WT 224: What Do New Homeschoolers Need To Know? with Katie Leipprandt
Today we’re answering questions from those of you who’ve decided to homeschool your kids for the first time this year. From how to choose a curriculum to managing the needs of toddlers and school-age kids at the same time, Wire Talk’s producer, Katie Leipprandt, shares her insights and experience from homeschooling her four children for the past 6 years. Whatever your school situation looks like this year, we hope this episode reminds you that in spite of imperfect circumstances, God will equip you with everything you need.
Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
Katie’s website with Day in the Life posts, tips, and her homeschool schedule
Katie’s IG account - follow and DM her your questions!
Days With Grey Breakfast Activity Cards
Top 25 online accredited high school programs
What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality?
HSLDA.org - find out the homeschool laws in your state
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
Khan Academy - FREE online math resource
Question 1: I will have a 1st and 4th grader this fall. And I have a 2 year old busy baby boy!
We have always contemplated homeschooling, at least for elementary. This past school year (before Covid) we thought about pulling our girls out and having them home. Our oldest (our little green girl) has bad anxiety and was struggling. Our middle (even being a yellow/red) wanted to be home. We pushed through and then we’re forced to homeschool. I was surprised how much we loved it! We have made the decision to homeschool this year, and I need lots of advice! Our kiddos start their education at a Christian school and then go into public schools and their Christian school does use Abeka. Please help! I’m a blue mama with a little yellow so obviously I need structure and schedule and routine!!
Katie’s Answer: I love that this mom discovered she loved homeschooling last year in spite of the circumstances! I think regardless of your temperament, a little structure and routine is a good idea when you’re homeschooling. One of the first things I always tell new homeschoolers is that school at home DOES NOT TAKE AS LONG as school at school. If you have a 3 hr block of time during the day, you can do this. That said, if you have younger kids, you’re probably not going to need all 3 hours - Kindergarten for example, should not take any longer than an hour. Less than an hour really! So don’t feel like you need to fill your child’s day from 8-2 with subjects every hour on the hour.
In our home, with a 6th grader, a 4th grader, a 3rd grader and a 1st grader, we try to start around 9am and we are DONE by 2pm regardless of anything we left undone. I give us a full hour in there for lunch and my younger 2 kids are done by lunchtime. Only my 4th and 6th grader work after lunch and only for an hour. And then we’re done. No “homework”!
We can link to the schedule I’m using this year in the show notes but we begin at 9am all together as a family working on copy work (handwriting and cursive), geography and reading. For my readers, they’ll read something I’ve picked out for them during this time while I work one on one with my youngest on phonics.
At 10am we move on to Math, which can get tricky when everyone needs help at once. This is where your parenting skills get tested a bit. It’s a great time to teach patience and problem-solving. i.e. What can you work on by yourself while I’m helping your sister?
At 11am we move on to Grammar and Spelling and 12pm is lunch time! After lunch my two youngest are done and they go off to play while my older 2 kids work on their writing curriculum together with me. We close the books by 2pm b/c I am DONE by then! For a blue momma, it’s probably wise to schedule in a few 10 min brain breaks just for her during the day. Go do something that replenishes you: drink a cup of tea, close your eyes for a second, read a chapter in a book, revive yourself a bit before plunging into the next subject. For Yellow mamas, maybe take a mid-morning break and call a friend!
Question 2: How do I divide time between one school-aged child, one very advanced preschooler who craves schoolwork but needs some restraint so she’s not too bored by school at the proper time, and a toddler? Especially for an introvert mama who also needs to prioritize down-time.
Another mom asked similarly: What is the best way to split time when children are far apart in ages. (3,8, and 13)
Katie’s Answer: Phew! I have been there. My first year of homeschooling I had a newborn, a 2 year old, a 4 year old and a Kindergartener. When you’re trying to balance the needs of babies, toddlers and school-age kiddos, I think it works best to fill up the littles first. Spend some intentional time with those little guys before you dive into “school”. I love the activities Days with Grey shared recently on Wire Talk - her site is full of good ideas.
+ Let the age difference work for you. I bet that 13 year old sleeps a little later than the other kids, so let her start school when she naturally wakes up and knock out whatever subject your 8 year old needs the most help with while she’s still sleeping. Then when your 3 year old is napping or having room time, you can be present for the subjects the 13 year old need one on one attention for.
+The beauty of homeschool is that it is flexible for your lifestyle! My kids know I work every afternoon from 2-5, so school is done by then and they have learned to give me that space.There’s a quiz I love from Jamie Martin of Simple Homeschool that gives suggestions on how to make homeschool work whether you’re an introverted or extroverted mom. It’s worth the 5 minutes to take!
Question 3: What is the difference between an accredited and unaccredited homeschooling program? Does this matter when trying to keep my child on track and not unintentionally create gaps when the goal is to eventually put him back into public school? What kind of documentation will I need to keep up with?
My child will be going into the first grade (for reference).
Along those same lines, another mom asked, “I would like some info or a list of top 5 accredited curriculums for my daughter who is going to be a freshman this year. Thank you!”
