How do I go about getting my son into homeschooling?

Question

I am thinking about getting my son into homeschooling but I do not know where to start.

Answer 1

Wish I knew where you were so I could be specific, but there are homeschooling groups in most communities. A good place to begin is the local churches. (Especially the "fundies", baptist, charismatic, etc.) Even if you do not want your child to receive their religious training, they usually can direct you to any homeschooling support groups. Not all home schoolers do it for religious reasons.

Because the law is different for every state, they will be able to help you are far as anything you have to do to keep it all "legal". Where I live in Michigan, home schooling is legal. About the worst they can do is make you provide some type of "proof" in the form of completed test or lesson plans. Other states have very strict rules. Again, find the home school group in your area and they will be able to help.

Finally, you may want to look for a prepared study course. There are several excellent ones available that come with all the textbooks, course outlines, often audio and/or video tapes to help. Even if you do not follow it exactly, they are good resources to know what a child at that age should be learning. Like the months of the year, or the names of the presidents, or the multiplication tables. (We used the ACE course with all four of our kids, and are now taking our grandson through it.)

Answer 2

Search the web - unless you are in Germany where I believe it is illegal to homeschool you will probably find a homeschooling group in your area/ state etc.
Read lots, talk to as many homeschoolers you can. Check out your local rules and laws with you education dept. There are many books written about and for homeschooling - check your local library. Books are written that cover just about everything you ever wanted to know about homeschooling, the web covers the rest!
There are many ways to homeschool a child - some use natural learning, some do school at home and the many variations in between.
Speak to your son about it - explain the benefits that you can see for him.
Depending on your area's regulations, resources can be sourced from many places. Again, the web has many free and cheap homeschooling resources.
Make sure that if you do homeschool that you find other homeschoolers for him to do some socialising with - don't let him feel like a freak for being different. Help him maintain important friendships he already has if he is currently in school - let him join groups that contain both homeschoolers and schooled children.
Homeschooling can be great.
Good luck.

Answer 3

To get started you will need to look at your state law. One of the best ways to do this is www.hslda.org (home school legal defense assoc.)
Then you will have to chose what style of teaching you would like to use. The top three types are: Unschooled (child chooses what to learn), Literature based(you glean all subjects from a book), and Subject based(Separate lessons per subject). As you can tell this will be the hardest part of home schooling. There are so many choices.
Next, set a schedule that works for your family and follow through. Try to find a support group in your area. You can find one by talking to a pastor or librarian. You may also try the local YMCA. They offer PE to homeschoolers and may know of a group. Hope this helps you! Have a GREAT day!

Answer 4

Type in "home schooling support groups" and your area under search. Talk to real people about what works for them for your age children. My son is 15 and we used Abeka last year which was wonderful. I could not remember all the stuff but the teachers books had all the answers with the reasons which was such a help. All the classes were on DVD which meant we could go places and he could do school while traveling. We also knew some people close by who used the same program so we could talk and share in some projects. Good luck...it really is fun!! :)

Answer 5

The laws in each state are different, so the best place to start would be to contact the Home School Legal Defense Association.
Their website is www.hslda.org
From there you will probably want to research different homeschooling approaches, curriculum... this is easily done with a search engine and keywords.
The next best thing to do is to find a homeschool group in your area and talk to the director. He/She will be able to give you tons of valuable information for you specific area.
Good luck!

Answer 6

Please inform me you probably did your forms to be compliant with the legislation and your no longer truant. OK. Now a nice curriculumis K12. It's unfastened in alot of states. Not devout headquartered. Same as public college, simply on pc and at house. I fairly love it. Another alternative is probably, and I use severe warning right here, providing you with and your son a while (a little while) to deschool even as you seek in your households correct have compatibility.. Use the general public library. Pretend you two are in a publication membership in combination. Hold discussions,do stories get to understand every different once more. Go in your neighborhood instructor provide retailer or school book place, discover a couple of workbooks to get use to the suggestion of homeschooling. But you have got to decide to teaching your son each and every minute of every day in a significant approach. As a father or mother our superb target is to elevate a effective grownup. If you realize on your middle you being together with your son is first-class for him---you then pass lady!!!

Answer 7

1. Sit down and write down all the reasons you feel homeschooling your child is a good idea. Be honest. Then sit down and make a list of all the things in your life and your families life that will have to change to accomodate it..your amount of free time, your ability to work with your child directly for extended amounts of time, your child's willingness to work, special needs your child may have, how this may impact your availabilty to do things with your other kids and finally, the finacial impact (if any) from the cost of the curriculum and/or the loss of any income you may be bringing in. Once you do that, talk about it with your spouse or partner, if applicable, and get their input as well as any questions they may have or any other reasons they support it.

2. Log onto google and search for homeschool groups in your area. Many groups are affiliated with churches so that is another good place to look. Email or post questions you may have to the members. Read the posts and see what activities are available.

3. The next step is to find out what the rules are for your state and school district are for homeschooling a child. In most states, homeschooling a child means your child will loose all access or ability to partake in any school activities. If your child recieves services such as speech or PT, then they will most likely loose these services. Will you be able to pay for these services on your own? Also, find out if there are any state apporved curriculums and the rules for developing your own. You will also want to find out about how ofter you will need to have your child's work reviewed and you should find out what the process will be for re-enrollement if you choose to send him back at some point.

