If you’re a parent educating your children at home (or wherever it works for your family!), you can likely agree that homeschooling is more of a lifestyle than an educational alternative. There are so many ways your kids can learn, and every family has their own way of customizing the learning environment and materials so that it works well for each child and the family as a whole. What also works well is having other homeschoolers share their experience and insight to help other families along in the fabulous homeschooling journey!

A wonderful perk of home education is being able to teach all things with a Christian worldview, and history is an easy subject to do that in. The Bible literally tells us about the beginning of history! We are given the Bible by God for a reason; He wants us to know what is written in there! There is so much to learn in the Bible and to teach our children. The Bible is the number one tool in teaching history from the perspective of a Christian worldview, but there are resources available to help you supplement that if you wish. Seeing world history support the Bible is a powerful tool for your kids as well so they learn to see the Bible as historical fact and not just “stories.”

Even without knowing it, children start learning about social studies in kindergarten, and it carries on throughout their school years. Social studies, in a nutshell, helps children understand their environment and the world around them so they can make informed decisions. That type of learning shouldn’t ever end! Part of learning about our environment here in Canada is learning about our Canadian winters! Canada has such a wide range of winter weather that it makes it fascinating to learn about! From the -40 (or colder) temps in the north to the rainy and mild west to the windy and snow-covered east, there is much to be discovered!

What do you think of when you hear the word technology? For many, the first thought that comes to mind is about cell phones and social media. While this is part of the technological world we live in now, it is not the full description. There are many aspects of technology not requiring those things. There is also much to be learned in the way of technology, and it can be very educational. Regardless, it is here, and we will need to teach our children how to use and interact with technology on some level. Discover why technology is important for your family and ideas for its safe use.

For many of us, one of the reasons we love home education is that it allows us to teach some life skills that are overlooked in public schools. Financial literacy is not just practical; it is also Biblical. There are countless verses in the Bible speaking to money. It is wise of us to teach our children to be good stewards of their money, which in turn will help them be content with what they have. Make financial literacy into a course or utilize real life instruction, but don’t neglect this important life training.

There are certain myths about homeschooling that you hear circulating quite regularly among those who don’t homeschool; they are sometimes even used as reasons why people do not homeschool. I’m sure you’ve heard them all, but one of the big ones is “what if your child wants to go to university?” It seems to be a common misconception that if you are homeschooled, your schooling ends at grade 12.

For many homeschool parents, the academic portion of teaching pales in importance to teaching values and developing our children’s character. While the internet is overrun with many beautiful and effective ways of teaching math and language arts, there is not so much out there to help us with instilling values in our children and teaching them to be people of strong character.

More and more often these days, homeschooling family is becoming synonymous with homesteading family. Whether you are learning to appreciate simpler days, embracing the learning that comes through this lifestyle, or feel a push from the times we are living in, you may be putting more thought into taking on some homestead tasks. While homesteading encompasses a large amount of skills and tasks, it can be less overwhelming to just choose somewhere to start and focus on that. A garden can be made in a small yard or even in containers on a deck. You can find a local farmer’s market and buy produce there to preserve for winter or leaner times. You can learn to bake from scratch things that perhaps you used to buy. These are smaller steps you can do that don’t require a large piece of land.