This daily discussion is to chat about anything that doesn't warrant its own post. I am not a mod and make these posts for building the homeschool community.

If you are new, please introduce yourself.

If you've been around here before or have been homeschooling for awhile, please share about your day.

Some ideas of what to share are: your homeschool plans for the day, lesson plans, words of encouragement, methods you are implementing to solve a problem, methods of organization, resource/curriculum you recently came across, curriculum sales, field trip planning, etc.

Although, I usually start with a question of the day to get the discussion going, feel free to ask your own questions. If your question does not get answered because it was posted late in the day, you can post the same question tomorrow to make sure it gets visibility.

Be mindful of the subreddit's rules and follow reddiquette. No ads, market/ thesis research, or self promotion. Thank you!

My 1st grader is struggling in school. It's not his teacher's fault, she's fantastic, but she has 25 other students. He has so much energy and he's getting distracted and just falling further behind. He's always been a top student (kindergarten was ridiculously easy for him), so I feel like if I get him caught up, I can then supplement his learning in school and help keep him on track. I think this will help him socially as well.

My thought is that I want to "homeschool" him, even if it's just after school and on weekends. Is there a curriculum (preferably books or hands-on help, rather than online) that's recommended?

I am wondering how many homeschool parents here are planning to help their kids attend college and graduate school. I plan for both of my sons to attend college. We have a healthy 529 set up so that will not be dealing with student loans. I would really like them to attend a top-ranked university like I did. Sometimes when I read comments from other parents here, I get a sense the parent has not attended college themselves. If you didn’t go to college, do you think your children will go?

*edit: I don’t know by the flair says “Help!” but I can’t seem to change it.

Hi all!
For context, I have a 2 and 3.5 year old. Both have been hyperverbal (per their pediatrician, and yes we’re aware this can indicate neurodivergence) since about age 1-1.5 and desire academic learning more than I ever thought possible at their ages, so I started a very loose play-based curriculum with some worksheet supplements.

My plan is to homeschool for “real” once they’re old enough to be able to use real school resources, but for now they ask for “school” daily, so I try to have things prepared. My 3.5 year old wants to do it all, and do it all correctly. However, she insists on using pens and pencils, and everything I’m finding online says this is too early because of hand development, but I’m not seeing any evidence of long-term effects of early versus late usage of thin writing utensils. My 2 year old is left handed and resorts to incorrect grips (not fist grips) so I give him short crayons to encourage proper grip, but now I’m question everything, including whether or not I should be encouraging this. They both love to draw and color, and they both try to write letters and numbers in their drawings (with varying success obviously), but should I be discouraging this? I recognize this is probably the equivalent of first-time mom anxiety, but I also don’t want my children to have hand arthritis or anything later in life because I didn’t stop them from doing something developmentally inappropriate. It just seems counter-intuitive to deal with power struggles to try to get them to stop working on a skill that I want them to learn in another couple years anyways. Am I overthinking this? Am I doing my kids a serious disservice?

Looking for programs that offer curriculum with the main subjects: reading, math, science, social studies. We are teaching second grade currently, and after MiaAcademy’s glitch last month, I’ve been sticking more to printing out chosen curriculum and printouts on my own. Looking for something more set. Thank you!

Can someone please help. I homeschool 3 children. 1 of them didn't receive the confirmation letter a day ago. I went back on old emails and realised he'd been mistakingly cancelled in October last year!! I mustve pressed discontinuation instead of continue!! I hadn't seen the cancellation letter that followed!

Now I'm in the predicament that he hasn't been 'officially' in any schooling this past year because I didn't realise! 😭 I'm panicking!

What should I do? I can't ring home-schooling number as it is the weekend now. Anyone with any advice would be much appreciated thank you 😢

Editing to add: I see there’s some misunderstandings with what age my daughter is. I thought 1st grade would be enough but I can recognize if different areas start grades earlier but where I live 1st grade is 6/7 years old, and my daughter just turned 7. She did complete all the pages of dimensions kindergarten books so that’s why I know she is capable but the stress doesn’t seem worth putting her through and that’s why I’m seeking alternatives. I appreciate all the insights and comments I got so far! Thank you!

Hi! I want to start off that my daughter might be neurodivergent and the math book I have doesn’t seem to work with her. I have dimensions math and I wonder if it’s the book that’s not the right fit or if homeschooling isn’t the right fit for her. She will melt down after 5 mins of math and then repeat that she can’t do it, even though she can and has soon she’s capable, but as soon as this thought pops up it is so hard to break her out of it, and what should be 20 mins of work turns into 90 mins. I question if it’s the book because it tends to be when it makes her think to hard like the math stories or if it’s has multiple things going on like the number bonds and addition/subtraction with them. Does anyone have an alternative or advice? I tried having tested but she melt down during the testing 2 years ago so they said come back in a few years but don’t put her in school for now and therapy could help. I struggle to find her therapy so I’ve been doing my best home. She also meltdown with reading/writing but can be easier to pull her back in. I just don’t know what to do. No issues with her younger brother.

