Tidal Homeschooling
In a homeschooling environment, learning happens with an ebb and flow.
There are going to be a lot of new homeschooling families this fall. Not just suddenly-schooling-at-home, distance-learning families, but brand-new officially-doing-this-homeschool-thing families. Thousands of people making the same decision my husband and I made way back when our firstborn was a baby.
It’s easier now. The support networks are robust and well-established. The internet has exploded with resources. There are blogs and podcasts and books to guide the way.
It’s also—right now, this year—harder, in some ways. The pandemic has really put the home in homeschool. My kids’ beloved co-op classes are all online this fall. No group park days, no play dates, no library rambles, no museum outings. We have a family member at high risk for respiratory complications, so we’re sticking close to home until the virus rates subside.
But home is good! Right now, we’re in what my family calls “low tide.” In 2006, I came up with a metaphor to describe how homeschooling works in our house. I call it Tidal Homeschooling, and it’s a concept that has served us well through ups and downs and new babies and cross-country moves and all manner of adventures. It’s the topic I’m most often asked to speak about at homeschooling…
