Welcome to today’s Back to School Blog Hop! Today we enter the world of co-ops, support groups, apprenticeships, training’s, and how to fit in all the extras.
So how do we fit in all the extras?
First, it is important to be involved in the community, specifically, your homeschool community, but please remember that everyone, every family, every child is just a wee bit different. What works for one might not work for another. Better yet, you should plan for that.
Second, as children get older they certainly have more of a say in what they’d like to do with their school and even life … which could include sports, apprenticeships, specialty classes, and the like. This is when you might want to sit down with your children (individually if possible – I know mine sometimes can feel ‘pressured’ to do what another wants or doesn’t want) and discuss their goals and desires for the upcoming year. Then you can plan a schedule that fits the student as well as yourself and the family as a whole.
Now when your children are younger you might want to get involved with a local support group or co-op. What’s the difference? Well, a support group is where homeschool parents usually gather monthly for support in the journey and for information. Sometimes they also offer field trips or other events. Now a co-op is where homeschool parents volunteer and work together to share the teaching responsibilities of all the students in one or more subjects/areas. These usually meet weekly. You can also have other educational classes that are focused on a specific subject or sport. If you choose to add one of these to your schedule you would be able to schedule it for generally a semester at a time and know that on those days you would be out of the home.
Here, in my local community, I help co-lead a large (over 400 families) volunteer lead group that coordinates field trips, classes, and activities for preschool-aged through high school. So how do we fit our field trips in? Well, ours are scheduled in advance and we just work around them. So if I know we are going on a 3-hour field trip to visit the Department of Natural Resources (which we will be doing in early September) then we won’t usually do science that day and might not do our regular language arts stuff since they usually do some educational handouts. On the way to our field trips, I usually have my children bring some work they can do on the drive in the car … like their beloved MATH. 😉 Then the rest of the week, if we need to, we just double up so that we don’t get behind. For us, field trips ARE part of school. They just look different than what people think school should look like.
Now if you sign up for a co-op-led class those would be on a particular day weekly and you can schedule around them. I’d even use those days to be “errand” days and get all the running around (mail, paying bills, library drop off/pick up) done on the same day. They can also bring their book bag with other school to be done while driving.
As your students get older, you may find that you as the parent feel unprepared to teach upper-level math classes or a language class. Or maybe your student wants to be a farrier and needs to go to work with one as an apprentice to learn that trade. Then that is something that you and your child will need to figure that out when the time comes.
One thing I will warn … try not to over-schedule yourself. Also if you are out and about at a class or field trip or other activity, enjoy the time and count that time AS SCHOOL! You’ll be grateful you did. You will have more time enjoying the journey as homeschoolers — schooling on the go!
Thank you to Kellyann from Walking Home … for sharing encouragement on how to fit it all in outside the home.
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Meet some of the Crew participating in this weeks blog hop:
Linda – Apron Strings & other things – Beginning her 27th year educating her children at home, Linda will be sharing her family’s homeschooling goals for the coming year and things she’s learned
Lisa – Farm Fresh Adventures – Lisa enjoys keeping it real on her blog, as she shares her adventures with homeschooling on a farm in a small town.
Lori – At Home: where life happens – I am Lori. Wife to a wonderful husband, mother to 3 giggly girls in the throes of growing up, teacher to said 3 giggly girls, and, most importantly, a Christian striving to live life as God tells me to in the Bible. Join us for posts on family, faith, homeschooling, and whatever strikes my fancy.
Meghan – Quiet In The Chaos – Child of Christ, wife, and mama to 4, in my quiet corner I share about our homestead, homeschool, real life, and cooking real {traditional} food while raising my family simply. Drop-in for nutritious recipes, DIY tutorials, and homeschooling fun!
Melanie – Tree Valley Academy – Tree Valley Academy creates and shares lesson ideas and educational printables for homeschooling parents of early elementary-aged children. Our endeavor is to think outside the box, to keep learning fun and be something the kids can be excited about.
Michele – Family Faith and Fridays – Follow our family of 6 on our military moving, God-loving, homeschool adventure! Currently homeschooling our youngest two (10 and 15) with two homeschool graduates.
Monique – Mountain of Grace Homeschooling – Hello there, I’m Monique. I’m a Catholic homeschooling mama to 2 amazing kids. We are finishing up the middle school years and heading into our new adventure of navigating the world of high school.
Thank you for stopping by the Homeschool Review Crew today. We’re glad you’ve decided to join us for our 5 Days of Back to School Blog Hop. Please read some of these additional posts about Fitting it all in linked below. We hope you will join us tomorrow for posts to Encourage you for the year ahead.
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