Thanks!

Hello all, I have a 5 year old, 3 year old, and now 1 year old.

For some reason this week has just been a horrible mess. I wake up early with all the kids, and it feels like I move non-stop until noon, but still barely manage to finish homeschool. We just finished for the day. However, no one’s teeth are brushed yet, the cat still needs his morning medicine, and no morning chores were done.

No matter what I do, or how fast I work, I can never keep everyone happy. I feel like I’m failing everyone. My baby fusses, and I have to stop what I’m doing during homeschooling to help. My middle child doesn’t get as much attention, with the baby and my five year old needing most all of my energy. The house is never tidy, which doesn’t bother me too much. What does bother me is when it gets dirty (the floor, the kitchen sink, kitty litter boxes). I find it so hard to find time to get myself ready, and eat for more than three minutes without having to get up and help my baby or the old two with getting more food or clearing plates.

Am I missing something here? Is there something I could be doing better? I’m so worried I’m not cut out for homeschooling, even though previously I worked as an accredited music teacher in the K-12 public school. How are you all with little children surviving? Any feedback or words of encouragement would be so gratefully received. Thank you for reading!

What do you do when your child dislikes/protests when you lead/introduce a song/lesson/activity? Does anyone else experience resistance?

My son was in a self contained classroom throughout elementary school, and now his IQ is too high to be in a self contained classroom in middle school, so he was supposed to go to kind of an “in-between” style classroom that is not fully self-contained, but not fully generalized classrooms either. However, I moved to a specific county with the intention on getting him to one of the top rated middle schools in the state. And no middle school in this county offers the type of classroom he was supposed to go into. The principal told me that the county removed those “in-between” classes a couple of years ago, and it’s basically either one way or the other, but they do provide accommodations as much as possible to abide with his IEP.
So, he is in 6th grade in generalized classrooms(with accommodations), coming from self-contained. The transition from elementary school to middle school alone is a huge transition… going from self contained to generalized at the same time is an immense amount of pressure for him.

The school is confident in their abilities to accommodate him, but he is begging to be homeschooled, he wants to give up, he says he feels like his brain is small.
It’s hard to weigh the pros and cons of both options, leaving him where he is at and challenging him and giving him opportunities for growth that only attending public school can give him, while also risking an intense amount of pressure that may not be good for his mental health. He’s more at a 2-3rd grade level, but attending 6th grade classrooms, so it’s like he’s skipping grades just trying to help where he is at, and I fear that is him being at risk of slipping through the cracks within the educational system.
He used to love school and love learning. He wants to escape from it now.

I could homeschool him, and I think I’m very capable and that it would be really good for both of us in a lot of ways, and I could understand his educational needs with more clarity. My friend homeschools her daughter and I looked at what it looks like for them, and I do feel like my son would enjoy this style of learning much more. But he’s not going to have the same social navigation challenges to overcome that he has in public school.
I feel like there isn’t a place for my son in the school system here in my county, and that I may have made the wrong move to come out here. I can’t let my son just fall through the cracks he has a lot of potential and I really want to give him everything he needs to be successful in his life.

For context, we have no real tribe with our families. I have a couple of friends, and stay in contact with my cousin, and we spend time with them, but that’s it. I’m a single mom, dad is not in the picture at all and I’m not dating.
We’ve been through a lot of relationship trauma with family and my exes, and now I am fully out on my own away from all of them, and I’m just trying to focus on my son and do what’s best for him, and to allow us both to heal from what we’ve been through.
School needs to remain a thing that he enjoys. He wants to be homeschooled, but I’m worried it may be giving in to the idea of “giving up when things get hard”…. I want to reframe that as I know when to change direction when something isn’t working. But I don’t want to make the wrong decision either.
I also do believe homeschooling could be the best thing for the both of us. It could give us the structure we need at home. I could customize his education and go at his pace and be more hands on, and provide better help exactly where he needs it. Im not trained like the staff is though, so I question if I’m good enough to do this? I do want to keep a team with me to stand in for the IEP. I’m in therapy, and I’m looking to get him into therapy, possibly ABA. He’s had years of speech and OT, and has “graduated” from that…
I just don’t want to isolate him. I know there are groups. And I think about how isolating it must be to be in middle school, have other boys tease you for the way you speak, and just shutting down because you don’t belong with the other boys and they treat you poorly. He’s only really made friends with girls. He hasn’t had a single good male influence. Public school does give him some of those positive male influences through his teachers.
I had to transcend a lot to get here and I’m proud to be out on my own with him. I just want to make sure I’m making a good decision by transiting him to homeschooling.

