SARASOTA-MANATEE COUNTIES (WSNN) – Suncoast parents who’ve homeschooled in the past share some tips and advice for parents opting to homeschool their children in the fall, amidst the pandemic.
Currently, parents have the option to go online or to continue with traditional schooling. There are two curriculums a parent can choose; a self-directed homeschool program or Florida Virtual School.
“If you’re not familiar with homeschooling, there are so many ways to homeschool; it is not just one way,” veteran homeschool parent from Sarasota, Marie Tannus, said. “So you can actually customize it to your lifestyle.”
Marie Tannus homeschooled three kids, ages 26, 20, 17. She’s the admin of a Facebook group called the Happy Homeschooling Group of Sarasota & Manatee Counties. She says it has grown by 500 people in the last three months.
If you’re planning to homeschool Tannus says, first, you need to figure out what you want your kid to accomplish during this school year.
“If you are planning to send them back to school in a year’s time, you may want to stick to the virtual schools, because they will be more in line with the school in terms of the subject matter,” Tannus said.
Or you can take advantage of self-directed curriculums.
“I plan everything for them, and they plan some things themselves.,” homeschool mom from Bradenton, Erika Moyer, said.
Moyer homeschools her 13-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter creating her own curriculum using different programs online.
Both options have one thing in common: flexibility.
“Some kids like routine, some kids like a lot of freedom,” Moyer said. “Some kids are morning birds, some kids are night owls. I would say you should take your cues from your children and allow them to learn when they’re most receptive to it. I feel like they learn so much better when you give them some freedom with it.”
Moyer advises parents to not try and recreate a school environment as homeschool takes a lot less time than brick-and-mortar schooling.
“Just because focused one-on-one individual instruction is just so much faster than group instruction,” Moyer said. “So I think it typically takes a quarter of the time as it would in a regular school.”
And what about socialization?
“They can finish their schoolwork most often in less than two hours a day and then they can do whatever they want,” Moyer said. “So that’s hanging out with friends, that’s playing video games with friends, actually having play-dates with friends, or playing out in the street, they can, they’re totally free to.”
Co-op and self-directed learning centers offer homeschool children enrichment, socialization, and even an educator.
Tannus says the education and socialization are dependent on the family.
“If you want to do this, you can do this, just plug into the support systems that are available, don’t be afraid to ask questions, and just embrace the process,” Tannus said.
A process, many parents never thought they would be in.
Both parents say even though homeschool has its social aspects, the pandemic is making this year different for them too.