My biggest fear when I started homeschooling

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We started homeschooling almost seven years ago. It was not an easy choice. Don’t get me wrong, I admired those who homeschooled their children. I had two very close friends who homeschooled their children. I loved the idea, but I had this huge looming fear. How would I teach my children to read? Or, how would I teach them things like multiplication and intense science lessons that were over my head as they became older.

Homeschooling was something my husband pushed. He felt very strongly that we do it.

We have older children who attended public school. At the time we had a seventh grader and a fifth grader. We had always been very involved in their education. Spent time at the school each year volunteering, never missed a meeting, served on boards, etc. We had one child who was an easy learner- he breezed through school. Then we had a child who struggled. He was dyslexic and school did not come so easy for him. My husband’s long term goal was to bring him home, but first he wanted us to try our hand at our twins who were starting Kindergarten.

The conversation started when the twins were two. Immediately I gave pushback. I honestly lacked so much confidence and a lot of our family gave their input too. Comments like “you’ve never been to college to become a teacher”, “how will you have time… there are so many kids”, “what about socialization”, and “how will you teach them to read”. How could I argue back….. most of these concerns were my own as well.


With my husband rooting me on we dove in and began our homeschool journey. It did not take long for me to realize this was the best decision we could have possibly ever made.

As I experienced every milestone right along side our boys, the truth about teaching my kids became very real. We are our children’s first teacher.

We teach them how to roll over, how to sit up, how walk, how to communicate, how to trust, how to behave, how to go to the potty and the list goes on and on. These are huge foundation tasks that children have to know and they trust us to teach it to them.

Why then, can we not teach our children to read and to add and how volcanos erupt?

Let me share with you one of our favorite reading websites/applications that we love and use for many age levels in our house.

Have you heard of the website and app Reading Eggs? It is made for children from ages 2-13. The main focus in reading but there is a math section as well.

One of my favorite things to do is to make learning fun and Reading eggs does that.

For ages 2-4 little ones will use the Junior section which is perfect for toddlers and preschoolers. They learn letters and sounds and are exposed to words as well. Luke Henry, who is 3, playing and learning here. The story telling keeps Luke Henry engaged. He listens to each story with his full attention and begs for more. He answers the questions out loud as the narrator tells the stories. So much fun. 

For ages 3-7 they focus on self paced lessons that build essential phonics and reading skills. This is the section Matthew uses. Yes, he is eight, but after taking the assessment they offer on the website, I knew this was the perfect place for him to start. There are reports that I look over once he is done so I can be involved and ensure he is in the right place he needs to be. The system tracks how many sight words he knows, how many phonics skills he has mastered, and his estimated reading age. I also love there are bonus materials that align with the lessons. We can print them out and use them to dive deeper. This is perfect for kids who need to map things out on paper too.  I think you will love it…. but most importantly your young reader will too!

For ages 7-13 their curriculum helps to develop comprehension skills which is a huge thing we are working on with our tins who are eleven. They also work on vocabulary, spelling skills. Again, there is an assessment that will see where they should be placed within the learning so that everything is customized to meet your child where they are with their learning. The reading element for this age is packed with hundreds of interactive reading activities, online children’s books, and literacy games. And it really works! They can use Reading Eggs while I am working with their siblings on other subjects.

I love that each of our kids can set up their own user and we share one family dashboard where I can see how each child is doing. Just because Nick and Luke are in the same grade, this does not mean they are working on the same lessons in reading and spelling. Love how it is geared for each child.

I really encourage you to check this out. For a limited time, Reading Eggs is offering Crystal & Co., readers a 4 week free trail. No strings attached!

This is perfect for homeschool families, moms looking to supplement a public school education, at home day care providers, grandparents who babysit their grandkids and more!

I want you to remember, no matter how much you may doubt yourself, you are your child’s first teacher! We were made for this- to guide them and lead them and utilize the resources the are available to make things like reading and spelling click for our kiddos!

I hope that you will sign up for the 4 week free trial. No credit card is needed to sign up. It’s super easy and I think it will change the way to teach reading to your kiddos- no matter their age.

Win a 3 Month Subscription to Reading Eggs 

I am giving away a 3 month subscription to one lucky reader. Use the widget below to join! 

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21 Comments

  1. Oh wow, I give you SO MUCH credit for homeschooling. I know for a fact I couldn’t do that. I don’t have patience and I honestly feel like I have forgotten so much knowledge in the SCHOOLING realm (sad but true) but I wouldn’t want to teach my kid. THAT being said, my husband is 10000% brilliant, so I know he could do it!

