I have commented about home schooling in the past and was encouraged to write a separate post on this. So, here goes.
There is no one right way to homeschool and no single great curriculum. Realize that pulling your child out of traditional school means YOU are responsible for ensuring YOUR child gets educated. But how to get started?
Network.
Start by having conversations with other homeschool families in your area. See what they are doing. Ask about curriculum for starter/ice breaker conversation. What are they using? What do they like/don't like? Just because a curriculum is popular does not mean its going to be a fit for your family (even if it IS a Christian curriculum). Cathy Duffy's "Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum: Choosing the Right Curriculum and Approach for Your Child's Learning Style" can provide you with background info and is great resource to get a match between fit and curriculum.
Homeschool families in your area can also provide guidance on state legislation, testing requirements, and forms that need to be filed. You still need to do your own research on this. Some states have entities that help as well. MACHE is one in my state.
Networking with other homeschool families will help you find out about the co-ops in your area. Co-ops will typically share the workload of educating among the parents.
Join one or several co-ops to cover the subjects you cannot.
If your area is large enough, someone may have started a consortium of homeschooling teachers. You can join this and find a teacher who is contract teaching the subject(s) you cannot. Joining the consortium gives you access to a variety of teachers/subjects from K through PSEO.
Networking will quickly reveal if one exists in your area.
Also, look to retired teachers or former homeschool teachers to see if one would be willing to tutor in a particular subject. Again, more networking.
Another idea is to approach a neighbor that specilizes in car repair, gardening, cabinetry, etc. to broaden your child's knowledge base if you cannot provide this knowledge.
Change your mindset from traditional schooling to one that is subject based. This is similar to contracting with some one to provide your child with piano lessons. The piano teacher is not going to be teaching chemistry.
Ask yourself, if there were no "rules" what would you want your child to know and why?
Homeschooling works well when viewed as a family effort. We have been doing this since the birth of our son. He is now a sophomore. Vacations would also include some kind of enrichment stop or component (Heart Mountain Japanese Interment camp, national park programs, etc).
When it comes to specific subjects, my family uses a different approach for each subject.
Video based instructions for high school math (adv algebra, precalc, and calc). mathwithoutborders.com
Tutoring for science, trumpet, and Spanish.
Community ed for art.
I teach history, latin, greek, writing, and literature.
Great Courses for music appreciation. Entire family enjoys.
Family reads (think book club) and discussion on Saturday mornings where we read x chapters of a book throughout the week and discuss on Saturday. Finished Levin's "Liberty and Tyranny", working on Beck's "Miracles and Massacres", Orwell's "1984" is on deck.
We also incorporate family entertainment with education. For example, Hollow Crown series covered War of the Roses and Shakespeare and was entertaining. When we are covering WWII - Band of Brothers.
And yes, somehow I was talked into Assassin's Creed - as being educational with all of the historical references.
So much good information. Thanks for taking the time to do this and sharing your knowledge.
Excellent post! Homeschooling can be a petrifying cliff for parents, but it is SO worth it! Take a leap of faith!
We joined CC for our youngest.
So far so good. Way more intelligent at 5 than most jr highers.
We did CC for 7 years !!
Nice.
Good experience for you?
I came back to change this. Realized it was in regards to CC and not all of homeschooling.
Yes, we loved CC for the early years, up until CH A + B. I was a tutor, director, trainer, etc. Our community was incredible. We had a major move during our children's middle school years and the community we became a part of wasn't quite the same. Then, we had the opportunity to help build/grow a co-op solely for middle school + high school homeschoolers, which aligned more with where we were headed academically.
👍👍👍
Correct
Great thoughts!
Mine are now 20 + 18, and I homeschooled them all the way through. I always considered myself a Classical Unschooler. A few additional thoughts:
It's easier to pull them out the younger they are as they really won't have the framework of "missing school." They'll be used to being at home and blending in with the family. It's doable, when they're in middle school + high school, but know that for every year in school it takes at least a month at home to adjust (i.e. - 7 years in school, will take 7 months to adjust to being home.)
Know that curriculum companies are also businesses trying to sell you products. You don't need to buy new books/curriculum every year. In fact, I'd advise against it. For the high school years, I recommend buying one or two text books for Math and English Grammar and working through those books multiple times, instead of buying more books. The first year you go through the book, aim to do a quarter of the lessons. The second year, start at the beginning at then go half way through, etc. The third year, try to finish it all. The concepts don't change. There is no such thing as 6th grade math. Multiplication and division are the same if they're being done in elementary school or in Algebra 2. I highly recommend completing Saxon Algebra 1/2 many, many times. This set both my kids up for their college math better than any of the Advanced Math they had. Easy Grammar 180 Daily Lessons is phenomenal, too. I tutor ACT Prep and both Saxon Algebra 1/2 and the Easy Grammar lessons give students a more than adequate base for that test.
Read aloud to your children every day. Start young and then keep reading. My husband and I read aloud to our children well into high school. (We'd still do it, but they're never around. 😉) My daughter is helping to nanny some school-aged children in our neighborhood, whose parents think they have high educational standards. They never read aloud to their children. My daughter has told me more than once, I don't even think they have any books in the house. Do it when everyone is fresh, first thing in the morning if possible. Don't put it off until all the other work is done, because all the other work will never be done. Read out loud, then pause periodically and have your children narrate back to you what is happening.
If you read aloud to your children and do some Math every day, your children will turn out fine. Trust me. Some days we even did less than that, and mine are fully functioning adults.
Look into dual-enrollment programs if your state offers them. We're in NC, and NC has THE BEST community college partnership. My children had (will have) their Associate's Degree by the age of 19, which transfers into any 4-year NC school. Most of their first 2 years of college was free. My son is now finishing his 4-year degree while working fulltime (since he has his AA) and his tuition for the upcoming spring semester was $1840! That's it! And, he was able to pay for it, in cash, since he's working.
Middle schoolers + high schoolers want friends -- a peer group of their own. If your children are involved in activities not stemming from school (dance, martial arts, community theatre, working, church, club sports, co-ops, 4-H, etc.) they'll be fine.
If you have any questions about high school curriculum, or transcripts, please reach out. I have helped dozens of families write transcripts and complete college applications through the years.
Hillsdale College is yet another great resource. Each family is free to educate the way they feel led or see fit.