Now is NOT the time to start homeschooling!

With everything that has been happening with the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of things have changed. Many people are self-isolating and trying to flatten the curve and most places are closed.

In Ontario, every school is currently closed. That means that thousands of parents are now suddenly trying to “homeschool” their children. Within hours of the government announcing the schools would be closing for several weeks (at least), there were tons of “quarantine schedules”, grade-level worksheet packages and curriculum books popping up online. Parents were suddenly filling forums with the question “how do I start homeschooling?”

Well, we are two teachers and we have been homeschooling our children for a few years now. We have heard this question before. In fact, we even wrote a book about it! But this time it was different. The tone was different. There is stress, fear and apprehension. Parents were panicking with suddenly being left in charge of their children’s education with little warning.

We thought we could step in and give parents some practical advice during this pandemic.

Now is NOT the time to start homeschooling.

There are so many reasons why right now is not the best time to start homeschooling your children, despite the hundreds of worksheet packages, workbooks, and schedules that have become available.

Here are a few reasons why you shouldn’t start homeschooling right now.

This is Not Homeschooling

Despite the word “home” in the title, homeschooling doesn’t really just take place at home. We go to playgroups, church, visit friends, the library, gymnastics, and the science centre. We aren’t actually home most days. We’re out living and learning in the world. Since everything is closed right now to try to control the spread of the virus, things are out of the norm for us, too. Our kids have asked, “When do we get to see our friends?” just as often as other kids.

Everyone is Stressed

Right now, many parents are stressed out. Many are suddenly working from home, laid off or working extra shifts because of the pandemic. People are worried about how to pay the bills, where to find toilet paper and how to do all that with kids who aren’t supposed to leave the house. That’s a lot of stress.

And the kids are stressed, too.

Many have lost trips, competitions, teams. They have lost their proms, graduation celebrations, birthday parties. Their entire routine has been thrown under the bus. And they can’t see their friends. They are stressed, too.

All this stress means that now is not a great time to add in a new change and an added challenge into your home dynamic. Because, when you start homeschooling, there is a change in the relationship. You are no longer just their parent. You are the teacher, too. It’s not a bad change, but it is a change. And considering how many changes are happening right now, this might not be the best time to add homeschooling to the list of changes.

School at Home Isn’t Homeschooling

A lot of schedules and curriculum bundles have come out in light of the school closures. Many suggest a strict time-based schedule similar to a school schedule. It might surprise you that while most homeschoolers start with a “school at home” model, they quickly abandon it for many reasons. Kids can accomplish much more, in less time at home. Being at home also allows kids to reclaim their time. They can get lost in a project or follow a rabbit trail, really getting to dive deep into learning in a way they can’t in school. Now is a great time to let kids explore, try something new and get creative.

If you are a person like me, we thrive on a routine, but not a strict schedule. We stick to specific mealtimes, a quiet time after lunch and the same bedtime every night. But otherwise, our day shifts and changes depending on what we want or need to do that day. Make small goals for your day, but don’t try to stick to a strict schedule. You’ll drive the kids crazy and they will rebel.

Boredom Isn’t Bad

If you are worried about boredom, don’t. Your first few days might be rough. Many kids have had their days scheduled for them. Without being told what to do, they may struggle with how to use their time. That’s okay.

They will find something to fill their time. This is how kids find their passions and what they are really interested in.

If they mope and complain about being bored, there’s always something that needs dusting and laundry that needs folding. Either they’ll quickly find something to do, or you’ll get your house cleaned. It’s really a win-win situation.

Boredom is good in the way that it can lead to creativity. Having time to be with our thoughts is like a key that opens up the creative potential of the brain.

Don’t Worry About Not Being Caught Up

Many parents are worried that their children will fall behind if they aren’t homeschooling them every single day. That’s simply not true. If the whole world is standing still, no one is moving ahead.

As teachers, we recognize that not every child has the same opportunities. They don’t all have access to the Internet, cable, computers, and parents at home all day long to help them out. Some older kids are babysitting while their parents work. That means that a lot of kids won’t have access to everything that’s being offered (even the online learning portal from the Ontario government). Your child’s teacher will adjust things when school starts again. They won’t expect all the kids to just jump back into class as if it never ended.

Maybe you are using this time to focus on life-skills, the arts, and health. Just because you might not be doing academic learning, doesn’t mean that your child isn’t learning cool or important things.

So if You Shouldn’t be Homeschooling, What Can You be Doing?

First off, we suggest you focus on your family’s physical and mental health. Do what you need to do to take care of that. At a certain level, this is survival mode for everyone. Do what you need to do to survive. And, your children will survive without workbooks and academics.

Secondly, live life with your kids. We have a strange opportunity to teach our kids things that they’ll never learn in the classroom. Cook and bake with them. Read them your favourite stories, or listen to them as audiobooks. Teach them how to change the oil in a car, or how to plant a garden. Dive into a new skill or hobby. Maybe they want to learn about coding, painting, or video game design. Let them write a storybook. Let them learn about what they want to learn.

Take advantage of some of the awesome free stuff that has become available (we’re not talking about worksheets). With this pandemic, suddenly there are hundreds of free zoo and aquarium tours, concerts, and art gallery tours. Celebrities are reading stories online, and musicians are teaching amazing classes. Some YouTubers are even changing course, to offer awesome seminars on their favourite subjects for kids. Take an evening or afternoon and explores some of these awesome freebies.

COVID-19 has thrown our world into chaos for a while. It’s going to be a weird, stressful time for all of us. Let’s not add more stress by trying to homeschool when we don’t need too.