How do you start homeschooling?

Question

So I need to know what do you do when you have decided to homeschool? What do you buy? I know that I would need to notify the school. What are the best books to purchase for Kindergarden? Any advice is appreciated.

Answer 1

If it is in the middle of the school year, you need to notify the school.  If it isn't, you don't need to tell the school anything (at least not in our state).

Answer 2

It all depends on where you live, what is your approach or philosophy to learning and the needs and learning styles of your children.

To begin, people who want to homeschool should:

* Look at the local laws. Some states/provinces allow that you do as you please, others ask you to have a curriculum and make your children test once a month or at the end of the school year. Some ask you to register your child as a homeschoolier, some don't.

* Go to your local library and ask for some books on homeschooling. The best ones are: The homeschholing Handbook (Mary Griffith) and 100 Top picks  for homeschool curriculum. There are many others. They will give you ideas about what to use, how to do it and how to cope with all the worries and doubts.

* Some people use curiculum or texts books, some adopt other approaches where you simply go with your child's learning style and read to her, make crafts, special projects, watch videos, go field trips and participate in extra curricula courses and workshops such as music, sports, crafts, etc.

* Try to find a local homeschooling support group. Even if you don't like to join, they will help you with materials, ideas and some socialization meetings.

Good luck

Answer 3

ok i can help in fact i just came from home schooling i whent to a privet school most my whole like for kindergarten i find abecka books are the best they are good all the way up to about 6 grade life house is good but good luck it is tuff but you could not learn a better way...<3

Answer 4

Kindergardent (under 6) generally has no formalities and you can teach what they can learn.

Sam's club and Wal-Mart has lots of inexpensive teaching aids.

Answer 5

i homeschool now.

and it really depends on what grade.

you can  got to www.AOP.com

and its alpha omaga publications.

and i have switched on schoolhouse.

its a computer program.

you dont have to mess with books or send off your work.

the computer grades it for you.

its really simple.

and very helpful.

the prices vary.

it just depends on what you are looking for.

you can learn different languages and all the regular subjects.

but IM me if you have any additional questions.

i would be glad to help you out.

Answer 6

Locate one of the curriculum fairs that is to take place near you in your state or a surrounding state. Usually you can find this info in the Local Homeschool groups. Then you can get on the mailing list.

Check with your local Borders or Barns N noble store, we have a HS book club that meets there monthly and we are on the schedule with the store. Also I know many other HS groups I am not associated with hold meetings there too.

www.rainbowresource.com, offers over 35000 educational products. I purchase lots from them. Singnlearn.com another great one.

CBD Homeschooling, Christian Book Distributors are a great resource too.

The Christian book stores carry curriculum that you can get your hands on. We have many book stores here that just sell HS materials only. Our used book store has many things.

Also a store called the School Box has some things to use as you HS.  

Look up on the inter-net, local Homeschool Groups in your area. I just did this for my sister in law in Illinois, there are many to choose from.

Google your local county for HS.

Many Churches house homeschool groups, or they may know who you can get in touch with for more information.

HS groups also use the local library, to meet in the meeting rooms or hold co-op classes.

Here we have HS everything. There is a Home school foot ball team, and cheer leading group for the foot ball team, archery, kayak, chess club, lego league, Ice skatting, Roller skatting, bowling, syncronized swimming, track team, tennis and more I can not even name.

The roller skatting, and Ice rinks, and bowling hold a special time just for Homeschoolers.

There are Homeschool days at museums, here it is the Art museum and the History center that hold seperate days for Homeschoolers, as well as the Science museums too. Homeschoolers have their own free days seperate from the PS kids.

Look up Five in a Row. Great book for K and for K4 kids. Also "Before Five in a Row" the library has many of the books that go along with this program. Also there is a yahoogroup for FIAR too. I'm a member, but do not pop on there.

CM also has a K site too. (Charlotte Mason incase you do not know. She is big in the HS world.)

You may want to try lap booking. There are yahoogroups for that too.

Once you start to discover the resourses for materials, you will need to read about the different methods of HS.

My top two must reads:

What your child needs to know when, (includes evaluation check lists for Grades K-8, according to the Bible, according to the state) by Robin Scarlata Great reference to HS and Government education.

Educating the WholeHearted Child

by Clay and Sally Clarkson

They did have a new updated version of this book that just came out last year I think.

(this book is at our library, at the local Christian book store, and you can get it off their web site too. All books by Clay and Sally both are wonderful, you can not go wrong with any of their books. But this is the important one for looking at HS.)

http://www.wholeheart.org/whitemdetail.p...

You may be able to get a copy off Amazon too.

Your library should have these two, if not you can request the library to get these two books and see if they will, if you decide that you do wish to HS, you will probably want these two books in your collection for easy reference. I use these two books all the time!!

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These are standard reading materials for HS Educators. So you can probably borrow all these books from another mom you know.

The Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach, Bible Based Homeschooling by Robin Sampson

The way they learn (how to discover and teach to your child's strengths) by Cynthia Ulrich Tobias

Discover Your Child's Learning Style (children learn in unique ways--Here's the key to every child's learning success) by Mariaemma Willis, M.S. and Victoria Kindle Hodson, M.A.

