Guess what?  You can’t.  And you’re not supposed to.  But then neither is that teacher at the school.  The research says that we’re supposed to be FACILITATORS of learning–not DISSEMINATORS of information… which is good news!!

Oh wait… but how do we do that???  Here’s how…

Facilitating is “helping to make it happen”.  What experiences do they need to learn about things?  What resources?  Your job is to gather all of that and help them put it together.  To be honest, if your children have internet access and are relatively mature tweens–THEY can help find the resources they need.

Your job now becomes the structure and the foundation skills.  Helping them sort and organize.  Teaching them how to set goals.  Developing their executive function skills that empower them to take charge of this learning. Especially since executive function skills are NOT specific to their academics.  No clue?  You can learn together–and that’s okay.  When I taught in the public schools, I taught a subject that I was absolutely fluent in but guess what:  even I had to look things up and figure out how to teach it to the kids and what resources were available. Teachers do it, too.  All of this is easier today with the internet than it has ever been.  There is nothing you could want for that cannot be found somewhere.

That would include help.

Do you even know if there is a local homeschool community for support?  Facebook, Meetup and even Google will come to your rescue.  If there’s not a local community, then there is undoubtedly an online community.  My own local area has an old Yahoo mailing list that is now converted to another that has been the go-to for so many homeschool-related questions up to and including dealing with college applications, trying to partial enroll in the local schools and what the best driver’s education company is for homeschoolers.  Truly, there is nothing you can’t find!

Beyond that, there are endless discussion forums for everything you could want to chat about or ask questions of.  Some of my favorites include the forums at Well-Trained Mind and the Secular, Eclectic, Academic Homeschoolers Facebook page.  But the are many many more!

Ultimately, what you can’t figure out, you can subcontract out.  Whether that’s through homeschool co-operatives (formal or informal–what can you barter with another parent?), partnering with the local school district for partial enrollment (rules for this vary but ALWAYS confirm what the school tells you with the locals–where I am, people always manage to get the person at the school that is out of touch with what happens with homeschoolers!), local or online colleges, or just hiring it out through online or in-person providers.  It won’t cost as much as a private school education.

You can do this. Take a breath. Make a list of what your state requires of you and just start there. There’s you’re baseline. Tackle that stuff first. Everything else will come together.

If you need guidance and support, let’s talk about whether I can help.