How to homeschool Archives

Does Your Child Struggle to Learn From You?

Does your child struggle to learn from you? They appear to have no issue learning from anyone else, but they shut off the second you pick up a book and try to teach them. Why is that? In Episode One of The Schoolio Live Q & A, Sathish Bala, CEO of Schoolio Learning, shares that his daughter said, “I can’t learn from you.” When he attempted to teach her during the beginning of the pandemic.

He was being fired from teaching his child.

Sathish shared that he felt he was being fired from teaching his child. He then realized that so much of what he was trying to teach his daughter wasn’t his; it was his dad’s blueprint. Sathish wasn’t alone in feeling this way, as many parents felt the same way during the height of the pandemic. As a parent-teacher, you are faced with the unbearable weight of trying to ensure your child is learning what they are supposed to understand when they’re supposed to be learning it.

This can cause parents to feel terrible stress, making them short-tempered, frustrated and irritated. Unfortunately, this stress can also bring out the worst in them, as Sathish noted during the episode.

How a unit system can help.

Lindsey shares the importance of an excellent curriculum to balance parents’ worries about meeting all the requirements. A simplified, easy-to-teach curriculum is the best alternative for veteran and new homeschoolers. Aside from a simplified and easy-to-teach curriculum, Lindsey pointed out the importance of a unit learning system. Sharing that when you have access to a unit style of education, you can pick and choose what your child needs to be learning and when.

Suppose you notice your child falling behind in one area of math but not another; you can select the unit your child needs to work on. Rather than choosing a grade lower for their math, you can select the unit they need.

Leaving a community.

Lindsey also shared how the first few days, weeks and even months of homeschooling can be challenging, especially if you have removed your child from the public school system. She shared how it felt like she was leaving a community when she decided to homeschool her two children. This is why she urges the importance of finding a good homeschooling community.

Another way to add fun to your homeschool and help ease the tension and stress is to include Special Interest Units like those available on the Schoolio Shop. Adding a fun unit on Trees and Forests or Pirates could be what your homeschool needs. Does your child struggle to learn from you? Don’t worry; there are things you can do to help.

Need Help Getting Started? Book a Concierge Call.

If you aren’t sure how to get started or what programs would best suit your child’s learning needs, then you can chat with one of our experts on a one-on-one Concierge Call, completely free!
Click here to book a Concierge Call.

Watch the full episode to learn more.

Take The Stress Out Of Your Homeschool

Parental stress can damage your well-being and your child’s development. And as a homeschooling parent, you might feel overwhelmed and stressed when you think about everything you need to accomplish in a day. So, what are some ways to cope with and overcome the stress you may feel? How can you take the stress out of your homeschool?

The negative impact stress has on your child.

Your child feeds off of how you’re feeling. When you’re feeling stress, nine times out of ten, they will also feel some stress. Homeschooling has provided many children with the break they desperately need from a stressful school environment. However, when we place more emphasis on them at home, we reverse the positive impacts homeschooling can have on your child.

Unhealthy and ongoing stress can weaken the architecture of your child’s developing brain, leading to lifelong problems in learning. Homeschooling is a huge commitment, and it can be stressful, but unfortunately, too many homeschooling parents make it even more stressful than it should be. When we are always bringing the stress to the homeschool, our children will begin to associate this negativity and stress with learning and, in extreme cases you.

Three ways you might be bringing unintentional stress to your homeschool.

Expecting perfection. When expecting perfection from your child or yourself, you place unnecessary and unhealthy stress on your child and yourself. If you’re transitioning your child from public school to homeschooling or just starting Kindergarten with your child, remember that this transition takes time for you and your child.
Comparing yourself to others or comparing your children to other children. Comparing your homeschool to another parent’s homeschool can be extremely easy. Or worse, comparing your child to another child. But the issue with comparison is that we will always compare our very worst to someone’s very best.
Trying to finish every book. Do you become obsessed with finishing different subject books before the end of the year? Are you constantly attempting to have your child complete every assignment daily without any room for breaks? It’s okay if you don’t finish the entire book, primarily if the subject reflects previously-learned concepts like math. There’s a huge chance that when your child begins the next level, the beginning lessons will review what they should’ve learned in the previous level.

Please don’t feel guilty; we all seem to bring unintentional stress to our homeschool from time to time.

Nora has three children and decided to start homeschooling the two older ones during the beginning of the pandemic, but she quickly found that stress was taking over. “I wanted to keep my grade one and Kindergartener safe at home; I thought it would be a piece of cake. But I started struggling right from the get-go. I wanted to be this amazing homeschooling teacher and balance it all. But I found I was short with my kids when they weren’t doing their homework. Then the baby would start fussing. And the situation turned bad quickly.”

