Did you know that over 1 million tyke in the United States are homeschooled ? That is a pretty big turn , and it appear to grow a trivial more each class .
Well , it was quite surprising to me when I fall in the homesteading community , how many of us homeschooled as well .
It is also rather risible , though , because when I run into people and tell them that we live a self - sustained lifestyle from homestead to homeschooling , I ’m always meet with the same two question : Why and how ?
viaHomesteading.com
So I want to portion out both of those responses with you . If you are a homeschooling homesteader , hopefully you ’ll find this encouraging . If you are someone that has been on the fence , maybe this will aid you settle .
ultimately , if you are someone that has never debate the benefits of homeschooling on the homestead , maybe this will give you some insight .
Homeschooling on the Homestead
Here is my ‘ how ’ and ‘ why ’ for homeschooling on our homestead :
My Background
Before I plunge into the heart and soul and potatoes of our homeschooling and homesteading life-style , I need to give you a niggling more background .
First , I have 3 boys . They are spread out by about 7 year each . My children were not always homeschooled . The oldest run to public schooltime until his Junior yr in high school . My halfway son went until his fourth - grade year . My young child went to a private preschool for two years .
I am in no way of life against the public school system . I have champion that are teachers , and I think they have an incredible but difficult occupation .
viaHomesteading.com
Now , I do have a college level , but I calibrate from college after I had homeschooled for one year . Each state ’s requirements change , but in my land , you could homeschool as long as you have a high school diploma .
We determine to homeschool for multiple reasons ( which I ’ll dive into a little by and by ) , but I have found this experience to be awesome , unmanageable , and highly rewarding .
Be certain , if you are considering homeschooling , that youcheck out your state law . They vary depending upon the state , and you must follow the law so you may have a positive homeschooling experience .
viaHomesteading.com
Why We Homeschool
1. Freedom
The best thing , in my opinion , about homeschooling is the freedom . We can homeschool any prison term of Clarence Day , anywhere we want , and I get to select the programme . I can set my own school calendar . It is awesome !
For instance , this year , we part school the first Monday in July . We have been able to experience some really fun line of business trip so far this year , and we take breaks every seventh calendar week . This gives me time to catch up on anything I ’ve kind of let slide during our homeschool days .
Also , my kid do n’t get schooltime until around noon every Clarence Day . This gives me time in the mornings to ferment , exercise , cook a healthy breakfast , and take care of our beast .
viaCrosswalk.com
Plus , my tike get to have more nap and are more alert by the time school starts . This is what work for us . I love that I get to train my children based on what cultivate best for our category as a whole .
2. To Teach Different Skills
viaHomesteading.com
We homeschool because I want my children to pick up a different set of skills beyond what they ’ll learn in most other schoolhouse context .
Right now , I have a 6th grader who is learning Hebrew . I have a second grader that is super concerned in learning Spanish . They both require to learn to code . These are all things they can check powerful in our living room .
viaOff the Grid News
But they are also able to learn how to produce . My kids get tangible hands on biology lessons when it come to helping with a goat giving birth . They see these things up close and personal . They also get to learn how to grow plants each year .
As a matter of fact , each spring , they each do a project base upon growth . So they can either raise a flora or an animal . My youngest is more of the gardener so he grows his own garden each year . While my middle boy is more into animals so he raises a dissimilar animal each leap .
These are skills that we find important so we require our nestling to ascertain these on top of the book smarting .
Now , I know many mean that they could learn these after shoal , but I ’ll go into detail a picayune later as to why that theory did n’t work for my family .
3. Install in my Kids Who They Are
Next , we homeschool because we want our kid to bang who they are not who societysaysthey are . If that sound a little recondite , it is .
See , my middle son would come home from school every sidereal day upset over the tiniest thing . Someone would say something about him ( nothing horribly spoilt ) and it would absolutely crush him because he was ground his Charles Frederick Worth upon what the nestling thought of him .
Well , this really began to take a toll on him , and my married man and I knew that we had to do something to make him pull in that just because someone says something does n’t make it dead on target .
So we decided that homeschooling was a great selection because it allow our nipper the time to project out who they actually are without a ton of other view impacting that .
I ’m felicitous to say that my 18 - twelvemonth - old is rather confident in who he is , his purpose , and his power . A lot of that come from the fact that he had the time to in reality action his own thinking and emotions .
Our other two youngster are happy , social butterflies now . Our middle child is really opine for himself ( which I love ) , and my youngest child by all odds marches to his own barrel . I love that !
4. The Learning Process
viaCrosswalk.com
My child have a great pupil teacher ratio . It is one teacher for every two scholarly person ( now that my oldest graduated this past bound . ) Not uncollectible , huh ?
Well , it actually helps them very much because if they have a question , it gets answer efficiently , and they ca n’t slip by me . If our minor do n’t understand something , I know it because I only have two children to learn .
Now , this is where I say I have a immense amount of respect for any public or private schoolhouse teacher . I go screwball some Clarence Day just trying to keep up with 2 scholar . I could n’t reckon if I had 20 - 30 Kid per course of instruction . teacher are a immense plus in all our children ’s life .
However , when you have 20 - 30 kids per year , it is physically impossible to have a curriculum that is specifically suitable to each child . There is just no room of doing that .
But with homeschool , I ’m able-bodied to choose the curriculum that works best for each of my children . If something does n’t act , we change it . It ’s that simple .
For example , my youngest struggle with sensational processing and has shown a few signs of dyslexia . By giving him fate of hands on learning opportunities , we ’ve really been able-bodied to work through his struggles . He has shown great melioration with each elapse year .
So I love that they have that one - on - one clip with me during school prison term and that I ’m able to cultivate a acquisition environment that specifically receive their need .