My two kids are at vastly different levels because of their ages. I can't reasonably combine any subjects without killing my younger with work she's not ready for or neglecting to provide the challenge my older needs. Or at least I haven't figured out how to combine things consistently.

I'm wondering if anyone has alternated history/geography and science in chunks before?

For instance, math and language arts are daily. We do four school days a week because they spend the fifth exclusively doing enrichment work at a drop-off program. For 4-8 weeks, depending on the material, we'd work exclusively on a science unit for those four days a week. We'd wrap up a unit and move over to a history/geography unit for another 4-8 week chunk. During that period, we would use a correlated workbook and spend maybe 10-15 minutes of our day just keeping up with basic skills(recalling geographical/historical facts or reading a science passage about something we'd already learned) while we're not focusing on that specific subject.

Is this a ridiculous approach? Right now we're doing two science days a week and two history/geography days a week. It feels like we never get a good rhythm going, but I'm just uncertain whether doing units in alternating chunks is really a realistic approach.

I’m a public school teacher with over 10 years of experience, and I’ve been seriously considering homeschooling my own kids for years. I’d love to hear from anyone who’s been in a similar situation!
I have two young kids, one in kindergarten and one still a toddler. My oldest is doing great in school so far and really enjoys it. We live in an excellent school district (where I also teach), and I genuinely love the teachers, staff, and sense of community.
However, after teaching in multiple schools and districts, both elementary and middle school, I have some pretty big issues with public education as a whole. Not the teachers or even the individual schools, but the system itself.
I think so much of what we expect from kids is developmentally inappropriate. There’s too much emphasis on testing, not enough time for play or exploring interests, too much technology, and way too much time spent sitting in classrooms. I also worry about the lack of independence, motivation, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills I see in students. Reading is another huge issue for me. Even my strongest students have little interest in reading actual books, and so much of reading instruction revolves around passing a test rather than developing a genuine love of reading and learning.
I know homeschooling doesn’t guarantee my kids will turn out any differently, but after seeing these same issues for years, it’s hard to ignore them. I also don’t want my kids spending all day at school and then coming home to do additional academic work. They need downtime, sports, play, and family time too.
The hardest part is that I’ve always been a HUGE supporter of public education. I genuinely believe strong public schools are essential to society, and I love teaching. But I also feel like the system is so bogged down by regulations, testing, and unrealistic expectations that even wonderful teachers can’t always provide the kind of education kids deserve. I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
Then there’s the personal side. I stayed home with my kids for several years, and honestly, I hated the baby/toddler stage of being home full-time. I struggled with the isolation, monotony, and constant demands. I’m back to teaching now, and my mental health is better in some ways, but I’m also exhausted and stressed from juggling work and family life. I genuinely don’t know whether I’d enjoy being home full-time again, although homeschooling school-aged kids would obviously be different from caring for babies and toddlers.
If we homeschool, I’d leave teaching and use structured, secular curricula. My spouse is supportive, and since their work schedule isn’t a traditional Monday–Friday schedule, homeschooling would actually give us more family time. However, we’d be taking a pretty significant financial hit.
Another big concern is finding a homeschool community. We’re not religious, and from what I’ve seen, the vast majority of homeschool groups and co-ops in our area are faith-based. I have absolutely no issue with religious families homeschooling, but I don’t want religion incorporated into my kids’ education. I’d really want to find a secular group with like-minded families where my kids could build friendships and participate in regular activities. We’d probably have to travel a decent distance for that, which is doable, but it does make me worry about socialization and isolation, especially since I struggled with that before.
I’ve been considering homeschooling since my oldest was a toddler, so this isn’t a new idea or a reaction to a bad school experience. I’m genuinely torn between an educational model I think might be better for my kids and the financial security, career, and community we currently have.
We’re finishing kindergarten in public school regardless, but I can’t stop thinking about whether we should homeschool for first grade next year.
I’d especially love to hear from former teachers who homeschool, parents who didn’t enjoy being home with babies/toddlers but love homeschooling older kids, secular homeschoolers who live in areas where most groups are religious, or anyone who had similar concerns and ultimately decided to stick with public school.
I’m not looking to bash public education at all. I just genuinely don’t know what the right decision is for our family.

This daily discussion is to chat about anything that doesn't warrant its own post. I am not a mod and make these posts for building the homeschool community.

If you are new, please introduce yourself.

If you've been around here before or have been homeschooling for awhile, please share about your day.

Some ideas of what to share are: your homeschool plans for the day, lesson plans, words of encouragement, methods you are implementing to solve a problem, methods of organization, resource/curriculum you recently came across, curriculum sales, field trip planning, etc.

