I have 3 children. Ages 14, 13, and 8. What qualifications do I need to home school them?

Question

I am just wondering what I have to do to get them started in home schooling, we live in the middle of nowhere, and have trouble getting them to school. I am not sure how to go about getting them started and would like any help I can get at this point.

Answer 1

You can have a public school give them the work and you help them.  hey meet once every so often with a real teacher and get grades that way, by tests they will take.

Answer 2

Where do you live?  Each state has its own laws and regulations.

There are, however, ways to homeschool in each state that do not require a teaching certification.  In some states, there are no qualification regs; you just start.  In others, you may need to be enrolled in an umbrella school or your kids may need to be evaluated and tested each year.

If you can let us know which state you live in, we can give you details.  If you can let us know what type of curriculum you're looking for (boxed set for each grade level, multi-level studies they can all do together, online/computer based, Christian or secular, etc.) we can also point you toward some good curriculum suggestions.

Answer 3

the first site to check out is the homeschool legal defense site for information on what is the laws in your state and then you go from there. It is legal to homeschool in all states by the way. They just have different requirements in each state.

www.hslda.com

Answer 4

You are their parent.  That's your qualification.  Start by choosing some good books for them to read and a good math program.  You can go on from there.  Your library should have some good novels.  Take spelling words, writing assignment ideas from the novel.  Then choose a topic to study related to the novel about science or social studies and have them research it on the web.

If you choose the book Little House in the Big Woods for the 8yo, then she could study wolves, bears, Wisconsin history, homesteading, making soap, pioneer hygiene, etc.  Just start with good books and a good math program and build.

Because you have two close in age, I would choose the same program/books for them.  It will make it much easier on you.  Try Saxon7/6 or 8/7.  It's a great program. For a novel, I would choose books that would appeal to their gender and age--

Midwife's Apprentice

Heidi

Little Women

Esperanza Rising

Tom Sawyer

Huck Finn

Call of the Wild

Treasure Island

Books like that.  Use your imagination as you read them to find activities and studies to go with them.

Answer 5

The first thing you need to do is find out your state laws:

http://www.hslda.org

Then think about your goals for your child and how they learn best, and choose a homeschooling method and curriculum:

http://www.successful-homeschooling.com/...

Finding a support group would probably help you a bunch.  If there are none in your area, join an online forum.  They are great for offering support and answering questions:

http://www.successful-homeschooling.com/...

Good luck!

Answer 6

I have home schooled for 14 years. All you need to do is look at guides for their age -what they should be learning and either order curriculum or do your own. I use online used books sites amazon,half.com, Ebay and look online to support groups. I am a highschool drop out ( got GED) and my first kiddo got 32 on ACT! My second is in Army with great reviews form his leaders and got double the score they needed for him to get, my third, is doing great and planning on being a doctor he graduated HS this May. My other two are K and 1st grade. BEST advice is to chill and take the time to enjoy it and learn some things together. We used purchased CDROM  for advanced math and DVD course, get one you can resale, we recovered almost all of the money. We used childcraft (old ones ) and online resources,library, but my biggest mistake was to spend too much on books first year. I was trying so hard then i saw I could teach same things withotu always having a text book for a subject. I found teacher texts the biggest waste omoney. In higher Math, get a program. I have times I think "what am  doing" still. I have had years where I had the extra money or found greta deals on entire grade level pack from ABEKA and used that. I liked it a lot. Saxon math was very good, a bit dry but teaches clearly. Rosetta stone is high cost to teach languages but well worth it and resales great. And they do sale home edition for several students to use at one time adn have files stored for each. Look into Charlotte Mason style -google her name. I just started it as part of our day as I have an adopted son with autism,and fetal alcohol effects so he does not learn in a tradtioanl manner he is only 7 yrs old.. We love it and spend lots of time togehter on reading. I am using TIME4LEARNING.com $15 a month and wow! He is learning tons on that! Social studies,math,language arts and science. They go to 8th grade or higher I think. I highly suggest them. There is no one way to home school or to learn. Just relax it will be fine. Check with STATE laws and do not worry what you are told from "other" sources. Follow what the law says.We lived in a state where we had to report every month. No problem. I have transcript template and transcript paper  I bought and legally made them. The military commended me for them and accepted them. Keep records, look online for free home school records. Older students can keep a lot of thier own records up to date IF you provide guidance and the agenda book or notebook. You have to check up on them as they are not mature all the time. :) There are several great free downloads for record keeping.  A notebook for each student is fine too. It is the best choice I have made to home school. Check to see if your state offers public school at home programs.Then they provide books, computers and help, my sister in law uses one. You still are in charge and student still works from home at their best speed. I think it is called K12. My hubby was against home school  years ago big time --now he has seen how great and refuses to let them every attend public shool. He has a PhD and used to fear they would not get all they needed in home school, now he sees they get that plus more! We start our school day at 9:30 -1PM but the older kids sometimes we were at it until 4PM. Depends on each kid.Chores also help the feel better about themselves and make a happier member of the family. Also remind them how they woudl feel if they had to do all the work for so many people. You cna offer to trade a day doing their chores versus yours, seems to work great! I say this as part of home school is finding time to clean house. Everyone needs to share the work just as sharing the task to mess it up.REMEMBER you are the manager of the home like any business it needs great manager to make happy group that functions nicely.  It is fun to let them choose some of the subjects they love. Reading was 1-2 hours daily! No exceptions. Above personal reading time, get a list of college bound titles,many are online ready to read!  Or order them cheap. Good luck. It is such a great life we shared home schooling. Be flexible. Be relaxed. Be confident. Many great leaders were schooled at home. We also had ACT SAT study guide and they worked on them. They each repeated ACT 3 times to get a point or two higher each time.

Answer 7

Depends on the location.  Many have no requirements those that do have a HS diploma or GED requirement

Answer 8

If you look up the stats on homeschooling-- kids who are homeschooled --even by parents who "only" have high school diplomas still score higher than their public school counterparts.    If you are looking for the legal requirements, go to www.hslda.org  As far as I know, as long as you have a high school education, you are "allowed" to homeschool your children.    I have a page on homeschooling on our family website and I have also started a homeschooling blog, as well (if you'd like more info)  --   There are many curriculums out there that you can buy "prepackaged"......meaning: they come with everything you need to homeschool your kids-- except for paper and pencil!  You'll have to buy that extra.  :-)  We use Seton Home Study School www.setonhome.org

THey include counseling services, grading services and provide lesson plans.   You don;t have to follow it to a T, of course.   Once you know the state laws for where you live, you can start there.  Some families we know make up their entire curriculum-- they buy one book for science, one for another subject, etc---  we supplement Seton with other materials, as well.  

Pattie

family website: http://www.shwachman.50megs.com

homeschooling blog: http://www.catholicmomof3.blogspot.com

Answer 9

It  depends on where you are. Try this site for all the legal info www.hslda.org

Answer 10

If you have lots of patience and your kids are willing to listen to you as a teacher, thats all you need.

Answer 11

hi my name is stacey and i am 13 and i have home education. phone your local education department and they will help you. about the qualifications a long as you know the basics of maths, English, science and the other lessons you have chosen to teach your children then the Internet and books will help you the rest of the way. for educational websites try:

www.bitesize.co.uk

www. revisewise.co.uk