As we head into our 7th year of homeschooling, our oldest is kicking off her first year of middle school. For kids attending regular schools, this is marked by big changes in their school routine. As homeschoolers, how can we mark this rite of passage? My daughter was worried that she wouldn’t notice the difference between 5th and 6th grades. Same subjects just new books? Here are some ways that we are making homeschool middle school different than the elementary grades.
Ask for Their Input
I’ve always asked for my kids’ input in planning our homeschool years, but it becomes more important as they get older and head into middle school. This helps them set goals and intentions for their school year. Encourage them to take ownership of their education. You may not be able to make everything that they want happen, but do try to help them accomplish some of their goals.
Independence
My daughter is sure itching for more independence in some areas but not necessarily with her school work. I’m trying to encourage her to do more on her own. My goal is to have her do at least some of her history and science reading on her own. It’s hard to let her have more independence with those subjects because I enjoy learning alongside her and some of the reading is challenging for her to understand. It’s frustrating for her to have to reread passages or even entire pages in order to understand the material, but that’s just part of the learning process. It’ll get easier with practice.
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Time Management
We started having the girls keep a basic planner last year. My goal was for them to see how much time all of our extra activities take away from our school time. It really helped them visualize blocks of time with their school work and activities. This year, my 6th grader will rely more on her planner for organizing her responsibilities. This isn’t that important at her age, but it’ll give her practice for when it really matters.
Homeschool Middle School Electives
This is a great time to step outside of the core subjects like history, science, literature, language arts, and math. This was one of the things I most looked forward to in middle school, but we don’t have to limit our kids to what is traditionally offered as electives. As homeschoolers, we can always be incorporating their interests into our homeschool plans, but it’s easier in middle school.
For this year, my daughter is choosing to study interior design, Spanish, typing, and entrepreneurship. We’ll also be learning more about economics and personal finance through real life, current events, and the Tuttle Twins books.
Life Skills
Use these middle school years as a time to really dive into life skills. You don’t want to find yourself with older kids who are ready to move out but seriously lacking in life skills. It takes time to build habits and hone skills that will serve them well as adults. This year we’re focusing on kitchen and cleaning skills and first aid. She had hoped to start working as a mother’s helper this year, but 2020 is turning out to be a bad year for that. Hopefully, that will change soon. Until then we’ll work on improving skills that she’ll need as a babysitter.
Outsource Classes
We don’t have to be our kids’ only teacher for everything. Yes, that’s how it usually works out in the younger years, but it’s much easier to branch out as they get older. Don’t worry if they want to learn about something that you’re clueless about. Find a class, teacher, mentor, or even business owner that can help them. These can be group classes with other homeschoolers, online courses or webinars, and local in-person clubs and organizations. At this age, it’s easy to drop them off and let someone else guide their learning for a bit.
Think outside the box (and age limits) if you find an awesome opportunity. Last year, my husband took our youngest (then 7 years old) to a local meeting of Las Vegas hotel executives. The presentation topic was robotics in hospitality. She’s obsessed with robots! They arrived early (with permission) so she could learn about and play with the robot being displayed before everyone else arrived. She was engaged during the meeting and asked relevant questions. The adults were very welcoming and impressed with such a young kid’s interest in robotics. That experience is something she’ll remember for a long time!
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Entrepreneurship
An entrepreneurial streak runs through our family and our kids are no exception. The middle school years is a perfect time for them to start learning about building and running a business. Many younger kids dabble with this naturally with a lemonade stand or caring for a neighbor’s pet. As kids get older, they’re capable of taking their entrepreneurial skills to the next level. Homeschooling middle school gives us the time and flexibility to shine in this area.
This year my oldest will be leading the way on opening an Etsy store with her little sister. They started making and selling jewelry with my mom at craft fairs last year. This year they even planned to have their own table, and they worked hard to prepare enough inventory to fill the space. It looks like all the craft fairs are canceled this year. So, they decided that they want to open an Etsy shop. I have no idea whether it will be successful, but it’ll definitely be a huge learning experience!
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I’m excited to see how this year works out! With her input, we’ve come up with all these great ways to make homeschool middle school different than her elementary school years.
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