My Homeschooling Review After One Interesting Year

My Homeschooling Review After One Interesting YearAfter a year of teaching Faith ourselves (mostly Lisa), she was nice enough to give us a homeschooling review.

For those of you who aren’t familiar, Lisa and I were both blessed enough to retire from our jobs. I left my job at the end of 2018 after 20 years in IT. Then in 2019, we sold everything and moved to Panama with just two suitcases each.

We decided not to get residency here yet until we’ve had a chance to make sure this is the place for us. As such, we need to leave the country every 6 months for 30 days or longer before we’re allowed back in.

That doesn’t mix well with schooling, so we decided that we would homeschool Faith while we tried this out. That provided us with more flexibility and benefits, but homeschooling also provides a lot of challenges as well.

Year one of this homeschooling fun is wrapping up today. Now it’s time to share what we’ve learned.

With that, take it away, Lisa, and give us your homeschooling review!


Our first year of homeschooling is coming to an end as you read this and let me tell you… we are all really looking forward to our summer break!

Although a lot of you got forced into a homeschooling scenario because of the COVID-19 situation, I hope this homeschooling review will give you a little more insight into the world of doing this for an entire year.

This school year has been a learning process all around. We have had some great times and some really hard times. And with the COVID-19 virus, it’s also been a really weird time.

Before we started homeschooling, I did a lot of research on how the process works. There is so much information on the Internet that it can be truly overwhelming. I was lost and came to the conclusion that this first year was going to be a trial and error kind of year. We started the year off with a schedule and curriculum we were going to follow and I’d say we did follow it for the most part.

Sure, there were times when we didn’t follow the schedule we had set for our days. We also tried different curriculums and even tried not to use a curriculum. Some things worked well and then the next week they might not work at all. But, that’s the nice thing about homeschooling – you just make adjustments based on what works or doesn’t for your child.

 

Homeschooling review: The stress

There are no two ways about it, homeschooling is stressful. I’m not saying that sending your child to a regular brick and mortar school isn’t stressful. It’s just a different type of stress.

There’s the stress of finding the right curriculum. If one part isn’t working for your child, more research has to be done to find the thing that does work. One way of doing a subject may be working for a month and then all of a sudden it’s not working and you have to adjust to make sure that your child is getting the most out of school.

Then there’s the stress of getting a child to do their studies each day. Although Faith is a very smart kid (yes, I know, I’m a little biased), she has a lot of days when she doesn’t want to do school work.

My Homeschooling Review After One Interesting Year - Faith reading on the balcony
Some days are good like when you can sneak up behind your daughter to take her picture reading while eating breakfast on the balcony… while some days are not so pleasant.

Up until this year, she’s gone to public school. In those days, she would complain about going to school and would ask if she could skip a day here. However, I would only hear the complaining in the morning before I dropped her off. Now, with homeschooling, I hear her complaining about doing each subject every day, all day.

She asks if she can not do a subject or if she can cut it short. I have to hear how much she “HATES” history and ELA (English Language Arts). She starts the night before with “Do I have to do this?” or “Do I have to do that?” and it doesn’t stop until her school day is done. Then it starts all over again the next day… it drives me CRAZY!

But, I think the biggest stressor I have about homeschooling is the fear of Faith falling behind.

Homeschooling was never a forever situation for us. We’ve always planned for her to go back to school in a year or two. If we decide to get residency here in Panama, we’ll find an international bilingual school for Faith to attend. If we decide that Panama is not right for us and decide to move on to another country or back to the United States, we plan on putting her back into a public school.

At the moment, homeschooling is right for us and our situation, but as Faith gets older, I’m not sure it’ll be the best option for her education or my sanity.

So when she does go back to school, I have concerns such as…

  • Will she be caught up with her peers or need to work extra hard to catch up?
  • Is she doing the right curriculum in math and ELA?
  • Is she learning enough in history and science?
  • Is she spending enough time in each of these subjects and each topic?
  • Is she learning the same topics in each of these subjects as other 4th-grade students?

I often feel like she’s not doing enough schoolwork even though she gets up every morning and covers all the subjects we had planned for that day. It seems like she gets finished with her school day so quickly.

Also, she hasn’t done many “tests” in many of the subjects she is taking. She’s taken a few math quizzes and tests on Khan Academy but that’s about it. Is she retaining all that information that we study? I hope so, but I really have no way of gauging what she’s remembered.

