Homeschool Road Map

Steps to take if you are curious about homeschooling or planning to take the leap in the 2026 school year

Hi friends! I’m Tara - homeschool mama of 4 here. I am still in the beginning stages, but I know how intimidating it can be when you are interested in beginning the journey. I wanted to write a little road map to help you know which steps to take and what has helped me along the way.

I started homeschooling when my oldest began kindergarten in 2023. I currently have a 2^nd grader, a kindergartener, a preschooler, and a toddler. I never planned to homeschool my children; in fact, I almost blew it with my husband on our third date when I declared homeschooling was weird and then he informed me that he was indeed homeschooled… Read more about that here: https://substack.com/@homesweethomeschool/p-173123899

Basically, what it came down to was I didn’t want to send my children to public school. Christian/Private schools are too expensive. And quite frankly, I wanted my children safe at home spending time with me and their siblings, so we decided to go this route. Apparently, the Lord was also intervening because I recently found out that my in-laws prayed that we would decide to homeschool. I didn’t know that until a couple months ago and I am so glad they did! Now that I am in the thick of it, I see how absolutely wonderful it is and I too would love it if my kids decided to homeschool my grandkids!

It felt nerve-wracking at first to tell everyone I know that I was going against the grain and doing something that absolutely no one I knew from home was doing. However; my family and friends have been incredibly supportive. Now when I tell people I homeschool, I say it proudly.

Deciding to homeschool my children has been the best decision I have made -- tied with marrying my husband and choosing to have children. 😊

Where To Begin? Go to the Great Homeschool Convention.

Before I officially decided, I went to the Great Homeschool Convention and I would recommend this to anyone who is able to make this happen. It is in South Carolina, Missouri, Ohio, California, and Texas between March and July, depending on the state. The first year I went, my sister-in-law and made a weekend out of it since the closest one is 3 hours away. I missed my kids terribly, but it made my husband appreciate all I do even more! It is incredibly family friendly though. There were people with their kids reading in the workshops, nursing babies, and kids of all ages playing on the floor. The second year I went, my family made a weekend out of it, but we took turns with our kids when we went to classes. My husband went to some dad/husband classes, too! We had fun! We went to the Greenville Zoo and had a blast exploring a new city.

At the homeschool convention, you attend classes that you personally choose. This year, I am making a day trip with two homeschool mom friends. It always gets me excited for the school year. I am such a dork too, so going to classes and shopping curriculum bring me joy.

There is a GINORMOUS vendor hall where you can actually look at curriculum to help decide if there is anything specific you want to use. I recommend doing some research before you go so you know which booths to go to. If you try to go to all of them, you will probably just feel information overload and not know which to choose. More about choosing a curriculum later.

https://greathomeschoolconventions.com/

Decide what you want your homeschool to be like.

To me, homeschooling is a way to extend childhood, to let our children play more than they sit at a desk. My homeschool is cozy. We have weekly pajama days where we don’t leave the house. Field trips, park dates, and play dates are frequent enough, but we also acknowledge when our family needs a more chill week. Homeschooling is full of joy and wonder. Homeschooling means exploring a topic deeper because it has peaked someone’s interest. Homeschooling is baking, cleaning, reading, writing, snuggling, playing, making believe, and exploring the world around us. Homeschooling means more family time playing games and doing puzzles. Homeschooling means flexibility and taking off because family is visiting or we are going on a trip. Homeschooling means avoiding crowds and doing activities, vacations, and field trips during the week. Homeschooling is childhood extended and sweetened.

Every homeschool is different, so cater yours toward your children’s individual needs and interests. That is what makes homeschooling so wonderful.

Read books.

I read several books about homeschooling to help me understand what I wanted our homeschool to be like. This is an ever-changing life though for me. Each year, as I become more confident, I feel more comfortable adapting our homeschool to perfectly suit our family.

Some homeschool books that I felt were helpful are:

The Call of the Wild + Free by Ainsley Arment – this one was my favorite!

The Joy of Slow by Leslie M. Martino

Homeschool Bravely by Jamie Erickson

Decide what you want your homeschool rhythm to be like.

What time of the day do you want to do your schooling? Are you and your kids night owls or early risers? Do you want to do each subject every day or only certain days? Decide what works for you. We chose a 4-day curriculum so the 5^th day can be open for field trips and/or co-op. You can also decide what other rhythms you may add such as going to parks, having playdates, and visiting your local library.

Listen to podcasts about homeschooling.

I have recently started listening to Substack’s own Dr. Claire Honeycutt🕊️❤️ ‘s podcast Tried and True Homeschooling which has some wonderful stories from veteran homeschool families. I have also listened to The Happy Homeschooler Podcast. It is helpful hearing real people talk about their homeschool experience.

Talk to other people you know who are already homeschooling or who have already done it.

My mother-in-law and her best friend were great resources for me since they both successfully homeschooled their children. I leaned on them a lot. But now, as I approach my fourth year of homeschooling, I have so many friends who also do it whom I can talk to and it makes the experience even more enjoyable. Having a community makes a world of difference.

Find Substack homeschool moms and learn from them.

I made my Substack in August and my favorite part of it has been finding other homeschool moms to learn and grow with. I was going to tag some, but I didn’t want to miss anyone and there are so many wonderful homeschooling accounts. Please comment in the comments with HOMESCHOOL “MOM/DAD here!” so we can connect each other to more homeschool parents!

Look up the laws in your country/state about homeschooling.

