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When I started home schooling 8 years ago, my sister-in-law had already been at it for almost 10 years. WOW! Her words of advice and encouragement were extremely helpful.
The summer before I started,we went to a curriculum fair together. She walked me step by step through the vendor hall as we selected books and materials that would be appropriate for my son. I remember asking her about whether or not I was really qualified to be able to teach my children at home. She told me something that really changed my perspective. She said ," You've been teaching your children from the day they were born. If you could teach them to walk, talk, use the potty and share their toys, why do you think that teaching multiplication would be any different?" She was right. I had already been their first teacher. We had learned alot together. Colors, numbers, letters, songs and stories had all come so naturally. I had looked at learning as something that had to be more than what we had done. She taught me that home schooling is just taking the learning that is already occuring and taking the next step.
There are so many things to think about... curriculum, grades, scheduling, friends and of course, what will my in-laws think? Let's take a look at some of the most common questions about getting started.
Is Homeschooling expensive?
Homeschooling can be as expensive or as inexpensive as your budget will allow. No matter how much you spend on homeschooling, it will be less expensive than a private school. To keep costs down look for used books, use the library, or borrow books. Many homeschoolers sell, swap, or lend their old books to make way for their “new” ones. Keep in mind that if you are homeschooling more than one child, you can pass books down from one child to the next replacing only “consumable” workbooks.
Don’t overlook free or low cost educational resources in our community such as the library, the Columbus Museum, Oxbow Meadows, etc.
Will colleges really accept a home school student?
Homeschooled students are welcomed in many institutions of higher learning throughout the country, ranging from local community colleges to Ivy League universities. While most of these institutions value ability and attitude over formal transcripts, diplomas or GEDs, Georgia requires a battery of tests called the SAT II. In addition, a home schooled child must complete one semester of college before becoming eligible for the HOPE Scholarship. Contact the admissions office of the colleges you are interested in and find out what their admission requirements are. More and more colleges are not only accepting, but wooing home schooled students. Many will also offer scholarships to home schooled students. Achievement test scores can help here. Some people spend their senior high school year in a public or private school to hopefully make it easier to get into college. You will need to put together a transcript showing the subjects covered, depth and breadth of material, and so forth. The Columbus Public Library has several books about homeschooling high schoolers and preparing transcripts. These books can be a great resource for how to format your information in a way that colleges will understand.
Record keeping, YIKES!
You may want to use a regular teacher's planning and grade book that you can find at many local office supply stores. Another option is to utilize some online resources like www.homeschooltracker.com .Homeschool Tracker is planning and organizing software designed to adapt to your particular homeschooling style in a simple yet very sophisticated way. Another option is EduTrack software. It is a bit time consuming to set up, but this software allows you to track grades, lesson plans, attendance and will even generate a transcript.
Sound a little too complicated? Here's how I got started. Keep a spiral notebook on your nightstand by your bed. Each evening before you go to sleep, write down what your kids did that day. Throughout the year we collect all of our schoolwork and placed it in a copier paper box. At the end of the year, I put the the spiral notebook in the box, closed the lid on the box, labeled it with the year and put it in the attic. If there is ever a question about what we did during a particular school year, I can pull out the box and put my hands on every assignment the kids have ever done.
Remember if you live in Georgia that you are required to submit your attendance reports by the 5th of each month. Here's a tip to make this easier. At the beginning of the school year address12 envelopes to send your reports in. Include your return address and a stamp. Keep the envelopes where you pay your bills. All you will need to do is enclose the attendance report and put it in the mailbox! You may even want to set up a calendar reminder on your computer or jot it down on the family calendar on the 1st of every month.
Alabama families will need to make sure they are in compliance with their church school's policies for record keeping and attendance.
What about socialization?
This is by far the most frequently asked question of home schooling. Home educated children, because they spend so much of their time out in the real world, generally learn to get along well with both adults and children and have friends of all ages. They choose to spend time with others because they enjoy their company or have a similar interest--just as adults do. Support groups like Freedom Homeschoolers offer opportunities to meet other children and provide time for socialization. Homeschooling families often have more flexibility in their schedules to allow their children to participate in “extra-curricula” activities. Homeschoolers in our area participate in the Columbus Youth Symphony Orchestra, Springer Theater productions, sports, and many other activities that encourage healthy development and socialization. If fact, many homeschoolers find they have to cut back on their social schedule to have time at home alone!
Time for everything
One of the hardest things about getting started is learning how to prioritize your time. If your children have been in school during the day, you are probably used to having alot more time to get housework and shopping done. It is very important to make time for learning a priority. There are several books that were a great help to me as I was getting started and most of them are still in print.
