Everything You Need to Know to Homeschool

So you've heard about homeschooling, seen the cute posts on social media, and long for something more for your family. You've thought, Moms on Instagram can do it, so why can't I?

Homeschooling can seem like the most daunting thing, but in reality there are millions of families doing it, so you are right to think that you can do it too. But where do you even start?! What all do you even need to know to be able to homeschool?

I was where you are now and was overwhelmed by spending hours researching what seemed to me like a foreign language. However, I was blessed with moms already doing it that gave up their time to teach me, often times giving me their old curriculum for free. So my first bit of advice is to find as many homeschoolers as you can who can show you what their homeschooling looks like.

If you don't have that as an option or if you don't want to bother others (trust me they love any chance to talk about homeschooling so you won't be bugging them), here is everything you need to know to homeschool.

First, start by going to the Home School Legal Defense Association's website, HSLDA.org

There you will hover over the legal button at the top and click on state homeschool laws. Click on your state, then on view complete details, and follow all of their guidelines for homeschooling. You can contact HSLDA for help if you need it, but homeschooling is convoluted and there is so much you will need help with, so if you want a one and done course that helps you set everything up, then go to thefreefamilymovement.com

It's a quick and easy course that takes you through everything you need to know. By the end of it you will have set up your homeschool unique to your family. It takes you through a framework that has successfully helped hundreds of families begin homeschooling and has helped families who were struggling to homeschool.

A complete course is the way to go, but if you like to do things the hard way, keep reading.

After you find your state homeschool guidelines at HSLDA.org, you need to change your mindset. Yes, you read that right, your mindset. You've been programmed to think education looks a certain way, but if you try to implement that at home, you and your children will be miserable. To change your mindset, you need to learn more about education. Start by studying the history of it. Go back to ancient times. Then research how our current school models began and why. What did families do before compulsory education was mandated?

As your mindset changes, you should start to realize how you need to take authority over your child's education, since up to this point you have mostly given up that authority to the "professionals". Once you can take authority over your child's education then you can move onto vision planning.

You need a strong WHY to do anything in life. Without this crucial step, you are likely to revert back to old ways once the going get's tough. A strong purpose not only is your foundational support, but also is your north star guiding you when you have a hard time seeing through the fog. What do you imagine for your family? Where do you want to see your family 10 years from now? What gifts and talents make up your family? How do you need to raise your children so your grandchildren can flourish? Create a vision and mission statement unique to your family.

Now that you have your foundation, you can start building a homeschool program unique to your family. Reference your goals and vision statement- Are you going to resource out at all for homeschooling? Most homeschoolers do, but to what extent really varies. The more you resource out, the less you are homeschooling. However, few homeschool solely at home by themselves. Many are involved in coops, meet-ups, or other homeschool programs. Depending on your state, there might be charter schools that offer hybrid programs. Check out your community for local options. You can also check on the HSLDA website. Your local library might even have some classes. Checking out homeschool groups on social media is where you will probably find other homeschoolers in your area, coops, and teachers offering classes to the homeschool community. Finding a homeschool community that fits your family first will help you figure out what you will teach at home and what curriculum you will need.

Building upon whatever resources you've already found and have decided to use, you can now search for curriculum. You might want to check out the different homeschool philosophies and models to help you better understand curriculum as most curriculum will follow one philosophy or another. In the homeschool community, Classical Education is very popular, as well as Charlotte Mason's teachings. There are whole communities that implement Charlotte Mason's ways. You can read her books to find out more. Cathy Duffy's Homeschool Reviews is a website where you can search reviews on different homeschool curriculum. There are websites that offer free homeschool curriculum online such as https://allinonehomeschool.com/ and https://www.amblesideonline.org/

Once you have a plan for each subject- math, science, language arts, history, and electives- you will create some sort of routine that works best for your child and you. If you have multiple children, you might want to teach some subjects, like history, together. Or you can teach a subject, such as math, but have each child in a different place per their level, as all subjects tend to build on themselves. Once you figure out what you will be teaching and know when each child will need your attention, you can put together a schedule or routine that works for everyone. Setting clear expectations with the routine is key for your children to understand their part.

Getting them to participate and listen to you will be another area you will need to conquer. If you don't have leadership skills already, you will need to train yourself on the art of parenting (because parenting is leading by serving). If you're asking yourself why you would need to do that when you have already been parenting- if you can't get them to listen to you, have you really been though? Ouch. I know...

A plus to all of this parenting and training, that is essential to homeschooling successfully, is that you can implement chores and your house will be cleaner (not to mention your children will feel like they provide value and have purpose). I don't know a homeschool family who doesn't start their morning routine with chores. I mean what mom can do it all alone, right? I even had my older kids teach my younger kids to read. They felt accomplished and I didn't carry the load all by myself. Brilliant what homeschooling allows for- the family to be what it was created to be- a team.

Once you have set up a program unique to your family, I recommend keeping records or documentation of curriculum along with saving work samples. While it will be nice to look back on your child's work later, you should be doing this with the mindset that if you had to prove yourself legal and legit in a court of law, you could... Remember, the law rules the land. And if it weren't for HSLDA fighting for homeschoolers across our country, we might have the freedom to homeschool today. If you want to support your continued freedom and get free legal support from them, then become a member. Membership is cheap and worth it.

If you are homeschooling in high school, you will need to create and keep their transcript. HSLDA has free resources for transcript creation. You will also need to plan ahead and work backwards from your goals. If they want to go to college, they will need to know the admission requirements for that particular one as each school is different. What tests are they required to take? What courses? Community Colleges usually offer dual enrollment programs that are popular with homeschoolers where students can get high school credit and college credit at the same time.

There are endless possibilities when it comes to homeschooling and resources too numerous to keep track of. And now with the internet, every student has the world at their fingertips. So yeah, you can homeschool...

If you are still scratching your head and want a quick and easy course where you will set up your homeschool program and be able to start homeschooling today, then go to The FREE FAMILY Movement

Written by Jennifer Labelle, not using AI