[Alinea-Home] A Look at the Next 14 Weeks Together
Published 2 months ago • 5 min read
Welcome to the Parent-to-Teacher Newsletter of Alinea-Home!
If you are exploring homeschooling or are already within your first few years of teaching your children at home, you are in the right place. Many parents today feel a bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices, opinions, and expectations surrounding home education. Here, each week, my goal is to slow things down and help you think clearly, build stability, confidence, and thoughtful learning environments for you and your children.
This is a place where things will begin to make sense.
"Can a Parent Learn to Teach Their Own Children?" Yes!
Welcome to: The Year of Preparing the Parent to Homeschool
(Weekly guidance from the Alinea-Home Parent-to-Teacher AcademyTM.)
This Week’s Discussion: "14 Weeks"
Greetings, All!
I am so excited about this!
Over the next fourteen weeks, I will be doing something a little different in this newsletter.
For many years, I have shared articles, spoken at conferences, created planning tools, and sometimes even defended reflections from my own homeschool journey.
And, many of you have been reading my story through the newsletter for a long time, and some of you are newer subscribers who are still discovering what homeschooling can look like for your family.
But over the past several months, I began noticing a common thread in the questions parents were asking. Since we are over six years beyond COVID-19, those who continued homeschooling may have children that are moving into middle and high school.
So, currently, each week I have had the privilege of writing to parents who are:
New homeschool parents seeking guidance
Burned-out or resetting homeschool parents,
Parents approaching middle or high school who feel unprepared, and
Some who no longer homeschool, but want to just hang out here with me.
I love this!
What’s interesting about the top three is that they share a key trait: they are actively searching for help. Even though they are in different stages, they each have a shared core challenge:
"I feel a bit unprepared."
That emotional state is what makes them actively seek help.
I have spoken at conferences, listened, read, and conversed with these parents who have been seeking and asking deeper questions. First and foremost, they seek validation for their decision and their work.
Am I doing this right?
How do experienced homeschool parents manage everything?
What happens when the systems that once worked stop working?
Is it really possible to teach a middle or high school student?
I am getting a bit burned out? This is hard!
Should I put my older children back in the public school system?
These are the kinds of questions that do not always have quick answers, and yet they are some of the most important questions a homeschooling parent will ever ask.
So, beginning this week, and continuing for the next fourteen weeks leading up to July, I will be sharing a special series of articles still focused on the Preparing the Parent to Homeschool theme.
However, these articles will explore specific topics to consider during the transition from public school to homeschooling, as well as the changes involved in moving from elementary to middle school and from middle school to high school homeschooling.
Each week, I will explore one aspect of a parent’s role in homeschooling — thought process, the systems, the confidence, and the practical adjustments that help grow stronger over time.
So, what happens over time...
Every experienced homeschool parent I know has gone through seasons of learning, adjusting, and refining how their homeschool works.
Over time, something interesting begins to happen.
Parents begin developing systems, which change and grow with the children as they get older. Parents have to:
learn how to plan more effectively, and include their children in more of the decision-making process;
recognize when an older child needs encouragement rather than completion pressure; and
discover how to organize learning in ways that work for each child’s capacity, rather than the family as a whole.
Slowly, the transition becomes more stable and predictable.
The purpose of this fourteen-week series is to explore that process together.
You may have noticed that most homeschooling resources are written primarily for children. They focus on lessons, curriculum, assignments, and learning activities.
Those things certainly matter. But behind every successful homeschool is something even more important:
A parent who has learned how to guide the learning process. In other words, homeschooling is not only about teaching children.
Alinea-Home is all about preparing the parent. And, I do think it is personal because when I started teaching my children, this type of academy was not available.
Early on I resorted to piecemealing their education, until I couldn't any longer. So when parents, like me, transition in homeschooling, they often feel a mixture of excitement and uncertainty.
We all want the best for our children, that means we get to learn how to structure the day, how to adjust when something is not working, and how to maintain confidence when challenges arise.
It will feel like each grade level has to start from the beginning—for each child.
This is completely normal.
My hope is that this series will serve two purposes.
First, I hope it will encourage you as a parent. Homeschooling is not something you have to master all at once. It is something parents learn step by step.
Second, I hope these articles will help you strengthen the foundation of your homeschool as your children move into new stages of learning.
When parents grow in confidence and have a clear vision, the children benefit tremendously.
A well-guided homeschool often creates something very special: an environment where children can learn steadily, explore their interests, and develop both knowledge and character over time.
Each Monday, I will share an article that focuses on a specific aspect of preparing the parent to homeschool successfully. These articles will explore questions such as:
What confident homeschool parents do differently.
Why many parents feel unqualified when they transition from one age group to another.
How homeschool systems strengthen — or sometimes weaken — over time.
What adjustments experienced parents make when something stops working.
Along the way, I will occasionally share simple tools or checklists that may help you reflect on your own homeschool.
Then on Fridays, I will continue writing what I call From the Desk of Denise — a more personal reflection about real homeschooling experiences.
These shorter articles will explore situations many families encounter as their homeschool grows and changes.
As we move through this series together, I invite you to read these articles not as instructions, but as conversations about the journey of homeschooling.
Some weeks, you may recognize your own experiences in the stories or ideas we discuss. Other weeks, you may simply tuck the insight away for the future.
Either way, I am glad you are here.
And I am looking forward to sharing these next fourteen weeks with you.
Until next week! Have a great week!
Denise
Theme: The Year of Preparing the Parent
Next Week: "What confident homeschool parents do differently."
P.S. If you know a homeschool mom who is struggling and could use some guidance, feel free to share the newsletter with them. I would love to bring a breath of fresh air to them.
Educationally, Dr. Denise Perdue Founder, Alinea-Home Parent-to-Teacher Academy for Homeschooling
