In this episode I talk about the big question: What is homeschooling? If you're new to homeschooling this is for you! View show notes at: http://www.christianhomeschoolmoms.com/035-homeschool-basics-101what-is-homeschooling

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Hi and welcome to the Christian Homeschool Moms Podcast.

I'm Demetria, your host, and I hope you enjoyed the last podcast, which was an interview with Sunlight founder Sarita Holtzman.

I considered it an awesome opportunity and it was a whole lot of fun for me to chat with her about the program that I'll be using next year in our homeschool.

So if you're just tuning in for the first time, that was episode number 34.

And if you've tuned into this podcast from your mobile device or itunes or another resource, you can find this podcast also at my website, which is Christina homeschool moms.com just click on podcast in the navigation.

If you found me at the website and would like to subscribe on your mobile device, you can find us in itunes and the link for that is also on the website.

So today's topic is going to be good because many of us are getting ready to start our homeschool journeys again for yet another year.

And coming up in the next few podcasts, we'll focus on Back to School topics.

Today's Back to School topic is Homeschool Basics 101.

I'm going to cover many of the topics that I covered on my YouTube video several months ago, but I'll condense much of that material into this episode.

So if you ever want more in depth material on this, you can subscribe to my YouTube channel.

So today we're going to talk about what is homeschooling?

Who are homeschoolers, advantages of homeschooling, and the big S word socialization.

But first, I also wanted to share a few changes that are happening with Christian Homeschool Moms.

After thinking things through, I recently decided that remaining open to partnerships and sponsorships would be a great help to this podcast.

So I'm excited to announce our most recent sponsor, which is Great Homeschool Conventions, and you'll be hearing about them in each episode in the upcoming weeks and months.

So now you'll hear an offer from our sponsor and then we'll be right back with more.

If your children have ever come to you in tears asking, am I smart?

Or how smart am I?

You're in for a solution for a limited time.

Dr. Kathy Koch is offering her book, How Am I A Parent's Guide to Multiple Intelligences, which assists parents in helping to recognize their child's strengths, intelligences and giftedness.

All this for free if you sign up@greathomeschoolconventions.com this offer lasts until July 31st start.

So hurry.

Sign up today and learn how to tap into your child's multiple intelligences.

For the full URL to this free offer, look for episode number 35 on ChristianHomeschoolMoms.com Next in today's lineup we'll talk about our recent good product find, listener feedback and an upcoming giveaway.

And then we'll move right into our topic, which is Homeschool Basics 101.

So for those who may not know, I've also partnered with Edusense, which is an awesome discount company for educational products.

I've talked about them on this podcast quite a few times and a few weeks ago I received the Rock and learn music CDs and books for states and capitals, rap presidents and US governments and the solar system.

This review will be up on the blog by July 24th, so if you're interested in any of these items, you may want to check out the reviews this week.

So on to listener feedback.

You guys know I absolutely love hearing from you, right?

I was just so excited.

I was pretty excited to see 2 more reviews in itunes so I definitely wanted to share them with you.

And the first one is from Denim's mom and she writes a great homeschool resource.

Thank you so much and praying that you continue this excellent podcast.

Best wishes from the Bahamas.

Thank you so much.

It's awesome to hear from you all the way in the Bahamas and thanks so much for listening and taking time to write a review.

And our second review is from Lovely Lullabies and she says I can't thank you enough for taking your time to inspire and lend other mothers and fathers your knowledge.

It is very self sacrificing and I thank you.

Please continue your podcast.

I look forward to listening to each episode.

I have learned so much.

God bless you for your obedience to the Lord.

Thank you.

Lovely lullabies.

I really appreciate that and I counted a pleasure to offer this podcast.

But even more so, thank you for just tuning in and taking time out to write a review for me.

So you too, along with the others who have left a review will be entered into a raffle for a gift card for either Starbucks, Amazon or itunes.

And anyone else who leaves a review for the Christian Homeschool Moms podcast in itunes by the end of July will also be entered for this giveaway if you so choose.

Alright, so moving on to our topic for the day which is Homeschooling Basics 101 what is homeschooling?

Who are Homeschoolers?

Advantages of Homeschooling and the Big s word socialization.

And I realize these are pretty broad topics.

And again, if you want to get more detail about each of these subtopics, you can subscribe to my YouTube channel.

You can do a quick search for Christian homeschool moms or find me under my previous handle, which is also easy homeschooler.

So for today we'll do a brief overview of homeschooling, what it is, and what it's all about.

Now, many of you listening to this podcast are already homeschooling, and that's why I haven't covered much of the basics here on this podcast.

But due to listener requests, I realized that some parents are in the process of making a homeschool decision and just need a little extra help in deciding for or against.

So I'll be covering more information from that point of view as well.

Well, first of all, I'll just say that this is an extremely loaded question because homeschooling comes in all types of forms.

Home education is essentially though, a type of education that allows a parent to allow their child to be taught in a non traditional way and typically at home, but not always at home.

So if I've already confused you, just remember that this is only hitting the tip of the iceberg when it comes to homeschooling.

It's a pretty big world out there.

For some, homeschooling means purchasing a set of textbooks and teaching their child from these books at home.

For others, it means being free to explore the world, going on field trips, traveling around the country in an rv, or just enjoying daily nature walks.

And even for others, homeschooling may comprise a variety of avenues such as charter schools or online based schools.

