Homeschooling--Where to start? Part 2

Now that you have decided to homeschool your child or children what is next? Well you have to decide on a curriculum and how you are going to go about doing the homschooling part.

There are 3 main ways to approach homeschooling and any of them can be modified....

1-- You can just do school at home just like it is done in the public school.

I would not recommend doing an all day program as a lot of time in the public school is built in so the teacher has time to work with the 30+ kids they have in the classroom. You will only have your child or children. You don't need all day to do the school work.

The option for this that I do recommend is.....you can get the curriculum that the public school uses and do it that way but it will not take all day. It is not meant to take all day. If you need it to be very scheduled and all laid out this is your best option. Buy a full curriculum and execute it.

2--You can take parts from several different curriculums so that it is more tailored to your learner.

This takes a little more work to find the right pieces to put together but it is a good option for children. There are plenty of choices and so sometimes it is just a matter of trial and error to see what works best.

3--You can create your own curriculum and tailor it to the interests of your child or children.

I allow my children to choose subjects they like in addition to the core subjects. It allows them to like learning because it is something they want to know about. I think this fosters a love of learning and it is what works for me.


So those are your basic options. Something I want to point out though is that you can start with one and change to another one if it isn't working. You may even have to do different options for each child. One child may love to be on the computer while another may hate it. Only you know your child and what they like and how they learn. Trust your gut and keep trying till it works for YOU and them. It has to be something you can do and are comfortable with doing.

With homeschooling you can be in a constant state of change if you need to and you have more of that when you are starting. After a few years you begin to settle into your way of doing it....but it takes time. Hang in there and just keep trying to teach your children.

There was a study done examining 3 groups of students. Basically with the first 2 options from above and the third group being students that were left to discover on their own. The last group did the best. So don't worry.....God wired us so that we WANT to learn and we have the DESIRE to learn. We just have to be given the FREEDOM to learn.