What did Nora do to ease the stress in her homeschool?

“I decided to take it day by day. I stopped trying to get it all done, so when my son, who was in grade one, started to lose focus, we would stop for the day or move to an activity to shift his focus onto something else. I initially put a lot of pressure on myself because I didn’t want to mess up my kid’s education. But I found that I was quickly pulling us all down in my efforts to make our homeschool-like school.”

What can you do to take the stress out of your homeschool?

Find great resources.

There are so many options available to homeschooling families now, so it’s up to you to find the best resources for your family. Most, if not all, homeschooling curriculum providers have free samples available either on their website or upon request. This means you don’t need to purchase a curriculum and hope for the best blindly. Instead, you can use these samples to see which works best with your family’s homeschool vibe.

Don’t be afraid to switch resources when something isn’t working anymore.

Additionally, don’t forget that switching your learning materials up is ok. You don’t have to commit to one homeschool curriculum from grades 1 to 8. One curriculum that might have been an excellent match for your family one year might not be the best option for your family the next. Using other resources is okay; you don’t have to stick to the same one forever.

Allow your homeschool to evolve.

Just like you might find that your family grows out of a specific curriculum, your family may also evolve through different homeschooling styles. And that’s ok! If you started homeschooling with the school-at-home style but have found that unschooling is more your vibe. It’s ok to evolve, again and again, to meet your family’s learning needs. As our children grow, they’re constantly changing. Finding the best way of learning for them throughout these changes is essential.

Figure out your family’s learning routine.

You don’t have to stick to a specific routine like a traditional school. Your children and family are unique; why should your homeschooling routine not be? A good way will help keep your homeschool less stressful.

Remember that homeschooling doesn’t take as long as a traditional school.

This is important to remember when taking the stress out of your homeschool. Children in traditional schools spend around six hours each day in school. That doesn’t mean you have to mirror that time commitment because homeschooling is entirely different from conventional school and doesn’t take as long. Children in traditional schools have assemblies, circle time, recess, lunch, and breaks and must wait while the teacher attempts to teach a class of 20+ children. Homeschooling is one-on-one, which takes away a considerable chunk of time.

Teach critical social-emotional skills with your core subjects.

Emotional skills are often left out of education; how can a holistic education be without these skills being taught? Our children experience big feelings, and they might not be able to communicate them very well, so it comes out as bad behaviour. If your child is melting down over things that seem small to you, they might be flooded with emotions. First, respond with empathy towards your child, and help them get to a calm place. Then be sure to make learning social-emotional skills a priority.

Check out Social Emotional Learning by Schoolio for excellent lessons on learning to manage how we think and feel.

Avoid pressuring your child.

We all know that homeschooling isn’t always sunshine and roses, some days, your child might feel stressed from a particular concept they are learning if you sense that your child feels that stress, don’t pressure them to complete it. Take a break and revisit it another day. While being sure to implement fun activities and give them breaks to process.

Start with what they’re interested in.

Do you usually start your homeschool day with the least favourite subject in an attempt to get it out of the way? Don’t do that! Begin the homeschool day with what your child is highly interested in. This will help take the stress out of your homeschool by setting up a healthy love for learning.

Outsource when needed.

If you’re struggling to teach a particular subject to your child, consider outsourcing the teaching of this subject through an online class or tutoring platform like Schoolio After-School.

Take care of yourself.

You are doing all the things. Homeschooling, cleaning, cooking and probably working a job also. Doing all these things can place you at a higher risk of burnout, so prioritize self-care. Schedule it, take time just for yourself, and do something you love. And be patient with yourself because just like your child is learning – so are you.

Additional resources for parental stress: Click here.

Not sure how to get started with your homeschool? Or need some help organizing it?

Book a Concierge Call.

Purchasing Digital Content.

Let’s Talk About: Purchasing Digital Content with Lindsey Casselman.

If you’re new to home-schooling, you may not have had much experience purchasing digital content before. This is something most veteran homeschoolers are very familiar with, so let’s talk about it!

What Is It Digital Content and How Is It Offered?

Digital content is when you make a purchase of materials that don’t have a physical product. This includes e-books, PDFs and a ton of other downloadable content. Because talented people and companies are located around the world, providing digital content is an easy way to bring their product to the world.

Digital content is available in many places, like Pinterest, TpT and many homeschool curriculum companies, including Schoolio.

