Homeschool Hacks

Some things just make life easier. Like grocery pickup and drive-thru’s. We’re a big fan of making our journey more seamless. Here’s a few ways we’ve found to make homeschooling easier, more social and fun.

Homeschool Co-ops

A homeschool co-op is a group of homeschooling families who meet regularly to share teaching and learning experiences. Instead of doing everything alone, parents often help lead specific classes based on their skills- like woodworking, art, homesteading skills, cooking, math games, and more. Co-ops give kids hands-on learning, social interaction, and exposure to subjects or activities that might be harder to do at home alone, while also creating community and support for families.

Partnership Programs

Partnership programs are publicly funded programs that partner with homeschool families to help provide extracurricular classes for free. From physical education classes like swim, martial arts, gymnastics to music lessons and STEM robotics, they cover a vast array of extracurriculars. Typically, the only requirement is a weekly check-in where kids show what they’re learning. This is especially helpful for larger homeschool families, making sports and enrichment activities more affordable while still allowing families to homeschool their core subjects.

Church Groups

Youth group, children’s church, American Heritage Girls, and AWANA are faith-based programs that are often free or low cost for families. They give kids regular opportunities to socialize, build friendships, and be part of a community while also learning and strengthening biblical values. These programs usually offer age-specific activities, lessons, and mentorship, making them a meaningful way for homeschool families to support both social development and spiritual growth at every age.

Unit Studies

Unit studies focus on one topic and include multiple subjects in one. For example the study might focus on a general theme of The Ocean, but in learning about that topic the curriculum will include lessons on science, language arts, writing, history and the Bible wrapped all in one lesson.. Many options include one family style, read aloud lesson, then coordinating age appropriate work for each child. They are a wonderful option for parents with MULTIPLE children varying in age groups. Curriculums like this are a game changer and allow learning time to also be bonding time with the entire family. Homeschooling doesn’t have to be complicated with piles of books that overwhelm and clutter your space.

We hope these “hacks” bless your homeschool journey.

“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” – Proverbs 22:6

Laura + Brenda - Be Free Ministries