If homeschooling IS LEGAL in ALL 50 STATES.....?

Question

1. How come more people are not aware of this fact?

2. What are some of the things, you wish you knew BEFORE, you started homeschooling? (practical things, not just how fun it is)

3. Do you know of a good website or resource that covers many of the tings you wish you knew a long time ago? (relatively speaking) (I've been doing this for 5 years now, so it's kind of a long time ago, for me.)

4. What are some of the pitfalls, you wish that new homeschoolers knew?

I'm just curious.

Answer 1

1.  Habits are hard to break.  Many people who went to public school were not happy there but did not know there was any other way.  They graduate from public school and think it is the only way for their children.

2.  Wish I had started earlier.   Wish I had more confidence in myself so that I was not hesitant to start .

3.   Annenberg website is great website for study.

4.    Pitfalls:  Not to be so serious and tense.  Not to spend big dollars on curriculum.

Answer 2

I am finishing my first year of homeschooling, so this is  fresh for me.

1- Because homeschooling is not something you research until it affects you (i.e. you start thinking about home schooling your child).

2- That if you live in a high paperwork state (as I do), you should only give the minimum amount of information required by law. If you commit to a specific book or curriculum, then need to change or eliminate it, you have to do more paperwork.

3- Read homeschool blogs and check out the Carnival of Homeschooling.

4- It pays to have a babysitter you can call for those "I can't be cooped up in the house with these kids one more day" days. Most honest homeschooling parents will admit that, while we love and enjoy our children (or they wouldn't be at home), we all have those days every now and again. Homeschooling teens may be a good resource in this department.

Answer 3

1.  They are just used to sending kids to school at a certain age and haven't looked into other options.

2.  I wish I knew how much fun it would be.  I would have worried less and I never would have sent my son to preschool.

3.  This site has tons of info for beginners:

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

4.  I wish they knew to just relax and enjoy the journey.

Answer 4

1. Just because something is legal doesn't mean it's advertised. How many generations have grown up being told they "have to go to school"? The basic assumption is that it may or may not be legal, unless they've been given other information.

2. I actually found out all the things I wanted to know before I began homeschooling. But I had 4 years to figure it all out. :) I had a bit of an advantage over some.

3. Sorry, can't say I do.

4. Pitfall #1: Focusing too much on the schooling instead of the relationship. Their relationship with their child comes first. A lot of the tough time the first year after pulling kids is because of the desire to school, school, school. But that relationship has to come first. Enjoy your kids!!

2) Pitfall #2: Panicking over resources for the first year. Don't buy everything you can the first year and don't think you need to have the perfect curriculum. No such thing, first of all, and sometimes too much curriculum too quickly just causes burnout.

Answer 5

Homeschooling ONLY works for motivate self-starters who can work on their own

A few states heavily regulate homeschool (eg. NY)

Not all homeschool programs give legitimate diplomas (some are worth the same paper you get using Power Point)

You need to know what college looks for (Algebra, Geometry, Trig, Calc, Math Chemistry, Physic, Biology, Engish grammar and comp incuding styles like APA, history, arts)

Answer 6

1. Because we are socialized from an early age to accept what our 'betters' tell us, and everyone is taught that school is part of that.

2. I wish I knew that unschooling works, that kids are smart enough to learn without being spoonfed. That you don't have to do it all right away, and that I have nothing to prove to anyone else, and if I did, that forcing my kids to learn more than other homeschoolers for the sake of impressing parents does not make them better people.

3. http://www.unschooling.com, and http://www.oklahomahomeschool.com/

The second one is based in Oklahoma, but has standards good for the entire country. It has templates and suggestions for curricula as well as transcripts.

4. Pitfalls? Mostly the friends and families who turn their backs on you because they've been socialized (see #1) to think that homeschooling is bad.

Answer 7

1 - Like many good things in life one must seek it out.

2 - How great the people are ... and this is practical because your homeschool community is your very best resource.

3 - No. Most websites are a little bit of everything covering every possible aspect possible and IMHO become rather frustrating and useless.

And homeschooling is so variable, so individual, I don't think it is possible to cover everything for everybody.

4 - Working too hard the first year - thinking that a rigid schedule was neccesary.  Not just letting some of the learning happen naturally.

Answer 8

I knew about homeschool, but I just didn't do it. I wish I would have started out homeschooling my daugter but at the time I didn't know the school was corrupt and would not help her with special ed, they did this with the help and approval of the GA dept of education.

THIS is what I wish I knew before I started homeschool. If I knew it was going to happen I would have never put her in school.

MANY, MANY parents are taking kids out of public school for this reason..