how we started homeschooling in 2013

Earlie Girlie Homeschool Author: Cheryl S.

Most new homeschoolers begin by feeling excited, nervous, and wondering where to start. 

I started with the basic questions.

Who do you want to learn about? 

What interests you, inspires you?

Where would you like to go?

When do we study? Is the present, past, or future on your mind? 

Which skills and strategies will help you succeed? 

How does homeschooling work? How will it work for us?

As we watched the 2013 Winter Olympics,  Earlie Girlie was recovering from yet another respiratory illness picked up in school. It was all over the news: "Swiss snowboarder Iouri Podladtchikov (I-Pod) shocked the world when he won the Gold Metal for the halfpipe and landed his trademark YOLO flip." You only live once, so what are you going to do? That thought resonated with me. What were we going to do? Recover, and then send her back again, only to return home, sick and gasping for air?

I began to see parallels. Earlie Girlie trained like an Olympian athlete. In her case, it was to overcome the physical challenges of extreme prematurity and layers of complications. As an airway patient, I watched her wean from a ventilator one minute at a time, until she could breathe on her own. It took about 3 years to be fully self-sufficient. Illness could rob her of that progress very quickly. Earlie Girlie had defied what the body is typically capable of, and stumped the medical world by her resilience. It would take the persistence of an Olympian athlete for her to achieve any academic success. The initial scores were not good. Even with an IEP at school, she was struggling to keep up physically, emotionally, or academically. Socially, she loved being there with other children, and had made friends. That was the only drawback to homeschool, at a time when that was rare. I didn't know any homeschoolers, and when I asked around? No one in my district was homeschooling a special education student. There were five of us total. 

Of course, many people asked how I would accomplish teaching her at home successfully. I'm not a certified teacher. My background is in art therapy, play therapy, and counseling. I tutored all of my life, in every private school I attended. Developing academic enrichment and social-emotional learning programs was the focus of my career at that time. I'd won grants and pioneered programs in few districts. I had 1:1 experience and group experience as an art and play therapist, working with children grades 3-6 mostly. I'd never taught K-2. I barely remembered how I learned at that age. That was probably my biggest learning curve - to discover how people taught younger children. Especially if they have neurodiverse learning support needs. What I did was read the law, and assured them that I have more than a high school diploma. Surely, a double Masters degree and some experience would be enough of a start? I'm amazed at how many people doubted I could do it - which is fair enough - but it only made me more determined to try. I looked at the Olympian snowboarders and thought: that's exactly what others said about them. Homeschool won't be as difficult as doing any of that. Academic acrobatics is something I could do - it's not like I'm setting out to teach her how to flip mid-air on a snowboard. Difficulty is relative.

By collaborating with our school district, our local support systems, and online communities, we hoped to educate her in the best way we can. For the first three years, we did a combination of dual enrollment. I homeschooled for part of the year. Then, we plunged into homeschooling full-time, and never went backwards. Every year, we review pros and cons of continuing homeschool. It's a choice.

Everyone deserves a chance to enjoy the world we live in. I believe that learning is part of that joy.  

Homeschool To Do List:

Earlie Girlie Homeschool Author: Cheryl S.

My initial "To Do" list:

1. Speak with school coordinators. 

2. Review Legal & State Requirements. 

3. Update Medical, Dental & Immunization Records. 

4. Write Educational Objectives.

5. Get Affidavit and Attachments Notarized.

6. Submit everything to school coordinator.

I met with the principal, Director of Pupil Services, Special Education Director, IEP team members, and a homeschool evaluator. Together, we reviewed my withdrawal from the district, NO-REP forms, discontinuing of all IEP services (Speech, OT, PT). We reviewed the affidavit, student health information, educational objectives, and homeschool portfolio requirements, including attendance, reading log, and Grade 3 Standardized Testing of my choice. The special education teacher offered to proctor the PASA in the spring (rather than the PSSA, it's Pennsylvania's Alternative System of Assessment).

Everyone wants their homeschool to run smoothly. The paperwork seems confusing the first time you do it. The law is rather simple - which doesn't feel "correct". Even school districts do not always know the process. 

Other To Do List:

1. Seriously wonder about my capability to homeschool.

If Earlie Girlie is an enigma for teaching professionals, how am I going to do this - with no teaching degree. A self-doubt battle begins. My close friends assure me that I'll be great. State Law says that if I'm a non-criminal parent with a high school diploma, I'm qualified to teach my own child. So I lowered the unattainable bar I have raised for myself.  It's not Harvard. It's just homeschool.

2. Feel immediately overwhelmed by the long list of National & State Academic Standards. Wonder if it is sane for any one person to try to meet the goals. Write Thank You notes to all teachers; their jobs are impossible.

3. Curriculum research. Earlie Girlie dislikes worksheets and resists all adult-lead learning activities. This narrows it down to...uh...

4. Cyberschool? My learner won't sit still long enough. Online education is not engaging enough. She wants to go outside, into the glittering snow. We enjoy sled-riding and talk about the Olympics. No, we don't have a halfpipe. She gets upset because I "won't even try" to construct one. My fear of head injuries and broken bones overrides expensive backyard construction. Brainstorming involves an editing process. It involves thinking logically to apply creative ideas. We compromise by making a halfpipe for toys. Win-win.

