17. The Quick Guide to Getting Started
Quick summary: There’s no reason to feel overwhelmed. To get started with modular learning, choose a mastery-based curriculum, carve out 1-2 hours a day to help guide your child’s learning, and start making friends through your local Facebook and Meetup groups. Don’t worry about setting everything in stone in the beginning. Modular learning works best when it evolves organically over time.
The Ultimate Homeschooling Checklist
We’ve deliberately created an incredibly in-depth guide to help answer every single question and concern you could possibly have about homeschooling.
But the last thing we want is to make homeschooling and modular learning seem overwhelming.
If you are ready to dive in, we’ve created an easy checklist to get you started.
Follow these 15 easy steps to set up an intellectually engaging, socially enriching education with built-in mechanisms for accountability and support. These twelve steps will ensure your child is on track with their learning and social life.
We promise it will take less time than back-to-school shopping. We’ve even customized the list so visual, auditory, or kinesthetic parents can choose the medium they prefer
Get inspired
Watch: Do Schools Kill Creativity? by Ken Robinson on Youtube
Read: Dumbing us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling by NYC’s teacher of the year, John Gatto
Listen to: “Adventures in Free-Range Learning” on Janet Lansbury’s podcast, Unruffled
Join an Online Community
Join a tech-savvy global online group for homeschooling families. We recommend:
SEA Homeschoolers on Facebook
/homeschool on Reddit
Register as a homeschooler
Check local homeschooling laws on the Department of Education website in your city and state.
These laws can be easily found by googling: “homeschool [name of city] department of education”
Most states have contact information for the homeschooling coordinator. Feel free to reach out to them to clarify any questions.
Learn how to communicate with your child:
Watch Communicating with children, our interview with Bank Street College of Education Professor Deb Vilas
Create a framework for experimentation
Write down your goals with your child.
Use Mobymax to periodically assess academic progress.
Host monthly check-ins with your co-parent to evaluate how things are going
Choose Mastery-Based Curriculum
Choose an all-in-one curriculum and a math supplement tailored to your child with Modulo’s free curriculum planner or browse the best curricula options by category.
Schedule Mastery Hours
Choose 1-2 hours a day for Mastery Hours: Choose a window when you’re available, and your child has the most fresh, focused energy. (This is often the morning)
Make a nice-looking schedule on Canva to keep track of activities.
Enroll in an afterschool or homeschool program
to make friends and enrich your child’s learning.
Search on Yelp or your local homeschool group (above) for recommendations.
Make friends
Join a local unschooling or modular learning community on Meetup or Facebook.
Introduce your family to the group (ideally with a photo) and ask anyone if they want to have a playdate.
Search the comments to see if there are any upcoming meetups, and go.
Invite some families to your house that week to play board games.
Try to participate in at least one recurring, weekly event.
If there aren’t any secular homeschooling groups near you, use Modulo’s Friend Finder or join our curated community, and we will give you a hand in making connections in your area.
Setup childcare as needed
Do a cost/benefit analysis of childcare costs for homeschool vs. school
Join a babysitting swap in your homeschool group
Hire caregivers or join afterschool classes as a name
Talk to your company about childcare benefits and tax credits
Create a communication channel for parents, teachers & caregivers
Post a schedule
Create a nice schedule on Canva to help everyone keep track of what’s going on
Create a shared google calendar to keep teachers and co-parents coordinated.
Build a Digital Portfolio
Create a google drive folder and upload photos of worksheets, field trips, projects, and PDFs of learning dashboards.
Plan a weekly date night
Try to carve out some time with your partner, or if you’re single, with friends, where you get a break from your kids and homeschooling, just time to enjoy yourself and not focus on kids. Try Eight Dates to spice up your dates.
Keep experimenting!
Have fun and layer in more teachers, classes, electives, learning apps, and activities as you go! Homeschooling is fluid and evolving, and there’s no need to set anything in stone.
Bonus: You’re free! Get a boat and take the whole family around the world!
Checklists are fun. But there’s nothing like hearing someone’s real-life experience. In part IV, we share real experiences of impressive homeschooling families.
Twp visionaries have generously volunteered to share their homeschooling experience in this guide: Nir Eyal and Rachel Thomas, PhD.
Read on to learn their stories and hear their tips on best practices for homeschooling and modular learning.
