The HomeSchool Survival Guide

Most people believe that homeschool is a breeze but majority of these assumptions are based off of the different things we can do that real school students can’t do. If we wanted to lay around all day, we could. If we wanted to eat whatever we want, we could. If we wanted to wear pajamas and slippers all week, we could.

All of this is true, but just because we are homeschoolers doesn’t mean we have it easy. The workload is increased, and it’s a lot harder to understand information. Although homeschool may seem like a free joy-ride, it’s not always fun and games. It can also be a burden to some parents. Homeschool isn’t always built for everyone either.

Take the COVID-19 pandemic as an example. When parents heard the news that kids had to do school at home, their brains were ready to explode. Parents were working at home or losing their jobs. Kids were excited for the first week of homeschool, only to regret being home a week later. Kids grades were dropping, and they were missing their friends. Other important events like prom and graduation were also off the attendance list or hosted online.

Staying at home gets boring after a while. Quarantine season made a great example of that. At that point, everyone was ready to break free and let loose. Hanging out online was no longer exciting.

Growing up as a homeschooler, I felt isolated from the real world. The first fourteen years of my life consisted of me going to real school but as I grew older, by the age of fifteen I attended online school. Until this day, I’m currently an online learner attending a university. I’ll be graduating in less than five months. By now, learning at home has become the new norm. It’s not all that thrilling unless you find ways to make it fun.

If I had to choose which years to be homeschooled it would have been my younger years before I was fifteen. Once I turned fifteen, I would have attended real school, carrying on from there. The teens years are the best moments of our lives. There are times when I still feel like I missed that part growing up. Maturity was my best friend at a young age. There was less time to fool around and get distracted by peers. I was by myself, and most of my attention was wrapped around school.

Living in the city, you had to deal with real schools being overcrowded. So you had no choice but to choose online learning. This was an issue for a long time.

There may be a few setbacks to doing school at home, but there’s a lot of pros that come with it. You have to know how to use those pros to your advantage. You don’t have to be a socially deprived outcast or a hermit in your bedroom every single day. You can give yourself the freedom to cherish life, step out of your comfort zone, and explore something different.

Time is what you make it, and there are tons of things to do in your current lifetime. If you use your time wisely.

Here are a few ways I coped with surviving the wilderness of homeschool.

1. Get Outdoors

I know it’s a lot more convenient to stay at home and be alone. Especially if you’re used to being in that environment, but just because you’re a home-schooler doesn’t mean you have to stay at home all the time. The cool thing about homeschool is that you get to take a step outdoors and be adventurous.

If you’re a laptop user, you can carry your laptop on the go. You can visit your local cafes, bakeries, and bookstores. Common places like Starbucks and Barnes and Noble allow you to read, write, study, eat, and do your homework all at the same time. These places have cozy lounge chairs suited for your comfort. Tables are also placed in front of you to sit your computer down.

If you want to grab a quick bite to eat while doing homework, fast-food places allow you to bring in your laptop. Depending on where you are, there may also be a few restaurants that offer these same services.

If you decide you don’t want food, you can always sit down at the park or by the shore. The only thing I’d suggest is making sure your laptop is charged before you get to your destination, or you can use a travel-size charging station or power bank.

Along with field trips, you have the flexibility to go where you want. I once traveled to Florida while being in school. It was exciting compared to a real school when you stare at a teacher for hours and remain in the same place. I was in a new setting where I could move around and do different things. Although I had assignments to complete and live chats to attend, I was able to have fun afterward or during my thirty minutes to an hour break.

If your school doesn’t offer field trips, you can always come up with your own. That’s the beauty of homeschool. You can do more of the things you want with minor limitations.

Most real school field trips consist of zoos, amusement parks, museums, art exhibits, national parks, camping, theaters, etc. You can get spontaneous in your trips and explore new places. Getting out every now and then helped me to not stay trapped inside of my house. It also had a significant impact on my performance in school and my mental health.

When you’re not at home, it will feel less like homeschooling. This can also be helpful for students with a short attention span. If you get bored easily, shift the setting. Your classroom doesn’t have to take place in your home, it can be in many places. As long as you are able to charge your laptop and remain focused.

2. Communicate Effectively

I’ve run into miscommunications countless times with my professors. This occurred because a physical classroom was not present. You can’t always read body language or understand a person’s tone.

Messages are perceived in different ways, and it’s easy to get lost in what your teacher is trying to persuade. My grades also took crazy roller coaster rides due to a lack of understanding. One minute my grades skyrocketed to the top, and the next minute they were way below the surface.

Most online schools are using the popular conference call platform Zoom. To interact with their students and use board tools, but still, information can be misleading. A few times, I attended classes where teachers did not want to show their faces on camera or students did not want to speak at all.

While in a real school, students and teachers must present their faces and voices every week. If you were called on by a teacher, you had no choice but to respond. Silence wasn’t an option unless you wanted to be sent to the principal’s office or at a serious meeting with your parents and your teacher. And if you’re in college, it only gets stricter.

