How to Start Homeschooling

I don’t know about you, but I always intended to send my children to public school. It is how society is, right? You and your spouse decide to have children. After the baby is born, you are supposed to find a great daycare for your baby so both parents can work. Once the child is school age, the child should should be enrolled in your local school system. That is just what you are supposed to do. Homeschooling was never on my radar until I had my first child.

Read about my homeschool journey.

Once I decided to homeschool, I read a book or two about homeschooling but felt confident that I could manage it. I was a former public school teacher. I had a college degree and experience. Homeschooling couldn’t be THAT hard, right? Well, I found out fast that homeschooling is completely different that public school. I also discovered that my experience didn’t really help me a lot when it came to homeschooling and a lot that I learned in college wasn’t how I wanted to teach my children. So basically, I had to start from the beginning.

How To Start

First thing is first, you need to know if you need to notify the government that you are going to homeschool and how to do so. You also need to know what are the requirements of your state. The best way to find out this information is to look at your state’s board of education site. However, another great site that shows all the requirements across the US is the HSLDA website. While the HSLDA is a great site, make sure to double check the information provided there to ensure it is current.

Once you understand your requirements, it will be time to choose how you want to homeschool. This can be incredibly overwhelming. My best solution is to envision the perfect school for you, your child, and your family.

• Do you see you and your child(ren) sitting at a table with books?
• Does your child require a lot of movement?
• Would learning on computers be best?
• Do you see yourself outside a lot?
• Do you see yourself traveling?
• Does the concept of a group learning enviroment appeal to you?
• Would your child benefit from hands on learning?
• Do you want to emphasize life skills?

Only after you have considered these things among many many others can you start to plan your homeschool. The planning stage must come before curriculum choice!

After you have your dream school planned out, you need to decide if you are a schedule family, do better with a rhythm, or enjoying winging it. Homeschooling does not have to be as rigid as public school. It doesn’t have to start at 8 am every day and end at 3 pm. You do not have to allot a certain amount of time to each subject and have to switch once that time is up. You do not need to teach every single subject every single day. All you HAVE to do is to ensure you are sticking to your state’s requirements.

While you are considering your schedule or rhythm, keep in mind that lessons do not have to have a worksheet to prove learning. It doesn’t have to come from a workbook or a test. Learning opportunities can come from baking a cake, growing a garden, folding clothes, taking a nature walk, reading a book on a blanket under the trees….. Keep those in mind as you are considering how you want to build your schedule.

Things to consider when building a schedule/routine:

• When do the kids get up?
• Do the kids do better in the morning, afternoon, or evening?
• Do the kids have extracurricular activities?
• Do the kids do better after movement?
• Is it better to do all of your lessons at one time?
• Should you do all subjects every day or do them on different days?
• Will you follow the local public school calendar?
• Will you do school year-round?

Once you have considered these things among others, you can start to build your schedule or routine. Keep in mind that when kids get restless that it may be a good time to take a break.

Now that you have envisioned you have done your research and envisioned your perfect homeschool and routine, you should try to connect with other homeschool families. While nation or world-wide Facebook groups may be good for curriculum suggestions and what not, a local group would be ideal. Finding a state-wide group will help you with support of how to navigate the local guidelines as well as keep you informed of local events. Finding a local in-person group will provide community and friendships.

You can meet other homeschoolers by joining a local social group which can often be found on Facebook. Typically, you can find these by asking in local state-wide homeschool groups. Asking in a world-wide group who homeschools near Brownville, NE will probably be fruitless. However, if you join a Nebraska group- the chances of your finding homeschoolers near Brownville would increase drastically.

You can also meet other homeschoolers by joining a co-op. These tend to be groups that meet up and do learning activities together. They can be nature based or more typical school based. Co-ops usually have a fee associated with it.

Another way to find homeschoolers would be to check out your local library and ask the librarians. There may be groups that meet up there or they may know of a homeschool family and be able to ask them about local information.

Finally, it is time to research and pick a curriculum. You need to base your curriculum choices off your child’s needs, interests, and abilities. You also need to make sure it is something you can follow through with. Curriculum can be a huge investment. Try to make sure that it is something you really want. At the same time- know that you do not have to purchase a curriculum unless your state requires it. You can also piece your curriculum together!

For more information on curriculums, check out Cathy Duff Reviews! Her website is a wealth of knowledge.

Interested in more information about homeschooling?

• How to Start Homeschooling
  “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” Zig Ziglar I don’t know about you, but I always intended… Read more: How to Start Homeschooling
• 
  Deschooling…. What Is It?
  So many people are eager to begin homeschooling. They feel as if they need to start as soon as their child is pulled from either public or… Read more: Deschooling…. What Is It?
• 
  What is Family Style Learning?
  “How do you homeschool multiple kids?” This honestly is one of very few things that has benefited me as a former public school teacher. I was ready… Read more: What is Family Style Learning?
• 
  What is Unschooling?
  As you dive into the homeschool world, you may be overwhelmed by all the information, options, and lingo that you have never heard of. The words unschool,… Read more: What is Unschooling?

Are you new to homeschooling? Check out my new children’s book!

This book is perfect to kick off your school year no matter when you start!