I Don't Need To Know Everything to Homeschool

One of the biggest things that scares people about homeschooling is the idea that you have to know how to teach everything - math, reading, science, geography, writing.

All of it.

And I get it, because it was one of the most intimidating of homeschooling for my husband and me, too.

We didn't start homeschooling with some magical ability to explain every subject perfectly. My husband was just a mechanic, and I was just a cook at my family's restaurant. And we had to figure things out right alongside our daughter. There have absolutely been moments when we looked at something and thought: How in the world are we supposed to teach this?

But I think one of the biggest things I've learned while homeschooling, is that I don't need to actually know everything.

I just need to be willing to figure it out.

WE STARTED BY FOLLOWING HER

When our oldest daughter was really little, learning looked like a lot of exploring... and a lot of messes.

We drew letters and numbers in the dirt and sounded them out while we drew them. We counted the things around us, talked about what we saw, made things, and paid attention to what caught her attention.

There wasn't some grand educational plan behind it. We were just playing with ideas. Art was one of the first things she really loved. That started with coloring on my walls, so we gave her a chalkboard wall. We painted rocks, we colored, we did crafts. For a while, we made some kind of art project almost every day. She wanted to create, so we gave her more ways to create.

And eventually, her interests started leading us into more traditional subjects.

READING TAUGHT ME A LOT ABOUT READINESS

Reading was probably the biggest lesson for me.

I struggled to teach her to read.

She loved books. We read to her constantly throughout the day. But for a long time, she had little interest in actually learning how to read them herself. And I struggled with that. I kept trying to figure out what I was doing wrong.

Then, eventually, SHE decided that she wanted to read her favorite books that were always read to her. Once she made that decision, something clicked. And she ran with it.

During what would traditionally be considered her kindergarten year, we logged 238 books that she read. And there were definitely more than that. Those are just the ones we remembered to log for school records.

That is probably one of my biggest homeschool bragging points, but not really because of the number itself. It's because of what it taught me.

I struggled to teach her something she wasn't ready to care about. Then, when she decided she wanted it, she took off.

Reading has also made teaching everything else easier. Now she can read directions more independently. She can read about the things she is interested in. She can work through certain parts of lessons without me needing to explain every word. She can explore more information for herself. Reading became a tool for everything else.

And that experience really changed the way I think about teaching now.

Sometimes the problem isn't that a child can't learn something. Sometimes they just haven't found their reason to want to learn it yet.

WE DON'T JUST LEARN OUTSIDE

I talk a lot about exploration, curiosity, and hands-on learning, and letting kids follow their interests. But I also don't want to give the impression that we spend all day outside poking sticks into the dirt and calling it school.

We absolutely use curriculum too. We do bookwork and worksheets. Sometimes I make the worksheets myself and sometimes we use Miacademy. We do projects and hands-on activities. Our homeschool doesn't look like the same thing every day.

There are times she does great sitting down with a workbook. There are also times she would rather throw the workbook straight out the window. And those are the days she needs something different. Sometimes she needs me to make something specifically for her. Or to physically touch, move, build, draw, or experiment with something.

And sometimes an online lesson explains something better than I can. I can admit that! Miacademy was actually one of those resources I wasn't completely sure about at first because of the screen aspect. But she loved the short lessons and entertaining videos.

When we started to learn about money, I was fully convinced we would never get it down. Coins, paper money, values, adding money together - it just wasn't clicking with the way I was trying to teach it.

Then she started doing some of the independent activities on Miacademy. Within about a week, she was adding money - coins and paper money.

Okay. Message received. Sometimes the best resource isn't me.

And that's fine. WE HAD TO LEARN HOW TO TEACH HER

My husband struggled with teaching at first too. I think both of us had to learn that knowing how to do something and knowing how to teach it are completely different things. When you already understand a subject, it's easy to skip over steps that feel obvious to you. But they aren't obvious to a child who has never learned them before.

Once we realized we had to break things down to the absolute basics, everything got easier.

Get the foundation down first. Then, build on it. At your own pace, might I add. That's one of the great things about homeschooling one-on-one.

There is no reason to move forward just because a curriculum says we should. If my daughter doesn't fully understand something, we stay there until she does. If we moved too quickly, we adjust and take a few steps back.

If we see her brain getting overwhelmed, we stop. We let everybody mentally reset and come back to it later. We can pick up in ten minutes, in an hour, or wait until tomorrow. Sometimes the most productive thing to do is to take a break. The lesson will still be there. And, usually, after a reset, so is her ability to actually absorb the lesson.

EVERY SUBJECT HAS LOOKED A LITTLE DIFFERENT

My husband and I both tag team subjects to make sure our kids get the appropriate education, because there are certainly subjects that we each find easier to teach. Geography naturally became more of Dad's area. Maps, directions, reading routes, understanding where places are - that became something they could explore together. Because he is a CDL driver, this is something that they will absolutely be doing together while we are on the road, hands-on. For now, he is still the better teacher than me who depends on GPS for even the simplest trip.

I've always loved teaching science, art, writing, and journaling - those have always been areas where a child's creativity peaks and I LOVE that.

Other subjects might come from a workbook, an online lesson, a project, Grammy's help, or a lesson we stumble upon and work into our daily schooling. There hasn't been one single method that works for everything. And I don't think there needs to be.

AS SHE LEARNS MORE, SO DO WE

Of course, as she gets older, the work gets harder.

There are going to be things I don't remember. There are going to be things my husband doesn't know. And there are going to be plenty of moments where neither of us has any idea what the answer is.

But let's be honest here...

If we didn't know something ourselves, what would we do? We'd figure it out! We would research, read, watch videos, find another resource... ask someone who does know. The same things we do to figure things out in our adult lives when something is testing our knowledge. And maybe this comes from our own nature of getting things done ourselves, but I think learning how to figure things out for yourself is a lesson in itself. Being resourceful matters.

Knowing how to research and find reliable information, how to ask questions, and how to keep going when you don't immediately know the answer are skills she will use for the rest of her life.

I don't want my kids growing up thinking that there is someone who just knows everything - including myself. Because that isn't real - nobody knows everything. And I think sometimes kids look at adults like we know everything. Like at some point, we just finished learning and now we have all the answers.

We don't. We're still figuring it out too.

The world changes, information changes, people change - we learn new things, rethink old things, gain new skills, and sometimes realize we were wrong. I want her to see that happening. I want her to see us learn something new and admit when we were wrong. To see us make those mistakes and work through them and understand it better, because there is no shame in not knowing something or making mistakes.

We use the word "yet" a lot in our house. I don't know the answer... yet. I don't know how to do it... yet. I can't do that... yet. That one word changes the whole mindset. It leaves room for growth and reminds her that not knowing something right now doesn't mean you can't learn it.

So sometimes one of the most useful things I can say to her is: "I don't know the answer... yet. Let's figure it out." And I think that may end up being one of the most important things we teach her.

THERE DOESN'T HAVE TO BE ONE RIGHT WAY

I don't think we have to choose between child-led learning and curriculum. There doesn't have to be books v.s screens, outside vs. desk work, worksheets vs. hands-on. Of course, I can tell you her preference, haha. However, there are definitely days she gets excited even for her bookwork.

We just use what works. Whatever that is that day, because it changes day to day. The point isn't for me to prove that I can teach every subject completely on my own. The point is just for her to learn. And if a book, curriculum, Miacademy, her dad, playing outside, a national park tour across the US, or just a question while she eats breakfast is what gets us there...

Then that's what we're using. Because I don't need to know everything to homeschool my kids.

I just need to be willing to put in the effort and keep learning with them - and teach them how to keep learning long after they stop needing me to teach them.