Are you new to homeschooling?

Everyone seems to have an opinion about how your kiddos should be schooled this school year. The result is that many of you are feeling less than confident in our decisions.

This is a big deal AND it impacts more than your child’s education. Let’s cover the basics if you are new to homeschooling.

Getting Legal

You need to figure out what you need to do to become a legal homeschooler in your state (or country). In many areas, this means either registering with the school district where you reside or registering with some type of umbrella school.

Each location is different. You can usually find out more about your state’s requirements through a quick google search. You can also contact and umbrella school that works in your state and they can offer you guidance.

What is an umbrella school?

That really depends on where you live. I’ve only homeschooled in two states and in both of my states an umbrella school functions as a private school and you are the teacher. In my case, I would report in to them (different schools have different requirements) and they keep my records. Where I have lived, this means that there haven’t been testing requirements or portfolio reviews. Again you will need to do your research to find out how it works where you live.

Getting Connected

If you are wanting to homeschool, but Google isn’t giving you the information you want. I suggest you try Facebook Groups. There are lots of groups that are specific to location, ages, types of homeschooling, cultural and religious perspectives. Try some of these on. I find that active homeschool groups are a wealth of information for new homeschoolers.

Choosing How to Homeschool

When you are new to homeschooling, it can be a little overwhelming. There is a lot of jargon. Let’s go through a few common homeschooling terms:

LOI (letter of intent) – Letter that someone sends their school district to put them on notice that they will be homeschooling

Umbrella School – School that you register with that handles transferring your student out of public school and keeps records (additional requirements vary by school)

Deschooling – Time between when a student leaves public school and when a more traditional or “new normal” approach to homeschooling happens.

Homeschool philosophy – Everyone seems to have an opinion about the best way to homeschool and philosophy of education behind that. My opinion is find something you can do consistently and that you are happy with the progression.

A few different homeschool philosophies/approaches are:

Charlotte Mason
Unschooling
Traditional
Classical
Online

Tips to make homeschooling work for your family.

You need to think about your long term goals. Ask yourself questions before you start.

Are you planning to homeschool long term or is this a short term solution?
Does your kid work well independently?
How old are your kids?
What are their plans after high school?
Are you someone that likes plan and has time execute a parent intensive program?

The best way to set yourself up for success is to be realistic. Think about your style of parenting, time commitments, and your family dynamics before jumping into an expensive curriculum purchase. Not all curriculums are made for all families – that’s why there are so many options.

How to choose homeschool curriuclum?

There are more possibilities that ever before and they just keep growing.

My suggestion is to pick the approach you think will work for your family first. This will eliminate a lot of unnecessary research and/or wasted money.
After your approach, you need to decide if you are looking for secular or religious curriculum.
Then you can start narrowing down your curriculum options.