Can anyone point me in the right direction on Homeschooling?

Question

I am a young mom with a 7 1/2 month old. I plan on having more children and would love to homeschool but I would like to get started with reading and researching now. Are there any specific books, articles, magazines, conferences...etc? Any good advice?

Answer 1

make sure you put your children in A LOT of extra activities.. like sports.. so they will interact with tons of kids.

Answer 2

I've answered this question before with links, so if you search under my user name you'll find them.
Patchwork of Days by Nancy VanLande gives an overview of about 30 different families - "day in the life" homeschooling.

Why Children Fail/How Children Learn/ Teach Your Own - John Holt. Pretty much the classic homeschooling "expert" (although he never had an children of his own or homeschooled, he was more the "idea man")

Home Education Magazine is another great source for ideas an inspiration.

edited to add my agreement with Well Trained Mind as a great book. Also - read to your baby, listen to books on tape in the car (starting at age 3 we listened to Charlotte's Web etc.) Easy to obtain from the library. Shut off the TV and DO stuff together. Play board games (memory match etc) as the child gets older add more complex ones. My children were playing chess by age 4 and doing very well.

Another great book or two : Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease and also Five in A Row.

Good luck!

Answer 3

You are way ahead of the game by preparing early!! You MUST have these two books, no matter what kind of homeschooling you plan to do:
Homeshooling: Take a Deep Breath--You Can Do This! by Terrie Lynn Bittner
Homeschool Your Child for Free by LauraMaery Gold and Joan M. Zielinski

They offer great introductions to homeschooling as well as lots of other noteworthy resources to learn more and prepare more. You also must realize that you will have to experiment for yourself before you know exactly how you want to do things, and even then, you will change your mind a lot, so don't focus too much on one style when doing your research.

Good luck and have fun!!

Answer 4

I've met people in homeschooling support groups who were pregnant with their first. It's certainly not too early to start seeking connections. They would also be able to tell you about any regional conferences, stores catering to homeschoolers, etc. You may even be able to find an online group through Yahoo Groups.

Your public library should have a good selection of books on homeschooling. Read whatever you can! Online, read about different approaches to homeschooling, check out online catalogues, request physical catalogues...

Answer 5

The Elijah Company's Resource Guide is a great help -- good synopsis of all the method's and their accompanying strengths and weaknessess.

For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaffer McCaulley
Charlotte Mason info.

Taking the time to really develop your philosophy of education is very helpful --- what do youd consider well educated to mean? etc. homeschooloasis.com has good articles on this and other subjects.

You will find that homeschoolers run the gamut from school at home to unschooling and use many different curriculums. One of the beauties of homeschooling is that just because it works for me doesn't mean it will for you and that's ok!

Answer 6

You have been given lots of good materials to check out, websites, authors, etc. So I will not add more to that list.

But I would like to give you something to think about...

Realize that you are already homeschooling. It began when your child was born and began learning about this world. So just start a more defined plan. Think about the things you want your child to know. Especially think about the attitude you want your child(ren) to have towards learning.

Learning is exciting and fun. Help them to see that right from the beginning by showing them all the delightful things around them (butterflies to oceans), all the exciting things (space shuttles launchings to anthills), all the wonderous things (snowflakes to mudpies)...Everything delights, excites and causes wonder in little ones. Build on it.

READ, read and read some more. I am talking about reading TO the child. Give them a love of books.

Have fun. Rediscover all the joy of learning for yourself and then share it with your child.

Play games. Games are a wonderful way to teach. See Games For Learning website for some ideas of home-made games you can make. Join the yahoo group Games4Learning and discuss making educational games to use now and in all the days to come.

Welcome to the adventure that is HOMESCHOOL.

Answer 7

Here's a few to keep you busy over the next few years! ;)
Books:

The Well Trained Mind
Educating the Whole Hearted Child
100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum (Cathy Duffy)
Teaching The Trivium

Authors:
Diana Waring
Ruth Beechick
Mary Hood

Websites:
homeschooling.gomilpitas.com
the homeschool mom
homeschool.com
ambleside online

haha, those are just from my inbox and what's sitting on my shelf.
Happy Researching!

PS if you go to the well trained mind website, you will be able to access newsletters with "a day in the life of" articles about the Bauer family's homeschool journey. I found them very encouraging. Helps you get over the "I have to do this perfectly" thing!

Answer 8

I was homeschooled from 8th grade to graduation. I just seemed to be falling behind in public school. My homeschooling was done through Christian Liberty Academy. I put the link to their site below. They sent us the books and we mailed in all of our work, got report cards and everything. It is an actual school based in IL that has a curriculum for homeschoolers. Christian Liberty uses a viarety of different books and materials. Anyhow, you should also contact the Homeschool Legal Defense Association. They help you with what the laws are in the individual states about homeschooling and enrolling your children.

Answer 9

I started with an Idiots Guide to Homeschooling. It is a good reference to get aquainted with the basics. From there I went on to What your __ Grader Needs to Know. We used Abeka for 1st grade and did not like it. The curriculum covered everything and my son was more than prepared for the next year, but for us it was too much worksheets and reveiw. We used Alpha Omega Switched on Schoolhouse this year and like most of it. I did not like History ir the way they handled spelling, but the rest has been great.

Since you have time you might consider reading a Well Trained Mind. It talks about a classical approach. I will be trying this next year and I wish I had known about it when we first started. It takes a little more work to pull it together, but seems worth it to me.

Start now. Talk to your baby. Use descriptive words for color, order, position, size, number. Talk to the baby as you cook, clean, fold clothes. You will be amazed what they can absorb as they are learning to talk.

My 2 year old has Baby Einstien flash card that he has loved since he was 1. He loves looking at the pictures of the animals and hearing mommy make the different sounds. Now he can name most of them. They have some great early learning tools.

If you have any questions feel free to email. Best of luck.

Answer 10

I know the name of a book I read that was very helpful in being secure in my decision was "A Mom Just Like You" By Vickie Farris. It was a great help to encourage me. There are several other encouraging books out there, a lot that can be probably checked out in your library.
I wish I could have started researching this when my kids where babies!
Good Luck!

Answer 11

about.com has given homeschooling its own section, which you can visit here:
http://homeschooling.about.com/

Even though you might get bogged down with finding teaching materials, make sure you set aside time for finding social opportunities for your child; I was homeschooled for about a year, which, although an important year in my life, saw no social interaction for me at all - I'm severely behind now.

My advice would be to contact your local authority (I don't know what you have in America, I'm in the UK) or Education Authority to get them to put you into contact with other parents, whom you can meet up with or talk to on the phone - your kids may become friends and you can share work schemes or whatever.

I hope that this advice has been useful to you.

Hope that helps,
Simon H