We want you to know, however you ended up here, that our heart goes out to you. Needing to change your educational path for any reason is a challenge, but especially when you’re thrust into it quickly and suddenly.  

Even more overwhelming than the educational change is the fact that you’re having to adjust to a new “normal” that may have your whole world turned upside down.  

Whether your family has just lost your home to a natural disaster, whether you’re facing the unexpected loss of a family member, a challenging diagnosis, an intense bullying situation, a chronic disease, or anything in between, we want you to know that we’re here to walk with you through this. 

Here are 5 steps that you can take that provide some clarity in the midst of all this confusion. 

1. Understand your legal situation

The most important thing for you to decide as a family is whether you want your children to remain enrolled in public school and do school at home in accordance with public school policy, or whether you want to transition to homeschooling. 

There are legitimate reasons for either choice—you can evaluate which is best for your family. 

As we’ll discuss in the rest of this article, homeschooling comes with a level of flexibility and freedom that can be very helpful for children and families in crisis response. We encourage you to keep reading to see if homeschooling could be a good fit for your family, even if just for a short time.  

Please note that just because you transition to homeschooling now doesn’t mean you have to keep homeschooling. Perhaps this is just an adjustment you need to make for the remainder of this year as a short-term solution. That is entirely permissible! 

If you decide to start homeschooling, we recommend you formally withdraw your children from public school and submit any documents required under state law to homeschool. You can learn more about what that looks like by clicking on your state here. 

PLEASE NOTE: 

The rest of these steps depend heavily on your state’s homeschool law, so we recommend familiarizing yourself with your state’s requirements. If you have any questions about your situation or your state’s laws, consider becoming an HSLDA member so you can call our legal team at any time. 

2. Take a breather 

This is where you can embrace the freedom that homeschooling offers.  

You have complete permission to take a breather. Take the pressure off, and don’t worry about figuring out a school plan immediately.  

Take time to really prioritize healing, growing, and spending time together as a family. The most important thing is that you and your kids are okay—physically, mentally, and emotionally. Focus on what matters most. Sleep in. Eat meals together. Spend time together. 

Even if it doesn’t feel like it, you’re doing a great job raising your children in the midst of all this difficulty. 

Some ideas for this season

Taking things slow can look different each day, depending on how you’re doing. Some days will just be triage—that’s perfectly okay. Other days, you might have enough energy to do something simple. Here are some ideas: 

  • Have a movie marathon 
  • Do a simple craft 
  • Spend time with community  
  • Plan a playdate with another family 
  • Play board games  
  • Read books together 
  • Go to the local library 
  • Bake cookies 
  • Take a walk 

You can choose whatever fits your family best! 

Also take time for you, and process everything that’s going on. It may feel impossible, but there are little ways that you can take care of yourself. Here’s an encouraging blog post with a few simple ideas. Reach out for help and get support where you need it. 

If you have any questions about how this all fits within your state’s homeschool laws, consider becoming an HSLDA member so you can speak to a member of our legal team who would love to help you.  

3. Try to get into a simple rhythm 

Once you begin to feel like there is a little more stability in your life, it can be a good idea to get into a simple rhythm.  

A rhythm is more flexible than a routine, and much more flexible than a schedule. It’s just about adding a few predictable things back into your day (or your week) for some added stability.  

For example, a daily rhythm can be as simple as knowing these three things about your day: 

  • Eat breakfast in the morning and then have free time (kids play while you do paperwork) 
  • Eat lunch together and then do something outside of the house in the afternoon 
  • Eat dinner and then watch a movie to unwind 

If you’re feeling ready to add more into your day, you may want to check out our article on schedules vs routines and which would work best for your family. 

Once your family feels ready to introduce casual learning, move on to step four. 

4. Keep learning simple and fun

This step depends a lot on the ages of your kids and the state that you live in. 

Check whether your state requires you to cover certain subjects, meet certain hours of instruction, or keep certain records. (If you have questions about how these requirements could affect your transition to homeschooling, we recommend that you contact HSLDA.) 

Assuming it works with your state’s law, these first few weeks can just be focused on reintroducing the core subjects (math, reading, and writing) for K-6 grade. If you have middle/high school students, we recommend incorporating a few other subjects like science and history.

You can build on this foundation as you go, but “less is more” in this early stage of finding your footing after crisis. 

Q: WHERE DO I FIND CURRICULUM? 

This is a great question! You get to pick your own curriculum as a homeschool family. If you need help finding curriculum, you can explore all of these free/inexpensive curriculum options or read this article about finding curriculum. 

Learning can be simple and fun in this season. It doesn’t need to take hours of your day—a few hours is sufficient, especially for younger kids. Also, rest assured that so much learning happens through simple activities like: 

  • Lots of reading (for example, find books at the library that align with your kids’ interests!) 
  • Field trips 
  • Games (apps, board games, etc.) 
  • Educational movies or documentaries 
  • Hands-on activities (knitting, Legos, coloring, painting, etc.) 

5. Look down the road to the future

You’re doing amazing things! 

The last part of finding your footing is to look down the road to the future. Our Starting Strong page has lots of resources to help you gain confidence.  

Here are some specific articles to help you on your way: 

It’s also a great idea to plug into a local homeschool group to get support. Click here to learn more about homeschool groups and find one near you!