How To Homeschool, Roadschool, or Oceanschool

When I decided to try homeschooling back in 2009, there were quite a few big stumbling blocks:

• I had no idea how to homeschool.

• We were raising our kids in a very rural area.

• We only knew one other homeschooling family, and they lived hours away.

• I had a full-time job outside the home.

• The internet was something I rarely used for anything beyond work.

But I knew we had to try it - and I'm so glad we did.

My mama heart desperately wanted more time with my children, and I desperately wanted to teach them.

It has truly been the adventure of a lifetime - even in the hard times.

Thankfully, so much has changed since then.

Now as I look back on 10 years of homeschooling, I find myself celebrating the many ways we now have to do school with our kids, making homeschooling, roadschooling, oceanschooling, or whatever-schooling easier than it ever has been before.

Here's what we have these days in the homeschooling world:

1) Years of research on the value of individualized, child-led learning

Here are a few I've been loving lately:

• Ken Robinson's Ted Talk "Changing Education Paradigms"

• Sugata Mitra's Ted Talk "The Child-driven Education"

• How Children Learn by John Holt

• The Sudbury Valley School model

• Stop Stealing Dreams by Seth Godin

• Teach Like Finland by Timothy Walker

• Creative Schools by Ken Robinson & Lou Aronica

• Rethinking School by Susan Wise Bauer

• Lots of homeschool family research by Brian Ray

2) Books written by experienced homeschool mamas

Here are my top three:

• Teaching from Rest by Sarah Mackenzie

• The Read-Aloud Family by Sarah Mackenzie

• The Brave Learner by Julie Bogart

3) Homeschool podcasts

Here are my favorites:

• The Homeschool Sisters

• The Read-Aloud Revival

• and of course, the brand new Togetherness Redefined podcast too

4) Curriculum options - so many options

• Boxed curriculums (bring them home and do them - everything's included)

• Online public school like the cyber academy through your local public school district

• Online private school like Connections Academy or other K12 vendors who offer a private option

• Online curriculum (you can pay for K12 and other programs and administer them at home)

• A la carte online classes with Outschool and others

• Design your own curriculum with lots of books and free resources (my personal fave)

• Suggestions from traditional school teachers online

• Roadschool, oceanschool, boatschool, etc. to learn from your surroundings

5) Homeschooling blogs with so many curriculum suggestions

My favorites right now are:

• My Little Poppies

• Kara S. Anderson

• Learning Well Community

• Mary Wilson

• Simple Homeschool

• And several more mamas sharing their curriculum picks on social media and on their blogs too.

Interested in our curriculum suggestions? Click here for links to what we’ve used elementary - high school.

6) Online tools at our disposal - so many online tools

• Google for all the questions

• YouTube for even more questions

• Curiosity Stream for documentaries

• Netflix for more documentaries

• Audible for audiobooks (I suggest the Platinum membership)

• Nitrotype for typing

• Mango Languages for French or Spanish, etc.

• Fieldtrip Zoom for online fieldtrips

• Khan Academy for everything

• Outschool

• Pinterest (where I find suggestions from teachers in traditional schools)

• and so many online homeschool parent communities where we can find more resources (here's a link to my favorite one right now)

7) Access to the good old stuff too

• Libraries

• Coops

• Homeschool groups

• Playdates

• Museums

• National and state parks

• Farms

8) A school day that goes beyond 8-3

Learning at home means that we can learn before 8am and after 3pm, and it all counts for school. Forget to cover that character development book or health concept? No worries - throw it into the bedtime story mix, and you're golden. Didn't have time to get the math lesson finished today? No worries - let's finish it up just after dinner is all cleaned up.

So, if you're on the fence about homeschooling, I want you to know a few things:

1. It's your decision - no one should pressure you either way.

2. It's your decision (yep, I mean it).

3. There is so much support out here in the homeschooling world - even if you don't have any you can touch with your physical hands just yet. So if you decide to go for it, we're here!

Still have questions?

Check out these posts for more info:

• The 3-Step Strategy for Successfully Homeschooling Any Subject

• Too Much Togetherness? Tips for Learning at Home

• Making a Case for Worldschooling

• A Day in the Life: Desire-Led Worldschooling with 12 and 14-year-old boys (while working from home)

• Traveling More: Could We Homeschool?

• Why Staying at Home Isn't a Waste (& How to Make It Happen)

• How to Kiss Summer Slide Goodbye for Good

And I’d love for you to hop into the email group and shoot me a question - I love talking homeschool!

Or, if you’d like some one-on-one help, take a look at my Work With Me page and book a discovery call so we can explore how I can answer your questions.