For some reason, socialization seems to be the number one concern of parents. It is as if it can only be taught by the school, in school. In fact, socialization in school is quite limited and in many ways, it can be harmful. When you only have friends and social opportunities with one age group, the socialization can become skewed. Additionally, children at school often have no choice other than socializing with children who are bullies and want to harm them physically and mentally. Children who are homeschool have more interactions with a variety of children at different ages. They know how to properly interact with adults, children older than they are and children younger. Isn't this true socialization? As a parent you can better guide your children's social opportunities far greater than any school. It is an area where many homeschool children excel.

How do I remove my doubts and fears? over 20 years ago when Dale and Michelle started, they had no clue where to begin. Neither had any formal education past high school. Michelle felt inadequate because she didn't have a teaching degree and wondered if she would do more harm than good. Their oldest was 13 when they started with the youngest being 3. It's sometimes hard to see the end from the beginning and often you are too scared to take that first step, at least we were. To many, the expectations are as high as the fear of failure but their story turned out amazing in so many ways. In less than 3 years their oldest at age 16, not only was ready for college but received a full 4 year academic scholarship to the University with no GED or high school diploma. Their second son did the same thing at age 15 with the other two entering college at 17. With their children they were able to include over 30 countries to their homeschooling adventure and so much more. ​ When they began, there was far fewer resources and no internet. So how did they do it? They jumped in with both feet and learned to quickly alleviate the fears and ignore the naysayers. ​ In their. book, "Anyone Can Do It.! Homeschool Simplified", Natalie and Michelle walk you through the doubts and fears that most parents have and show you that yes, everyone can do this! ​ The biggest fear is to just make the commitment to start. The action you take will either instill that fear or remove it, depending on what you do. Simplified Homeschooling is designed to help you take the right action to alleviate the fear of starting. Trust us... It gets much easier after that first step.

You know the saying, the first step is the hardest step you'll take. Not when you are following someones proven footsteps. We've walked these steps and we will walk them side by side with you. From changing your mindset of what homeschooling is all about to sending them off to college if that is your goal. Walk me through the steps... At Simplified Homeschooling, we found the formula for success. It come with over 25 years of experience, and a lot of trial and error. The best part is that you get to benefit from all our triumphs and mistakes which will put you on a much faster road to success. ​ Getting off the treadmill - We really can't stress this enough, Homeschool is not school at home. Remember however, you were a product of traditional school and you and your children have been neck deep in it for maybe years. If your child hasn't yet been in the school system, you will actually be a bit ahead if you can not think of homeschool like you were schooled as a child. This process of decompressing is as important to you as it is to your children. They need time to just be free from the structures of school. They need to explore their own abilities, likes, dislikes about learning. This is the time for them to do this. It is also the time for you to look, read, study, watch our instructional videos on how to get things set up in a way that makes sense to you. In these 8 video's we will walk you through the process of "Getting off the Treadmill". Gently raising responsible kids - This is the second course you will watch and it will keep the sanity in your life and home. If your child can't govern their own lives, this will be a nearly impossible journey. They have been taught what to do, how to think, and when to think it for as many years that they have been in school. Even at home with their homework, you have kept to the schedule and maybe even been the overbearing parent you never wanted to become. In this course we teach you how to train your children to take on their own responsibility. For their own lives, their education and more. This is the most important life skill you can teach your children and is very different than how they are taught in school. Creating the right environment - We have talked a lot about this in another section of parent concerns and if you still have doubts, I would recommend you review the points in that section. The learning environment is everything. It is the gravity that keeps everything grounded. From learning how to create your families mission, culture and priorities to creating a true sanctuary of learning along with knowing when to rest are all great videos you will learn from. Understanding your child's learning personality - We have a quiz that will help you get a better picture of the type of learner your child is. This may not surprise you, but it will surprise traditional educators... No one child learns in the same way. Dale as a child had multiple learning disabilities, from dyslexia and ADHD to processing disorders. Teachers would present a problem, that was often understood, but when they got into the details of how it was to be solved he was sure they were speaking a different language. He ended up solving the problem his way, but because it wasn't the way the teacher did it, it was often counted as wrong and his grades suffered. Freedom for your child to learn is often limited to your understanding of how they learn. here is a link to the learning personality quiz Applying the right teaching styles - Once you understand your child's learning personality, it is time to understand the right teaching style that fits. What? You mean there isn't one style of teaching? No. There are many and we focus on five basic ones that fit the learning personality of your child. As you get more comfortable, you will start combining these or adding others, but we provide you with a good basic structure to allow your child to thrive and understand what is being taught in a more meaningful way. Plan and set up your core teaching methods - Now you are ready to start! All of the above may take you 6 months or even a year to get set up correctly. That is ok because now you will see that the learning will accelerate in ways you never thought were possible. We step you through what the first three months should look like, How to use checklists and theme boxes. What should you be looking for in curriculum? This is when it all starts coming together. ​ We will continue to help guide you as you make your way through this journey, but these are the core elements to get you started on a path towards success. And remember you get to determine what success looks like, not the school.