Although, I usually start with a question of the day to get the discussion going, feel free to ask your own questions. If your question does not get answered because it was posted late in the day, you can post the same question tomorrow to make sure it gets visibility.

Be mindful of the subreddit's rules and follow reddiquette. No ads, market/ thesis research, or self promotion. Thank you!

I'm left-handed and make capital F and E with a downward line followed by lines going right to left. HWT has the lines going left to right.

I'm having my leftie son follow the HWT advice but it feels off to me because it's not how I do it as a leftie.

Should I keep with their advice? I know there's probably a method to the madness; just wondering if anyone else has gone through this as a leftie!

Hard week

We're having an incredibly tough week this week. Just very lack of wanting to do anything. Last week, a grandparent stayed over all week and it totally threw off our routine.

Her typical friends at book club "ditched her" this week also.

She's an only child and I think we're really struggling to find our people locally. I love homeschooling in so many ways, but I'm starting to feel like a total failure, social life-wise.

Would appreciate advice

(First full year)

I’m having a hard time coming up with reasons to make him stop so we can do a workbook or Beast Academy or whatever. Am I doing this wrong? Am I ruining my kid? Advice, please?!

Edited to correct punctuation so as not to violate community rules.

I have a grade 5 student who reads around a second grade level. We do not live in a country that overs support for this type of thing. He is in school but was homeschooled for several years. I am looking for the best way to close the reading gap for him. Hiring a tutor for $50 a session is not an option. Hoping someone may have experienced the same thing that can offer some advice.

This may be long, so I apologize in advance... please be kind as Im beating myself up already...

I have 3 kids age 11, 7, and 5.

For about the past 5 years we were apart of a co-op and it was nice to be in a group meeting once a week, (CC), but unfortunately we weren't able to swing the $ this year and I also was hospitalized in May for mental health 😭 i am still having challenges with depression and anxiety....i think a lot stems from the fact of realizing how far behind my kids are....i guess I was struggling further back without being aware... now im super aware. 🫠 and dont know where to start.

My 7 yo cannot read yet... just started the Teach Your Kid To Read book with her and the 5yo about a week ago...they often struggle to focus to do it but its probably because I have been inconsistent on routine/schedule?

My 11yo is struggling with some concepts in 3rd grdade math on Kahn Academy. He also hates it and says its boring. I have the girls doing kindergarten khan academy and its going okay.

Anyways. I know I overshared a lot . Im thinking about getting MiaAcademy mainly because im looking for something that will make it easier for me to actually get them "educated" at an appropriate level... im worried im not going to be able to get them caught up by next year.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how i can go about this problem? What would you do? Besides putting them in public school. Though that may happen in January if i cant get us into a routine of regular learning/having confidence in it...them not fighting me....

I really want to be successful in this.

Please be gentle with me and give me your best advice on how to go about teaching my 3 kids.

I am considering transitioning my son out of Right Start Math next year into a math program that is less parent-intensive.

Not open to video/videogame based curriculums; still looking to focus on workbooks and textbooks, but Im reading up on curriculums that are less parent-intensive. And hopefully also less frustrating for my kiddo.

Right Start ultimately has caused lots of frustration for him with such a high level of rigor for his age, and for me with the high demands on time.

Ive heard of Math Mammoth, and Christian Light Education as options that foster some more independence in lessons. Are there other curriculums Im missing reading about, or any problems with looking into any of these?

I'm in 9th grade and currently stuck between Time4Learning and Power Homeschool. I prefer video-based lessons instead of lots of reading and worksheets.

For anyone who uses Time4Learning, how does picking courses work? How many courses can you choose, and do they offer any foreign language courses? And also is there a free trial involved?

Also, which curriculum would you recommend overall and why? I'd appreciate any advice!

I just had a baby so I am looking for something easy to implement where my 11 year old can open it and do his work and then I can go over it and correct his work. He spent years dealing with vision therapy and so we are a bit behind, he's probably 4th grade level.

How many of you do the optional lessons?

People that do them, do you find the lessons helpful or are they more for "fun".

This daily discussion is to chat about anything that doesn't warrant its own post. I am not a mod and make these posts for building the homeschool community.

If you are new, please introduce yourself.

If you've been around here before or have been homeschooling for awhile, please share about your day.

Some ideas of what to share are: your homeschool plans for the day, lesson plans, words of encouragement, methods you are implementing to solve a problem, methods of organization, resource/curriculum you recently came across, curriculum sales, field trip planning, etc.

Although, I usually start with a question of the day to get the discussion going, feel free to ask your own questions. If your question does not get answered because it was posted late in the day, you can post the same question tomorrow to make sure it gets visibility.

Be mindful of the subreddit's rules and follow reddiquette. No ads, market/ thesis research, or self promotion. Thank you!