbooks and worksheets that helped my son to practice on the same concept that he was learning from Go Math.

I am changing to Singapore Math next year because it does provide a couple workbooks and intensive practices and even words challenge workbooks. I bought a couple workbooks and tested them during summertime before jumping in buying the whole math curriculum from them. 

Use workbooks at the beginning:

What I like about workbooks are simple, cover most of the topics required for each grade, and are cheaper.

Second, I am sure somewhere in your home you have a couple workbooks lying around. Use them! Don’t waste it until you know what to teach!

Use workbooks you have in your home as a starting point!

using workbooks for months, I learnt what to teach and what requirements are for each grade. I learnt what was important and what I could skip or teach later.

After months of using workbooks combined with my research, I knew what I wanted to focus on next school year, which curriculum that may work for us, what subject to add on, how to teach something that I don’t know.

Outsource instead of co-op:

A lot of homeschool moms say good things about co-op programs.

However, I am glad that I didn’t join any co-op at the beginning. I didn’t join them not because it wasn’t cheap, but because I wasn’t sure what I wanted for my kids. One thing I wanted to avoid was double teaching. I wanted to use co-op for substituted teaching instead of repeating subjects that I can teach at home.

I was looking for science, Art, and Stem programs.

After doing tons of research on co-op programs available in our area, I decided not to do co-op but to continue outsourcing for the next school year.

I have been using Outschool online to outsource speech, electronic, singing, Lego, and chess classes during the lockdown.

For this coming school year, since most businesses are opening back to normal, I want to go back to in person classes. I planned Thursday would be our Outschool Thursday.

On Thursday, my son will take Acting class in person at Compass Homeschool Classes where he will work on memorization, listening, character development, emotional expression, observation/concentration while learning to portray the original character.

Then we are off to swimming class or martial art class for life survival skills.

You can check out the list of vendors that I have been using over the years for my children. Click here to see the list!

I am not saying to co-op for you. Co-op may work for you based on what you are looking for. Check your area and I am sure you can find something that works for your family.

I also found the Compass Class which I definitely put my kids in coming new school year. It is close to other traditional co-op programs I have found. But you have choices and selections for in-person classes in core, elective, and enrichment topics. They cover from Pre-K to 12.

Maybe before searching, you may want to create a checklist of what you are looking for. This saved me time, and I am sure it would save yours. 

Online classes for multiple kids:

If you have young kids in PreK and elementary like I do, online classes during the day in between are lifesavers.

My daughter is 4 years old and likes to run back and forth asking questions. She likes me to hold her while I am teaching my son. It was not easy when my son couldn’t focus and was easily distracted. My son needs a lot of instruction, guidance, and attention. Sometimes, it took me hours with him just to repeat the process over and over again.

I have been registering my daughter for PreK online classes from 9AM to 9:30AM everyday. While she was in her class, I was working with my son.

During holidays and family visits, I am busy with getting things ready. Letting them attend online classes at the same time gives me a break to get things done.

For example, for the month of June, I was busy getting the new school year ready before we left for our summer trip. My son took the whole month on electronic and business classes. He learnt new things and had a great break from mommy teaching while I was working. 

Reading aloud:

I think reading is not new to moms because I assume, we are all reading to our kids at bedtime.

However, I can’t repeat enough how important reading aloud is, especially to homeschoolers. Reading aloud builds their reading, listening, comprehension, and vocabulary skills.

Reading aloud is family bonding time. Through reading aloud, I learnt more about my kids’ interests and followed their leads.

Two weeks ago, I read I Survived The Sinking of the Titanic, 1912. Everyday, they reminded me to read while they had their snacks. They also pulled their chairs closer to me while I was reading.

Before we finished the book, I went to the library and borrowed 3 non-fiction books about the Titanic. One day after finishing the book, I pulled out those 3 non-fiction books during their snack time. We researched and learnt about Titanic for almost 2 hours.

Reading aloud also changes my kids’ car drive habits. Instead of turning on their learning videos, I let them listen to audiobooks instead. And they are quiet and listen.

If you don’t know where to start with homeschooling, dive in the reading aloud pool with me 100%. Reading during breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack or bedtime. Or you can do it all!

My kids have 20 minutes of independent reading time, 15 minutes reading to mommy, and 20 minutes mommy reading.

Use library:

 Use your library! I am grateful for the library. I not only use the library to borrow books but also to teach my kids independently working with librarians to look for what they want, communicating with others, self-control in public places, respecting people around and the environment they are in.

My daughter loves her trip to the library. Even returning books becomes a fun trip for them as well. They have fun taking turns putting books through the runner. 

Start on time:

The beautiful thing about homeschooling is flexibility. However, start-on-time gives my kids a sensibility of when to play and when to work. Same as they are going to school or adults are going to work. Everyone starts on time. Same thing for homeschooling!

Starting on time leads to my next and last tip, the critical one.

Consistency and discipline:

This is for us as homeschooling parents. In order to make this work, we have to discipline ourselves to keep things consistently for our kids. To build a good routine and habit, we need to be consistent and have self-discipline.

One course I wish to have is Consistency classes for parents. I wished I learnt how important consistency was in parenting.

The only one reason why homeschool works for our family is me being consistent. Looking back what worked and didn’t work, the one that worked was because I was consistent, kept grinding day in day out over and over again. The one that didn’t work was because I didn’t have the structures, follow my words, repeat the process on a daily basis, or enforce enough.

How to be consistent?

1. Start on time everyday
2. Start class at the same time everyday
3. Practice all kind of work at the same time for 15 to 30 minutes everyday like music, martial art, or art
4. Keep doing the same things over and over everyday
5. Do what you say, say what you mean
6. Follow through with your words and actions
7. Showing up for you kids even you are not feeling like to

What kids learn from you being consistent?

1. They know you mean what you say you are going to do
2. They learn to take responsibility on their parts
3. They learn the consequences
4. They feel safer when they know what to expect from others and themselves
5. Repeating the process everyday becomes easier for them
6. They understand how important of repetition is through results of their performances and works

Again, no pressure of right and wrong. This list works for my kids and our family, doesn’t mean it will work for your kids and family. Use this as a preference.

Stop looking further and use what you have! Just get started and things will come to you as you go. Speaking from my own experiences!

Trust your instinct and be consistent! 

Related Posts: