I was talking with a friend this week, and she had some questions about getting started homeschooling. We set up a coffee date to continue the conversation (Yay! Socialization for me!), and I thought it would be helpful here to address some basic questions that come up from time to time.

First, you can start homeschooling any time you want. You do not need to wait until a semester, quarter, or school year break. If you moved to another school district, you would not have to time your move according to breaks. When you make the decision to homeschool your child, you are simply changing schools. I will talk about the logistics of making the switch in a later post.

Homeschooling works best when everyone involved wants to homeschool. That doesn’t mean everyone will love it all the time! Homeschooling means spending more time with your kids. It will strengthen a relationship among family members, but families who constantly struggle with discipline problems may want to consider a parenting class or book.

You need to consider family logistics as well. There are children out there who are entirely self-directed and motivated to continue learning even without parental oversight. I’d guess they are rare. Homeschooling will take time, though it need not take as much direct instruction time as a child typically spends in school.

What if homeschooling is not a good fit? The homeschool lifestyle may be a lifetime commitment. Or not. There is no hard and fast rule that says you have to stick with it if you don’t like it. You can choose to homeschool for as long–or as short–as it suits your child’s needs.

Homeschooling is not a one-size-fits-all situation, either. What works for one child may not work for another. Some families homeschool some kids and not others. It should be a highly individual decision based upon a child’s needs and a parent’s commitment to overseeing a child’s education.

 More on choosing curriculum, telling family and friends, getting started and organizing a homeschool in coming posts. Stay tuned!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 24th, 2007 at 10:40 am and is filed under Home Schooling, Homeschool survival, Introduction, children, education, homeschool, how to homeschool, unschooling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.