In this crazy homeschool journey, there is so much advice floating around that it can make you doubt yourself before you’ve even started!

I read a few books before making the decision to homeschool and also followed several homeschooling blogs.

It is not the right choice for everyone, but for those of you who are considering schooling your children, here are a few things I wish I’d known before taking the plunge!

• You don’t have to start kindergarten at age 5. (at least in Texas- check your own state’s laws!) Oh how I wish that I had waited until my first son was older before starting Kindergarten with him. We made the final decision to homeschool one week before he would have started public school. (in fact, I wrote a post entitled “Who Me, a Homeschooling Mom?” because I truly did not ever imagine that I would!) I felt pressured that I had to start him the exact day our school district did. So the next week was a flurry of gathering supplies and talking to my mom, who home schooled two of my siblings, and another homeschool mom (who have both been such a blessing in this journey). He had only turned 5 a few months previous to that; he’s almost a summer baby. I think if I would simply waited six months or so to start he would have had more time to mature and had an easier time. Despite the title of the book I used, he didn’t learn how to read (at least very well) in 100 Easy Lessons. But I was determined we would do the next lesson every single day whether he had mastered the previous one or not. (Oh, I was also pregnant when he started which added another dimension of difficulty.) So truly assess your child’s readiness. Girls mature faster, so your daughter might be ready at 4 1/2. If you start with your child and it’s just not going well, put the books up and wait a month or so. Your relationship with your child is much more important than bragging rights to having an early reader.

•  It is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. You will have bad days- very bad days. I’ll not sugarcoat it- it’s hard! Some days I’ll think about what all I could “get done” if the older two were gone to school 8 hours a day. As it is, the house stays messy. Projects I pinned don’t get done very often. Blogging is pretty much my only hobby. That is something I’ve had to accept. When 4 children under the age of 7 are in a house all day most days, it’s not going to stay Martha Stewart-esque. Plus my husband offices out of our house most days, so 5 of us are eating 3 meals a day here which = 15 meals a day. That’s lots of dishes, and that’s just the kitchen!  Sometimes maintaining patience during school is the hardest thing. School came very easy for me as a child so when one of mine takes a few times to grasp a concept, I find myself getting restless. This brings me to my next point:

•  Pray a lot, and have others praying for you. I seriously cannot overemphasize this point! As I said in my post about homeschooling, if it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a metropolis to homeschool one. Get everyone you know to pray for you, pray for your children, and pray for your schooling efforts. There are some days I think it’s the only way I get through!

• Besides being the hardest, it is also the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. When we’re sitting on the couch reading, I can’t help but feel a little excited that I taught him to read. That’s something no one can ever take away from us! (Of course see, #1. It wasn’t easy!) When my daughter sits in my lap to do her math lessons, I think about how much I would miss her were she gone all day from me. I didn’t know how close I would feel to my children, knowing every single thing they do in school, (because I assign most of it! ha!) but our family is very close because we’re all together most days. And that makes it worth the bad days!

Read How to Homeschool – 10 steps!

Kelli Hays is a pastor’s wife, mom to four, book devourer, self-proclaimed foodie, and blogs about it all at www.eatprayreadlove.com.