Is this picture you or just something you hope for? Most moms are up early, hauling kids to school, someone forgot something, so there is often a second trip. Home, to get ready for the day just in time to pick up or take the kindergartner, then a few errands, Maybe volunteer at the school then pick the kids up, take them to their after school activities and home to make dinner, homework and to bed. Every now and then you get to look like this picture, but not as often as you think. ​ Many Moms have expressed how much extra time they have while homeschooling. They also realize that keeping an active post school schedule doesn't fit in their lifestyle after a while. All Moms are different and some just run no matter what, but homeschooling allows you more freedom and you get control back to enjoy the things that are important to you and your family. Oh the myths of homeschooling. More moms than not, find that they have more personal time homeschooling, but more importantly they have more quality family time. If you want to be the school bus driver, the classroom volunteer for each of your children, the carpool person for the after school activities, the PTA helper, cookie bazar hostess, keep them in school and keep yourself on that traditional school treadmill. Mom Care We are very aware of the tug of war that goes on in a mother's life. We've been there and have done it while homeschooling. That is why we are so passionately trying to get the Mom care section of the website up and going as quickly as possible. ​ This will be a place that provides you with the best ways to care for you., mentally and physically. It will also help keep your family healthy and happy which will also reduce stress for you. We have already begun women retreats and we plan on having more around the country. There will be ways to help you cook less but have more nutritious meals available for your family. We will provide you with meditation and show you how to even sneak away for an elusive nap, if that what you need. We have been sharing much of this in our stories on Instagram and Facebook. ​ The Mom Care section of the website by itself will be worth the cost of a lifetime membership. It will be the place you go to recharge and there will be times you will need to. ​ Homeschool is also unique in that it isn't 9 to 4 Monday through Friday. If you want or need to take a day off, you can. Some have even taken a month off and just had family time. Some have taken it on the road for a year or more, sometimes homeschooling, and exploring the rest. You are right if you think your life will never be the same. It won't... It will be better.

Plan, then create As many found out during the school lockdowns, school at home is usually a disaster. What we teach parents is what it takes to have order in your home. How to set boundaries, get children to do chores and not argue. Create and environment where they love learning and don't fight against you as a parent or as their teacher. ​ With that in mind, we may now know what we want to have happen, but all too often as a parent we just jump into anything with the knowledge and experiences we already have . So when it comes to school, what do we do? We get everyone set at desks or around the kitchen table and at 9am they start with their first subject. Then when everyone is either done, sufficiently bored or worse, have all given up, they move onto the next subject. After about a week of this, most families either give up or they realize that this really isn't the way we learn at home. If we wanted that type of an environment, we should just stay in school. ​ So what does the right environment look like for homeschooling? Much of that may depend on the child. There are times for group discussion and learning but what that looks like may be determined by the way your children sit and listen. Some may need to be in chairs, pencil in hand taking notes. Others will do better if they are on bean bags that cuddle them so they wiggle less. Some children do better listening when they are outside with bare feet, toes and fingers feeling the grass and connecting to the ground. ​ Personal learning space may look the same but with added touches. Some children respond well to warmth, others are stimulated by cooler environments. Some may even love to work around smells, so you can use oils or candles to help provide that personalised feel when they study. ​ What all this looks like is for you the parent to figure out, but you can't do that without giving it a lot of thought and creating a plan. In Course 3, we provide you with ideas and instruction on how to create a family mission, family culture, priorities, and creating times for rest. ​ Remember Dale and Michelle's experience where their oldest child went from 8th grade to University in three years. Accelerated learning will happen naturally. You have plenty of time to plan, homeschooling doesn't have to begin on day one. Infact, it shouldn't. Taking your time, however long that maybe to get your environment and everything else in order will pay dividends far into the future.