Some places offer both print and digital versions of their content. The Digital and Print product are offered at different price points (because printing is expensive). Also as two separate products on their website. Be sure to carefully look over your cart before completing a purchase. Doing so to ensure you’re getting the version you expected to get.
Some places offer printing and shipping for you as an add-on cost. This means you’re buying the digital version of the content. In addition you’ll receive a printed version for an additional fee. These are usually print-on-demand (meaning they aren’t printed until the order is placed, so it may take 7-10 business days or more to reach your door). However, they are often one of the best printing rates you’ll find. That is because the company has negotiated a volume discount with the third-party printer. (If you’re unsure about the rate, look in the FAQs for a price-per-page rate, or look in the product description for page numbers of the product and do the math yourself to find a price-per-page cost. Then compare locally to printers in your area).
The majority of digital product companies do not offer printing at all. You will need to either print at home or find a printer that is local to you. The price difference between printing at home or paying a printer to print for you varies widely. Factors that change the cost are based on your printer, what you’re printing, and your location. A little research in this area is a good idea before you decide to buy any digital product. This way you don’t get shocked later by the additional cost to print your digital files.

Tips to Being a Digital Product Consumer

Digital products are almost always non-refundable. Once you purchase a digital product, you’re able to download it to your hard drive and it is yours forever. There is no way to “return” a digital product. Even if a company takes away your access to the download, they have no way to ensure you haven’t saved it locally. Therefore, almost every digital company you come across will have a no refunds policy.

It is your responsibility as the consumer to ensure the product is what you want.

Read all the descriptions about the product, before purchasing digital content. If you’re buying any sort of bundle, read the descriptions of each piece of the bundle so you’re sure about what you’re getting.
Find and read the FAQs. These will answer a lot of the most common questions other people have asked. In addition to this you may learn an answer to a question you hadn’t even thought to ask!
Look at samples. There should be samples available for you to look at. Read them thoroughly and envision using the product in your own homeschool.
Read reviews. You can read testimonials on the company page, ask other homeschoolers, or watch youtube reviews of a product. If you have a local friend already using the product- ask to borrow it!
Start small. If the program has mini units or some other small product, buy it for the cheaper price as a more detailed sample. This way you get to actually use something from the company before you commit to an entire year financially.

I don’t know a single fellow homeschooler. That includes myself. Who hasn’t paid good money purchasing digital content that ended up either not working out, or just never being used. It happens, so don’t beat yourself up if it does. But following the above steps and not rushing a purchase can help you avoid it as much as possible.

Digital purchases won’t be available to you forever. Always download your purchases somewhere locally.

Most companies allow limited storage of your purchased content. Even if they will store it for you indefinitely, it’s good digital consumerism to always save your purchases somewhere safe. Somewhere that you have control of them. Website maintenance, server or platform changes, expired links, etc. All of these issues can lead to frustration if you count on someone else to hold your purchases for you. Some companies will give you a set number of times you can access your materials. This avoids people sharing their links with friends. Alternatively, other companies will give you an expiry date on your available downloads.

Places to save your digital product purchases:

Your computer’s hard drive. This way you have access to your purchases whenever you need. In addition if it’s saved on your hard drive, you don’t even need an internet connection to preview.
External hard drive. Thumb drives are available affordably and in massive size capacities these days. You can have one dedicated to your homeschool digital downloads. This is extremely helpful if you worry about problems with your computer and losing your materials.
Cloud storage. I personally can’t say enough good things about OneDrive through MS Office. If you already pay for MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc.). Then you already have a OneDrive account. I love that I can save things to my OneDrive and then easily access them from my desktop, laptop, tablet, or phone, anywhere, anytime. Additionally, it also saves your content in the cloud. That way if disaster ever struck your device, you’d be fully covered.
Storage companies. Curriculum companies don’t want to be your digital closet. However, there are several companies out there that do! DropBox is a popular one, along with Google Drive. Both are there to safely store your digital purchases. The one downside is that you will need internet service to access your files.

We’ve all had the misfortune of losing an important download.

Some of us have dropped our thumb drives in our coffee cups…. I won’t say who. The best practice is to store it somewhere safe. While also being sure to keep it in two different locations. On your hard drive, plus a thumb, or a cloud server. If you do lose something important, contact the company and they may be able to help you. But if they can’t, don’t let that bring you down, because it happens. We’ve all been to the park and left our favourite sweater or the book we were reading behind. Sometimes things get lost!

Understand licensing agreements with digital products.

Depending on what you purchase, you will want to be familiar with the licensing agreement. Ebooks are usually yours to read, over and over again if desired. But a lot of homeschool materials will have a one-user only license or a personal-use only license. One-user only means the program is designed to be consumable (most likely a workbook with pages you write directly on) and to only be used once. If you intend to re-use the program for a subsequent child, the legal thing to do is to purchase two copies of the product.