For the Children's Sake (foundations of education for Home and school) by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

You can Teach your child successfully by Ruth Beechick

she also has curriculum books for K and First grade that I use too.

A Charlotte Mason Companion (personal Reflections of the gentle are of learning) by Karen Andreola

A Pocketful of Pinecones (nature study with the gentle art of learning) by Karen Andreola- gives you an insight into a daily journal of a homeschool day.

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Curriculum

May want to flip thru these books.

A Literary Education by Catherine Levison

Teaching Children (A Curriculum Guide to what children need to know at each level through sixth grade) by Diane Lopez and introduction by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

Books Children Love (A guide to the Best Children's Literature) by Elizabeth Wilson foreword by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay (note: there are other literature guides too- Honey for a Child's heart- and others)

Five in a Row- is a Pre-K and K-4, and Kindergarten curriculum that I have used and recommend.

There is much more that I would recommend if you decide to proceed with HS.

Others to read:

The Mission of Motherhood (touching your child's heart for eternity) by Sally Clarkson

College without Compromise- read this one around 3 rd and 4 th grade to start preparing for college.

I have special HS loops too for this college subject. Glad to pass along to you at the right time.

For the Family's sake (the value of Home in Everyone's life) by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

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Another thing.

I have been searching my files for what I have already typed up on the different methods of homeschooling and I can not find it.

What I remember off the top of my head was:

Classical Approach

Charlotte Mason Approach

Unschooling Approach

The Elijah Company use to have a mail newsletter catalog before they switched to online only.

Here is their web page.

http://www.homeschoolmarketplace.com/

From the Elijah web page.

They have re written the article I was looking for in the 2006 April newsletters.

Specifically it is the April 27, 2006 Article I was thinking on, Common Teaching Approaches.

To understand the entire thing you would benefit from reading the entire series, and it is well worth the read!!!

I should re-read this too to refresh my memory.

What I was wanting to give you from this was the different approaches:

Traditional- which is the box curriculum style-I use video/CD/DVD/ and the Science book is a text book- but written in the CM style- not the text bookish style. So... I do use specific programs, so I can pick and choose what I want, but I incorporate this into my CM method- short lessons, etc. Hope that makes sense to you.

Non-text book approaches are:

Classical approach

Principle approach

CM method-Living Books and Life Experience

Unit Study

Unschooling

Eclectic approach

The article will go into detail about each approach.

I actually use a blend of these approaches and then I tailor them into the CM method of teaching.

I started off doing the Unit Study approach for the first year or two and had to discard that- it was so--- What is the word for it. Too much work!! However, it does have a place, if you were to do one subject, such as: we now really do focus on horses for Gabriela and tailor much of what she is learning around that one subject, so that is sort of a Unit Study- however it is not the only thing or main thing- it is a side thing that is brought in to the learning and placed into the CM method under the subject heading. Such as: for CM art study- we may choose a picture or artist that did horses, or ballerinas as a choice- Degas- as an example. So that is how I bring the unit study into the CM way. Sorry, did not mean to get into such detail.

Here is the main location for the newsletters to look up.

http://www.homeschoolmarketplace.com/new...

Then read each of these articles for what I wanted to send to you.

April 6 , 2006 E-Journal

It's Bookfair time! Tips for Choosing Teaching Materials for Your Home School, part I

http://www.homeschoolmarketplace.com/e-z...

April 18, 2006 E-Journal

Choosing Teaching Materials for Your Home School, part II: Determining how your child learns best

http://www.homeschoolmarketplace.com/e-z...

April 27, 2006 E-Journal

Choosing Teaching Materials for Your Home School, part III: Common Teaching Approaches

http://www.homeschoolmarketplace.com/e-z...

May 4 , 2006 E-Journal

Choosing Teaching Materials for Your Home School, part IV: Developing an Educational Philosophy

http://www.homeschoolmarketplace.com/e-z...

**

Well that should give you a place to start.

Answer 7

First you need to know what your laws are in your state. Go to this website: http://www.hslda.org

Second: Join a few yahoo homeschool groups. Also try to find some local ones so you can schedule activities. You will need the support.

Now for curriculum, even long time homeschoolers struggle there. I used A Beka, it's used in a lot of Christian private schools. I suggest order cataloges from a few different companies. BJU, A Beka, AOP are the biggest. ALso www.homeschoolreviews.com offer reviews about everything. Good luck and homeschooling is very manageable and fun. Who can do a better job teaching than someone that loves them more than you.

Answer 8

Notification laws vary by state and sometimes by municipality/school system, so I highly suggest Googling "Your State Homeschool Regulations" or something similar.

There are many, many curricula on the market for homeschooling. We've decided to start with Catholic Homeschool Curricula - our daughter is just learning to read and write - but there are so many out there that I don't feel confident recommending one to you without knowing if you're interested in Christian homeschooling, specifically Catholic homeschooling, secular homeschooling, etc. Again, I'd run an internet search for "Homeschool Curricula" and see what comes up.

And keep in mind you can buy several books from several systems to get a truly individualized education. You can also buy the textbooks your school system uses, or any that are available. Google "Textbook publishers" and see what the policies are on selling to the public.

Good luck!

Answer 9

It would not be a school as the normal school is, just inform the local headteacher and he will know what you must do.

You may be able to borrow books from the local school library?