Thinking of Homeschooling? Homeschooling Guide 101

When I was about 8 years old I decided I wanted to teach. My friend's mom, Mrs. Lois, was a special ed teacher and I remember how I would dream of one day teaching my own kids.  When I was about ten years old the school did a book dump of all the old text books and ordered new ones. They filled the gym with old text books and offered anyone who wanted some that they were free for the taking. I thought I was in heaven! I got as many books as I could fit in my backpack and carry. I would pour through the books and imagine that one day I would use them to teach my own kids. I would make up my own lesson plans and design my school day even when I was that young.  So it came naturally when I had my own kids that I would homeschool them.

We have not always homeschooled, there have been some moments when we have done Montessori which we loved, or public school- which I was not a big fan of, when I had to go to work. My oldest turns 30 this year which means I have been homeschooling/teaching for at least 25 of those years.

With all the social distancing in place and many schools looking into more of a remote learning approach a lot of families are looking into homeschooling.

I thought I would share a bit about homeschooling for those who are on the fence and answer some questions that I have been seeing a lot of online.

Who can homeschool? 

YOU CAN!! Homeschooling is legal in all 50 states.Information for this question sourced from The Coalition for Responsible Home Education

"Eleven states—Georgia, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia—require parents to have some form of educational qualification in order to homeschool (or in the case of Tennessee, to homeschool high school students). The required qualification is generally a high school diploma or GED, but Washington state goes further, requiring either college credits or the completion of a course in home-based study. The remaining thirty-nine states allow any parent to homeschool regardless of their educational background.

Six states—North Dakota, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia—allow parents without a high school diploma or GED can bypass these educational qualifications as follows.

• Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington allow parents without the required qualifications to homeschool through an umbrella school or (in the case of Virginia) through a religious exemption.
• North Dakota, Ohio, and Washington allow parents to homeschool under the supervision of a qualified person (a certified teacher or, in the case of Ohio, an individual with a bachelor’s degree).
• Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington allow superintendents to waive the standard educational requirements at their discretion.

The remaining five states—Georgia, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina—require all homeschooling parents without exception to meet their educational qualifications.

In addition to the eleven states already mentioned, three states—California, Kansas, and New York—require parents to be “competent,” “qualified,” or “capable of teaching.” However, these states do not mandate any specific requirements or give local or state officials the authority to determine who meets these standards, leaving that up to the parents. This means that, in practice, these states do not require parents to meet any educational qualifications. The remaining thirty-six states have no requirements whatsoever, allowing any parent to homeschool regardless of educational background.

What do these eleven states’ requirements look like? 

Georgia: High school diploma or GED 

New Mexico: High school diploma or equivalent 

North Carolina: High school diploma or equivalent 

North Dakota: High school diploma or GED, or homeschool under the supervision of a certified teacher for the first two years of homeschooling, to be extended if the children score under the 50th percentile 

Ohio: High school diploma or equivalent, or homeschool under the direction of an individual with a bachelor’s degree until the child’s test scores show reasonable proficiency or a GED is obtained Pennsylvania: High school diploma or equivalent    

South Carolina: High school diploma or GED   

Tennessee: Homeschool parents must have a high school diploma or GED when homeschooling children grades 9-12; parents homeschooling through umbrella schools are exempted from this requirement. 

Virginia: Homeschool parents must have a high school diploma, or a teaching certificate, or homeschool through a correspondence program, or provide evidence of their ability to provide an adequate education; parents homeschooling through a religious exemption are exempt from this requirement. 

Washington: Homeschool parents must be supervised by a certified person, have a required number of college credits, complete a course in home-based study, or be deemed sufficiently qualified by the local superintendent 

West Virginia: High school diploma or equivalent, or be deemed qualified by the county superintendent or school board and homeschool under direct supervision."

What is different between distant learning like the schools are doing now, and homeschooling?