Communication barriers can also be a big reason for misunderstandings. We operate in several ways when it comes to communicating. So it’s important to keep information clear on both ends as the student and as the teacher. The best way I found clarity was by calling my professors and video chatting with them one-on-one. When attending live classes, if I misunderstood something or needed reassurance, I would ask. If you’re afraid to ask questions during live chats, then reach out to your teacher via email or text.

Video chatting with your teacher solo gives you the opportunity to gain a better understanding. The session is likely to be more detailed and broken down step-by-step. There’s no large group of students, it’s just you. Therefore it’ll be easier to cover a lot of information and address your concerns.

3. Cherish online friends and offline friends

Some of us have the best of both worlds when it comes to friends.

Although there are many things you can enjoy alone, friends can make things 10x more fun. So whether you have friends offline or online, I’d suggest spending some time with them.

If you have friends who are perhaps states away or in another country, there are activities to do virtually. You can do a Netflix party, play video games or board games, watch YouTube videos, and so on. You can also video chat with your online friends every now and then to see how they’re doing. Seeing their face makes a difference and you can always come up with crazy challenges or ideas to make things exciting. Simple phone calls and voice memos can go a long way as well because they set the tone of the conversation.

As the world is ever-changing, it’s a lot simpler to discover friends online through social media platforms and other meeting apps. Online friends can make up for real friends, no matter the distance. You can always plan a day to meet your online friends in person and plan events. You can choose from bowling, eating, shopping, skating, hiking, or going to the movies, the list goes on.

If you have real friends, spend some time with them too because the homeschool world can be lonely. As Andy Warhol once said, one’s company, two’s a crowd, and three is a party.

I’ve learned to appreciate the small group of friends I have. They make a difference in my life. It may not be a large group of people or real-life friends, but they're the most real it gets. The presence of my friends helped me to feel a sense of belonging instead of exclusion.

We are social beings. Maybe some of us are less social or more social, but connecting with other people is how we thrive, and you can’t go wrong with socializing every once in a while. Plus, people who invest time in their friendships and relationships are likely to live longer.

4. Pick up a hobby

Picking up a hobby is similar to going outdoors, but it involves doing activities regularly. Sometimes it may be indoors, and sometimes it may be outdoors. Hobbies can be anything you put your mind to.

Online schooling doesn’t always offer extracurricular activities, and if they do, it’s normally online, but if you would like to do things physically, you can always pick up hobbies after school or during the weekends.

The hobbies I found to be enjoyable for me were going to the gym, working out at home, going to dance classes, running at the park, writing, doing photography, and lastly, reading. With all the different activities on my plate, I could do other things outside of staring at a computer screen.

You can choose from all kinds of classes, clubs, or activities. You can learn to do karate. You can paint the galaxies. You can learn to skateboard. You can practice yoga. You can find new recipes to make. You can climb mountains or go surfing. Hobbies are limitless, and you can get creative in many aspects.

Not only that, for younger kids that are more energetic and upbeat, this is critical. They seek entertainment and fun. There’s nothing wrong with getting your kids out.

The YMCA is great for all ages and has over 2,400 locations in 120 countries. The YMCA supports youth development with activities, such as basketball, volleyball, swimming, camping, fitness, etc. They have a lot of programs and lessons to keep you active. It’ll be like your a regular student with extracurricular activities.

My experience at the YMCA was great because there were several hobbies I could try and learn. I was also able to interact with other people my age, which was an easy way to gain friends and plan weekly meet-ups at the same location. It was so fun that the rest of my family went there and they loved it too.

5. Reward Yourself

When going to a real school, my teachers would reward students for passing exams, answering random questions right, and if students were selected on the honor roll for best attendance. Teachers also did star charts and color cards based on how we behaved in class. Another fun thing teachers did in my school was collecting box tops.

Box tops are typically located on cereal boxes, snacks, foods, tissue boxes, and other items. We had to cut out the box tops and collect at least twenty of them as a class. Once twenty box-tops were collected, the cut-out squares were donated to charities, and we would celebrate by having pizza parties on Fridays. As a certified pizza lover, imagine the look on my face. I had the look of a savage, and the only words I could hear is pizza.

So if you’re like me and you don’t attend a real school. Have your own pizza party at home. If you recently passed a final, reward yourself. If you’re studying till 1 in the morning, reward yourself. If you’re waking up on time every day for class, reward yourself. Give credit where credit is due.

You don’t have to award yourself just for the big accomplishments. It can be small accomplishments too. The last thing you want to do is feel like you’re working all the time with no recognition. Teachers may offer rewards virtually, but you should pat yourself on the back too. Spoil yourself with something you wanted for a long time or with a nice bite to eat or visit your favorite place. You can choose whatever you want.

As a parent, you can also reward your children when you see that they are making significant progress in school. My parents would reward me for my accomplishments. So there’s nothing wrong with a little extra recognition. There are times when you don’t think you deserve an award, while others believe that you do.

Don’t overlook your hard work and achievements. They are well worth a celebration, and it doesn’t have to be just your graduation.