» Home Schooling

Home schooling is done by many parents in the United States, for wide and diverse reasons.
Having viewed the results of home schooling in several instances and been part of it when a family member undertook the same thing, I admit to finding, as with anything else, pro’s and cons to the home school scenario.

For the most part its something I recommend and I do tend to think that with a devoted parent, who actively wants to be involved in the child’s learning process, it is a positive endeavor that will give your children a broad base, encourage the arts far more than does the public system and make the kids more creative and better educated because of the one on one style of teaching.

When you are considering home schooling two very important aspects of it come to mind.

Be very familiar with your states legislation on home schooling, or the regulations that govern it.

Local parents or groups who homeschool are going to be your best bet to get in touch with the proper agencies to give you insight on the home schooling rules and laws in your area, and how to make sure that you fulfill them.
Most states have a home schooling group that parents can belong to to assure that your child receives enough interaction with other children and they will usually have brochures or welcome packets that will help you in your choice to home school and help you to find a curriculum or to develop your own.

As a general rule of thumb, school officials don’t have a clue about home school laws and may give you information that is misleading so probably, public schools are not the place to go for your information.

Developing your own curriculum is not difficult at all if you remember your own schooling and you can usually do it quite successfully on your own, however if you don’t feel confident with that, there are many packaged curriculum’s out there that are developed with your children’s age and what they should be expected to know at any given time during the school year.
Most of these packaged curriculum’s are highly expensive, and may cost between two and five hundred dollars to purchase, while some at that price don’t include the workbooks and other materials that you need.

Talking with parents who children are in school, or who home school kids about the same age as your own will give you some further insight into whats expected of your children at this grade level.

One very useful document is the “Typical Course of Study, K-12″ pamphlet, available from
Worldbook International
4788 Highway 3775
Ft. Worth, TX 76116

You can call Worldbook and request your free copy at 800-967-5325 or visit their web site Worldbook.com. There is no cost for this material.

Lastly, don’t compare your children’s learning rate with other home schooled children or with public school kids.
Each child is different and so long as they are progressing at a reasonable rate, they will be fine.