Homeschooling is a great option for many families. It’s affordable, flexible, and comes with a lot of benefits. However, it does require some planning and commitment from you as the parent. Many parents who are new to this lifestyle find themselves wondering, what are the basics of homeschooling? Here are some tips to help get you started on your homeschooling journey!
Why Do People Choose to Homeschool?
There are a lot of reasons why people choose to homeschool. These range from personal values, like wanting to provide more personalized education, to practical concerns, like needing a flexible schedule. Some of the most common reasons include:
- To provide a more customized education that fits your child’s interests, needs, and learning style. A good homeschooling curriculum will allow you to focus on those things in particular instead of being forced into an educational experience that doesn’t work for everyone involved.
- To give your children more freedom when it comes down to what they learn about and how they learn it – whether this means taking courses online or joining clubs outside of school hours. When kids are allowed some independence in this way, they will likely be happier with their lives as well!
- To be able to travel more as a family, for instance, if one parent travels for work, the entire family can go.
What Are the Benefits of Homeschooling?
You may be considering homeschooling your child because you want to give him or her an education that is more flexible than what is available in a traditional classroom setting. Homeschooling allows you to customize the curriculum to meet your child’s needs and interests and determine when and where she learns.
In addition to flexibility, another benefit of homeschooling is family time. With eight hours of school plus commute time out of the picture, many families find themselves with more free time on their hands—time that can be spent with each other doing things together as a family. This is especially beneficial for parents who work outside of the home or work from home, as they can use this extra time with their children instead of running around. It also saves money on after-school daycare expenses.
How Can I Be Sure My Child Is Getting a Good Education at Home?
You can hire a tutor or ask the local school district to evaluate your child’s progress. If you hire a tutor, be sure they have proper credentials and references. You can also ask your local homeschool support group if they know of any qualified tutors in your area.
If you decide to get an evaluation from the school district, make sure that you go through all their requirements first so that it is legal for them to evaluate your children at home. Also, you will want to make sure you are following state guidelines. The best way for them to do this is by having regular meetings with the school district officials (in person or over the phone) about what materials are being used for schooling and keeping track of grades and tests taken by your kids. Some states require these kinds of evaluations to be completed annually. For more information on state requirements, you can check out our guide to the most restrictive states to homeschool in America.
What Are the Drawbacks of Homeschooling?
There are a lot of benefits to homeschooling, but there are also some drawbacks. For example, homeschooling can be very difficult if you haven’t been involved in education for a long time or don’t have experience teaching kids. It’s common for homeschoolers to get overwhelmed by all the available options and not know where to begin.
What Are the Best Resources for Homeschooling?
As a new homeschooler, purchasing a “big box curriculum” in your first year would probably benefit you. By purchasing a complete curriculum package and lessons, you know the workload required for homeschooling. Many of the bigger curriculum companies offer accredited options as well. In these options, they track everything for you, from the time spent doing homeschool and even grades. This will take a large part of the workload off of your hands so you can focus on simply teaching your child and having fun! However, there are a lot of different curriculum options you could choose from:
- Check out the top nine online places to purchase individual homeschool curricula.
- Explore the benefits of Education.com for homeschoolers. Is this curriculum right for you?
- Try these 20 free virtual vacations to liven up your at-home routines!
Finally, you have the option to download a basic annual report/homeschool tracker on the blog for free! You can check out our free printable library for more great free resources for your homeschool!
Homeschooling Basics
Homeschooling is a great option for many families but can be challenging. The most important thing to remember is that you are not alone! There are plenty of resources out there to help you make this transition as smooth as possible. Homeschooling is not a one size fits all approach. In fact, there are multiple ways to homeschool, such as online schooling and remote learning, private academies, and big box curriculum.
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