To Homeschool Or Not To Homeschool

Hello readers! Many of us have kids who are back in school and taking on the new year. But, for some parents, they’ve opted out of sending their kids back to in-person school. Instead, they’ve enrolled them in home school programs, which means their child is either being taught by them, the parent or the child is enrolled in an online, home-school program, where the curriculum is similar to the formats we saw during the pandemic. In other words, zoom school. Honestly, after hearing about the rise of parents choosing to homeschool their children, I was intrigued and understood.

For one, COVID-19 changed the way we viewed in-person activities, work and school included. And there are a few factors that would lead me to want to homeschool my child. As I gave it more thought, I realized, that when I have children of my own, homeschooling will be a very real option. Here are my three reasons I advocate for home school learning:

1. School Disparities Still Exist

One interesting fact I learned when doing a deep dive into homeschooling, was that this year, it was most popular among people in the Black community. Schools that are seen as diverse or have more of a minority presence, do not always get the same benefits, curriculum, and extracurricular activities as predominantly white schools. I know this first hand growing up in an area that was highly segregated with my town's school being mostly white, and having an abundance of resources and the town next door not having a fraction of that (and that school was mostly Black and Hispanic). Something as simple as a zip code changed the type of curriculum the students received and it was unfair. With homeschooling, I can ensure my child is getting a standard curriculum regardless of zip code.

2. Schools Are Not How We Remember Them - Social Media Has Killed School Spirit

When I was in school, I remember being excited about going there. Not because I was a super nerd (although I kind of was) but because it was a safe haven for my teenage self who was filled with angst and swore no one but my friends understood me. We had homecoming and pep rallies to look forward to. We had football games, and senior-ditch day, but those things no longer excite students like they excited my generation. While COVID did throw a wrench in things by canceling proms and graduations, now that we are getting back into those things, students don’t care as much. A few of my closest friends are teachers and told me that kids are more into their social media presence and personal lives than what’s going on in their school. They would rather post themselves doing a viral dance at a concert than watch a football game. Instead of playing senior pranks, they’d rather try to be influencers. And on top of it all - social media has allowed for more bullying in schools. When I was in school, all we had was Facebook, and not everyone had internet on their phone (this was only 2012 guys). So if someone had a problem with you in school, it stayed there. But now, it goes on Instagram, Snapchat, Tik Tok, and everyone can join in on it.

3. Schools Are No Longer Safe

I don’t have to expand on this - this country has a serious problem when it comes to school safety. When I was younger, the incidents you hear about frequently on the news today were isolated incidents you learned about and it was treated as such. We didn’t have active shooter drills (although we had bomb threat drills), and we didn’t have metal detectors at the front of our building. The school building, for the most part, was open 7am-7pm, and you came and went as you pleased. There was no fear of tragedy happening in the halls, which we can’t say about schools today. Schools are no longer looked at as safe havens, and home-schooling mitigates that.

Let us know how you feel about homeschooling, are you for, or against it?

Choosing the Right Extracurricular Activity for Your Child

Yesterday, we talked about the upcoming school year, and today we’re doing the same! As the school year approaches, tons of questions flood our minds, and as parents, we just want to do what’s best for our child, including choosing the right sport or club for them.

So how do you choose?

I always think it’s important that when your child is old enough to start making independent decisions, they should be able to choose the type of activities they would like to do. But, if your child is around eight or younger, and may need some guidance on extracurricular activities they would like to do, how do you pick?

Here are our top three tips:

1. Think about your child’s strengths

What is your child good at? Are they confident, and great at talking? Maybe acting lessons might be their thing. Or are they super competitive and full of energy? Consider sports and see which one they like the best. You know your child the best, so see what activities they could participate in that play to their strengths and help them find the activity that is a good fit! Help them build on the traits that they already have and help strengthen them. If they have a natural talent for music, put them in vocal lessons or piano class.

2. Think about your child’s weakness

While we always want to see our children succeed, we also need to be realistic and realize sometimes they need an extra nudge to get there. No matter how great of a person they are, just like anyone, there is room for improvement. If your child is on the shy side, put them in something that will get them out of their comfort zone. Let’s say they have a hard time working with others, put them in a team sport to help them to learn how to work collaboratively.

3. Don’t be afraid to be wrong!

This is a big one! Let’s say you thought your child would love figure skating because they like rollerblading. After a few lessons, they tell you that they don’t like it. That’s perfectly fine! Sometimes you have to go through a period or trial and error to figure out what it is that your child will like and it’s useful for both of you because you can see what might work and what doesn’t. There is no exact science to this, so just be open to trying new activities and being wrong.

Back To School Shopping - What’s That?

The countdown is on for the 2022 to 2023 school year. The past few school years have been a hectic one to say the least. With Covid, virtual learning, and hybrid learning, students had to learn how to adjust so many things and I think that the confirmation of a back-to-school in person this year is going to get them more excited than ever. Kids think about so many things when going back to school, like what friends they'll make this year, and what classes they will be taking but when it comes to back-to-school shopping, that’s usually parent territory. So what is back-to-school shopping exactly?

Some parents find it as only buying the necessities for the school year. New binders, notebooks, pens, and pencils. While others consider it a time to buy new clothes, new sneakers, and new backpacks, so when it comes to back-to-school shopping, where do you draw the line?

Based on your parenting style, you could either buy your child everything in the beginning of the school year or on an as-needed basis, but it’s completely up to you. Deciding what you want to include in back-to-school shopping and what counts as a necessity versus what isn't, is also a personal choice. For example, my sister-in-law considered a few things as necessities when back to school shopping for my nephew. She considered a new phone and iPad back to school shopping. But I saw that more as just general shopping. I didn’t see how it correlated with the school year. What’s the difference between getting a phone before the school year or in the summer? Her reasoning was she would need to keep in contact with my nephew at school and it was a perfect back-to-school item so she included that her back-to-school budget.

Growing up, my mom considered back-to-school shopping binders, notebooks and then a backpack. She would also buy us a few new pairs of shoes that she expected to last us throughout the school year. Now, that’s not to say that she didn’t buy us other things throughout the year, but she expected those big purchases to last us until it was time to buy again for the next year.

So there’s no handbook when it comes to back-to-school shopping but it’s important that as the parent you set the budget and you set the expectation. If you’re including a laptop in the back-to-school budget that’s completely fine. But if you think that’s more of a gift that you want to give your child on a holiday or birthday that’s also fine. My advice to you is to just draw out the budget and go over it with your child. We hope that you enjoy your back-to-school shopping let us know in the comments what you get!