How To Start Home Schooling

More than one million children are being home schooled in the Unites States today and more and more parents are choosing this road every day. But do you know how to start home schooling?

Make the decision. This might seem like an odd tip to start with but it is absolutely fundamental to successful home schooling. Teaching your children at home may well be the right choice but it is not an easy option and it is absolutely vital that both you and, where applicable, your partner fully understand the advantages and disadvantages of home schooling and are certain that this is the path you wish to follow.

Understand the law. Although home schooling is legal across the United States each state has its own set of laws governing home schooling so, before you start, make sure that you fully understand the home schooling law in your state. A good starting point can be found at the Home School Legal Defense Association.

Set up your 'school'. Start setting up your 'school' or 'classroom' within your home. home schooling does not need to be done in the formal setting associated with a public school classroom but you do need to set aside and equip an area of your home for home schooling.

Contact local support groups. However confident you may feel about your ability to home school your children you should recognize that you are going to run into problems from time to time and will need help. It is also important to realize that you are not alone and that there are many other parents who are already following this path and from whom you can gleen valuable information. All states have home schooling support groups and a good starting point is to take a look at the home schooling Unitarian Universalists web site.

Select a curriculum. One of the most difficult tasks when setting up home schooling is that of selecting a suitable curriculum. This is an area that is simply too broad to cover in any detail here and you should seek the advice of your local support group and research this subject yourself by searching for 'home school curriculum' using your favorite search engine.

Set up a system of record keeping. It is essential (and a requirement in many states) that you keep full and detailed records of your children's home schooling. This can be as simple as maintaining a handwritten logbook or as complex as one of several computer software record keeping programs.

Set up a schedule. Sit down and carefully draw up a schedule (timetable) for your first home school year. This needs to be a detailed schedule starting with a broad overview and then breaking this down into a day-by-day plan.

Select an appropriate teaching method. This again is a broad subject and one which is too wide to cover in any detail here. Suffice it to say though that there are several different tried and testing home schooling methods and this is an area which you need to research so that you can find a style which will suit both you and your children.

This list of tips will give you a good starting point upon which to build but one tip which we would emphasize here is that of contacting your local support group. home schooling is not an easy option and you will need help. Fortunately however you are not alone and the help and advice that you can get from other parents involved in home schooling will be absolutely invaluable.

Recommended books from

The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child: Volume 1: Ancient Ti...
by Susan Wise Bauer
Amazon Price: $9.97
?

The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home (Third Edition)
by Susan Wise Bauer, Jessie Wise
Amazon Price: $26.37
?

Algebra Survival Guide: A Conversational Guide for the Thoroughly Befuddled
by Josh Rappaport
Amazon Price: $13.01
?

Home schoolers create social group - Paragould Daily Press
16 Feb 2012 at 12:45pm

Paragould Daily Press
Home schoolers create social group
Paragould Daily Press
Ray said she decided to start her own group for home school families. Wheeler and Ray are now both in charge of the group. "I had a lot of fun ideas and was excited to go ...
?
Online school coming to IA grade school students - cbs4qc.com
16 Feb 2012 at 11:34pm

Online school coming to IA grade school students
cbs4qc.com
The Iowa Virtual Academy is for children in grades K through sixth, any student in Iowa can start taking classes this fall. Academy staffers say this is a great opportunity for parents who'...
?
Bill aims to give home-schooled students access to public high school sports ...
5 Feb 2012 at 4:02pm

Bill aims to give home-schooled students access to public high school sports
Washington Post
State legislators are considering whether to allow Virginia's tens of thousands of home-schooled students to play sports at their local high schools. The ?T...
?
Zero to Twelve: Starting out with the best for your child - New Straits Times
17 Feb 2012 at 3:52am

Zero to Twelve: Starting out with the best for your child
New Straits Times
In Malaysia a child starts primary school at the age of 6, so any institutionalised education programme that the child attends before that is considered preschool. While pre...
?