How does homeschooling work?

Question

How does homeschooling work and what all does it consist of? I'd love to know more about it, but when I searched it online, all I get is sites to buy this and that curriculum from.

Answer 1

Yes, homeschooling does work! I homeschooled my older children through high school. One is a policeman, and the other one works in a lab after going through pre-med.  I am now homeschooling a son we adopted. We tried kindergarten with him. It was not the best for him. He is easily distracted. He does very well being homeschooled. Our older children received their diploma through Christian Liberty Academy's homeschooling program so they could do whatever they wanted. Both finished very well.  They've been asked by teachers and professors many times where they went to school. A couple of them remarked, "You should thank your mom." They always tested way above their grade level. It works through ordering the curriculum that best fits your child's needs. We used Bob Jones Press.

Answer 2

It depends on the laws where you live as to your options.

The options are:

School in a Box, a program you buy each year from a company with a cirriculum, books, CDS, DVDs

Virtual On Line School, that can be free in some places or will cost money in other places.

Pick and choose plans from different school.  A sort of mix and match grab bag of School In A Box, except you go to different companies.

The do-it-yourself program in which you find text books at book stores, thrift stores, yard sales, Amazon.com and you put together your own plan and pace it as you want.

You also suppliment with unschooling, such as field trips (museums, art galleries), week end sports (soccer, little league, KArate), hobbies that are informative and practical (a telescope, microscope, electronics kit).

Answer 3

I you go to this site: www.hslda.org, you might be able to find out absolutely everything you want to know.  When you get there you can look up the contact organization in your state and get in touch with veteran homeschoolers in your area who can help you get started and answer your questions.

Good luck!

Answer 4

Try doing a search specifically for

homeschooling [your city/state/area]

and you'll come up with some better search results, results that will be tailored to the laws where you live.

Other than that, try searching for "what is homeschooling" or "why homeschool" and you'll come up with various articles.

The legalities depend on where you live; also depends on if you mean homeschooling as most people mean it or some sort of online or at-home study program. Homeschooling usually means that children are educated by their parents at home with parents deciding upon the resources used, doing the planning and marking and all that. Some places require certain subjects or content, others leave the decision entirely up to the parents, which is one of the reasons why you need to find out about how it works specifically where you live.

Answer 5

Each family is different:  Here is a "typical" day at my house, (the quotes are because I mean a day when we are not doing music lessons, co-op, horseback riding, trip to Museum, etc. and these things are taking on an increasingly large role in our homeschool).



We get up and get ready for the day, I have my Bible and Prayer time, and then we start.  My oldest is in 9th grade, so I just hand her the list of what needs to be done and she is responsible to do it.  She comes and gets me when she needs assistance with something.  She has the following "classes",  American Literature and Composition, Physical Science, Bible, Algebra 1 (Yeah, Teaching Textbooks!), State History (State History is a 1/2 credit course, so halfway through the year we will trade it for Health), French, and she takes co-op classes in Art so she sometimes has homework assignments from those.

My other two kids are in Kindergarten and 2nd grade.

I try to alternate, explaining something to the 2nd grader until he understands, then leaving him to finish while I work with the Kindergartner.

The Kindergartner and the 2nd grader take these subjects separately:

Math

Phonics and Reading

Spelling (for the 2nd grader only)

Penmanship (2nd grader only)

Grammar/writing/copy work (2nd grader only)

They take these subjects together:

History, I read out loud to them, then the Kindergartner draws a picture to go with the story and the 2nd grader takes the book to use as a reference and writes 2 or 3 sentences about it.

Science, done in a similar manner as History, except at least once a week we have a hands-on activity or experiment.

Bible

Art (usually related to the History).

We do History 3 days a week, and Science two days a week so that we don't have to do both in one day.

It is pretty busy with 3 kids, and sometimes the Kindergartner chooses not to draw a picture for History, that's okay, right now its not a required subject.

In addition to what I just wrote we also read lots of library books about the Historical time period we are currently studying (Middle Ages).  We sometimes do dramatic play about History (what kid doesn't like dressing up like a Knight and riding stick horse, jousting with a teddy bear propped on a chair?)  The little kids are both learning to play chess, (it goes with our History study after all).  We also play learning games and watch Educational videos.

Usually we are done with our formal school work before 2:30, including a trip to Curves with my 9th grade daughter (for P.E.).  Of course not all of the kids are studying all this time, the Kindergartner can elect out of everything except Phonics/reading, and Math, and listening to one story each day.   After 2:30 we often have activities outside the home like a church group.

It is pretty much a full time job, but I also work two days a week (Tuesday and Thursday) outside of the home.  My husband works swing shift so he takes over on those days until I get home.

Answer 6

it depends on where you live, and how you would like to homeschool. where do you live? i can tell you as much as i know. and, are you the parent/child to homeschool?

Answer 7

Well, you would first have to visit www.hslda.org to see the laws in your state regarding homeschool.

The reason you see sites to buy cirriculums is because some families have a parent that teaches them and these parents buy the curriculums that they want to teach their children.

Other ways of homeschooling are using a correspondence school.  This means that the child will belong to a school that has already set up the curriculum.  For instance, I use Penn Foster High School.  They send me my books through the mail and complete my tests online.  www.pennfosterhighschool.com

Some homeschoolers use online schools/virtual schools/virtual academys/online charter schools/online public schools.  To find these schools look through www.connectionsacademy.com and www.k12.com  You would have to check if your state allows charter schools.

Depending on what your state requires homeschoolers to do would help on picking the right homeschooling program for you.

Answer 8

There are a couple of great books out that let you peek into the lives of some homeschoolers.  One is called _So You're Thinking About Homeschooling_ by Lisa Whelchel.  Another is _Real-Life Homeschooling_ by Rhonda Barfield.

Every homeschool family is different, so trying to "see" what it looks like will be tricky.  Some families are very regimented, doing certain classes at certain times.  Others are very laid back, without even textbooks or "formal" classes.

We're pretty formal, but finish by noon or one (starting between 8 and 9), leaving the rest of the day to explore real-life socialization at stores, parks, Dr's. offices, libraries, museums, ... talking to people young and old about real-life stuff.