4 Signs You Might Be Ready to Homeschool

I’ll never forget the look on his little face as he leaned over on the couch and whispered, “I want to learn everything about all the snakes and all the volcanoes of the world, Mama. . .

“I want to know everything.”

The problem was he was barely four years old and we’d already watched all the documentaries and checked out everything the library had on snakes and volcanoes, so I wasn’t sure where to go from there. I knew he was ready for school, ready to learn more than what we were learning at home.

He knew it too.

What he couldn’t know is that a teacher at the local public school had told me that he didn’t appear to have the necessary “sit-still muscles” for a traditional school setting and he’d need to wait another year to start.

My heart told me I needed to try homeschooling, but I was afraid. 

I knew there were benefits to homeschooling. I’d seen homeschooling families thriving and heard stories about how their kids grew up to be kind, smart, well-rounded, talented, and passionate lifelong learners.

What I wasn’t sure of was my own skill, finances, and patience to make it happen.

But that weekend, I went to my local Barnes & Noble with a fifty-dollar bill and a gleam in my eye anyway. And as they say, the rest is history.

We took a few careful, small baby steps that first year and fell in love with home education.

Then we kept taking careful, small baby steps.

Year

after

year

after

year.

Thirteen years later, I suddenly have a homeschooling high school senior with 9 dual enrollment college credit hours under his belt, enrolled in 6 more this fall, and preparing to graduate high school and enter college full-time in a few short months.

Not because we’re special or geniuses.

Just because we tried it and it worked for us.

He may not have had any “sit-still muscles” when he was four, but he has plenty now.

This mama is so glad she tried homeschooling to help him build them. 

If you’ve been wondering if you’re ready to homeschool, here are four signs you might be:

#1 — You keep thinking about homeschooling

It’s not that you’re totally convinced you could do it, or even that you should, but the idea keeps popping into your mind.

#2 — Your kids are asking you to try doing school at home

The pandemic put a spotlight on home education in good ways and in bad ways. And while I don’t agree that all-day Zoom class for five-year-olds is necessarily homeschooling (or even a good thing for most kids), I do love how the COVID lockdowns opened a conversation with young people about the different ways they want to learn. If your kids are interested, it might be time to give it a try.

#3 — You’re a lifelong learner

You’re always looking for better ways to do something, always learning, always growing, and always finding pockets of time to read and research.

#4 — You enjoy reading and sharing ideas with others

You talk to your friends about books, ideas, and concepts. Sharing knowledge lights you up.

Above all, remember⤵⤵

If you have the desire to try homeschooling and you know in your gut it could be right for your family, you can go for it.

You’ll never know until you try.

You can always pivot if and when you need do.

And if I can do it, you TOTALLY can.

Want to learn a little more about homeschooling?

Check out these posts for more info:


& Here are a few books about non-traditional education from the Togetherness Redefined Mamas Who Read Book List:

Still have questions?

Be sure to hop into the email group and ask them - I love talking homeschool!

Or, if you’d like to go a little deeper, take a look at my Work With Me page and come chat with me on a call sometime.

Wherever this road takes you, I’ll be cheering you on.

And learning right alongside you.

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