Personal use only means the program is not to be used to make money. That means you can’t resell it to other people. But you also can’t use it to teach a group. Many digital curriculum companies offer co-op or group rates. This is where you get a discount for buying multiple copies of the program to use with your group. If you don’t see it offered somewhere on the site, or you’re unsure about user agreements. Always contact the company’s customer service and they will likely be happy to help you.

Please remember that digital piracy is just as much stealing as going to a store and walking out with a sweater tucked in your bag. Stealing is stealing. Please model good citizenship to your children.

Check formatting before printing.

I once sent a PDF to my local printer. Due to one extra blank page being inserted, all the two-page spread sheets were misaligned and the whole book was a mess. It wasn’t the company’s or the printer’s fault. They inserted a blank page after the title page to be the “back” of the title page- makes sense! My printer however prints the title page separately on a heavier card-stock. So that blank page became my book’s page 1, and everything else was messed up from there.

Before you spend the money to have a digital product printed, or print it yourself, be sure to take a look at some formatting:

Open up the PDF and take a look at the layout. Are there cutouts involved? Will they be unusable if you print double sided? Are there extra blank pages anywhere to accommodate cut outs that you don’t need printed and inserted if you’re printing single size?
Any other visible formatting problems when open in your program? Even when you have a PDF. The page layout size it was saved in and the default page layout size of your PDF reading program could misalign important pages or images. Always check and make sure everything is the way you want it before you print or send it to the printer.
Talk to your printer about how they do title pages and back covers.

Make sure you know what you’re getting ahead of time. This way you aren’t disappointed or paying for it to be printed again.

I hope these tips help you in your purchasing digital content journey! Digital products are an amazing way to access great content from anywhere in the world. With a little know-how, you can really make the most of any digital purchase!

This blog was written by Lindsey Casselman, Co-Founder and Lead Curriculum Writer at Schoolio Learning.

Click Here to learn more about how to use digital curriculum.

3 Things You Need To Remember Before Starting Grade 1

Congratulations! Your child has made it to grade 1! I have three children, grades one, three and four. With each one of my children, I always felt like grade one was a huge milestone. You’ve made it through JK and SK and you’re now on a more organized track of learning. With that said, it can still feel extremely overwhelming. I remember the night before my oldest started first grade, I was a wreck! I kept questioning myself and worrying that maybe I wasn’t doing the right thing. I wondered if I should just register her for school. I wondered if homeschooling was really the best choice. I worried that I wasn’t using curriculum that stood up to Grade 1 Ontario Curriculum.

But then I remembered the many school interviews we had, and the tug in my gut that this just wasn’t right for her. I remembered that she learns at a much different pace than other children. I remembered that she needed that one on one attention that I knew I could give her, and the public-school system couldn’t. Homeschooling is such a journey, and honestly some days are tough. But each day that you put the effort in to teach your child, is a beautiful day.

Here are 3 things you need to remember when starting your Grade 1 Homeschool Journey:

Stop pressuring yourself. Just the fact that you care enough about your child’s education to take on homeschool and sign up for Schoolio, is enough reason to believe in yourself. And remember that the decisions that you are making for your child’s education, are actually really great decisions. Second guessing yourself will only lead to anxiety, and that’s one thing you don’t need right now.
Every child learns at their own pace. It’s hard when you’re trying to go over concepts like reading, or math. And your child is just not putting effort into learning. Some days, your child may just need a small break. Change the scene. Take them out for a walk, get some fresh air. Play a game. Just like you probably get a little agitated when you’ve been working for a while, they also need patience, and a moment to refresh their mind. You don’t have to accomplish everything in the early hours of the morning. Your schedule is yours. If you need to change it up some days, then do it.
Be kind to yourself. It’s so easy to allow ‘mom guilt’ to sink in. To feel like ‘I’ve neglected the house work.’ ‘I need to spend more time reading with my child.’ ‘My kid watched too much tv today.’ Mom guilt is a bridge to ruin. Don’t go that way. Every day that you choose to wake up and homeschool, is a day that you rocked being a mom! You are seriously so amazing! So please, be nice to yourself and remember you are doing a stellar job!

There was no Schoolio when I started homeschooling in 2016 or in 2017 when I began teaching my daughter grade 1, and I truly wish there had been. This incredible education platform cares so deeply about your child’s learning and your mental sanity. They spend countless hours crafting content that makes education fun, all while following the Grade 1 Ontario Curriculum. Nothing gets left out, it’s all there. You’re in the right place, and you’re doing the right thing. Naturally you’re going to second guess yourself, so let’s stop that now. You and your child are going to love this homeschool thing! Deciding to homeschool, was an amazing decision! One that you don’t need to doubt, you’ve got this! Don’t face this new chapter with anxiety, because you are going to rock this thing!

