Knowing in your gut that home educating is the right choice will lead you to execute the decision.

If you’re thinking about homeschooling but are on the fence about how you’ll manage it all, I offer some tips for easing into this lifestyle.

3 Steps to Prepare for and Test out the Homeschool Option

1. Lean into homeschooling in the evenings, weekends or holidays. You don’t have to make drastic changes or make bold statements just yet. Test out homeschooling by planning for and then engaging in some activities during your regular family time.

As parents, we home educate from the birth of our child. Take it one step further by planning some activities to get your feet wet in academics. One year before we officially began homeschooling, I worked on one school-like activity 2 to 3 times per week. This allowed me to get to know his needs a little more closely, but it also helped me make decisions for the following year.

Test out homeschooling by planning for some activities during your regular family time.

2. Talk to homeschoolers. Ask questions from others who are a few steps ahead. What concerns do you have about home education? What solutions do other families have?

3. Visualize your day. I often talk about how seemingly simple visualizations can be catalysts for huge change. When I thought about homeschooling long before we started, I had no concept of how things would pan out. I sat and visualized our entire day–from sunrise to sunset. While there were some gaps, it was in finding solutions that I knew home education was right for us. Today, the solutions to those gaps are what help our days run [somewhat] smoothly.

How will you lean into homeschooling?

Related articles:

• The Benefits of Home Educating a Disabled Child
• Making Unpopular Choices as a Parent of a Disabled Child: An Open Letter to Family & Friends
• Dismantling Authoritarian and Ableist Education Through Home Education