  2. I did homeschool and the only reason we decided to stop was the socialization and getting my daughter a solid teaching when it came to subjects I felt I was lacking as she got older. It turns out that we pushed socialization on her and it turns out most people do not live up to our standards anyway so why force her to hang out with them? Also, after moving to a new state, losing on one house and paying more for another just to have a good school district and community, the teachers are not any more qualified to teach my daughter than I am it turns out, so we will be homeschooling again soon. I need to look into this for sure!

    1. Girl, you hit the nail on the head.

      Here is the thing about socialization. The traditional school setting does not foster socialization. How often does a child get in trouble for talking at inappropriate times? You cannot talk unless you are called on and given permission, You cannot talk in the restroom you cannot talk in the hallway, you cannot talk at lunch until the light is green, etc. Huge misnomer that school is for socializing.

      And, I want to manage the influence of my children. You can’t do that when you send them away for 8 hours a day and they are subjected to other children who are influential in a negative way. I mean sometimes it is not even the kids that are a bad influence.

      I do not think public school is bad, but I think so often we count on hoping for the right teacher. You can live in the poorest school district and get the best teacher (we’ve had this experience). But they are only their teacher for one year. You have 13 years of needing good teachers. Or, you can live in the most affluent school district and get the teacher who hates her job and is burned out. What a disadvantage for your child.

      Education is such a struggle. We’ve been in many different scenarios just like you. My heart goes out to you mama!!

      Check out Reading Eggs. It is perfect for supplementing a public school education and and excellent addition to your homeschool curriculum. The free trial is awesome!

  3. You probably hear this all the time but I honestly do not know that I could homeschool my kiddos. I am happy you found a great tool for your kids to learn how to read. I think my daughter would benefit for this as well.

  4. It’s great that you found some tools to help with your homeschooling. I’m not sure I could ever homeschool, mostly because I work outside of the home and wouldn’t have the time and resources to dedicate to it. Looks like you’re doing great though!

  5. I understand your fears heading into homeschooling. I am the one that wanted to do it with all of the children. I only had my husband agree to the last one. I feel like I am in such a foreign land, but we are enjoying it the more we get into it.

    Reading will come next year…

  6. THat’s great that you were able to find your homeschooling stride. It didn’t work for my family but I think it’s a great way of customizing the learning to that particular child and giving them one on one attention. I wish you all continued success with it.

  7. This is a very helpful resource that you helped, I think not only for kids who are homeschooled but even for those who are in school. Anyhow, I admire you for doing this with your kids. Honestly, if I ever have kids, I’m seriously considering homeschooling them too!

  8. I was a teacher for many years, and no one has everything figured out. I quickly learned that what you don’t know about teaching or how to teach, you make up for with caring and individualized attention. I am still in contact with students from my very first class. I am amazed, because I think I wasn’t very good then. But they remember how much I cared. They remember the books I read to them. They remember the projects we did. Follow their lead, help them fill in the gaps and most importantly, encourage curiousity and love of reading.
    The rest will come. # Pitstop

  9. Fear holds us back for many reasons, the biggest one, people telling us their way is the best way. As for socialization, there are so many opportunities for children to socialize and ways for them to be socialized. One size doesn’t fit all.
    Loved this post and had to share. So glad I dropped by from #BloggersPitStop – you’ll be seeing plenty more of me. 😉
    Hope this summer is being kind to you and yours, best wishes today and every day. 🙂

  10. My youngest is a bit delayed so I would love to start him on a program to help him read!

  11. Emory Brooks says:

    My child wold love to win Reading Egg for all the online children books and the interactive reading activities. This looks like it would be a great time!

  12. My twins always need help with understanding comprehensive questions!

  13. This is a big subject and it is great to hear how well it is going for your family. In the hope that your post will help some more readers, we will feature your post in the next Blogger’s Pit Stop. Well done.
    Kathleen

  14. My grandson is dyslexic and I think this would be a tremendous help.

  15. Audrey Stewart says:

    Our Samantha is almost 4, and she loves books.

  16. Lily Kwan says:

    This reading website/application looks very useful!

  17. There are so many fears when beginning homeschooling. I’m a former homeschool mom (both kids have graduated from college now), so I remember the days of being so worried. I’m a reading tutor now, so I am all about anything that gets kids excited about reading. Thanks for sharing at Thursday Favorite Things!

  18. Jessica W. says:

    My daughter is four and I think this would be a great way to start her on her journey of learning to read.

  19. We love Reading Eggs too. Great tool for teaching kids to read!

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