If you have made the decision to homeschool your kids, one of the difficulties that you will probably face is isolation. A lot of people will not understand or disagree with your decision to home school. It is also very possible that you will not know anyone else who is home schooling. According to research by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), about a million children are being homeschooled in the U.S. (1) That sounds like a lot until you realize that it’s only about 2% of school-aged kids and teens.
Even if you do not know any other homeschooling families, you can network through the internet. Homeschool websites can help you to get support, make friends and network, find important teaching resources, and get good homeschooling tips. There are a lot of blogs out there either written by homeschooling parents or geared towards them.
Here are three top blogs from homeschooling families:
Raising Olives
This is the blog of a large family (their tenth kid was recently born!). They homeschool all of their kids. This site is updated nearly daily and includes pictures of and information about their family, and a lot of information about their homeschooling. The blog has a whole section on “Homeschool” that includes a lot of advice, their daily schedule, etc. There are also reviews of some homeschooling products, and other sections like “Home Making” and “Saving Money”. This is a personal blog so that you feel like you can get to know this family and identify with them. I will tell you that they are very Christian, and there’s a lot of religious commentary on the site as well. Some people will be put off by this, others will love it. Either way, it’s a homeschooling blog worth checking out.
To visit Raising Olives, click here.
School Without School
I actually work as a private tutor with homeschooled kids (mostly 9th graders). Having helped to supplement and create homeschool curriculums and teaching, I’ve gained a lot of insight and resources into homeschooling. School Without Schools is my homeschooling blog. It has a lot of resources and reviews of products that can be used when homeschooling. It is updated pretty much daily, and also includes links to a lot of other homeschooling resources on the web. This is a good place to find homeschooling materials, get some basic advice, and start networking.
To go to the School Without School site, click here.
Wise Little Owls Homeschool
This is an adorable little blog by Sarah Sellers about homeschooling her two daughters. It is a generally encouraging blog that will make you feel excited about homeschooling. It includes a lot of projects for homeschool families. This will give you a lot of great, fun, educational ideas that you are excited to try with your kids. There are also links to other educational sites, especially Montessori resources.
To check out the Wise Little Owls Homeschool site, click here.
Sources:
(1) “Homeschool statistics”, Let’s Homeschool
Raising Olives
School Without School
Wise Little Owls Homeschool
