This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: How We Homeschool High School with Laura Varey.

How We Homeschool High School with Laura Varey

Most of our listeners at the Homeschool Highschool Podcast know that we are all about community! However, for those of you who are to the 7SistersHomeschool community, there are six of us 7Sisters (Vicki, Sabrina, Kim, Marilyn, Sarah, and Allison). So, who’s the 7th Sister?

You are! We’re all in this homeschool process together!

One of our favorite podcast topics is learning how our various 7th Sisters homeschool. In this episode, we were SO excited to talk about how our 7th Sister, Laura Varey, and her family homeschool.

Laura Varey’s story

Laura and her family were originally from the United Kingdom. (Check out this Homeschool Highschool Podcast interview about homeschooling in the UK and the US with our friend Kat Patrick.)

Her eldest children started school in the UK, in the public school system. They did one or two years there. Then they moved to the US, nine years ago. When they settled in Washington state, they started off in public school.

After a couple of years, they were looking for more academic challenge. They moved to a private school that had some advanced classes. It was a Christian school (which they had never come across in the UK). They enjoyed the benefits of education through a Christian worldview.

That went great for a few years, but they hit some bumps in the road there, so they started praying about what to do. Their eldest was in sixth grade, which was still part of the elementary school. Laura and her husband prayed and both said to each other, “What about homeschooling?”

It felt like God had put it on both their hearts.

Homeschooling was a new concept for Laura and her husband

Laura notes that homeschooling has been more unusual in the UK than in the US. Because they were so unfamiliar with homeschooling, Laura and her husband began to investigate it. They talked to some friends who homeschool. They found that some of their friends homeschooled at home, some at home and in co-ops, and others used different sorts of systems.

They were very impressed that there were so many good homeschooling tools available. After a while, they agreed to go for it! They have now been homeschooling for three years and have two high schoolers and one in fifth grade.

They did their first year with a homeschool co-op at their church

Laura’s homeschoolers could take classes there two days a week. She found that the co-op covered “quite a lot of subjects and then they directed a lot of their learning at home”.

The co-op was a good stepping stone for Laura’s family. It gave them a homeschool community (including homeschooling friends for mom). Homeschooling with the help of a co-op built her confidence because the subjects they were teaching were Laura’s my weakest subjects. She had time to develop skills and resources for teaching things she did not know.

Then came homeschool high school!

Laura says, “First of all, just understanding high school was a huge learning curve for me, especially because my husband and I were schooled in a different country!”

So, not only was homeschooling different, but the education systems were different. Laura felt the weight of responsibility of getting high school right. After all, in high school, everything counts. The pressure was on her to get it right!

So, Laura read as much as she could from different sources. Also, she tried to learn as much as she could from her homeschooling friends. She also avails herself of the support she finds in digital support groups like 7SistersHomeschool Facebook Group. (She has found that homeschoolers are very generous with sharing their knowledge, experience, and even resources!)

Over the last several years, Laura has found that she has been enjoying the high school years the most. She and her husband have noticed that, in some ways, homeschooling high school can be easier because their teens are now fairly independent.

Homeschooling in community

Laura and her kids have built some strong friendships through homeschooling. These friendships have been a real blessing. She and the other moms can help each other out when needed. And when she’s having one of those crazy weeks where she feels like pulling her hair out (because we ALL do, sometimes!), her friends encourage her.

Each homeschooler is unique

Laura has learned to provide educational experiences that build her homeschoolers’ strengths.

Her daughter is a fast reader. She prefers to read books over watching video curriculum. However, at her daughter’s request, Laura learned to scale back if she noticed that her daughter was stressed with the amount of reading. Laura and her teens have learned to communicate well about the types of learning materials and expectations for coursework. Teens need a voice in their education.

Laura works with her high schoolers on planning and organization for their academics and non-academic parts of life. For instance, she and her teens map out the week: commitments, appointments, or whatever.

Her other high schooler was born diligent and perfectionistic. Laura learned that with some students, she could say, “Do your best.” For her second teen, she has noticed that it’s never good enough. So, Laura has learned to say:

• “That’s good enough.”
• Please spend no more than two hours on this piece of work.”

Laura’s advice to new homeschooling moms

Here are some things that Laura and her family have learned in their time homeschooling:

• Talk to people and get their experience and tips
• But just because something works for someone else does not mean it works for you or your children. (There’s not ONE right way to homeschool!)
• Learn that you will build confidence to go with what your gut tells you, because you know your kids best
• Each family has unique goals, so do not feel constrained by what other people are doing
• Do not compare yourself to what other homeschooling families are doing
• Learn that you can trust God to help you and your family grow through the processes
• Help prepare them for life
• Teach teens time management
• Take field trips with a homeschool group
• Join digital homeschool groups (like 7SistersHomeschool’s Facebook group)
• Try to find in-person groups, like co-ops

Join Vicki and Laura Varey for encouragement for homeschooling!BTW

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