The first step I took on the path to homeschooling..

was to acquire a couple wooden desks given to us by our school board from one of their classrooms. This was followed by setting up a room in our basement (with no windows) with bookshelves, bulletin board, wipe off board, maps and educational posters on the walls, etc. because obviously the more your environment LOOKED like a school, the more successful you would be at educating your children.

I had a friend who had just started homeschooling her very active son and she told me that the main goal for the first couple years was just to get your child to SIT.  Still.  In a desk for several hours each day.  (Did I really listen to her for more than 30 seconds??) This would be the first of MANY epic homeschooling failures as I attempted to recreate “school-at-home” and fell prey to many false structures that gave the impression of doing something significant while falling far short of any real and valuable education.

That was 20 years ago and while there have been lots of challenges and detours along the way, I think I’ve finally found a rhythm that works for OUR family and a set of goals that are true to who we are. Spoiler: There isn’t a single room in our home that remotely resembles a classroom and I don’t think any of my children SIT STILL in any one spot for more than 20 min. We do, however, laugh, learn, and live a lot and no lives have been lost during the process!!
- Kris