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As someone who was homeschooled through 6th grade and then private schooled and considering homeschool for early elementary (I have a 4 year old) I would say my

As someone who was homeschooled through 6th grade and then private schooled and considering homeschool for early elementary (I have a 4 year old) I would say my main concern is actually in my wife's ability to maintain a parent/teacher balance right now. What I mean by this is simply wearing two hats in the household is a tricky business and can be overwhelming especially when our young students have younger siblings that must be cared for. I have enormous respect for my wife but handling these responsibilities is no easy feat! Of course my kids are very young. I have other concerns beyond elementary, mostly around an increasing need for expertise in sciences/math and properly rigorous testing ensuring mastery over subjects without access to a realistic grade curve. My personal experience was very good but a bit unrealistic - I was taught to read by my mom who has taught kindergarten for decades. Not everyone has a professional educator as their homeschool teacher!

actfrench 4y ago
That’s a really interesting point. I imagine this could be a similar issue for stay-at-home moms who wear so many hats.
troupe 4y ago
There are a number of curriculums designed to help when you have multiple kids. It is challenging, but amazing to see how well it can work. Regarding expertise in particular areas, there are many options for that including taking a few online classes for particular subjects. If you think working through Algebra II might be a bit challenging, find an awesome teacher teaching an online class for it and sign them up. You can still help them study, bit it gives your child some interaction with another teacher (and in the better online classes) other students. While I'm sure you mom had a lot of experience she brought to the table, it isn't uncommon to have kids reading at 3 or 4 taught by parents who didn't have a background in education and simply did some research to find the best way to do it. True it might be harder than it was for your mom, but it isn't like a parent has to just guess. There are plenty of people like your mom making information available about what seems to work and what doesn't so you can find the best thing for your kids.
potatosalad1 4y ago
Does your wife have an education background too? If not, why not take on the teaching yourself if homeschooling is important to you?
actfrench 4y ago
Thank you again for sharing these questions about me about wearing two hats in the family and the parent/teacher balance. I thought about what you said quite a bit and wrote a blog about why I feel that parents are the best teachers for their child. We are teaching our kids many "non-academic" skills all the time but don't see that as stepping into a specific role. I don't think that this needs to be the case either in homeschooling. I've also included some resources which I think will address your concerns about expertise in certain speciality areas like math/science. I didn't directly address assessment here, but there are some great ones you can use such as mobymax, cogat and others - as well as mastery-based digital learning apps that have built in assessment. Here is the blog: https://www.modulo.app/all-resources/parentsarethebestteachers https://www.modulo.app/all-resources/parentsarethebestteache...

actfrench 4y ago

That’s a really interesting point. I imagine this could be a similar issue for stay-at-home moms who wear so many hats.

troupe 4y ago

There are a number of curriculums designed to help when you have multiple kids. It is challenging, but amazing to see how well it can work. Regarding expertise in particular areas, there are many options for that including taking a few online classes for particular subjects. If you think working through Algebra II might be a bit challenging, find an awesome teacher teaching an online class for it and sign them up. You can still help them study, bit it gives your child some interaction with another teacher (and in the better online classes) other students. While I'm sure you mom had a lot of experience she brought to the table, it isn't uncommon to have kids reading at 3 or 4 taught by parents who didn't have a background in education and simply did some research to find the best way to do it. True it might be harder than it was for your mom, but it isn't like a parent has to just guess. There are plenty of people like your mom making information available about what seems to work and what doesn't so you can find the best thing for your kids.

potatosalad1 4y ago

Does your wife have an education background too? If not, why not take on the teaching yourself if homeschooling is important to you?

actfrench 4y ago

Thank you again for sharing these questions about me about wearing two hats in the family and the parent/teacher balance. I thought about what you said quite a bit and wrote a blog about why I feel that parents are the best teachers for their child. We are teaching our kids many "non-academic" skills all the time but don't see that as stepping into a specific role. I don't think that this needs to be the case either in homeschooling. I've also included some resources which I think will address your concerns about expertise in certain speciality areas like math/science. I didn't directly address assessment here, but there are some great ones you can use such as mobymax, cogat and others - as well as mastery-based digital learning apps that have built in assessment. Here is the blog: https://www.modulo.app/all-resources/parentsarethebestteachers https://www.modulo.app/all-resources/parentsarethebestteache...