4. Finally, research possible curriculums for your son's grade/developmental level. There are dozens of ready to use curriculums of all sorts...some may even be pre-approved for use by your shcool district, which can make things a bit easier. This is another time when local homeschool groups can be a huge help!

Once you have done all this thinking and research, think about how this choice will affect the child. WHile almost every child can benefit from a one on one educational setting, not every child will enjoy it. If your child is generally happy, doing well with work and social issues and is involved in extracurricular activiteis, pulling them out may be a difficult thing for them to understand. If your child has special needs, homeschooling is often more than just reading, writing and math. And be ready for the very likelly possibility that your child may be thrilled to stay home with you, but be totally unwilling to work for you...at least at first, The first 6 months to a year of homeschooling is a huge adjustment and you will have to be the consistent, driving force.

In the end, after I went through all the thinking and pondering, we made the choice to homeschool our daughter. It has been the best choice for her. WHile I hope she may decide to return to school for HS, I certainly won't force her. It is hard work...some days downright frustrating...but I wouldn't change it for anything.

Answer 8

I strongly advise against talking to the local school or school district until the very last step. While there may be exceptions, in general schools and school districts are rabidly anti-homeschooling and are notorious for giving misinformation about the homeschooling options and the legal requirements. I'll put it bluntly: they will lie to you. Don't speak to them until you've really done your research and know what the law requires of you.

I would start by looking for homeschooling groups in your area. They've already been through it, and can tell you what steps you have to take to remove your son from school, what the law requires in terms of curriculum, and what local resources are available. I've included a couple homeschool websites that will help you track down homeschool associations in your area. You might also check Yahoo!Groups to see if there's a homeschool association for your area that has a discussion going. You might be surprised.

The next step is to settle on a curriculum. My advice from years of homeschooling experience: unless the law requires it, don't let the school curriculum guide you. You can do a lot better and with far less effort. The links below, as well as contact with your local homeschool associations are all good resources for curriculum ideas. You might also take a look at the Charlotte Mason curriculum. I've included a couple websites to check it out. Charlotte Mason's curriculum has a christian bent, but that's not a core component, and many secular homeschoolers use the curriculum simply for the educational value. Although I used the phrase "settle" on a curriculum, don't be afraid to reinvent your curriculum every few weeks: you will continually be learning what works and what doesn't, what you want to study and what you don't. There are many off the shelf curriculums on the market, and many of them are quite good. But I think you'll miss out on many of the unique opportunities afforded by homeschooling if you let someone else control the curriculum.

Since you say that you're "thinking" of homeschooling, here are some reasons in favor:

1) The number 1 myth of homeschooling: homeschooling hurts kids' social skills. As an experienced homeschool parent who also knows dozens of homeschool families, I can attest from my own experience that homeschooled kids are actually better socialized than kids who attend public or private schools: they are more comfortable around other kids and adults, are much more relaxed, more confident, and have a clearer sense of who they are. My kids left the public schools for four years of homeschooling, then re-entered the public schools during high school. Not only were their social skills better after four years of homeschooling, they were noticably superior to the bulk of their classmates, and this was commented on by numerous people. I saw much the same result in the majority of homeschooled kids I knew. When people meet real homeschooled kids, it is not uncommon to hear "wow, if all homeschooled kids were like that, I'd say homeschooling was a good idea." The truth is that most homeschooled kids really are like that, but people base their view on myth and bias. Homeschool kids have far superior people skills, and all national studies have borne this out

2) The academics will be superior. I taught my kids formally for three to four hours a day, four to five days a week, and that was more than enough to move quickly past their classmates. By sixth grade they had read and written on several shakespeare plays, had completed a text on college algebra, could solve complex problems in formal logic, had read plutarch, herodotus, Joseph Conrad, and on and on. My oldest son made no attempt to study for the SATs, stayed up late at a friend's party the night before he took his exam, and scored 1250 on his first attempt. A parent with an average education but with the desire to give their kids a good education, can do more for them in three hours a day than a public school can do in seven hours. And with no homework in the evenings.

3) Your kids will be better prepared for college: most Ivy League schools now have a recruiter whose only job is to find homeschool students before the other elite universities do. Homeschooled kids are historically more successful socially and academically at colleges, so from a college admissions perspective, it's a no-brainer.

4) You will like your kids more, your relationship with them will be much stronger, and you will never regret the extra time you spent with them during their homeschool years. And neither will they.

Ps. In most communities there are consortiums of homeschoolers who do all kinds of things together. We once attended homeschool day at six flags. The kids had a great time, and the security guards were so bored, they started playing cards. Not a single fight occured. Besides, having no evening homework frees up quite a lot of time for socializing.

There is enormous and irrational fear of homeschooling out there: don't listen to it. Listen to your heart, and you'll know what's the right thing to do.

Answer 9

dont start, home schooling keeps a child from growing up with self confidence and self respect, leave him/her in school. it will be best for them to stay there,

home schooling makes snobs out of children, and you dont want your child to grow up alone and snobby, trust me

Answer 10

Consider this carefully. Do you want to take him out of school? I wouldn't, but if you really do want to, then do some research. Ask at your local high school and council. Look for people who do it already. Search on google.