Learning (and Homeschooling) Begins at Birth

As a good parent, you have always been your child's teacher: you have read to him, played games with him, helped and encouraged him to learn basic skills, introduced him to the world around him. Parents are their child's first teachers, so don't think that homeschooling your child takes special skills or talents that you do not possess. If you are a good parent, you are also a good teacher, and you can homeschool your child.

Socialization

"What about socialization?"
This is the most frequently asked question in reference to homeschooling! If you are worried about your child getting "socialized," you need to consider that in the average school day of 6 hours, the child spends approximately 1.5 hours "socializing" (two 15-minute recesses and a 1-hour lunch). The rest of the time the child usually sits at his desk, separated from the other children by "good behavior." And, as the school atmosphere becomes increasingly restricted and dangerous, the socialization that occurs is not particularly social!

Homeschooling parents, on the other hand, often find their children have too much socialization - park days, skate days, and field trips! Children who live in urban or suburban areas come in contact with people all day long. Children who are taught at home have more time to socialize freely without being told what to play, when to play it, and where to play it!

Ok, the kids are home…Now what?

One of the first things I recommend is that you sit down, make a list, and check it twice! Once you have the answers to these questions, deciding how and what to teach will be easy! Some of the questions to ask your self are:

1. Why are we homeschooling?
If you decided to homeschool because the public school taught something that was not of your belief system, you have the ability to leave that out of your child´s education.

2. What do we want our child/ren to learn?
We want our children not only to learn “academics”, but also to learn lifeskills. Mom isn't going to do their laundry forever!

3. Do we want them to attend college?
This will determine what course of study a high schooler needs to follow i.e.: 4 science credits, 2 math credits…

4. How long will we homeschool them?
If you plan to homeschool till they enter college, you can take it slower, and not have to worry so much that they are “at grade level.”

5. How much time are we willing to invest?
If you don't have the time to do hands on projects, for example, you would want to look closely at any curriculum you are thinking of buying.

6. How much money?
Science project are a wonderful learning tool, but if you don't have the extra money to buy the materials needed, they can't learn from them.

Take some time to sit down and evaluate and reevaluate your list. It can be a real eye opener.

The most important thing to remember is to relax! If you pick something just doesn't work at your house, it isn't the end of the world. Mistakes will be made, and you will recover from them!

Homeschooling Costs

Homeschooling can cost anywhere from $0 to $2,500 per year. A family can create an entire curriculum from materials available free online and from the local library. (Online schools do charge a fee.) Cost depends on your philosophy.

If you use a boxed curriculum, you can purchase a very nice one for as little as $300 per year, with optional correspondence-teacher review services for somewhere near $200-$500. You can spend as much as $2500 per year in the boxed curriculum, this cost includes an advisory teaching service, networking, private "networked" park days, field trips, resource libraries, and many other extracurricular resources.

Influencing My Children

Many parents that homeschool are paranoid about the quality of the job that they are doing. I hear parents very frequently asking “Am I influencing my children in a positive way?” This illustrates a humble self-image, which is admirable. The truth is, however, that if you set out to do a good job, you most likely will. The key is to do your research, come up with a plan, and stick to it—no matter what.

Any way you look at it, for better or for worse, your child is your child, which means that you are his or her main influence. Home schooling is a wonderful way to spend time allowing your little sponge to absorb all of the knowledge and views that you have to offer.

* Follow a designated lesson plan and cover the basics. You're a great influence, so don't doubt yourself!

Homeschooling Alone

Some teenagers feel relieved to be taken out of a peer-dependent environment and are pleased to do schoolwork while mom and dad are away in order to keep this latitude. Other teenagers fare better working part-time jobs during the day and doing their academic work in the evening and on the weekends.

Teenagers are at a perfect age to benefit from an apprentice situation or mentoring relationship. If you are thinking of allowing your teen to homeschool while you are at work, my only suggestion is to make sure that you know your teen very well. You must have a good relationship with him or her—you must be able to talk to each other without the normal hindrances that come between teens and parents or the experience will be difficult.

Your Start at Home Schooling

As more parents are becoming interested in home schooling, getting started seems like an overwhelming task with much home school information to consider, such as:

• How to develop a curriculum
• What requirements have to be followed
• How to keep your child socialized

The best approach to home schooling is to spend as much time as possible learning about it. Read books and magazines, find online articles, talk to other parents who homeschool, and attend conferences. Finding the homeschooling method that best suits your family will make all the difference in your success and happiness.

Home Schooling Stress

Let's face it, homeschooling is hard work. It's not always easy to have so much family togetherness. The amount of planning to keep your children on focus is immense, and there's always the worry that you're not doing it right.

Just as any working person has to learn how to set aside the day, find ways to relax, and enjoy life, so do you. Stress has some very serious physical and emotional consequences if left unchecked. It's imperative to set aside time for yourself to do things that are most important to you.

Measuring Up

We hear stories all the time of homeschooled kids that went to Harvard, Yale or MIT at 12 and got their doctorate. Are you worried that your child won't measure up to these success stories? There is nothing to measure up to! Each child is unique, and no two can be intelligently compared.

