by Laurel Santiago

Created on: May 27, 2007

Homeschooling presents many challenges to families, especially those families who have just made the leap from public school to homeschool. When my husband and I made the decision to homeschool our children, we had a number of challenges before us. One challenge that we faced was financial. We were actually a very low income family at the time, and purchasing curriculum was going to be difficult for us. Another challenge was time. Our work schedules did not always permit us to be home with the children during the hours that are traditionally set aside for school. Our final challenge was the age old issue of socializing. How would our children find and maintain playmates from home? We were surprised over time to find out that none of these issues were insurmountable.

Because money was so tight, we learned very quickly to make full use of the local library. Most of us already know that the library contains books on every subject at every grade level, and in great detail. 7 years later, we still make several trips to the library per week, and bring home arm loads of books not only for school, but for personal enjoyment as well. For the times when we did not have a computer or internet access, the library had a full service computer lab where we could play educational games, research, and print out the many free worksheets that can be found online. I could often afford ten cents per page for a few sheets of paper when I could not afford twenty dollars for a new workbook. Telling the librarians that we were homeschooling was also a wonderful idea, because they actually participate a great deal in helping us to select appropriate materials, and they offer lots of encouragement to me and my children.

I worked a full time job, and often worked over time. My husband was home more than I was, but when he was able to find work, we often had to take our children to a babysitter. Although this time period was very difficult for us, we were able to find babysitters or family members who were not opposed to our homeschooling, and who would help by administering lessons, reading with the children, or playing with them. Many times, lessons did not go as planned, but we soon learned that children will learn in any environment whether or not there are textbooks and worksheets. This goes along with the idea of "unschooling" in that if children are provided the freedom to learn, then they will learn that which they need at the time. It might not serve a first grader to know her multiplication

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