We live in the United States so each state has their own laws. Make sure to be aware of what is expected of you so you know you have all your ducks in a row. A simple Google search could lead you where you need to go. If you live in the United States, head to https://hslda.org/legal for homeschool laws by state.

Do some research in your area and figure out what options there are for homeschoolers.

In my area, I know of at least two places that teach homeschool enrichment classes which we have taken part in. Also, we have done gymnastics and art class that are both specifically geared towards homeschoolers as they are in the middle of the day (great way to avoid traffic, too!). There is a music class locally that also does homeschool classes. I haven’t gotten any of my children interested in that yet, but I really want them to!

Look into your area for ideas and make contacts with local places for field trips. One of my favorite field trips to date was we went to News 2 weather channel and watched a live recording and then the meteorologist put our homeschool crew on the 4:00 news. It all happened because I was willing to ask if they would be open to having a homeschool group come for a field trip. Put yourself out there! Learn to network.

Find a place to keep your supplies.

We don’t have a homeschool room, but my husband built us a beautiful desk with 4 chairs in our back hallway. The kids have a place for all of their school books, art supplies, and that is where we display some of their work. It is wise to have a place to keep everything. We keep all of the curriculum books for read-alouds and lessons on a bookshelf in my room mostly because I don’t want them to get misplaced, but when we are currently using them, they are on the desk. SPOILER ALERT: We barely ever all sit back there and do work. The beauty of homeschooling is CHOICE. The kids can sit wherever they want – the kitchen island, the dining room table, the couch, the recliner, the bed! Literally wherever they want (as long as they can write legibly/neatly enough!). I love having somewhere for all of the supplies to be when not in use though so having a home for everything is vital.

You do not need a school room that look like a classroom in your home. I made that mistake at first. As a former teacher, I have had to do a bit of unschooling. It is HOMESCHOOL – not school AT home!

Find a place to store student work/portfolio.

I bought one of those plastic boxes with tabs and each kid has a folder for each grade where I store some of their work. I also don’t know if this is necessary, but I save all of their completed workbooks i.e. math books and handwriting books. If anyone ever came at me and didn’t believe I was actually doing 180+ days of school with my kids, I would easily be able to show evidence.

For my state, I save my lesson plan books, I write report cards for 90 days and 180 days, and I keep student work. I do not have to submit any of this, but I have it all in case it is ever needed. Again – look into your state or country. Everyone has different requirements.

Choose a curriculum and know that nothing is permanent.

When I first attended the homeschool convention, I felt sooooo overwhelmed and didn’t know what to do. I had fun looking at the curriculums but there were SO MANY that I had analysis paralysis. So, for my first two years, I ended up using Sonlight’s full curriculum. I loved that it was heavy in literature and a Christian curriculum so it incorporated the Bible and other faith-based books right into it. This was a really good choice for me. Even though I had been a teacher for 10 years, I felt like the security of a complete curriculum made it easier for me to ease into homeschooling. Sometimes easier is better. You can change your curriculum at any time.

Don’t worry, your children will get plenty of socialization.

Between sports, gymnastics, art classes, other elective classes, homeschool meet-ups, read alouds at book stores and libraries, enrichment classes, co-ops, field trips, park dates, and play dates – your kids can have as much or as little socialization as your family desires. Don’t ever worry that your kid will be weird – that’s just one of those stigmas (I thought that too!). Homeschooling is a dream and I would encourage anyone who is able and interested to definitely give it a try.

The gift of time with your children is what homeschooling gives you.

Where am I at now?

After two years, of doing Sonlight’s complete curriculum, I decided to switch up the ELA. It felt boring to me and if it felt boring to me, how could I make my kids do it. I started doing The Good and the Beautiful for ELA with all 3 of my bigger kids. They absolutely love it. It is so aesthetically pleasing and they make it SO fun! I am also happy doing Math-U-See. I love that I can go ahead to the next book when my kids are ready because I have some serious math brains. My oldest literally did 4-digit by 3-digit multiplication today and I think he would be bored out of his mind if he was at my local elementary school. The science curriculum has great books and a weekly experiment which admittedly, I do not get to every week, but there is also a >10-minute video you can show of the experiment for the weeks that life happens and you simply do not get to it. The read alouds for Sonlight we have also enjoyed. My one strife though is the History and Geography books. I am starting to look for other options for next year. If you have any suggestions please leave them in the comments.

Someone once told me to homeschool you just need a Bible and a library card! To save money, you can take books from the library and some curriculums have free printables on their websites as well. As long as there are many books being read and life experiences happening, your homeschool can be a success!

2026 Tentative Plan:

ELA – The Good and the Beautiful

Handwriting – Handwriting Without Tears

Math - Math-U-See

Read Alouds- Sonlight List & Classic Literature

History/Bible/Geography – TBD – leaning towards making my own book selection using living books!

Science – Sonlight (lots of great Usborne and nonfiction books + experiment kit)

There is nothing wrong with choosing a complete curriculum or picking and choosing what you prefer for each subject.

Each year, we ask ourselves: is this still working for our family? We adjust curriculum based on our family’s needs. I see myself continuing to homeschool my four kids through high school, but knowing that at the end of each year, we will have a discussion takes the pressure off. The thought of doing something for 16 more years can be overwhelming! (My youngest is only 2!)

I am so happy that homeschooling (especially since 2020) has become so mainstream. There are so many wonderful opportunities available. I would love to know your favorite curriculum, best homeschooling tips, and any questions you may have for me. Happy Homeschooling!

-Tara