How to Start Homeschooling or Home Education

Rogelio Valdés

Feb 25, 2022

You have already decided that you want to leave traditional schooling behind and start homeschooling or home education. But how do you actually begin?

Define your approach

First, you need to be clear about the type of education you want to build. Do you want to follow a curriculum similar to the one used by the ministry or department of education in your country? Do you want parents to lead that curriculum directly, or would you rather hire a mentor? Do you want to form a learning pod so your children can socialize with other students? Do you want a freer curriculum shaped by your child’s interests?

There are many ways to define an alternative education model. If you are still unsure, you can watch the video we made where I explain some of the most common methodologies.

Involve your children

This is a major shift in their daily life, and one of the goals of alternative education is to help children and teens become more independent and more responsible for their choices. The first step is to include them in the decision to change educational systems. It is important that they understand how the methodology will work and that it feels motivating to them as well.

At Robin, we always make sure both parents and students understand the educational model we offer. That is why we give families the opportunity to try the methodology for a full day before enrolling. This step matters because it helps confirm the student’s motivation and lets them create their own commitment to the process.

It is also a great time to get to know your children better. You will want to identify their strengths, areas of difficulty, and preferred learning style. Including them in the decision will help you discover those things together.

Choose a certification path

There are more and more options available to validate studies across Latin America, Spain, and many other countries. Some families are not very concerned about certification, and in the earliest grades, such as preschool, that may not have much impact. But as children move forward in their learning journey, having some kind of certification becomes more useful. In the end, we do this to open more doors for them in the future.

If you still are not sure how to make your children’s studies officially valid, you can watch the video we made about the different certification options that exist.

Create a routine and make a plan

Sometimes it seems like keeping a schedule or assigning times is not that important, and that as long as your child is moving forward, everything is fine. But beyond academic progress, we are preparing them to succeed in the future. Whether they become engineers, entrepreneurs, doctors, artists, or athletes, organization, consistency, and planning are skills that will serve them for life.

That is why it is important to assign physical spaces where schoolwork can happen regularly. You should establish goals at a steady rhythm to create a real plan of work, define schedules, and stick to them as much as possible.

That does not mean they need to become little soldiers. If one day a planned activity takes longer than expected, that is normal. If you need to travel or something prevents you from working that day, it is okay. The goal is to find a balance between building a habit and staying flexible.

Define the curriculum you will follow

As we have seen, there are many ways to shape a curriculum, and fortunately there are many tools available today. In another article we shared a list of more than 20 resources for home education.

Some families buy physical books and have parents teach the lessons. Others prefer to build a curriculum from scratch. Some combine different programs. And some families decide not to follow any fixed curriculum at all, instead creating it as they go based on each child’s interests. This depends on the methodology you defined at the beginning.

At Robin, we offer a flexible curriculum and learning platform that covers preschool, elementary, and middle school. It adapts well to almost any methodology your family chooses. You can explore all the details of that program at robinacademy.com/homeschool.

Stay flexible with the methodology

We have seen that when students are used to a traditional school model, where they sit in a classroom while a teacher lectures to 30 silent students, they often need a transition period before adjusting to a different methodology.

It is normal to have days when you feel they need something different. The advantage of alternative education is that you can make the changes you need. In the end, you are building a personalized plan for each learner, and everyone is different. If one schedule is not working, you can agree on a different one. You may need to increase or reduce the workload. Sometimes you may need to slow down on one topic so your child can truly master it.

The goal is not to discover some magical method that works forever, because that does not exist. What we want is to adapt education to the needs our children have at this particular moment. And I say at this particular moment because those needs change over time.

Build a community

Finally, it is important to know that you are not alone. More and more families in every country are choosing some kind of alternative education. I suggest connecting with other families in your area and forming local groups. These communities are valuable because families can share their experiences and children can interact with other students their age.

If you want to join one of the groups we have in different cities, you can leave a comment on the video or write to me at rogelio@robinacademy.com.

Those are the first steps to begin homeschooling or home education. If this information was helpful, I invite you to subscribe to the YouTube channel and share it with other families. Every week we publish new content about alternative education.