This is what I worry about daily and probably will every day while Faith is being homeschooled. But what makes me feel better and not want to follow a specific online school or curriculum is the freedom we have with piecing our own curriculum together.

So yes, I do feel the stress of worrying about Faith falling behind in her subjects and her peers. However, as I look back over this school year, I remember all of the new experiences and learning opportunities she has had on this journey. And I have learned that at any given time, a lesson can be taught.

My Homeschooling Review After One Interesting Year - Faith Watching KIDZ Money
Setting up your child with a good financial education along the way can be priceless! Check out my review of BEST Money Academy here.

Almost every day, Faith does math, reading, and Spanish. She also has science, history/geography, spelling and ELA (English Language Arts), personal finance, art, and music on her schedule throughout the week. But many times these subjects and much more have been taught outside of our home.

I try to remember that just because Faith is not doing the exact same thing her peers are doing in school, she is still learning from her experiences. She might be behind in a subject or two but she has had experiences this year that have taught her so much more than she would have learned in a classroom. The learning opportunities Faith has had here in Boquete are some that will stay with her for a very long time, if not forever.

 

Homeschooling review – New learning opportunities

This year, Faith studied humpback whales and instead of just reading about the whales or watching videos about them, we went on a whale-watching tour and got to see them swimming in the ocean. On that same tour, Faith saw a sea turtle, went snorkeling, and saw many different types of tropical fish. She then identified the fish she saw on a sheet the tour guide had brought. That week, she wrote a report on the whales and her field trip.

Resplendent Quetzal
A photo of the Resplendent Quetzal (much better than any photo we took of it!)
Attribution: Francesco Veronesi from Italy / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)

We went hiking here in Boquete almost every week (until the lockdown started here). On those hikes, we would stop and study the flowers and plants. We’d also investigate many types of bugs, including Faith’s favorite, the leaf cutter ants. On one of our hikes, we saw monkeys in the trees and watched them for a while. On these hikes, we’ve also seen so many types of birds including the elusive Resplendent Quetzal.

We had the opportunity to go on a geology field trip with Dr. Paul Meyers, a retired geology professor from the University of Wisconsin. We learned about Volcan Baru (a volcano here in Boquete) and how it affected the land in Boquete and surrounding areas.

Faith also volunteers once a month at Amigos de Animales. This is a spay and neuter clinic here in Boquete. Faith and I work in recovery and this is a very hands-on opportunity for her. In recovery, we have to observe the animal after surgery and make sure the vitals are normal. We take each animal’s temperature every 15-20 minutes while it’s still asleep from the anesthetic and then wake it up so the animal can go home with its owner.

Faith does all of this on her own. Well, of course, I am sitting next to her with my own animal and there are other experienced adults there supervising but she has her own cat or dog at any given time that she has to care for.

As an extracurricular activity, Faith takes horseback riding lessons at the Boquete Equestrian Center. At these lessons, she learns so much more than just riding the horse. She learns how to care for them, how to get them ready for the riding, and what needs to be done when she’s finished riding. She’s also learned how to listen to a horse’s stomach when they’re not feeling well and give them an injection of medicine. No doubt that her favorite part is riding but she’s learning so much more.

Experiences like these and many more plus learning to appreciate a new culture here in Panama may not be the “normal” schooling most people are used to but it’s an education that Faith would never have if we didn’t decide to homeschool.

If Faith is falling behind on some subjects (which we don’t know for sure), she’s making up in other ways. She may have to study extra hard next year to catch up to her peers but the experiences she’s had here in Panama are experiences that will mold her into a more well-rounded person. And in my mind, that’s certainly just as important as any other subject she could study in a book or online.

 

Homeschooling during a Pandemic

We were lucky that we weren’t thrown into homeschooling like so many others were when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. I can’t imagine the stress a parent is under when they already possibly worried about losing his/her job or suddenly having to work from home with the entire family there as a distraction. Having to navigate the world of homeschooling at the drop of a hat as well has got to be trying.

We didn’t have to worry about finances or figuring out how to homeschool but we do have the same feelings and worries as so many other people do. We felt fear, anger, sadness and so many other feelings that can’t be described.

To say that COVID-19 threw a wrench in the works of our homeschooling would be an understatement. The pandemic has turned our world upside down.

