50 Tips for First Time Homeschoolers

Are you homeschooling for the first time this year? Congratulations! It’s a wild ride, but so worth every ounce of effort. Here’s a collection of 50 first time homeschooling tips that will help motivate, inspire, and encourage you as you begin.

These tips for first time homeschoolers are collected from veteran homeschool moms just like you! Whether you’ve been homeschooling one day, one year, or ten years, I think you’ll agree that this is a great list for homeschool moms to read through each year.

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50 Tips for First Time Homeschoolers

Relax!
Have fun learning with your kids.
Don’t feel pressured to do “formal” school.
Your homeschool is Your. Home. School.
Learning is fun.
Go outside and explore.
Don’t stress over the school milestones or requirements.
It’s impossible to fail kindergarten.
Your relationship with your child is always more important than curriculum.
Let kids be kids.
Start slow, especially if you’re starting with kindergarten (30 minutes of engaged learning daily is plenty.)
Every child is different.
Not all flowers bloom at the same time.
Everything is a learning adventure at this age.
Take all the pressure off yourself and your children when they are young.
Playing, cooking, museum trips, zoo trips, playing outside – all so much more important than any workbook.
Be okay with dropping a curriculum if it’s not working for you.
Try notebooking.
We are mom first, homeschoolers second. Being their mom is more lasting than getting through your lessons for the day.
Take it one year at a time. One week at a time. One day at a time.
Don’t stress about what you will do next year. – enjoy the year you are in!
Focus on the “WHY” of your homeschool choice.
Think of who you want your child to become and what you want her to know in a big way, without any school language. This is your end goal of education. Your homeschooling should serve these goals.
You taught them their very first language. You taught them how to speak English without really stressing over it. Reading? You got this!
Parents are their first teachers. This is the natural way of learning.
Learning happens all the time – not just at a desk or with worksheets.
Answer questions when they ask them. If you don’t know the answer, tell them that. Then model how to research and find the answers.
Age is a number not a learning requirement.
Follow their lead and they’ll let you know when they’re ready or in need of something.
If it’s not working, change it.
Do not judge what they should know by what their peers are doing in school. Don’t compare them to their schooled peers.
Enjoy every minute of it.
Don’t try to create a classroom in your home. Have a lifestyle of learning.
Don’t be afraid to try new things.
Homeschool is personal, so make it fit your life.
Bookwork can wait. Play with them.
Keep your eyes open for what your kids are interested in and go with it.
Don’t worry about finishing every single paper or every single book.
Knowing how to enjoy learning is the objective.
Apply what you learn continuously.
Research all schooling styles before starting to see what you’d like.
You don’t have to know everything. Learn with your kids.
Be flexible.
Don’t buy a lot of stuff (curriculum, supplies, resources) until you spend a year or two working with your kids to see what kind of flow actually works with them.
Don’t do busy work. It makes school more stressful.
Set a curriculum budget. Once you hit that dollar amount, research free supplements.
Listen to other’s advice, but then make your own choice.
Don’t compare yourself to other homeschool moms.
You do you – make homeschool work for you and toward your goals.
Don’t over schedule your family. Enjoy the flexibility, but don’t plan more than you’re comfortable with participating in. It’s perfectly fine to homeschool simply.