A Symbiotic Relationship We know that we are all connected and families are even more connected. There are often points of contention when Mom and Dad are performing their roles as parents, but now the concern shifts when they take on the new role of "teacher". What most parents don't realize is that they have been in this role throughout their child's life. Who taught them how to talk? Walk? Eat? Tie their shoes? Ride a bike? Learn their numbers and colors, and the list goes on and on. The difference is that this learning took place naturally. It didn't take a classroom, and each child was able to learn at their own pace without pressure or shame. It was done in love, patience and understanding and you protected your relationship at all cost. When a tension occured, you may have stopped the learning and focused back on the relationship. ​ This is our main focus with all parents who are beginning this journey. To help them see the importance of the relationship. Helping to ensure the learning is provided in a natural way where the children see it as exciting and that they are part of the process. This will take away many of the relationship issues that can and will arise. ​ Course 2, "Gently Raising Responsible Kids" is key to the child's role in the relationship. It teaches them how to govern themselves in all situations and especially with you in this new learning environment. This is something that is very difficult to teach in a traditional school environment. When children learn they can respectfully disagree and a dialog can happen calmly and to a mutual understanding, they thrive as they feel they are heard even when the outcome isn't what they want. In a classroom, the teacher doesn't have time to give that personal freedom to each child. Children show up, sit down and shut up until called upon. Learning takes place, but at what cost? Additionally, this is not the type of relationship you want your children to learn. It maybe good for a future in the military, but not in a home or future work environment. Children are taught obedience, but not collaboration. Self governance is far more valuable than blind obedience and working one on one with your child through difficult problems teaches far more and builds lasting relationships.

Simplified Homeschooling is the parents curriculum. It is designed to teach you all of the best practices to help create success. But what about your children? The best part of homeschooling these days is there is no lack of available curriculum. Infact, there is so much available your biggest problem will be figuring out which one to use. What we do provide are ideas and samples of curriculum for ages K-5th grade to keep them at those levels. Keep in mind, children learn at different levels and at their pace so your the tools that best fit your child. Our hope is to get you started, showing how simple it can be and let you expand as you need and as you feel comfortable. What's available, and what should I start with? Many stress about what to teach and try to start with it first. Curriculum should be the least of your worries. We not only help you set up your homeschooling environment. ​ When you first start, don't go overboard with curriculum. Start with a good challenging math program, a good language arts and then learning tools that are appropriate for your children's ages. Learning should be more about exploring at first than "rote". As a Lifetime member you will have access to full curriculum for kindergarten through 5th grade. it is designed to instill a love of learning in your children so they will want to learn. This leads to self guided learning about any subject. ​ We provide classes on what to expect the first three months for both younger and older children. How to use Theme Boxes and Checklists to simplify the process and keep your children engaged in learning while having fun.

Want to know a secret? Homeschool children out score traditional school children on college entrance exams. If college is right for your child, we can show you step by step how to apply and get scholarships even without a GED or high school diploma. How do we know? We've done it! ​ Many children and parents see the end game of their education as the time they graduate from a college or university. You may have heard the story of the Bartlett children all attending University early, but that may not be right for your child. This is the beauty of homeschooling. Each child can help direct their own path after homeschool. The key to homeschooling is to instill a desire for lifelong learning. Different Paths: If you do want to go to a college, we have you covered. We share with you step by step how to apply, and how to create your own homeschool transcript. We even provide you with a template for a complete college entrance package. We go through how we did it and how we got the academic scholarships that paid for it. In addition, there are many paths you and your child can explore if you choose. Many feel a college education isn't what it once was and often doesn't prepare someone for the right career path in today's world. Yes they get a diploma, but in what? It is said that just the experience of college is what helps mold young minds and creates an ability to take on difficult tasks, and isn't that what employers want? Isn't that what you've been doing in your homeschooling? There is a reason why homeschoolers are better prepared to go to university, and why their scores are higher on standardized entrance exams. It is because they have already been taught to think at a higher educational level. ​ So do they need to now spend more time in "general" courses, or are they on a different path? If this feels right for you, we would highly recommend the book, 'Skip College' by Connor Boyack. Two of the Bartlett children have Masters, one is a very successful entrepreneur who decided not to finish his university degree and the youngest also left the university life to pursue an internship and career in dentistry. There is no right or wrong path and exploring trades through internships or trade schools often provide more income with little or no debt. ​ In reality, Simplified Homeschooling will take you and your child from the beginnings of homeschooling to whatever end you desire, from any starting point to any finishing point you want. This is why it is such a value. Nowhere will you find this much help for such a small investment. With homeschooling on the minds of so many parents, you will be the ones who succeed because of the investment you made beforehand.