At the end of March, Panama announced that they were closing the borders and no flights were allowed in or out. We had to decide if we wanted to risk flying back to Ohio and risk catching COVID-19 during our travel and possibly spreading it to family. Or we could stay in Panama on lockdown until it passed but know that if something were to happen to one of our loved ones, we wouldn’t be able to return to the States for an unforeseen amount of time.

We ultimately decided that we were safer staying here but it wasn’t an easy decision. To add to it, we were feeling a little homesick and were looking forward to my parents visiting us in April. Knowing that visit was going to be canceled added to our anxiety and frustration.

With all of this going on, plus anxiety, frustration, and sadness, how can anyone concentrate on doing schoolwork? And so, for that first week after the announcement of the border closing, I was more worried about keeping our spirits high (well as high as we could) and our emotional well being intact than I was about academics.

My Homeschooling Review After One Interesting Year - Faith and Georgie
And some days you just let Faith take a little time off to go crazy and create a new friend out of junk… say “hi” to Georgie everyone!

Our minds were not in the right place to concentrate. We did do some schooling that week but for the most part, Faith was allowed to choose what she wanted to do as long as it was productive. She worked on programming on Khan Academy, did a lot of art projects, watched educational shows on YouTube, and did some reading.

But, most importantly, we spent a lot of time together playing games both inside and outdoors. We did some baking and cooking together and, dare I say it out loud, watched movies together instead of doing school work. We tried to do things that took Faith’s mind (and ours) off COVID-19 and would alleviate some stress instead of adding to it with a lot of school work.

Now, we’re back on track for the most part. Faith is back to her math, reading, Spanish, science, history/geography, and plenty of art projects. But, I’m still lenient on her schooling. We’re still feeling the frustrations of COVID-19 and being on lockdown and not knowing when things will open up. So we’re doing our best to get through what we can as we wrap up the year.

As far as my homeschooling review goes, this school year has been completely different from what we’re used to and what we were expecting. Between everything from changing the schedule and curriculum many times and schooling during a pandemic, it’s been interesting. But, I think Faith has come out of it a smarter and better kid and that’s all we could ask for.

— Lisa


Awesome job on the homeschooling review, Lisa! You’ve done an amazing job at this and have the patience of a saint!

Thanks for reading, everyone – I hope this homeschooling review has been helpful!!

— Jim

You know you wanna share this!!

11 thoughts on “My Homeschooling Review After One Interesting Year”

  1. I do not understand the lack of testing? No reason was given to this important topic. Only real way for you or a child to know if they have mastered a subject. Can be oral or written. They can be progressive as mastery is being achieve. Only real way to know if you are wasting your time. If test not available, time consuming but not difficult to create. So are you wasting your time or not? Will your child be successful at her grade level, further stressed or held back when returning to a regular school environment.

    Know these comments will probably only further stress you out. But seek out an education consultant to evaluate and advise you before you start another year of homeschooling. Worth the cost and may help reduce stress for both of you.

    Good luck

    1. Hi Mel,
      Thanks for your feed back. There were a few tests and quizzes in math on Khan Academy and she did do some oral and written reports on a lot of the topics we covered this year. I was looking at different assessment tests for our daughter to take this spring but with Covid-19, I decided that the added stress and anxiety such tests wouldn’t benefit any of us.
      Although I stress about her progress, I have never felt that homeschooling our daughter is a “waste of time” regardless if she is taking tests or not.
      Please do not worry, your comments do not add any more stress than I already have. But thank you for the advice.
      -Lisa

  2. Hey Lisa (and Jim!!),
    Congrats on a monstrous job!! I’m a teacher, but homeschooling my kids during Covid was WAY HARDER than being in the classroom!

    Ok, my two cents, take or leave: my two boys have ADHD. Before they were on meds, they complained about school every single day! Do you think Faith might have an attention disorder or another disability that makes learning so hard? Because in my experience, when kids are complaining so much about school, it means it’s really hard for them, usually for some diagnosable reason.

    Again, you are an expert on your child so I’m not trying to interfere, just wanted to let you know that getting my kiddos diagnosed totally changed their school experience (for the better). Hang in there because you are doing such hard work!!!!

    1. Thanks for the thoughts, Laurie! I doubt Faith has an attention disorder because as soon as she gets started, she’s good to go. She knocks out the work without any problems or loss of focus. My guess is that we would sometimes cave on what she would have to do here and there throughout the year and so she was hoping to get us to do that more often (didn’t work!). 🙂

      Hope all is well with you!