You can't judge a child by test scores—standardized testing only measures how well a child can take a test! Contests, like spelling bees and geography bees, are not barometers of intelligence. A brilliant person may "freeze" up in front of a crowd and be unable to demonstrate his intelligence, but give him a quiet room with a computer or a notebook and pen and he might give us pages and pages with his thoughts showing us his intelligence.

Try not to fall into the trap of comparing. Everyone is good at certain things and not at others. If you can let your child show you the best "self" that he or she can be and you can love and respect that person, both of you will have a wonderful experience homeschooling, no matter what!

Teaching Your Own Kids

I repeatedly hear that homeschooling has given many parents the opportunity to educate or re-educate themselves in certain subjects. For example, one mother wasn't interested in early history or word roots and grammar because of the negative feeling she carried over from her personal school experiences. However, upon reading about these to her son, she found herself becoming more interested as time went on. She also never considered herself artistic.

Another mother claimed that, n order to teach art to her son, she obtained a “How to Draw” art series, which gave the exact layout of different objects. She was so amazed when her rockets, spaceships, and buildings came out well that she has actually took up drawing classes!

*Use homeschooling as an opportunity to learn new things and add dimension to your life!

What do Teachers Know?

A school teacher's job is to present the curriculum chosen by the school administration to 25-40 children at a time in a classroom setting and moving them through the school year on time. A homeschooling parent's job, however, is much different. Here are some advantages to homeschooling:

• While homeschooling you will be working with your child in a setting you choose and recognize to be what is right for him or her.

• You can adjust your focus at any time to meet the changing needs of your student and your family.

• You can work certain times of year, and less during others (if your state doesn't require school-year-strict attendance records).

• You can spend more time on a "weak" academic topic and less time on a strong one.

Picking Your Subjects

In some states, you are required to teach a basic homeschool curriculum, which is just about universally accepted as "standard." It consists of reading, writing, math, English, American history, the history of your state and, possibly, civics or health. In other states, parents are not required to teach this curriculum, but it is suggested. This core material can be amply covered in two to three hours per day. Over and above this, the parent and the student are free to add whatever they wish to their course of study - another wonderful thing about homeschooling! Here are some great ideas:

• If you want to study astronomy, you can spend as much time as you wish—staying up late to view the sky through a telescope from a remote area, for instance.

• If you are interested in ancient history, you can delve into it at the museum and library for hours on end—especially at midday, when the crowds are small.

• If your student is a musician or artist, he or she can focus on music or art for hours.

Homeschoolers have the opportunity to study a topic much more deeply than they would in a "regular" school setting.

Home Schooling Styles

Unlike public school, where all of the students follow the style laid out by their teacher, a homeschool education gives families the opportunity to develop a learning style that suits them best. You need to assess your family situation and how your child learns. Some good questions to think about are:

• What kind of a teacher are you?
• Is your child a self-motivator?
• Is your child a visual learner?
• Is your child an avid reader?
• Is your child a computer enthusiast?

*All of these considerations, and more, will help direct you in the right direction. Try going to a home schoolingcurriculum convention and gather advice from the representatives from the different companies there.

Is Teaching Hard?

Most people who homeschool high schoolers don't find that teaching them is difficult. Usually, study habits are already set up and the child is accustomed to completing a certain amount of work. Also, students who have been in school typically enjoy finishing their schoolwork early, leaving enough time to work a part-time job, becoming an apprentice, practicing a sport, or taking college classes.

Parents of teenagers who have never been in school might have to be more involved in finding out how to teach algebra, chemistry, or other tough subjects. Many families in both categories solve this problem by pooling resources and hiring a tutor to instruct a small group in a particular subject once or twice a week. Usually this type of arrangement is conducive to a positive learning experience. The children know why they are there and they want to be there, so it works out well for all.

Qualifications

Virtually every instruction book available (math, English, history, writing) is self-explanatory because homeschooling is a do-it-yourself field. Many book/learning material companies are owned by homeschooling families; others want to court the huge, growing market in home ed. These companies provide detailed instructions for the successful use of their products.

*Any parent with average reading comprehension skills can successfully teach his or her own children.

Friends

Sometimes, it happens that all of a child's friends will be in "regular" school and that child will feel different. Explain to your child why you decided to homeschool and explain it with a sense of pride. If need be, buy some "school" things to help your child feel more like he or she is in school. Try these ideas:

• Buy a typical classroom desk
• Hang typical elementary posters and bulletin boards to help with the "school" atmosphere
• Hang an alphabet freeze as a border

Creating a school-like environment can help kids to adjust to home schooling—especially if they have been pulled from a school to be homeschooled.

Going Back to Regular School

If you and your child decide that "regular" school is better for you both, don´t worry about your child getting back in to school. Children who are US citizens cannot be denied public education unless they have been legally expelled or some other extenuating circumstance exists. Depending on which state you live in, there are different routes to enrolling your child into public school. If you declare yourself a private school, then keeping good records of daily activities and the subjects studied is crucial in deciding to enroll your child in school. If you enroll in an independent study program (ISP), either private or through a public school, you will have no problems transferring back into the system.

If you do decide to go back to "regular" school, don´t feel like a failure. You have to do what is best for both you and your child. Sometimes, that is not homeschooling.