Things I Don't Do as a Homeschool Mom

No two homeschooling families are the same. Homeschooling is very personal and differs for each family. We have been homeschooling for more than 10 years and our homeschooling has changed a lot. We continue to change and adapt depending on the needs of our family. This 2024, here are the things I don't do as a homeschool mom.

Bring the School at Home

In the traditional school set-up, there's a fixed schedule and most of the learning is relied upon the teacher.

In our family, we do not have a fixed schedule for homeschool down to the minute. I know a lot of families can vouch that a routine or schedule works best for kids, but recently for our family it just doesn't work. We had schedules before but since I work from home and there will be times that we need to skip homeschool for a day, a more flexible schedule is best.

In addition, we try our best to teach our kids to be independent learners. And we, as parents, are facilitators of their learning.

We Don't Record Everything

Since the kids learn anytime and anywhere, we only record some things that we do. This means we do not take photos, or videos, or write down the grades for ALL their activities, including recitation. If the kids join activities online or in-person with other groups or companies, we are just happy if they can hand out certificates. If not, that's not a big deal.

We believe that we know best if our kids are learning or not and we do not need to have all the "proof" that the world needs to accept that they were educated.

Morning Basket

Another thing that we no longer do at home is morning routines. Morning routines would usually include read-alouds, Bible study, or any activity done as a group.

Since we do most of our homeschool work in the afternoon, our mornings are mostly used for play and chores.

Previously, we joined flag ceremonies of the barangay in our area when we could still hear it from the barangay's loudspeakers. Now that we no longer hear it, we don't do flag ceremonies anymore. 

Who knows, probably in the future, we might have morning schedules again.

Homeschool Coop

Another thing that we do not do as a homeschooling family is that we do not have a homeschool coop. We have friends from the homeschooling family however I prefer not to commit to a homeschool coop that meets regularly. When the kids were younger, we met with homeschool families probably 1-2x a year only. I had a baby, a toddler, and lower lower-level elementary student back then. After the pandemic, we continued to choose not to commit to regular meet-ups since I work from home. 

This is what our homeschool looks like at the moment. For sure this would change as how our family dynamics would change in the future.