Katie’s Answer: Obviously, these moms are in very different situations. I recommend that everyone who is planning to homeschool for the first time check out the website HSLDA.org to see what the legal requirements are for homeschool families in their state. Please be sure you are doing what the law requires. In most states it’s not overwhelming at all and you will get a very clear list of what documents if any need to be submitted to your state government and what kinds of records you need to keep. When in doubt, get a file folder and put all your kids’ written work (worksheets, math practice, tests, writing assignments, artwork, etc.) into it. At the end of the year you can sort for what needs to be kept.
On the question of accreditation: No state requires that a homeschool program be accredited, and by their very nature HS curriculum cannot be accredited (accreditation requires an outside agency to review a school based on a given set of standards, and certified that the school meets or exceeds those standards. This is not a one-time action, but requires periodic review and renewal in order to maintain this “seal of approval.” )
So with the mom of a 1st grader who is planning to head back into public school, don’t worry about accreditation so much as your particular school district’s standards. These are easily searchable by Googling “your school district + standards”. They’ll be broken down by grade level and although they are usually written in academic language - once you start reading through you’ll realize they just spent a full page saying that your child needs to be able to tell you what the story they just read was about in their own words. You do not have to do this! Most homeschool curriculums will move your child along just fine - especially at the first grade level. Standards are very universal.
For the mom of a high schooler, the stakes are a little bit higher. If you’re planning to put her back into public school soon, it’s not absolutely necessary to participate in an accredited distance learning option, but that could give her a lot of peace of mind. We’ve got a link in the show notes to a list of the Top 25 accredited online high school programs this mom could look into
Question 4: My daughter does not take instruction from me at all. We have joked that she “is not a homeschool candidate" since she was a toddler. Will homeschooling be a disaster? How do I deal with this very stubborn child?
Another mom piggybacked on that and said, “Yes, same here. Perfectionist 1st grader. If she makes one mistake reading a book we have to go back to the beginning and start reading it all over again or tear up the assignment and print a new one.”
Question 5: My daughter is forced into virtual Kindergarten this year due to covid and I work long hours at home... what is the most critical things I need to help with to ensure she gets what she needs out of this important year
Katie’s Answer: READ. Read and play with numbers. My advice to moms with preschooler and kindergarteners is honestly to ditch formal curriculum. Some moms will FREAK when they hear that and if you really cannot fathom doing this without a guidebook, then pick something up. But it’s mostly for you the parent and not your child. Your child will be just fine coming out of Kindergarten if you play with letters and play with numbers every school day. If your child is ready to learn to read in Pre-K or K (and MANY ARENT and that’s something our current system pushes way too early IMHO) then pick up a book like Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons to help you teach them. But Kindergarten should be fun!! Read the Very Hungry Caterpillar and then go find a caterpillar. Draw a picture of a caterpillar. Count the strawberries he ate. Go get strawberries out of your fridge and count as high as you can. Things like that - Pre-K and Kindergarten should be fun!!
Don’t stress about how well they are reading and how high they can count or compare to where you “think they should be” Its like so many other things in motherhood. Like, with potty training, if you keep modeling and providing learning opportunities, they will pick it up when they are ready. How many of us tried to push potty training too early and drove ourselves crazy and then those kiddos just decided to go in the potty one day on their own and never had an accident again? You can’t force a kid to walk before they are ready and forcing a kid to read before they are ready will be an exercise in futility too!
Question 6: How do you choose curriculum from all the options? And how do you not get overwhelmed with all of the curriculum options?
Katie’s Answer:
+ I think as with every mom making a different decision for this school year, you have to acknowledge that there’s no ‘perfect’ choice. Whether you’re looking just at homeschool curriculum or you’re still weighing whether to send your kids in person or do virtual...Each option has benefits, and each is probably lacking something. Consider your family’s needs (I would think about your finances - there’s a lot of free stuff out there, Khan Academy for example is an amazing math curriculum that is completely free. Think about how you want your kid using (or not using technology) think about the amount of time you have available to give to this and consider your own temperament.
+After that...just pick something. It’s not going to be perfect, but getting trapped in a cycle of fear and worry is not helpful. Remember, God did not give us a spirit of fear! Pick something and begin. If you need to adjust mid-year, you can adjust. If December comes and you hate it, your kids hate it, and face to face schools seem to be doing fine, you can send your kid back into a traditional classroom! Make a decision and begin moving forward, that’s truly the only way to figure it out.
Question 7: How do you deal with the emotions of being forced into this situation when you didn't want to be the teacher and you know the child would benefit from a classroom?
Question 8: Any final words of encouragement for new homeschool moms, Katie? And where can moms find you online?
Katie’s Answer: You got this! Give yourself and your kids a TON of grace as you begin. You are new at this, they are new at this and it’s going to take some time to find your rhythm. You are going to make a great teacher for your kids because you love them and know them better than anyone else on the planet. And God is going to equip you to do this thing He has called you to. And if you need some encouragement or ideas or just have questions to ask, follow me on Instagram and send me a DM- I’m @leipprandt there or you can find me online at katieleipprandt.com, and that’ll be in the show notes too because my last name is a handful!
Show Credits: hosted by Karen Stubbs with Sunny Williams, written & produced by Katie Leipprandt, edited by Kyle Cummings
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