As a rookie homeschool parent, figuring out how to homeschool can be intimidating at first. You have a lot to think about, from the syllabus to the regulatory standards. How exactly do you start homeschooling? Is it worthwhile?
Ultimately, you’ll have much more time to spend with your children, as well as a more customizable timetable and educational environment.
If you’re new to homeschooling and don’t know where to begin or what you’ll need to homeschool your children, we’re here to help you.
How To Start Homeschooling
Here we will take a look at what you need to consider before you start homeschooling.
Think First
Many parents hear the phrase “homeschooling” and shout, “I couldn’t do that!” while, in truth, they lack the courage, expertise, or simply do not understand what is required.
Even without professional teaching credentials, parents are excellent teachers for their children. Homeschooling does, however, necessitate a certain level of devotion, passion, and understanding.
On the flip side, you might be underestimating your abilities to educate your child at home.
If you work overtime or irregular hours, are unable to provide your children with a healthy, monitored home environment throughout the day, or depend on much-needed educational services such as special ed lessons or free lunch programs, homeschooling might not always be the best option for you.
Do Some Research On How To Start Homeschooling
You have the option as a parent to teach your children at home; homeschooling is lawful in all 50 states. However, each state has its own set of laws, so you’ll need to get quite acquainted with the homeschooling legislation and requirements in the state where you reside.
If you are required to submit particular papers or register your property as a private school, failure to do so may result in legal repercussions.
Check the website of your state’s education department to figure out what is needed and how to meet those criteria.
Next, double-check it against the state legislation posted on the Homeschool Legal Defense Association’s webpage, since data on state websites are often out of date.
Talk About It
Before making your own decision, it’s best to consult with other homeschooling families and discuss how to start homeschooling in detail. Browsing websites about how to start homeschooling on the internet isn’t the same as talking to a genuine person who has already been doing it for ages in their very own home.
Try asking them about specific worries you have, such as planning lessons and what curriculum they found the most helpful.
Next, if you’ve not already done so, speak to your partner or the other parent of the child. Most of the time, one parent does the bulk of the homeschooling, but it’s difficult to do it without the continuing assistance of the other parent or guardian.
You must also speak to your children; even if you are the parent and you ultimately have the last say, homeschooling will be much more challenging if your children are not on board with the change.
Knowing how they feel about it and whatever their worries are, and then acting together to resolve those problems, will make homeschooling a more enjoyable experience.
Commit To The Change
Although this is perhaps the scariest part of the process, it is essential if you want to move forward with homeschooling. If you choose to homeschool your children, you must withdraw them from any school systems in which they are officially enrolled in order to prevent truancy penalties.
Also, please remember that you can easily reverse your decision. If it doesn’t turn out as you planned, be proud of yourself for giving it a shot and re-enroll your children in regular school.
Choose Your Syllabus
This is the phase that many prospective homeschool educators are most concerned about. In certain ways, making the decision to homeschool is the easiest part.
It’s considerably more difficult to figure out what and how to educate your children. Fortunately, this does not have to be the case.
When it comes to the syllabus, you have two options: acquire a prefabricated solution that includes all topics for a particular grade level, or assemble together with your own syllabus from specific elements.
There are a plethora of homeschool syllabuses to choose from. Some are mostly online, while others send you printed materials. Others are free, some are cheap, and some cost hundreds of dollars per school year.
Each choice has pros and cons. For instance, based on your attitude and the requirements of your kids, the ability to construct your own syllabus might be liberating or scary.
However, whichever resources you use, make sure to examine some of the material on the internet or in person. You want to completely comprehend the topic and are confident in your ability to convey it to your child.
Plan Ahead
Schedules for homeschooling might be controlled or adaptable, traditional or completely creative. It can be difficult to predict what will work the best for your household at the outset, so plan to make adjustments as you go.
The freedom to go with the tide is one of the advantages of homeschooling, but making a timetable keeps you more organized and helps your children know what to anticipate.
The number of hours spent homeschooling and what time you choose to start the school day, on the other hand, is far less essential than how well your children learn at home.
Modify Your Home To Start Homeschooling
Homeschooling does not require a specific room in your home, however, some families find this to be more convenient. You can also partition off a portion of a basement apartment, create spaces in bedrooms for usable workstations, or use moveable trolleys and lap desks to transform the living area every day for homeschooling.
You could even set up school at the kitchen table if all else fails. This is how the majority of homeschoolers get started because no one wants to make huge adjustments unless they know homeschooling will fit for them.
Where you study may or may not affect your children’s capacity to concentrate, but you won’t know unless you experiment.
Get Supplies
You don’t need to go crazy in the back-to-school department at the store as it’s likely that you already have a majority of the materials you’ll need to homeschool!
However, your children will require writing implements, notebooks or plain paper, basic art items such as scissors and adhesive sticks, computers, pencils, and some files or storage boxes.
You should also get a blackboard or dry wipe board, a printer, and a laminating machine. Aside from that, most of your money will most likely be spent on curricular materials.
Even if you do not purchase a complete curriculum, you will require individual books, storybooks, and worksheets.
Final Thoughts
If you and your children have made the decision to homeschool, the one and only way of learning is to do it—so get busy! Hopefully we have covered everything you need to know about how to start homeschooling and why to do it.
You might think you’re terrible at it initially, but you’ll get better. And your students, who aren’t used to seeing you as an educator, will need time to settle as well. So, take your time and believe in yourself!
My name is Joyce Bailey, and I am a mother of two wonderful children. When I had my first child five years ago, at first I struggled to know which method of parenting I wanted to adopt. Traditional parenting just did not seem right for my family.