  3. It sounds like you’re doing a great job with homeschooling. Your program is comprehensive and you go out to do a lot of stuff. We had a really hard time with homeschooling at first. The teachers didn’t have much training and the parents and kids were overwhelmed.
    We figured out the right compromise for our son and it worked a lot better since then.
    We want to go travel for a year so this is good training for us. Although, I think it will be a lot easier because my wife can help more with homeschooling. I’m a horrible teacher because I’m too impatient.

    1. I can only imagine how stressful it would be getting thrown into homeschooling like so many people did. It was a big enough learning curve for us and we at least got to plan for it! At least you had a test run for your travels – the flexibility makes it worthwhile.

      I can’t speak for your abilities as a homeschooling teacher, but you taught me that early retirement was possible. Without you, I’d still be working a 9-5 right now, so your teaching abilities can’t be too horrible! 🙂

  4. Lisa P Van Gemert

    Hi!
    As a teacher and former homeschooler, I’d like to share these thoughts. Feel free to ignore them!

    One thing I would caution all homeschooling parents about who plan to have the child return to school is that your concern is totally valid (falling behind). I frequently hear about how much more quickly you get the work done at home, and how ahead you get. I’ve not found that to be the case. Every single student I have ever had who was homeschooled was behind, and I taught strong students.

    You’re right to be concerned if she’s finishing the work really quickly. You’ll have people assuage your concerns and tell you not to worry, but from what you described, she’s not doing enough for her grade level.

    My biggest concerns would be writing and lab science. Those are the hardest to replicate at home. Yes, it’s true that’s she’s getting great experiences, yet your concern is not that she’s not getting great experiences, but rather that she will not have kept pace with the standards being achieved by her grade-level peers in a traditional school.

    Parents are notoriously poor judges of student writing. As a teacher, I see that all of the time. It’s shocking how much writing students do every day and how many different kinds of writing they are being taught to do. It’s hard to evaluate your own child’s writing, so I’d definitely find someone to do that. You could find a teacher of her grade level to do that on the side.

    Lab sciences are mission critical. When I was homeschooling, I lived out of the country as well, and I used a science curriculum that sent me everything I needed for the experiments. It’s probably worth investing in a home science lab kit and using it. They are widely available.

    Math and social studies are the easiest to do on your own because they have the most resources anyone can access. The only difficulty with social studies is that she could be behind simply by virtue of where you end up because states vary widely (and countries even more widely) on what they teach when.

    I’d consider identifying the three most likely places you’d end up, and find out what they will be teaching. Align what you’re teaching to that as closely as possible. Even if you don’t go there, where you do go will likely align with one of them.

    Okay, here’s where I’m going to lose you: as an educator, the biggest concern I had when I read this article was the amount of complaining she’s doing. The reason that concerns me is that she seems to see learning as something she “has” to do, rather than something she “gets” to do. That mindset absolutely must change or it will be the biggest challenge when she returns to school. Perhaps it was exaggerated a little bit for the sake of the story – fair enough. However, if you can say that yes, at least once a day you’ll hear a complaint or whine about it, I’d call it an issue that needs to be addressed. (ducking)

    I wish you the best of luck! Homeschooling can be wonderful!

    1. Thanks for the feedback, Lisa. It’s truly been an evolving endeavor. Lisa’s already decided on some major changes that Faith will be doing with next year’s homeschooling. In all likelihood, I’m guessing that next year will be the last year of homeschooling though. After that, we’ll know if we’re going to stay here in Panama for years to come or not. If we’re staying, we’ll get residency and enroll her in an international school. If we don’t stay, she’ll likely be back in a public school in the U.S. From there, we’ll continue to focus on teaching her life lessons outside of the regular schooling as well.

      As far as the complaining goes, yeah, that’s a mindset that will need to change. I mentioned in another comment that we would sometimes cave on what she would have to do here and there. That was a mistake and probably paved the way for her to try to complain to weasel out of schoolwork… fresh start next year with new rules! 🙂

  5. I saw your previous post with both the Scholastic materials and the Khan Academy as resources. I’ve also researched the Home School Mom you recommended.

    Did you end up paying for a homeschool curriculum from one of the numerous programs that exist today, with and without teacher assistance? Thanks!

    1. Hi Ian, We did not pay for a home school curriculum. But we did use a program math and spelling called Sumdog. That cost was around $6 a month. We do plan to try study.com for 5th grade which is about $60 a month.

      -Lisa

Leave a Reply to Jim @ Route To Retire Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.