Many people today are looking to homeschool their children by choice. Having experienced a taste of teaching at home by force, many have seen the benefits of it, and are anxious to begin the homeschool journey full time. The following steps will get you off to a very good start. How you begin homeschooling is very important to the success of the journey. Knowing where you are headed and why will almost insure that you arrive at your destination. (Even if you arrive at your destination disheveled and out of breath.)
Homeschooling is challenging, but not impossible for most. Teaching your own children is something that has been done for ages, and the age of compulsory education has made us forget that parents are indeed a child’s first teachers. We are equipped to begin the teaching process, and with some dedication and creativity, we can continue the process throughout the child’s highschool years. You do not need a teaching certificate or degree to teach your child successfully. (You do if you are unfortunately in a state that requires it.) You can teach your children at home. Believe that. So let’s get you off to a good start.
1. Know your state requirements for homeschooling.
You can find this out by visiting Homeschool Legal Defense Association’s website. (HSLDA.com). While you are there, consider joining. I did. As far as having peace of mind throughout the homeschool years, the annual fee was well worth it. I have needed to lean on them a few times throughout my homeschool journey, and just knowing that I had a legal team that understood my rights to teach my children helped, and gave me confidance when faced with people and officials who would question me about my intentions to homeschool. At the website, find out the requirements for your state, and print them out. Make sure to complete any requirements, and place this information in a file. Also make sure to have the hslda’s phone number written down in this file for quick reference.
2. Understand why you are homeschooling.
Knowing why you do what you do, will help you through those trying times of self doubt and any push back from your children. Do not rush through this step. In my homeschool life I found this to be the key to successful homeschooling. If you skip this step, you might find yourself, like many others I’ve know, at the local schools registrar office, after a couple of years, months or even a few weeks, discouraged and resigned to not homeschooling. This does not have to be. Don’t skip this step. Here are some questions to consider when thinking through this step:
a. Am I homeschooling because I want to or my kids are begging me to?
b. Do I intend to homeschool throughout the conpulsary educational years or just a fraction of them?
c. Am I homeschooling because of my childs educations needs ie, gifted, slower learner, different learner etc…?
d. Am I homeschooling because of family life? I want our time to be our own, not dictated by our local school. We can take vacations when it is best for our family. We move a lot and homeschooling can help to keep the educational process constant.
e. Am I homeschooling because of religious reasons and convictions? I want to teach my children my faith, and what that looks like in everyday life. I want to help my children navigate life complexities.
f. Am I homeschooling because of bulling or some other unpleasant situation that is occurring in school?
You may find that you homeschool for a combination of reasons. Write your answers down. There is no wrong reason. Just be clear on your reason and what would have to happen to make you change your mind. Once you know that, you can answer the next step, which is crucial to making it across your finishline.
3. What does victorious homeschooling look like to you?
How will you know when you have reached your goal? Is this goal unchanging? Typically you might have an age or grade level that you will have designated as a finish line, or as a marker that you will re-evaluate and decide weather you will go on. This is important, because after week 5-6 of homeschooling, doubt may creep into your life via your thoughts, your children, or some outside influence. If you know why you are homeschooling, and have a designated marker in mind before you begin, it will be much easier to push those intruding thoughts aside and strive toward your goal. So again, what is your finish line? Write it down. Put it in a folder and refer to it, and to your why as often as needed.
4. Find a curriculum to begin.
Most people want to start here. Dont. Think of it like this, the above three steps will provide the motivation and commitment needed to succeed. This fourth step will provide you with the tools to succeed. As with most things, sometimes if one tool isn’t working, you pick up a different tool. The tools are the means to help you reach your goal. The curriculum is one of the tools you’ll use to reach your goal. It is not the goal. There is a lot of information out there regarding curriculum. It’s easy to get overwhelmed. Here are some things to consider when choosing a curriculum.
If you are dealing with very small children, you might not need to lean on a full blown curriculum. If you are confident in your ability to teach your children the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic, grab a scope and sequence to understand what the general learning goals are for your young ones ages, and teach them. If you are at all nervous about this, I recommend you get an established curriculum to start, and as your confidence level grows you can experiment with curriculum. Here are a few things to consider when choosing a curriculum.
First, think about your level of involvement. Do you want an online teacher (school at home) or are you going to be the hands on teacher, leading the lessons and learning objectives? Do you want to create the lesson plans, or would you like that worked out for you? Do you plan on grading the work yourself, and thus will need answer keys, or will you look for a way to outsource that? Will you be keeping records, and grades? (This is very important for high school students.) Next consider how you would like to have your homeschool structured. Do you prefer a textbook and workbook learning environment, or an all online learning atmosphere. Are you comfortable seeking and creating the learning objectives for each grade, or would you rather follow a plan that has the learning objectives all laid out for you by grade? What is your budget?
Once you know what you are looking for, search with those markers, and choose 3-4 different educational providers. Go to their websites and take a look at a few sample lessons. See if they have what you need, and then choose one. Let me tell you, you are not going to choose wrong. Once you try something, use it, and if possible, use it for the entire year. Then evaluate what worked, what did not, and choose again for the next year. It’s that simple. Here are a few companies that you can start with. I have used a couple of these myself. Abeka books, Time4learning, Saxon, Pearson Online Academy, Calvert Homeschool, and Khan academy. There are hundreds to choose from. Also, keep in mind that if you are teaching multiple ages, some subjects can be taught together.
Know what you want first and this will help to keep you from venturing into the curriculum world only to come out overwhelmed, discouraged and defeated. What you choose today, may not be what you use next year. That’s ok.
5. Finally, do it.
Set a begin date, and an end date. Grab a calendar and mark off school days, and off days. What holidays are you going to take off? What vacations will you take? This is important, because if your state is like many states, you have a certain number of days that you will need to teach, or a certain number of hours. Having this calendar in the beginning will give you peace of mind knowing that if you follow your schedule, your state requirments will be met. It also gives the older children a chance to see upcominig events and breaks.(They like breaks!) Take the time to brainstorm any field trips and days off that you might like to take. This is your homeschool. You make it what you want. I found park days and picnics to be spontaneous. Field trips, co-ops, and playdates for the most part were planned events. Have fun with this. The calendar might not work out exactly as planned, but again, aiming in a pre-determined direction is much better than aiming at everything that looks interesting.
You can do this. Be confident in your abilities and the abilities of your children, and you will find yourself on one of the most rewarding journeys of your life.