A Survivors Guide to Home Schooling by Luanne Shackelford & Susan White ISBN 0-89107-503-8
The Joyful Home Schooler by Mary Hood, Ph.D. ISBN 0-9639740-6-8
The Homeschool Journey by Susan and Michael Card ISBN 1-56507-568-4
Homeschooling for Dummies by Jennifer Kaufeld ISBN 0-7645-0888-1
My best advice for scheduling is to try and set aside a consistent time to get your assignments finished and then schedule other activities around that time. For example, in our family the morning is our "school time". I don't schedule doctor appointments, activities or shopping during that time. Often times, I won't even answer the phone during our lessons. Answering machines are really great!
What if my child wants to learn something I can't teach?
One of the most powerful learning experiences for a child is to have a parent learning right alongside him. Learn with your child, or search your community for resources that will help your child learn. There are correspondence classes and video classes available by mail. Support groups, community centers, and colleges will frequently offer classes taught by experts. In addition, tutors are available for most subjects with a little bit of searching. When searching for tutors, don't overlook friends, acquaintances, and business people in your community. Most people are delighted to have a young person around who is sincerely interested in what they do and know. Many times you can trade subjects with another homeschool family to keep costs down.
Many children are very capable of teaching themselves, just as adults do when they have something new they want to learn. Provide the books and materials and they will learn. It is helpful to have an “expert” in the background in case the child gets stuck.
Help I'm overwhelmed!
Check out www.my-homeschool.net See what a day in the life of a homeschool family is like before you take the plunge. Have you already taken the plunge? That's ok, you can find resources and answers to common questions.
A letter from a friend to new homeschoolers
I read this letter many years ago and wanted to pass along these words of wisdom. Special Thanks to Terri Marzuki for sharing this encouragement with us.
Dear New Homeschooler,
Do you remember the joyful excitement edged with a bit of fear that you experienced when your first pregnancy was confirmed? Think of the months of preparation—classes, books, and advice from family, friends, and total strangers.
Baby arrived and suddenly all that preparation resulted in your total confidence in all areas of baby care. Juggling household and wifely duties with the new role of mother was a simple matter of adjusting your schedule. If there was an area of uncertainty, you knew the solution was a phone call or book check away.
HA! If you ever encountered a problem with no obvious solution from either your mother, mother-in-law, or pediatrician, you know that no one has all the answers. So it is with homeschooling.
Approaching the homeschool experience is an exciting time of anticipation, perhaps edged with a bit of fear. There are books available representing a broad spectrum of educational philosophies—everything from free-spirited unschoolers to very structured, school-at-home teachers. Family and friends are still available for advice, solicited or not. Total strangers are just as opinionated on the homeschool movement as they are on childbirth and childcare.
Then the day arrives when you officially “start school.” Think back on the experience you had with that first baby. Remember how some things you had learned were exactly right, some needed adjustment to your situation, and some were tossed out almost immediately? Then something happened that wasn’t in any book—and somehow you survived. Even more miraculously, the baby survived.
Without extending the analogy into a volume, I would be quick to emphasize these similarities:
1 No one prepares the same way. Just as you had a wide variety of choices in childbirth preparation, you have a huge selection in the homeschool field. Conferences are held regularly by support groups, state organizations, and curriculum publishers. There are many books and magazines to read. Curriculum fairs manned by sales representative offer very specific directions. There are countless videos and audio tapes. Experienced homeschool parents are usually quick to offer at least limited advice. There is no essential book to read, conference to attend, or curriculum review to assure adequate preparation.
2 There is no one ideal curriculum. Mothers, families, schedules, children, and learning styles vary. Searching for the perfect curriculum will take more time than it would take to homeschool your child through high school.
3 What works today may not work tomorrow.
4 What works for Johnny may not work for Suzie.
5 What works in 1990 may not work in 2006.
6 What works for your identical twin may not work for you.
7 Cheapest may not be the worst choice.
8 Most expensive may not be the best choice.
Does this seem like a waste of your time? I hope not. Many of the members of Freedom Homeschoolers are eager to offer you encouragement and advice. We will show you our favorite curriculum choices and sell you our rejects which may, in turn, become your favorites. We will share our victories and admit our failures. We will laugh and cry with you. If you decide to homeschool, we’ll welcome you into our ranks. If you decide that homeschooling is not the best choice for your family, we will not label you a coward or a failure.
Somewhere back before Baby #1 arrived, I read one piece of advice that has carried me through my years of motherhood and homeschooling. “There may be experts who know more about babies in general, but no one knows your baby as well as you, the mother, do.”
You CAN homeschool your children.
We HOPE you will.
We will HELP you.
Suzanne Sheppard has been homeschooling for 8 years. She is the founder of Freedom Homeschoolers and is the mother of 2 children. Scott is 15 years old and in the 10th grade. Allison is 11 years old and in the 5th grade. They started home schooling when Scott was in the 3rd grade and Allison was just a preschooler.
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