Quick Start Guide
Thinking about homeschooling for the upcoming school year?
It is a fantastic educational option because it leaves you FREE to choose so many things about your lifestyle.
If you have never homeschooled your children, let us offer a few tips about how to get started quickly.
Start planning now!
One of the greatest advantages to homeschooling is that you and your spouse decide how the schedule will go. You get to make all the decisions.
At first, this might seem overwhelming, but once you become accustomed to making these decisions, you may find that it is extremely liberating.
In Indiana, the only requirement for home schools is to keep a record that your student(s) have done 180 days of educating.
There are no curriculum requirements, or standardized tests that must be taken. Usually a teacher planner or calendar works well for this.
With so few requirements, you can make a lot of fun decisions for your family to spice up the school days, and keep things exciting throughout the year.
Planning when you will study
For instance, field trips can happen whenever you feel it appropriate.
So if a local museum or park comes along with a great learning opportunity, you can totally take advantage of it, because you’re in charge of your student’s school days!
What if you want to go on vacation when all your first choices aren’t overrun with tourists? You can do that! Just take your breaks at times when most or all the schools are still in session.
Usually these times even come with greater discounts because there is so much less competition for the available slots.
Want to do a week of field trips in Washington D.C. with your middle school students? Book it now when rates are low and it works in your schedule.
Most things can be canceled within a reasonable time if you decide homeschooling isn’t going to work out this year.
Plan what you will study
Planning academics can be just as freeing.
Do you want to do a block schedule with your kids so that you never have to focus on more than four subjects in any given day? Awesome! Do that!
You get to decide what gets taught and on which days. You get to choose what Math program your child will work through and which fabulous literature he or she will read this year.
Is your dear daughter passionate about animals? Great! You have the freedom to do a unit study on the animals she wants to learn about.
It is easy to talk about mammals and their characteristics or the food chain in the wild when you have a fascinated student at rapt attention because you are already talking about the things which she has longed to know!
Having a central record of what you plan to do each day is a good idea.
There are many methods to do this, like a written or digital teacher planner, having each of your students use a planner, or using pre-planned curriculum, and going from the schedule that comes with it.
However, that doesn’t mean you have to plan the whole school year up front!
Choose a time period that works for you and your family. It is a good idea to plan shorter periods at a time until you have a good feel for your student’s struggles.
For instance, you could start by just planning 2-, 4- or 6-week periods, and then take time to evaluate if the amount of work you have planned and the subjects you are studying are working for your students and your family’s priorities.
Quick tips to plan the school days
When planning out your school days, consider the following:
– What is your time allowance during the day to teach your child(ren)? You may need to make some changes to free up time.
– What is the attention span of each child? It is extremely important to consider where your child is in his/her ability to focus on any given subject. You know your children, and if they are old enough, should be able give you a lot of feedback on this topic. They know when their minds start to wonder.
– What time of day do they learn best? Placing their harder subjects in this time slot sets them up to do their best!
– When will you have meals and snacks? Planning a time to prep these things the night before might make your school day less stressful. Your older students should be able to help, or even do this themselves.
– How many subjects do you want to tackle in your school year? Maybe for the first year, sticking with the basic core subjects of science, history, reading, writing and mathematics might be a good start while everyone in your household figures out a new normal.
– Consider what you hope your child will learn in the span of their primary and secondary education. You could refer to the state department of education website, but also consider character lessons. Remember that while it is good to keep a steady pace, it is also okay to take a year in which you don’t try to keep up with the school system’s schedule. Especially if it hasn’t been working well for your child up to this point.
– Remember to leave time for your students to explore the things about which they are passionate. That may be God speaking to them about the very purpose for which they were created!
– Don’t forget that the relationships they build in your home are going to be the most influential ones they have in their early years. Take time to enjoy each of your children, and let them enjoy you both!
