I wrote the following to a friend of a friend of mine. Their family is new to homeschooling. The pandemic cracked open the door to the possibility but after facing struggles with their current educational arrangement, they decided to start seriously investigating it. My friend graciously refers to me as a “homeschooling guru.” I’m honored to have the recognition.
Perhaps you’re in the same boat – new to homeschooling, trying to navigate uncharted territory. This is kind of like my crash course on jumping into homeschooling in WA state. I hope the advice below helps. Take what appeals to you and leave the rest. And if you have questions, let me know!
My background: I am qualified by the state of Washington to teach my children. Read more on what qualifies you here. I have been teaching the kids at home for over four years now. They have never been to public school. I have an 8 year old and 6 year old. This fall will be our first year “officially” homeschooling in Washington state – meaning we’ve submitted a letter of intent to the school district to homeschool our 8 year old.
I’ve really enjoyed the whole process of homeschooling– especially figuring out what works for the kids. And there is so much learning that can be done outside a workbook or classroom. They have really thrived. My son is technically going into first grade (by his age) and he’s already reading at a second grade level and knows many third grade math principles. Not that it really matters – what’s important to us is that he’s enjoys learning.
There are a bunch of resources out there to navigate. I’m going to share some links that hopefully will help.
Start here: Washington Homeschool Organization
Just getting started can be *super* overwhelming as there is a lot of information (some of it misleading) out there.
I highly recommend checking out the Washington Homeschool Organization website as it gets into the legal stuff concerning homeschool in WA state. Their Facebook page is also super helpful.
Ask yourself a few questions
- Why do you want to homeschool?
- What’s your philosophy on education?
- What are your children’s learning styles?
- What are your learning styles?
The answers will help, trust me.
This was a for-fun quiz I took to give me a better idea of what homeschool philosophy to look into first.
Also, it helped to figure out what kind of learner the kids (and myself) were: Auditory? Visual? Kinesthetic? There are other online tests you can answer and find out a general idea.
Parent Partnership Programs (Alternative Learning Experience)
I looked into a local parent partnership program (alternative learning experience) but decided it wasn’t a fit for our family. With ALE’s the kids are still technically enrolled in public school and subject to the standards and assessments, etc. that come with it. We wanted more flexibility with the kid’s learning and wanted to chart our own path.
Curriculum ideas
There are so many directions you can go with home-based instruction (independent homeschoolers). I did some research and found an all-in-one curriculum (Oak Meadow) that we’ve dabbled with over the last few years.
I supplement with other curriculum, classes, deep-dive studies and other fun things based on what the kids are into.
Extra curriculars (yes, we socialize!)
We’ve been able to network with our homeschool families in the area and participate in a wide variety of activities: library book clubs, ballet classes, forest school, art classes, etc. The pandemic has sidelined many of these for us but we’re keeping on with virtual workshops, virtual playdates and lots of outside time.
Many great Seattle-centric resources here too.
King County Library System has fun free online workshops (arts and nature journaling) that we’ve taken advantage of:
I have found a lot of inspiration and insight on child-led learning with The Brave Learner by Julie Bogart. (Affliate link)
I also recently signed up for the Dart language arts program for my kids. (costs $)
Exploring Nature with Children – nature based curriculum (costs $)
Torchlight (we have friends who use this and love it)
We use a lot of online resources from PBS LearningMedia https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/
and Education.com
If phases progress and we can have in-person classes again:
I’ve hear about homeschool classes offered through Loyal Heights Community Center often (this is too far for us so we haven’t taken any):
Nature school programs:
Heartwood Nature Programs (formerly Camp Roots) is an outdoor forest school located in Saint Edward State Park (Kenmore, WA).
When the program was Camp Roots, we participated in the “Family Roots” class (i.e. parent/child together in class) and it was so great! They also have drop-off options.
We have looked into this but haven’t pursued. At the time, the local group in our area consisted of kids who were much younger. But we liked Camp Roots.
Help for families with special needs kids
Washington Homeschool Organization has a small section on their website with articles and resources: https://washhomeschool.org/homeschooling-special-needs-kids/
What questions do you have? Drop a comment below or reach out to me on social media.
Related articles:
I wrote this post last year (pre-pandemic) as a prompt for new families (and experienced ones, too). Advice to a Beginning Homeschooler
Great exercise to revisit every year: How to Write a Homeschool Mission Statement