5. Explore teaching philosophies & modalities. I search Homeschooling and Unschooling blogs. Montessori and Pinterest saves me from panic. There are lots of ways to instruct and learn! She deletes several things from my Pinboard and asks to look up cakes. Wow! We pick out a dairy free crazy cake to make from sweet little bluejay. (No one can study while hungry.) It turns out amazing, and we learn acid and base reactions with baking soda and vinegar - in a cake! Move over messy volcano, we have spice cake!

6. Post a social media announcement that I will be homeschooling. Hope for help & brace myself for feedback. This ensures that every teacher in my network will offer suggestions and condolences. They like teaching, but they like having their own children in school, very much. I'm throwing away the luxury of having free time while other people teach my kid, and may live to regret it.

7. Wonder if YouTube is a viable teaching tool. My learner is sitting next to me on an iPad, finding all kinds of things she likes - music, documentaries, kids shows. She follows a ukulele tutorial by a 10-year-old girl. I follow a tutorial on how to tune all of our instruments. Okay YouTube, you taught us some things.

8. Portfolio. I ask the school district if setting up a website to log everything will count as a portfolio. (At that time, our district had to review and approve the portfolio because I didn't have another special ed option.) They love the concept! This will help me blog our experiences, help me organize ideas, and stay connected with her former classmates. Maybe she can do some distance learning with other children? 

9. Make my own list of Educational Objectives that surpasses the state academic standards, making an even longer list of things to do. 

10. Realize that I'm spending more time researching what to do than actually doing anything in particular. Teachable moments could be happening right now, but I'm typing.

If you're still reading, it's time to stop & go do something!

***

what is it like to HOMESCHOOL?

I felt the same way most parents felt when beginning to homeschool. I was excited by the opportunity, but had so many unknowns to sort through.

The paperwork seemed overwhelming.

It was not clear what Educational Objectives should look like for special education, and no one knew what to advise. So, I made up my own list, and was told I would be doing a great job, and not to worry.

I wanted confirmation that they received my Affidavit, so I co-wrote a letter the district sent out at the beginning and end of the homeschool year. Everything ran very smoothing with them, and they were happy to welcome Earlie Girlie and I to assemblies, field trips, and social events. She was still a part of the community, even though we were no longer a part of that particular school building.

From 2013 to 2019, homeschooling was not a common option in my area. Some of her peers seemed curious - and expressed jealousy - about our school days at home. Many second graders loved the idea of spending more time with their parents, making foods and doing projects that were fun. However, they didn't get the chance until the pandemic lockdown happened in 2020.

In March of 2020 - suddenly - every parent of a school-aged child became a homeschooler.

Around the country, and on social media, I saw everything change.

Hybrid learning and swift, unexpected change brought everyone to tears. For us? It didn't impact her education that much, since we were already used to our own routine. We kept learning and moving forward. We were exempted from portfolio review and standardized testing for that year, so we took a break to watch the news, and paused a bit. We made comic books about the pandemic: "Senior Squad". We assured people that you can learn together at home - you just need to think outside of the box a bit!

***

How homeschooling + work

inspired each other

By 2020, I had won 10 "innovative program" awards for academic enrichment programming. The nonprofit I work with had expanded work to dozens of schools, thousands of students, and to our biggest district. We were running programs all year round, and I was designing them and coaching creative therapists and teachers. My work with more children K-12 gave me insight into the systems of schools, and how they were eroding or boosting student self-esteem, critical thinking, creativity, and social experience. By 2020, my team had won three National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards, as the Top Ten in the nation for best programming. It is the top award in the country, and our small team had won three times.  If I could write curriculum schools would buy? Why wouldn't I be able to make up curriculum for my own child? So, I did. It made sense with my skillset that I would develop is as we went along, and I kept feeling inspired by the changing academic landscape.

Part of my work was addressing a gap in shelter programs, where the staff and I worked with children, but not parents. I was piloting a Parent-Child Guidance program when lockdown happened, pausing all of our in-person programs. Like everyone else, we struggled to stay connected. We used Skype, Zoom, Microsoft Teams. We ran hybrid programs with schools and shelters. Many focused on a return to in-person services.

I did not. I became a fully remote, work from home office consultant. So did my partner. Both working from home and schooling at home felt like an amazing luxury. We loved it! None of us wanted to return to job sites, commute, and be apart again. So, we created two home offices, a nice homeschool space. We share all meals and get more time as a family, and 1:1 with each other. 

***

2020 and Beyond

After the pandemic lockdown, there was a dramatic shift in what homeschooling could mean for the next generation. Having a taste of remote work, and online courses inspired me to brainstorm a new model for coaching home educators. My entire instruction was: "Have fun, and let us know how she's doing!" I would have loved to have the support of an experienced homeschooler back when I started. While I love working as a writer, I missed doing workshops. I missed coaching. That's lead to my new project, which is combining the years of experience I have in therapy and education - and homeschooling - to help parents build confidence, gain clarity, and create the homeschool of their dreams. 

Every day, I see more parents online, searching for answers to

"How do I homeschool?"

It's why I have continued this work, and continued to share my experiences. Creative problem-solving has been the key enjoying my career and homeschooling. I've built 14 innovative programs (4 more during the pandemic). Why not expand that to home education? There are so many ways to homeschool! It's been one of the most amazing experiences of my life.