Many parents mix and match their child's activities and learning programs to comprise very distinctive and unique educational programs for each child.

In one family, homeschooling may look very traditional or conservative, while in another family it may look quite the opposite.

However, the bottom line is that home education is what each family makes of it, and it is essentially the opportunity to teach your children outside of the realm of either public or private school.

So what should knowing all of this mean to you?

Well, as a current or prospective homeschool parent, it helps to have a vast idea of home education as opposed to a narrow one, so you'll be more open to opportunities and ideas about how to make school happen and how to make learning fun in your home.

If you're looking at a long family friend who's been homeschooling for ages as your only source for ideas about the Possibilities for homeschooling, you may be too restrictive in your search.

If you really just want to glean from other homeschoolers, you're better off getting to know a variety of homeschooling families from a variety of backgrounds so you can have a broader view of what homeschooling could look like.

The reason I think homeschooling is so awesome is that it's the process of learning who your kids are, what makes them tick, what helps them learn, and you're able to hone in on your children's strengths or strengthen their weaknesses by providing specialized materials just for them.

Homeschooling means the possibility of a specialized learning program.

It means the freedom to do their schoolwork from home or on the road flex scheduling.

If they're sick, they don't have to show up at school and trudge through schoolwork just so they won't miss any extra days of school.

I love that homeschoolers typically have extra time to work on hobbies that they're passionate about.

And although my kids are not teens yet, I can already appreciate the time that my 11 year old has to practice piano or violin, or work on an art project, or just lie around and read some good books.

Homeschooling could mean purchasing a curriculum set that has everything you need to teach laid out for you.

Or it could mean pulling together your own unique ideas based on your children's interests and exploring them at your local library, downloading free lesson plans or worksheets online, or even attending local events in your area.

So that is, in a nutshell, what I would say homeschooling is.

Again, there are many definitions for homeschooling because it's such a broad topic.

But you know, like I said, we're only hitting the tip of the iceberg.

And the next question that I wanted to address is who are homeschoolers?

And as I mentioned before, homeschoolers come in many varieties.

What was typical stereotypical for the 80s is not so prevalent today.

Times have really changed and things were definitely different back then.

Homeschooling wasn't so widely accepted back then either.

So many homeschool families were quietly staying under the radar, which made for a drastically different lifestyle than what we see today in our homeschooling mainstream.

And I'm thankful for those families who made it possible for us today, you know, to freely educate our children.

Homeschoolers come in a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds as well as educational backgrounds.

Many homeschoolers have college degrees of some sort, and many many do not, and in the end we find that it really does not matter.

Homeschoolers come from many different cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

Research studies are showing that there are more African American families beginning to home educate, and I'm sure the numbers are increasing for Asian, Hispanic and other ethnicities.

What used to be taboo is fast becoming the norm.

Homeschoolers also come from a variety of faiths and spiritual backgrounds.

Though this blog and podcast is devoted to encouraging the homeschool family of the Christian faith, there are families of a variety of different faiths who have also chosen home education.

So that would be my explanation for who homeschoolers are.

We're as buried as we're varied.

We're different, but the one thing that we have in common is that we have all chosen to take our children's education into our hands and not leave it to someone else.

So now we'll be moving into the advantages of homeschooling.

And before I talk about the advantages, I might want to briefly mention that there will always be cons along with the pros.

And there is a downside to everything.

Homeschooling is not an exception.

It's not necessarily a walk in the park.

But when I stack the cons against some of my other options, homeschooling wins hands down for me, at least in this season in my life.

So onto advantages.

As I stated earlier, kids have more time available to pursue their own interests and hobbies.

There's typically no homework since schoolwork tends to be to get done during school hours.

So that gives them time where they could even start a business or a non profit or just get involved with things that they wouldn't otherwise have.

The opportunities to homeschool students have more time to develop their true character without conflicting and harmful relationships and friendships.

And I'll get more into friendships and social socialization in a few moments because homeschool students are more focused on the content they are learning without classroom interruptions of 30 plus K kids.

And because of the one on one attention and low teacher to student ratio, homeschool students tend to learn their material at a faster pace and retain more knowledge.

And this leads to higher test scores of course, which is just a nice side benefit.

And lastly, I am going to cover the big S word which is Drumroll please.

Socialization.

And at this point I'm really not sure why socialization is even a question.

To be perfectly honest, I believe lived in a town where kid classes at the gym had to be considered on a pure basis of homeschooling families knocking on doors and requesting classes during what would be normal school hours.

So socialization happens and homeschool parents make it happen.

From the variety of homeschool co op classes, play dates for younger kids, park days, field trips, and specialty classes like ballet or soccer or gymnastics, most homeschoolers today can't afford not to socialize again.

That's just another stereotype based on perhaps the beginning era of homeschooling in the US when it used to be illegal ages ago.

Today, though, it's simply not the case and no one is hiding out in their garage or tucking their kids away from society.

Homeschoolers are involved in society, and because we're involved, we're extremely socialized.

So I think that about covers it.

And next week's topic will be part 22 of this series and we'll cover more info about the basics of homeschooling, from starting up your homeschool legally in your state to choosing curriculum.

So stay tuned for that.

And thank you so much for listening to the podcast again.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please leave a review and a rating for me in itunes.

And that's all for now.

Until next time.

Bye bye.