What the schools are doing now is NOT homeschooling. That is public schooling at home, and as many of you have noticed it is not fun and does not work well for most kids and families. While some of you may have had positive experiences I know a lot of people who have not. It has also opened up a lot of people's eyes exactly where their kids are academically and some people are realizing that a lot of what the kids are doing is learning to pass tests rather than understanding what they are learning.  (this may not be the case with everyone but lately our homeschooling groups have been flooded with new members asking about homeschooling since they are not liking the current state of affairs with the social distancing that a lot of schools are doing. With homeschooling (not public school teaching at home) a family would have a lot more options. Most homeschool families are very active in their communities. Some homeschooling families join co-ops which meet one or more times per week, some homeschool families  enroll their children into music lessons or some kind of sports activity. Our kids were doing dance, swim, and church choir. When I was homeschooling in Georgia we were learning about pilgrims and immigration we decided to take a road trip. We traveled to New York and visited Ellis Island,  and the Statue of Liberty, we went to Pennsylvania and toured an Amish farm, we went to Ohio and toured a mock old western town and panned for gold,  also went and visited an Indian Village.  There is so much freedom in homeschooling. With homeschooling you can tailor what you are learning to the way your child learns. How does your child learn best? Do they need to see it, touch it? With homeschooling you can make your school the way your child needs to learn best. With homeschooling you set your own hours. If you like to sleep in, sleep in, if you live in a place where it is too hot outside part of the day, you can let the kids play earlier and/or later in the day and work on school when it is too hot to go outside. You can choose the months/days you want to homeschool. Maybe you want to spend the weekends doing fun activities so you homeschool M-F, or maybe your child has therapies like ot/pt/speech during the week, so you homeschool on the weekends. The beauty of homeschooling is that you set the time, you set the hours. If you want to school year round, go for it! If you want to school during a typical school year, you can do that.

Are there secular homeschooling options? 

YES!!! There are a lot of people who homeschool their children that do not include any religious content.  While there are many options for faith based homeschooling curriculum there are also a lot of secular options. A few are listed below that you can check out. We have not really used secular homeschooling resources so in most cases I can not recommend a certain one as we have not tried them. Our family uses faith based homeschooling curriculum however there are many options out there for people who do not want to use a faith based program. I have listed a few below.

Secular Homeschool Curriculum Packages

A boxed curriculum contains everything you need to do secular homeschooling in one kit.

BookShark (PreK-8)Moving Beyond the Page (PreK-8)

Calvert School (PreK-12)

Discovery K12 (K-12)

Global Village School (K-12)

Build Your Library (K-9)

Khan Academy (K-12)

Secular Science Curriculum

STEAMsational

Jarring Science Club

Steve Spangler Science (K-8)

Classic Science (2-6)

Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding (K-8)

Lower Secondary Science (7-8)

Science Matters (9-10)

MPH Science (1-6)

CPO Science (6-12)

Elemental Science (PreK-12)

REAL Science Odyssey (1-9)

STEM Activities (K-8)

BookShark (PreK-8)

Secular History Curriculum

Usborne History Books (K-8)

The Human Odyssey (K-12)

A People’s History of the United States (9-12)

BookShark (PreK-8)

Secular Language Arts Curriculum

Brave Writer (K-12)

Easy Grammar (3-6)

Shurley Homeschool

Write Shop (K-12)

Don’t Forget to Write (K-12)

Growing with Grammar (K-12) We have used this and enjoyed it

Sing, Spell, Read, and Write (PreK-2)

Word Power Made Easy (6-12)

All About Learning (K-5)

Killgallon Grammar (1-12, also has books for college)

Lighting Literature (1-12)

McRuffy (PreK-5)

Secular Handwriting Curriculum

Draw Write Now (K-3)  A few of our kids use this for handwriting and love it!

