You might have been reading about the new CDC guidelines that school will be following in the coming year and it has you thinking about all your options.
You may also have been kicking around the idea of homeschooling even before all this happened and now you are thinking this could be the right time.
My thoughts?
Just take the plunge- yes, you CAN actually homeschool!
But now what do you do?
Here are a quick thoughts to help you through the process:
1. Pray - This is an important, life changing decision that will impact everything--make sure you bring this to God in prayer and ask for wisdom and guidance. He will always help guide you as He leads you down the path.
2. Talk with Your Husband - Be sure that your husband is on board with the whole idea. Remember that you work together as a team. Find out his thoughts, his ideas, his concerns, and work together to find answers on how to be educate your child(ren).
3. Learn what you can - Visit HSLDA and find out what the laws are for your state. When I started out I had found a really helpful guide from our local homeschool website on everything I needed to know on how to get started and what tools I needed.
4. Gather ideas - Read books and online about success stories and how moms are implementing homeschooling into their every day lives and find out about the different available styles that are available and find out what would be the best fit for your family.
If you do all of this and now are ready to take the next step you can:
5. Purchase curriculum - Make sure you find curriculum that will work best with your family and not because someone else is using it. What might be a good fit for one family might not work at all for another! Also think about how easily you can teach the subject (is it demanding of all of your time?) and if you child would like it as well (if you child is small does it have colorful glossy pictures and is it easy to understand?).
6. Buy supplies - These are the basic things you will need like paper, pens, crayons, art supplies, sharpeners, binders, notebooks, erasers, glue, etc. Stock up and find a space in your home for it all. Every year Wal-Mart has back-to-school sales that are offered at deep discounts. You can get supplies for half the cost! Here is a list to help!
7. Create a space - Whether it is your kitchen table or a special homeschool room that you plan to teach in be sure to think about how to use that space to best accommodate your new school. Are the supplies within reach? Is there a place to put a chalk or dry eraser board? Is there adequate storage space there or somewhere else in the house?
8. Get a planner -Get all your ideas in one place and your homeschool plan and strategy. You can find a few geared just for homeschooling HERE.
9. Find support - Whether it is online support groups, Facebook homeschool groups, church fellowship, or your local co-op be sure to connect with other homeschoolers to get support. When the going gets tough you will have the help that you need and people available to answer your questions.
10. Visit a homeschool convention in your area - these are great for getting a chance to view all the curriculum available and being able to look through them and the encouragement from speakers can give you long term vision for your family! You can find a list by state here. (Due to COVID-19 many have been postponed or cancelled but you can still get support through Facebook homeschool groups like ours and look up reviews and advice on YouTube. Some homeschool conferences have even gone online for free!)
I have graduated six children with three more children to go. It has been such a blessing to spend the time with them and build into their lives while homeschooling. I pray that you would truly consider it and see it also as a chance to disciple your children for the Lord!
I hope you were encouraged by these tips!
If you need more encouragement on this topic we highly recommend Homeschool Basics: How to Get Started, Stay Motivated, and Bring Out the Best in Your Kids which is on sale right now!
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2 comments:
That's great advice! It's also very helpful to find someone locally whose family you respect and who has been homeschooling for a while. Ask her for coffee so that you can talk over any questions, concerns and local issues you might have. I'm so grateful I had one older mentor in my life when we began homeschooling!
Yes, great idea! I also have a ton of homeschool posts on the blog too. Here is a link to most of them: https://proverbs14verse1.blogspot.com/2016/07/everything-you-need-to-get-back-to.html
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