Homeschooling - Where do I begin?
by Summer Minor
Wow! When I asked if anyone had anyone questions they wanted to ask about homeschooling I didn’t expect the responces to come piling in! This is great. Don’t be shy, keep them coming! You can leave a comment or use the “Contact Me” link on the right. Every Friday I’ll get a question up and let my readers take a crack at in the comments. Then come back on Saturday when I’ll try to round up all the great responces and add my own.
So here’s the first question I recieved:
Where can I go to find out about homeschooling? Do I need to contact my local school board first? I’m not sure where I am supposed to go first.
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July 6th, 2007 at 9:18 am
Personally, I would say that the local school board is the very LAST place you would want to start. Instead, you want to find local homeschoolers in the area.
To do that, you can look through the Home School Legal Defense Association’s web site (www.hslda.org). The “Homeschooling” tab has all the info you’ll need to get started (inlcuding specific laws in your state).
Also, a simple google search with the name of your state and the word “homeschool” will bring up people and organizations. You can start to pin point groups in your area.
Dig around online, like you’re already doing, and ask a ton of questions, read about the curriculum used by others, etc.
And then - ENJOY!
July 6th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
I agree with Christine 100%.
The LAST place to go is the school board, and even “DON”T GO THERE!!”
The first place I went was to find people in my area who already homeschooled. That was the best thing I could have done. I also found the HSLDA, and got a lot of info from them.
Another thing I did was get ahold of a good homeschooling magazine and order many FREE catalogs. You can do that online now, but when I started 15 years ago I didn’t have a computer.
There is so much good informationout there, and most states offer support groups.
HSLDA has any information you may need on the groups in your state and the laws concerning requirements.
July 7th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
Going to the school district about homeschooling is kinda like going to the dry cleaner that lost one too many shirts and asking, “Where should I take my business?” They’re not going to recommend anything but to stay and do business with them.
As wierd as it seems, the folks at the schools don’t know about homeschooling laws. Your best bet is to start asking around and find local homeschoolers. You can check the internet, ask around church or check your local library - it’s likely the folks behind the desk know the homeschoolers by name
July 8th, 2007 at 6:10 am
[...] July 8th, 2007 by Summer Minor I want to thank everyone who left a comment on the Friday post, Where do I begin? I received some great answers to the question. I really encourage everyone to go back and read [...]
July 8th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
I found a great local group first for information, and of course online can be a great place to start. HSLDA is the best for straight-forward legal information and if you can find anyone local to your area who is already homeschooling ask them, they’ll be happy to get you started in the right direction. I would recommend not visiting a curriculum fair right away without researching anything first, you’ll be blown away by all of the choices
We are in such a great place now with tons of resources and good homeschooling rights in most parts of our country compared to 20 years ago.
July 10th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
Here’s my answer.
1) This is the first, and most important step when starting homeschooling. Get it out of your head that someone’s going to hold your hand and show you the way to get to A->B->C—->Z. If you want that, homeschooling is not right choice.
2) Find out what your laws are in your area. A search for “homeschool” and “yourstate” will give you many results. Look at several of the websites, not just one.
3) When you did that search for your local laws, you probably found a website or two for support groups in your state. Look all over their websites, and join their online/offline groups. Get to know the people in your area. If the group you joined doesn’t seem right, search for another until you find one that fits. If any groups tries to tell you “this is the right way to homeschool” run far, far away.
4) Time to get to the library/bookstore/Amazon and find yourself some books on homeschooling and education. Not all helpful books will have the words “homeschooling” in them. Books like “In Their Own Way” and “Dumbing Us Down” are excellent books about learning and education that will help a lot in homeschooling. So check out the homeschooling section, but also education. If you aren’t sure which books to get, check out A2ZHome’sCool at http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com
5) Attend a conference. Take your kids. They are fun and educational.
6) Do NOT buy curriculum. Not right away. Deschool first. http://justenough.wordpress.com/deschool-here/
That should get you on a pretty good start. The most important thing - enjoy the journey! If homeschooling is painful, take a vacation. Homeschooling should never be painful.
July 11th, 2007 at 10:15 am
[...] To Get Started Homeschooling July 11th, 2007 — Tammy Momisteaching received a question about how to start homeschooling, and asked people to comment on her blog. [...]