5. We Have Time Together and It Saves Us Money
viaOff the Grid News
Finally , we homeschool because we have more sentence together . A lot of what we cultivate into our homeschool could be taught after school hours if you had the time .
But for us , I was on the route for about 5 hour a day drive to 3 unlike schools for pick - up and drop - off .
Then we had hour of homework , I had one playing a mutant which equated to more metre invested other than our home , and we feel like we just never saw each other .
distinctly , it was really that bad because we permit our mellow schooler to make the decision on whether to be homeschooled or not . He sprung it on me two calendar week before school day begin that he want to be homeschooled .
However , he was able to finish high schooltime early and finish a semester of college course during his time of homeschooling .
Not to mention , homeschooling saves us a ton of money . Prior to homeschooling , I was spending about $ 500 per calendar month on petrol alone . We do n’t have to plunge any cryptical than that .
When we realized this could potentially be something that could draw our family closerandwe would deliver money , it kind of felt like a no - brainer .
So these are the 5 most important reasons we decided to homeschool our children on our homestead .
How We Homeschool and Homestead
I get this dubiousness a plenty because if you ’ve ever been on a homestead , then you get it on it can get busy . So how do you give your kid the school time they ask while take to the woods a homestead ?
Well , by using these few peak :
1. Be Intentional
You have to be designed with your time . There is no sleeping until noon if you homeschool around a homestead .
In fact , I get up first with my hubby , and I do allow our shaver to slumber in some . But most days they have to be up between 8 am and 9 am . This still gives them more sleep than they once got when attending a traditional public school with traditional time of day .
But they have to get up . That style they can avail me with feeding the animals while I sour on breakfast .
Also , I have other things that we have to fit in each day . For instance , I make from home . I have to have a match of hours of quiet time each 24-hour interval so I can write . This work out well because I allow the kids to have electronics during this metre .
Then we also must stay active so as a family , we plan time to get alive . This can be done with traditional exercise . My untested actually wish yoga .
But we also beak the garden to get active , we go sportfishing , and we work with our bee .
So to suit everything in around your homeschooling homestead , you must be designed with your time .
2. It Doesn’t Take as Long to Homeschool
You have to realize , it does n’t take as long to homeschool as it does when your kids attend public schoolhouse . There is a lot of time spent waiting for other children to cease , a lot of fourth dimension spend walking in the hallway , eating lunch , etc . It just takes longer when you are maneuvering with a group of 30 versus a group of 3 or 4 .
So I can usually homeschool my two young children in about 4 hour . We do n’t take breaks normally . alternatively , we just keep going until we are done .
Now , this metre will increase as they get senior because the subject get laborious .
Also , if you have more children the time increase as well because there is one of you and more of them which correspond to them have to hold off on you more often .
So we usually homeschool in the afternoon from about noon to four . This allows me to be done in time to set out dinner .
Plus , we ’ve had a morn of tend to our homestead , and we can have an evening to take caution of it as well .
3. Organization is Key
Being organized is a must if you homeschool and homestead . You have to be organize with your clip each Clarence Day , and you must be organized with your school calendar .
What I have in mind is you must design yourfield tripsahead of metre . Not only do you get dandy discounted rates at some places , but you also have to plan ahead with homesteading chores .
So if we decide to go to the zoo on a field head trip , then I need to know ahead of time so we can either feed our animate being the night before or get up passing early to ensure that everything is accept aid of before we guide to our field misstep .
I had the same struggle with organization this retiring calendar month . We went back to school in July so we could take a break every 7th workweek and still wind up by the end of April .
Well , this fell mightily in canning season . Had I not thought of this ahead of time , it could have been a tragedy .
But remember how I shared that we like to teach our child homesteading attainment as part of their homeschooling experience ?
Well , they get a few really great lessons on how to can properly . It worked really well , and I feel convinced that my children ( with some help ) could preserve chief vegetables from the garden .
Needless to say , organization is your supporter when both homeschooling and homesteading .
4. We Work Together
As you could secern there is a mickle of teamwork that happens around our homestead . It has to because if you are go to raise enough food to feed five people , work from home , and homeschool , then you ’ve gravel to work as a unit .
So if you are wondering how you could ever add homeschooling to your homestead subprogram , you ’ll have to learn to delegate some of your homesteading province . This is a good matter though because this gives your children an opportunity to check more about homesteading while helping you .
Then you may give them liberal meter while youwork from homeif you involve to help supplement the family income like I do .
eventually , you all come together and work expeditiously at schoolhouse work .
5. We are Prudent
Finally , we are afrugal familyand very prudent with our money . I be intimate a lot of people feel homeschooling is expensive , and it can be because you have to purchase your curriculum .
But our first year of homeschooling , I was n’t sure how it was going to solve , I did n’t want to make a big investiture for this rationality , and I did n’t have a lot of money .
So we used thisfree on-line homeschooling curriculumand relied heavily upon our local program library . This was the curriculum my oldest used all the fashion until gradation . My center child now uses theGenesis Curriculum .
However , I did change outcurriculumsfor my youngest because that is one of the great things about homeschooling . you’re able to make changes when you feel your child needs them .
So do n’t palpate like you have to invest a gross ton of money into your homeschool curriculum because there are ways around that as well .
Well , there is still so much more to talk about when it comes to homeschooling on the homestead , but we ’ll block there for now .
We make out hearing from you so please leave us your thoughts in the outer space provided below .
Was this article helpful?
What went wrong?
This article hold back incorrect entropy
This clause does not have the entropy I am looking for
How can we improve it?
We appreciate your helpful feedback!
Your solvent will be used to improve our mental object . The more feedback you give us , the better our page can be .
