Has school destroyed your creativity and self-confidence? I'm working on a book called Recovering From School, to help you heal the damage caused. Join the Patreon or Newsletter to be notified about updates. Paid Patreon members will get early draft previews, as well as a free digital copy when it's done.

How to start homeschooling

A few questions and answers (to help convince your parents that this is actually a good idea):

Can I homeschool my kids? I'm not a teacher!
Yes, why not. As a parent you should know your child better than teachers at school. You should know what their interests are and what they have trouble with. And if you don't know this stuff - now's a good time to start finding out. :)

What are the costs of home schooling?
The cost of homeschooling vary from family to family, from child to child. The use of ready-made homeschooling curriculum packages is more expensive than the use of library books.

How can you limit the cost of homeschooling without sacrificing quality?

Use the internet
Besides websites about home schooling, there are sites with worksheets for maths, language and reading and sites with information on subjects such as geography, history and biology. And there's Wikipedia.

Use the library
The library is also a great source of information.

How to start homeschooling

Step 1: Start by doing nothing. Most kids need time to "decompress" after being in the public school system for such a long time. The rule of thumb is 1 month of doing nothing for every year they were in the system, although the time needed can vary from person to person, depending on just how stressed-out they were at school.

Step 2: Read some good books yourself. Start with "The Unofficial Guide to Home Schooling" by Kathy Ishizuka, which is a great book for getting all the basics. Another book for answering the questions of friends and family is "So--Why Do You Homeschool?" by Mimi Davis.

Step 3: Know the homeschooling law in your area. If you are approached by your local school district, you will be armed with the truth of the law and will be able to refute them if needed. Not all school districts are antagonistic toward homeschoolers, but some are. Remind them that homeschooling is legal in every state.

Step 4: Explore interests that might have been hidden by the public school setting. The basic academics are accomplished in about half the time it takes in the public school, and some can be integrated directly into the student's interests. For example, if your student likes music, you can combine a music lesson with a science lesson by studying sound waves.

Step 5: Search out other homeschooling families. It's imperative you have a support system, and it's nice to have other children with which your homeschooled student can socialize. Go to the National Home Education Network website and search for local groups in your area. Click on the "Networking" tab and then select "Support Group Listings."

Step 6: Join the "Homeschooler's Notebook," a free biweekly newsletter, by sending a blank email to join-hs-notebook@hub.thedollarstretcher.com. Here you will get encouragement and advice from experienced homeschoolers, and you can even join their Yahoo! group and post your own questions about homeschooling.

Posted in: Guides, Knowledgebase, Resources on April 14, 2024 @ 5:40 AM

If you like what we're doing here, you can become a Patron and sign up for our newsletter!