New to Homeschooling: Styles and Advice

So, it is the middle of the summer and you have decided that your child will be homeschooled beginning in the fall.  If you are a new homeschooler, you may fall into one of three categories.
The purposeful homeschooler--The purposeful homeschooler does not home school by accident.  These parents often decided, even before they had children, that educating the children at home was the path they would follow.   Parents who are purposeful homeschoolers might home school for religious reasons.  But other scenarios might apply.   Perhaps the parent was homeschooled themselves, and has already experienced homeschooling first-hand.  Sometimes these parents had terrible experiences in traditional school when they were growing up, and vowed that their children would not be subjected to the same problems.
The opportunistic homeschooler--The opportunistic homeschooler is a parent who probably considered homeschooling in the past but decided it was not the right time.  Due to some circumstance, perhaps a move to an inferior school district or a family health issue, this parent has decided that this is the right time to begin their homeschooling journey.
 A parent may be in the military and be assigned a new duty station, or be transferred in the middle of a school year.   Sometimes opportunistic homeschoolers are parents who did not agree on homeschooling, until some circumstance convinced the dissenting parent to open to the possibility of homeschooling.
The accidental homeschooler--The accidental homeschooler is generally someone who never considered homeschooling and is vastly unprepared to begin the homeschooling process.  Many of these parents believe the home school stereotype that paints all homeschoolers as weird, unsocialized, and religious fanatics.    Many accidental homeschoolers enter the homeschooling world unwillingly.  These parents often have the most difficult transition from traditional school to the home school alternative.
Regardless of how you come to home school your children the most important advice that a veteran homeschooler might give you is to remain flexible.
 If you are a purposeful homeschooler you may have a set idea about which curriculum to you want your child to follow.  If that curriculum does not fit your child’s learning style, then you have to be willing to change.  Likewise, if your teaching style and your child’s learning style clash, you will have to adapt to his way of learning; after all, his learning is the main point of homeschooling.  Remember that changing the way you educate your child is not negating your lifelong dream to home school; it is just a mid-course adjustment.
If you are an opportunistic homeschooler, then you probably are already pretty flexible since you are changing the way you educate your children.  Remember that education of children is a work in progress.  If you are homeschooling more than one child, you will have to be flexible for each of them.  Each one is an individual, with his or her own unique learning challenges, interests, and styles.  What works for your oldest might not be what works for your youngest.  Children change, circumstances change, and life (and education) must go on.  Staying flexible will help homeschooling work for you.
Accidental homeschoolers may actually have the most difficulty with remain flexible.  First, an accidental homeschooler may be more resistant to the idea of homeschooling.  Often, this causes them to choose a curriculum and then be resistant to changing that curriculum, even if it is not working.  The failure of a curriculum is then blamed on homeschooling, not on curriculum choices.  There is also often a higher level of trepidation regarding homeschooling.  Fear and uncertainty can make it difficult to remain flexible and adaptive.  Don’t let the circumstances that made homeschooling look like a better alternative than traditional school force you into a model of education that won’t work for you or your children.
For all new homeschoolers it is important to remember that there is a learning curve involved for both the parents/teachers and the students.  Old habits may need to be broken and new habits may need to be formed.  Time is more fluid for home schoolers, your days can start on your schedule, not the schools.  Your school day can end when you are done, not when a bell rings.  Your child can follow a subject of interest past an arbitrary hour mark.  Homeschooling is not for every family.  For those who make the choice to home school, whether it is on purpose, an opportunity, or by accident, staying flexible can make the difference between failure and success.