Most Upper Cumberland students are settling back in to school, but for families who homeschool, the back to school push is far less strenuous.
Homeschool Parent Kelly Rich educates her three children at home because of the flexibility to meet each child’s unique needs. Rich said she teaches on the school calendar, but her kids ease back in at a different pace.
“I like to try to take the first couple of weeks and add in our subjects gradually,” Rich said. “Especially for my younger learner. So, we haven’t started the full scope of our curriculum just yet. We have, like, another subject or two to add within the next two to three weeks.”
Rich said her family usually participates in a back to school activity with other homeschool families around the start of the new school year.
For homeschool parent of three Shannon Hayes, the flexibility is a perk. Hayes said her kids will not begin learning again until September.
“What that means for us is from the minute everybody goes back to school or first of August, we have a good month and a half of nobody at the park,” Hayes said. “And nobody at the splash pad and all the places we want to be at. So, we just have a less crowded space to go and enjoy, and do things that we want to do.”
Hayes said the law requires the family to be registered for homeschool by a certain date each year, but there is no specific timeline on when they have to begin teaching. Hayes said there still needs to be a certain number of days with instruction, as there would be for students in brick and mortar schools.
Rich said her approach to preparing for a new school year is similar to that of a classroom teacher, as most of her summer is spent getting ready. She said she home schools on a budget, and tries to plan the whole year in advance.
“A lot of the budget curriculum is very labor intensive on the part of the parent,” Rich said. “Which works well for me because I am a stay at home mom, so I’m able to take that time to print my resources, laminate, line. In a lot of ways, this is similar to what a classroom teacher would do.
Rich said she has a dedicated school room with posters and traditional resources in her home. She said having that space and the resources work well for her family, especially for her younger kids.
The planning process is much less intense for the Hayes family. Hayes said her kids are able to learn online and independently, so her workload in terms of homeschool are much lower.
“I actually have time to do all of the other mom things around the house,” Hayes said. “as opposed to when they were little and I would spend a few hours in the morning getting them ready and doing all of the little kid stuff and being so much more hands on.”
Hayes said she is still there to go over things when her kids need her to, as well as inspect curriculum and materials.