If you’re new to homeschooling and you are already looking at resources and curriculum, but haven’t figured out your child’s learning style or how you imagine your homeschooling style….STOP! GO BACK! You MUST do these steps in order, or you’ll end up with a bunch …
I hope you’re not burnt out after taking in all the information you’ve read so far… Are you taking notes, at least? Good! Let’s move on. Anyone with kids knows that you need a support network. Someone, ANYONE that’s going to be able to understand …
So you’re ready to homeschool. You’ve decided it’s the best decision for your family, and you have taken the steps to pull your children from their classrooms. What’s next?
You’re going to do nothing right now.
In order for homeschooling to be a a fun and natural experience for your family, it’s important that you all forget everything you know about school. You need to learn to find your own “normal”. From schedules, to grading, to curriculum, to textbooks – you “unlearn” it all. None of that applies to you any more.
This is ‘deschooling’, coined in 1971 when Ivan Illich, an Australian philosopher, wrote ‘Deschooling Society‘. The book took shots at traditional education methods and touted the idea of self-directed learning. Insane, right? 1971. Absolutely pearl-clutching. Quite scandalous.
Again. Nothing. Have fun. Watch some educational movies. Go to the zoo. Read some awesome books together. Play board games. And while you’re doing this, keep an eye on your child. Determine their passions. What do they spend their time doing when they don’t have homework? When they’re not being rushed to bed because it’s a “school night”. What are they chattering to you excitedly about in the car? Knowing what drives them can help you work out what curriculum to focus on when it’s time to get started.
How long you take to deschool really depends on your family. The longer your children have spent in a traditional school setting, the longer it will take you all to get out of that mindset. It could honestly be anywhere from a few weeks to an entire school year….and that’s OK.
So now you know your child’s learning style. Great! Now how are you going to use the ways in which they learn best, in order to facilitate learning? There are a bunch of homeschooling styles that you could use. Look over them, I’m sure you’ ll …
Here’s the deal with homeschooling. If you’re going to turn your back on the traditional style of schooling, you’ll need to make it worth while. How do you do that? You make sure that your child has the best possible chance of getting the best …
One of the first questions people used to ask when we were first starting out was “is that legal”?
It is absolutely legal in all 50 states for you to homeschool your own children. Homeschooling is regulated by the state, not the federal government, which means that you will need to look specifically at your state laws to find out what you need to do in order to homeschool on the “up & up”. Some states, like our home state of California consider homeschools to be private schools, and regulate them as such. Some states have specific homeschool statutes, and some have no homeschool regulations at all.
In most cases, the laws of schooling might SOUND confusing. Don’t get tripped up by legalese, most laws are fairly simple when you break them down. Your local homeschool groups can give you guidance in understanding the law, but be sure to take a look at the actual state code for the most up to date and accurate legal information.
Find your state laws on the HSLDA website.
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