How to start homeschooling: Summary
Step 1: Start by doing nothing.
Step 2: Know the homeschooling law in your area.
Step 3: Explore interests that might have been hidden by the public school setting.
Step 4: Search out other homeschooling families.
Questions:
Can I homeschool my kids? I’m not a teacher!
Yes, why not. As a parent you should know your child better than teachers at school. You should know what their interests are and what they have trouble with. And if you don’t know this stuff – now’s a good time to start finding out. 
What are the costs of home schooling?
The cost of homeschooling vary from family to family, from child to child. The use of ready-made homeschooling curriculum packages is more expensive than the use of library books.
How can you limit the cost of homeschooling without sacrificing quality?
Use the internet
Besides websites about home schooling, there are sites with worksheets for maths, language and reading and sites with information on subjects such as geography, history and biology. And there’s Wikipedia.
Use the library
The library is also a great source of information.
Do I need a (teaching) qualification to homeschool?
No, it is not strictly necessary. Research has shown that the educational level of parents makes no significant difference to the learning abilities of children. The ethnic background does not affect the learning abilities of children either. If you want to read more about this you can look at the research.
When do you start homeschooling?
You teach your child drink from a cup, eat with a fork, you learn to talk, you learn counting, singing, maybe even the alphabet. Actually you’ve already started homeschooling. So it is natural when you go the more “academic” subjects, such as arithmetic, language and reading. At what age you start which course depends on the development of the child and also your educational vision.
Plan
1. What is your reason for home schooling?
2. What is your goal?
3. Which learning styles do your children have?
4. Which teaching style fits your children?
5. Create one year plan
6. Create one month / week plan
7. What materials are needed?
What is your reason for home schooling?
This is a very important question that you and your partner have to make. Is it a philosophical reason, an educational reason or does your child have problems in school? Your reason will to a great extent determine the objective of your education.
What is your goal?
If your child has problems in school, start by doing nothing. Most kids need time to “decompress” after being in the public school system for such a long time. This may take some time and this period is called “Deschooling”. A time for unwinding. Your short term goal may differ from your long term goal.
What materials are needed?
If you know what projects you want to cover this year, you can often even estimate what materials you need. Think:
* Books (library books, textbooks, encyclopedias)
* Video (on the Internet)
* Web pages
* Craft material
Please note that textbooks are tools and not an end in itself. It is your child. In other words, if your child needs more time to learn the tables, it is better to give your child more time.
Reasons for homeschooling
Parents often have different reasons for homeschooling their children.
Ideological reasons
This ranges from humanistic to religious. These philosophical reasons can be very diverse.
Pedagogical reasons
There are parents who disagree with the establishment of compulsory education. There are parents who believe children until the age of 8-10 years need to learn to read, write and count, or only when the child himself is ready.
Emotional reasons
There are also parents who want to keep their children at home not to send to school every day. Unfortunately, parents sometimes have a different reason. School might not have a pleasant atmosphere, the teaching does not meet the learning style, too little attention to children who perform below average or just above average performance, the child is being bullied at school.
What is home education?
There are two different words, namely: education and home. In other words, education that takes place at home. In practice the concepts of home education are broader than it first appears.
Most home schooling is actually place in the home. But this home situation is not bound to the parental home. It is also the garden, the local environmental center, during trips to zoos, organic farms, to the museum, etc. It may also be that education takes place in someone else’s house.
More homeschooling resources on the internet:
I Am Just The Lead Student, That’s All – I am getting close to not calling myself a homeschool teacher anymore. I think I prefer lead student instead.
Merging with the Homeschool Crowd
Rock on homeschoolers! The future is bright! Astounding results from new study!
Why We Have Chosen to Homeschool
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