“I removed my children from public school at the end of this last school year, and we immediately began homeschooling for the summer so we wouldn’t fall behind. I must be doing something wrong, because they hate all the textbooks and workbooks I bought. They complain and fight constantly, or refuse to come out of their rooms when it’s time for schoolwork. We are all miserable. I thought homeschooling was supposed to be different! Should I just put them back into school?”
WHPA often receives questions from parents who jump right into heavy academics, often replicating the school environment in their homeschool after their children leave an institutional school, and wonder what they are doing wrong because they are having difficulties.
The most important thing you can do for your children – and yourself – is to allow for a period of deschooling, which is a time to move out of the traditional school routines and mindset, and take time to decompress, relax, rediscover each other, and rediscover a love of learning!
What can deschooling look like? Nature walks. Trips to the library. Museum visits. Playing board games. Road trips. Reading for the pleasure of doing so. Exploring. Cooking and baking. Read alouds. Crafts. Stargazing. Trying new things. Just hanging out.
Homeschooling does not need to replicate a traditional school experience. As the administrator of your home-based private educational program, you have the freedom and responsibility to research and determine what your educational philosophy is, what your children’s learning styles are, and then develop a learning plan or path for your children to follow. The deschooling period is the perfect time to work on these things!
In short, deschooling is a reset and an adjustment to a new normal, and it can generally take anywhere from a few weeks to a couple of months. You and your children will know when the deschooling period can be concluded.
Once you and your children are deschooled, then the individualized plan or path for learning can begin!
(This article originally appeared in WHPA’s Fall 2019 Newsletter Issue #134. ©1984-2023 Wisconsin Homeschooling Parents Association. No part of this article may be reproduced, excerpted, or distributed without written consent from the copyright holder.)