Why do you homeschool? How do you do it? Isn’t it difficult? I could never teach my children. I don’t have the patience. My kids would never listen to me. But you don’t have a teaching degree. You’re not certified to teach in your state.

Yeah – I’ve heard all this and more. It’s been an uphill battle since we announced (well…we never came out and said “Hey you guys, we’re going to homeschool the kids!) that we were NOT sending the boys to preschool or any public/private schools.

You don’t know what you’re doing. You haven’t taken classes or gotten any certifications to be able to teach your kids. What do you know about early childhood learning? Your kids are going to be behind!

The pushback has been intense, to say the least. I really didn’t do any REAL schoolwork until this past year, when Mr Man turned 6. We focused on play, catering to his interests (lots of books about dinosaurs, trucks, and pirates over the past few years were read here!), and just enjoyed ourselves. He has known his letters and numbers, but we haven’t worked on him learning to read until now. And he is still fighting it.

Audiobooks have been our saving grace. I picked up “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” from a friends of the library book sale last fall, and the boys have just LOVED it. Once I saw how much they enjoy listening to the story, we started listening to “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” and we got through 7 books before switching to the Chronicles of Narnia. I just started “The Horse and His Boy” on Friday.

I’ve never been a fan of graphic novels, but seeing how much Mr Man enjoys watching The Tuttle Twins on Angel, I picked up Season 1 for him. He got Season 2 for Christmas, and both he and Bug will pick out a book, choose the episode, and sit on the couch turning the pages as the show plays. Mr Man is now starting to grab a book when it’s not tv time, and is beginning to put the words together with what is being said on the page. Yes, it’s more memorization and recitation, but in all honesty…that’s how I learned how to read.

My first book was “Goldilocks and the 3 Bears;” my mother had read it to me over and over and over, until I memorized it. Then I picked the book up and started reciting it. I eventually put 2 and 2 together and figured out what the words on the page were. That was the start of my reading career (which is still going quite swimmingly, if you’ve noticed all the reviews I’ve been posting this year!).

This year, we are using the Classical Conversations Curriculum. I really enjoy it because it has a plan for each of the 24 weeks. We get together almost every Thursday for Community Day, where Mr Man meets with a tutor and several other kiddos his age to go over the material for the week. At first, I tried to be in the room with him, leaving Bug in the Nursery with the other littles, but Bug did NOT like that. Then I brought Bug with me to the room, but he was such a distraction. Now, he and I hang out in the nursery with all the littles, helping out the teenage girl we’ve brought in to watch them, and Mr Man is in the room with his tutor. I would love to be more active with Mr Man’s group, but it’s just not in the cards right now. The good thing is, 18 weeks in, Bug is now more comfortable in the nursery and I’ve been able to escape for a few minutes at a time the past few weeks.

What I love the most about this program, is that Bug is able to learn along with Mr Man.

When we sit at the kitchen table to do our memory work, Bug is right there, reciting along with his big brother. He’s not quite understanding of the maps, but it’s something we can work on when he’s a bit bigger.

I take care of our religious education, supplementing it with Mr Man attending catechism weekly, and a family program at our Church once a month. It consists of watching Mass each morning (attending in person Wednesdays at the school Mass), reading from the Bible (Classical Conversations has suggested Bible verses to read; this year it’s Exodus “The 10 Commandments”), and doing pages from the Family of Faith books. Yes, Classical Conversations is Christian, with a focus on God, but it is important to us that the boys receive a Catholic Education as well (plus, Mr Man will be making his 1st Communion next year – I’ve picked up the Boston Catechism for him!).

In addition to this, we still go to the library weekly. The awesome librarian has been collecting books for us. Classical Conversations gives a suggested reading list, which I then broke down into the various weeks and brought to the library. Each week, I have a stack of books ready to pick up and read through. Granted, some of the books are way over Mr Man’s reading and comprehension levels, but I will go through them and pick out the important stuff that he’ll understand. Mr Man also gets to pick out whatever books he wants, and I’ll grab books that cover whatever holiday or major event is coming up. For example, for the Inauguration, I found some packets that covered it all, printed them, and then I picked up books on the President, what the role is, etc.

This is how we do things. I’ve found so many packets and workbooks just by searching for “topic homeschool printable.” You never know what you’ll find out there. Some are free, some you have to pay for. And the best part is – YOU get to decide which will work for your family.

I love being able to tailor my children’s learning experience. There is nothing like it.

And yes, there are some days where I cry, and we don’t get much done.

It’s exhausting. The boys don’t always listen, or they break down and fight with me because Mr Man doesn’t want to work on his handwriting or do his memory work. But it’s so worth it.

If homeschooling is something you’re considering, I really suggest you try it out. After all – if you can teach your children how to walk, talk, and use the toilet, you can teach them to read, do math, and be successful in life.