You have made the decision and you are ready to take the
plunge into the homeschooling world. If you have decided before your kids even
stepped into a brick and mortar school, you are blessed! If your kids are going
to be coming home from a classroom, it will be harder in the beginning, but not
impossible and you will be thankful you did it in the end.
What to do first?
Learn the laws of your state. Each state varies greatly and it is vitally
important you cross your t’s and dot every last I when it comes to this
department. The best place to find the laws is on the Home School Legal Defense
Fund website. I also strongly encourage you to become a member of HSLDF.
Hopefully you will never need to use the legal services they offer you as a
member and instead your membership fee will go towards helping them fight to
keep homeschooling legal throughout our country. They do great work and I hope
you will support them.
Once you learn the
laws, you will want to read, read and read some more. If your kids are very
little, you will have lots of time to research different methods and like a
college student, change your major at least three or four times before finally
settling on a method that fits your family and your child’s learning style.
Books I recommend are Mary Pride’s Complete Guide To Getting Started in Homeschooling. She covers
every method out there and gives a great description of each of them. The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise
Bauer gives some excellent advice on educating your child from the crib years
on up and even if you don’t choose the classical method to teach your child,
this is still a great book that I wish every parent would read.
Home schooler or not.
Endangered Minds: Why Children Don’t
Think and What We Can Do About It by Jane Healy is another indispensable
book when it comes to our kids learning abilities and what we are doing to
their brains by plopping them in front of a computer screen and t.v screen at
such a young age.
For the parents of very little children, as you are doing
your research, read, read, and read to your kids. An hour a night was what I
did. We had a pile of books, often reading the same ones each night for a week
until they chimed along with their favorite parts. Read Caps For Sale to your three year old and you will see what I
mean! When picking out books, find reading lists online from other
homeschoolers for good recommendations. Don’t choose dumbed down Disney
versions. Their brains are built to absorb great words and great stories.
Beatrix Potter knew children were not to be talked down to when she had the
little birds “implore him to exert himself” when encouraging Peter Rabbit to
free himself from Mr. McGregor’s garden net . You will be astounded by your
young child’s vocabulary just from being read great books.
If you are bringing your kids home after
being in a brick and mortar school, it’s going to be a little tougher.
People say it often takes a full year for kids to decompress from sitting in a
classroom and getting use to learning at home. Kids, and parents, are often
thrown into shock when their every minute isn’t scheduled for them so keeping a
routine in the very beginning is a tremendous help. Knowing that you will not need to replicate
the classroom is a big relief for parents new to homeschooling. You will not
need to spend seven hours at the kitchen table, five days a week. A teacher in
a classroom has 20 plus pupils to teach, distractions, questions from
individual kids, papers to pass out. A parent is one on one with the child, no
waiting for help as the teacher finishes with another student. When your child
stumbles on a concept, you are there to explain it. If he breezes through the
problems, he doesn’t have to sit and wait for the class to end, you just move
on to the next subject. In the early years, you will easily get through a days’
worth of school before lunchtime. The rest of the day can be used for park day,
music lessons, field trips, that all important socialization that non
homeschoolers wonder how a homeschooled child can possibly be receiving if they
are locked away at home and not getting on that big yellow school bus!
Most importantly,
don’t get overwhelmed! You will be inundated with curriculums to choose,
methods to use, co op classes to take. Remember that every home school parent
you meet will have a strong opinion on their method being best but don’t get
swayed by others opinions. Take your time doing your research, find what’s best
for your family. Enjoy the journey!
By Sasha Mercer
Homeschooling Blogger
TheAmericanRefugees.com
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