Jaymee Davis is a stay at home/work at home/ homeschool mama. She’s been teaching her kids from home since 2016 and believes anyone can do it. She is here to help you reach your homeschool goals.

Let’s Talk About: Finances

Hey Lindsey, what advice do you have for the new parents out there that want to start homeschooling but are worried about the financial aspect of it?

“A new homeschooler asked me this exact question the other day about the costs of homeschooling. This is one of those questions that can have a WIDE variety of answers… depending on your curriculum choices, and how many field trips and activities you choose to go on. So it’s a tricky one to answer and can vary widely, but I can tell you how it breaks down for us. I’m a planner and that goes for my home life as well as school so I track all our finances every year.

For the last 4 years, we have averaged $800/year for homeschool costs. This is for TWO children, so $400/year/child. These numbers include our curriculum, supplies, field trips, etc. Anything I wouldn’t have spent if I wasn’t homeschooling.

Now before you balk at spending that kind of money, let me give you a quick comparison… In 2016 when both my children were in public school I also tracked our spending. We spent $850 ($425 per child) on public school. Most people think of public school of being “free”, but think about that for a minute… From Back to School supplies to the teacher’s year end gifts, the public schools are constantly asking for money! And you have less choice in what you spend your money on and what you get for it. Back to School supplies, the “right” clothes for fitting in, indoor shoes, field trips, hot lunches, valentines for the class, milkshake day, pizza day, candy cane day, etc etc etc, the bbq, the fair, the auction, REPLACING THINGS THAT ARE STOLEN, teacher gifts at Christmas and year end, the fundraisers (oh so many fundraisers!) and the things your kids *need* to fit in (ever spent money on a fidget spinner???). It adds up!! I would say we were very middle of the road for participation in school events. We bought into enough special events that the kids didn’t feel left out, but didn’t do every single one, we didn’t get hot lunch every day but did get it on Fridays, we bought *something* from the fundraisers but we didn’t go crazy, etc. So again, you could spend more or you could spend less than we did, this is just an example. Homeschooling costs some money for sure, it can even easily cost more than public school, but you do get to decide for yourself what it gets spent on.

Our Curriculum: I mostly build my own homeschool curriculum, but I do buy a few units/programs here and there. You could choose to purchase really expensive programs for every subject and easily spend $1000/child/year, but you can also get really good affordable premade curriculum as well. You could make all your own curriculum or unschool and spend a lot less, but I always say you’re going to spend either money, or time, one or the other. Which you would rather or can feasibly spend depends on your own situation and family. I would say we are middle of the road when it comes to curriculum purchasing, because we spend around $200/year.

Field Trips: We go on SO MANY FIELD TRIPS. In public school they usually take 2 field trips per year. We average 2 field trips per month. We are not middle of the roaders here- I take them on almost every field trip that gets offered, organize plenty of my own for our group, and just love getting the kids out in the world and away from the books. So we probably max out our spending on field trips! (And dang it, Covid, you’re going to ruin this for us this year!!)

Activities and Extra Curricular’s: Ok this is a hard one because does it count as homeschool if you do it during the daytime, instead of evenings and weekends? I ended up tracking our extra curricular spending separately from homeschooling because most of it we would have been doing anyway. In a lot of cases homeschooling has actually saved us money on these activities. For example, my daughter always wanted to do gymnastics, but at nearly $500/year we could never afford it. Now she does gymnastics through our homeschool group, at $180/year. Technically homeschooling cost us that extra $180 because we weren’t spending anything on gymnastics before, but now she gets to do an activity she wasn’t able to do before. A lot of places that cater to children are sitting empty during daytime hours, and will give homeschool groups a steep discount. (Don’t get me started on how much more relaxing and family oriented our lives have become now that our evenings and weekends are free of bustling about to extra curricular activities!!)

Supplies: You really don’t need a lot of supplies to homeschool, and most of what you might use you probably already have in your home (like craft supplies, legos, and writing utensils). We spend WAY less money on supplies, clothing, and shoes, than we did when the kids were in public school.

I hope that break down helps some of you out. There’s so much variety of spending options with homeschooling, especially curriculum, but sometimes it helps to hear (see) at least one person’s experience as a starting point, and I do feel that we’re very middle ground spenders in the homeschool world.”

As always, thank you Lindsey for helping us with the financial aspect of what homeschooling can look like. Homeschooling can be accomplished, even when living on a tight budget.