I understand now (after 3 years of hs) why the first thing others told me about homeschooling was not to even consider my first year as anything except learning to school from home (them and myself). I see people try it and give up after only a few months. I know what they were going through, but so much of it isn't real. It comes from fears that get the better of them and it isn't real. That is probably why the second advice I got was to make sure you got the support you needed because most people generally do not understand the mental shift home educating requires. I understand why. We sing on our good days and stay quiet when we struggle. You hear about morning bike rides and easy days, you rarely hear about tears over the math book for a week straight but then the sun comes out because what was once hard to grasp is now forever gone. The child has it and they can move on. Or worse it's not trouble in the curriculum, it's dealing with behavior that sometimes only shows up at home while trying to teach math at the same time, prepare meals, clean up the same mess you just cleaned up an hour ago because people live here all day every day, and figure out why the toddler has been so quiet for the last 15 minutes. But isn't that what God expects parents to do for their children? Teach them good behavior, or has that been relinquished to teachers too? I won't answer that because we both know it has. After the first year I learned what curriculum worked better for my kids, and how to teach them more easily. They went from slipping behind to well ahead in the first 6 months but I couldn't see that until over a year later. By that time they were testing at least 2 years ahead in nearly every subject. Yes, it takes time but honestly, we waste too much time and we think we don't have enough of it but the truth is we waste more than we realize.