Hear From 15 Homeschool Moms Who Delayed Formal Education Until Age 6+

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In a culture that so often pushes for early academics, do we feel pressured to begin homeschool lessons too soon? Do we push our children beyond their developmental readiness? I recently talked with 15 homeschool moms who delayed formal education until their children were age 6 or older. I discovered why they chose to wait on academics and how this decision affected their children.

Some Homeschool Methods Call for Delayed Formal Education

I became interested in this concept of delayed formal education when I was learning about the different popular homeschool methods.

I learned that followers of the Charlotte Mason method traditionally don’t begin formal lessons until age 6 per Charlotte Mason’s instructions:

“In this time of extraordinary pressure, educational and social, perhaps a mother’s first duty to her children is to secure for them a quiet growing time, a full six years of passive receptive life, the waking part of it spent for the most part out in the fresh air.” -Charlotte Mason, Home Education Page 44

Adherents to the Moore Formula by Dr. Raymond and Dorthy Moore delay formal schooling until at least age 8. Their children focus on play, work, and service to others in the early years.

Then you have parents who successfully “unschool” their children. Their lessons are informal at every age as the child initiates learning that is personal and meaningful to them. Although learning is happening all the time, “school” isn’t predetermined or forced by the parent.

Other families choose a later start to better support a child with special needs.

Science Supports a Later Start Despite Our Culture Pushing for Early Academics

I later came to realize that many scientific studies also support an older start age. This 2015 report, “Reading in Kindergarten: Little to Gain and Much to Lose” shows how teaching a child to read early will not make them better readers in the long-run. A little digging on the internet will unearth many similar studies.

I was intrigued. I feel it is so common even among homeschoolers to take the opposite approach and begin as early as possible.

We push for children to read, write, and do simple arithmetic by age 5 or 6. We even start them in sports and music lessons at age 4 or 5 believing we’re giving them an advantage.

We want to keep our children up to par with their peers and feel stress that they could be “falling behind.”

But maybe our worries are often unfounded. Maybe there is a better way to handle the early years.

With these realizations, I wanted to hear from some real homeschool moms who delayed formal education. These moms chose to wait for various reasons, just as their philosophies and methodologies vary.

For them a delayed start is not an excuse to homeschool lazily or ignore a developmental disability. It’s an approach borne through careful reasoning, and their results speak volumes.

I think we can learn so much from their experiences and perspective.

Statements on Delayed Formal Education From Real Homeschool Moms

Here are their statements:

I think you will also enjoy reading what Lindsay Leiviska had to say on the subject. She is a fellow homeschool mom with a masters in teaching.

Articles on Delayed Formal Education by Homeschool Moms

Five other homeschooling moms were kind enough to share their articles with me. These were such inspiring reads:

• Kerry Klein Beck, a veteran homeschool mom from How to Homeschool My Child, explained that her son started formal math in 6th grade and caught up in 1.5 years. He won the math award as a sophomore! Here is his case study.
• Renee Bergeron, homeschool mom of 14 from the blog, Little Earthling, has an insightful article, Delaying Formal Education: Why I Don’t Push School Before Age 8. She explains why she chooses to delay formal education and how this plays out practically in her homeschooling.
• Julie Polanco, a homeschool mom of 4 from Julie Naturally has two wonderful articles on delaying formal education. In the first, How to Teach Math for K-6th Grade in One Year! she shares how her son was relaxed with mathematics until about age 12, at which point he filled in the gaps in less than one year. She explains that verbal skills actually build math skills early on more than math worksheets or memorizing formulas. In her other article, Some Ideas of What to Teach Preschoolers, she points out why much of what we normally teach preschoolers isn’t actually necessary and doesn’t support their natural development. She explains what we can teach them instead!
• Nicki Truesdell, a second-generation homeschooler and mom of 5, shares why Delaying Math Instruction Might Be a Good Thing. Her children started formal math at age 8 and learned very quickly. She also shares how she handles the preschool years without pushing formal lessons in her article, Homeschool 101: Preschool.
• When To Begin Formal Homeschool Lessons by Michelle Cannon, homeschooling mom from The Heart of Michelle, is another worth-while read! She presents some compelling reasons to wait to start schooling until age 7. She explains what to do if your state requires an age-5 start age.

Delayed Formal Education Is Not Delayed Learning

These moms brought up so many good points about homeschooling and education in their statements and articles. Here are my main takeaways after hearing from these moms:

• Delaying formal academics doesn’t mean delaying learning or holding our children back from learning skills early. It means we allow our children to learn in a way that’s natural and not push or force “school” beyond their developmental maturity.
• There are many ways we can facilitate learning for young children even if we are not yet schooling them.
• Age is not a good determiner of readiness since every child is unique and develops at their own pace.
• An early start is not necessarily equivalent to a “head start.”
• Pushing too early can stifle a love of learning and can actually be damaging.
• Scientific studies more often support a later starting age despite our culture’s push for early reading and mathematics.
• Many kids will learn the academic skills they need with relative ease when they are ready, whether that be earlier or later.
• We should utilize the freedom we have in homeschooling to support our child’s individual needs and development in the early/preschool years and not feel pressured otherwise.

A special thank you to these moms for sharing.

I would love to continue this discussion, so please share your own thoughts and experiences in the comments below!