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When I graduated high school I vowed I would homeschool my kids. I felt I had lost so much going through school; my love of learning, my creativity and I knew I didn’t want my kids to go through that.
My husband wasn’t on board at first but over time he came around and saw the value in homeschooling.
I think I started researching homeschooling from the time my oldest was one. I was so excited and I wanted to do it right. I wanted to prove to myself and others that homeschooling could work.
So I dove in head first. We worked on the alphabet, numbers, colors as soon as we could. He learned dinosaurs, planets, bugs. I even did preschool worksheets at 3 with him. I didn’t want him to be behind!
Then I started researching different homeschooling philosophies. I wanted to find the right curriculum and know what would work best for our family.
After much research, very much, I determined that the Charlotte Mason /Classical was the best route for our family.
There was just one problem…
Both of these philosophies taught to not start formal schooling until at least 6….
6?!
But my kid would fall behind!
At least, I thought so.
It has taken me a long time to see the value of that idea.
It’s not just let kids do whatever till 6 but fill their hearts with truth, goodness, and beauty.
Fill their hearts, minds, environments with good stories, music, art, poetry, and play. It’s not that they will never learn math or science or language, they will! Just not yet. They need a foundation to build on. They need to be creative, imaginative, and curious.
So what’s the scam you ask?
Well, as I studied these ideas of letting kids be kids till 6-8 I started to notice that there were those who claimed to believe this but were still pushing curriculum for preschoolers and kindergarteners.
Sure they said it was gentle schooling, but can schooling really be gentle? Having a planned curriculum for a young child is not supporting the idea that they should just play. There was still learning happening (the alphabet, numbers, simple math, colors, shapes, etc. ) just sugar coated with pretty pictures and stories.
But I fell for that too. I bought the gentle preschool curriculum and I hated it. There was so much to do and teach despite it being “gentle” and “play”. I felt overwhelmed and a failure. I was also very confused about what I was really suppose to teach my kids and when, because it seemed that despite what everyone “believed” they still acted the same as a public school.
So, in the end I gave up trying to follow everyone else. After much thought, prayer, observation, and research I have found what works for our family. What works for my kid’s personalities and talents. And it’s working just fine. (You can read more about what our homeschool year 2025 has looked like here)
My advice? Do your research but don’t follow anyone else. Do what works for you and your family. It will be eclectic and a little wobbly at first, but you will be far less stressed and happier that way.