Spencerian Handwriting (All ages)

Handwriting Without Tears (K-3) For our kids who struggle with fine motor we have LOVED this

Zaner Bloser Handwriting (K-4)

Secular Math Curriculum

Math U See (K-12)  We have used and enjoyed this program great for hands on learners

Teaching Textbooks (K-12)  we did not find it very hands on but it worked well for our son

Singapore Math (K-8)

RightStart Mathematics (K-6)

Math on the Level (K-8)

Moving with Math (K-8)

Shiller Math (K-8)

Thinkwell (6-12)

Verbal Math (K-6)

Miquon Math (K-3)

Are there religious options?

YES!! There are many Christian resources and faith based homeschool curriculum choices for homeschoolers

Sonlight Curriculum Sonlight's programs center on books and reading. You'll read forty or so books in most Sonlight programs. If you don't like reading, Sonlight probably isn't going to be a good fit.

 BJU Press .  Originally the curriculum was designed for Christian schools, but it has now been adapted to fit homeschools also. For this reason, this program follows the traditional education (or school-at-home) model where you buy the material and sit your children down to do it as a teacher might in a school. Offered both in book form and online

Abeka Like BJU Abeka is a curriculum that was designed for Christian Schools. We loved it for our oldest kids and they were able to stay with the age/grade level. With our children who have learning disabilities, they are able to do Abeka but they do it at a much younger grade level than their age. They have several options. You can do it parent led and only have the books, you can do parent led with the dvds with just some of the subjects, or you can do the whole curriculum with all the subjects for the Abeka Academy.  In fact, the videos showed the classroom with the students in it and the teacher teaching to the class. If you do the videos you are pretty much doing it as you would in a private religious based school.  Our kids are currently doing Abeka with the DVDs and we love it! (you can do accredited or unaccredited) 

Easy Peasy This is a FREE program!  All of the resources you need are linked online. You will need to print out pages for some activities, but basic requirements other than a computer with an internet connection are paper, pencils, scissors, glue, crayons or colored pencils. If you really like books you can find some Easy Peasy books but you can also just print what you need for that day as another option. The reading makes me think of what you would see in a one room school room, but it does work. But what is nice is while there is some old styled things there are also some fun links. We have used this and for being a free program is really well put together.

Alpha Omega  (description directly from their website as we have not used this program before) Alpha Omega has several options. These include Monarch, Switched on Schoolhouse, LifePac, Horizon, and Weaver.  Monarch online homeschool curriculum for grades 3-12 and has a subscription plan, Switched on Schoolhouse  offers computer-based learning for grades 3-12 with animation, video clips, and fascinating multimedia.

for grades K-12 designed by a team of accomplished educators. LIFEPAC is for grades k-12 with the principle of comprehension, mastering content before progressing to the next which means it is student based. Horizons is for grades preschool-12 is a brightly illustrated, engaging workbook curriculum for homeschool students filled with consumable lessons and hands-on activities that uses a spiral learning method to help your student master core concepts. It is teacher led. Weaver is a  unit-based,  curriculum for homeschool grades PreK-12. This family- based homeschooling curriculum uses the same daily Bible theme as a foundation and then creates lessons for each student.

My Father's World  is a full package curriculum (math & language arts are from other vendors) with a Christian perspective that, like Sonlight but less intense, has history as its backbone, and relates the rest of the curriculum to it. It was originally created for missionaries.While we have not personally used MFW we have heard from a lot of people who do and they have enjoyed it. It does have a very Charlotte Mason type feel so if that is what you are looking for then it is a good program for you.

Five in a Row we have never used Five in a Row so this is a quote from their webpage  about what their program is like "instructional guide for teaching Social Studies, Language, Art, Applied Math and Science using outstanding children’s literature as the basis for each weekly unit study. Lessons are designed for children ages 5 through 9 and include discussion guides and questions, teacher answers, hands-on activities and suggestions for further study. Before Five in a Row, 2nd Edition, More Before Five in a Row and Beyond Five in a Row offer teacher’s manuals for preschool children and upper elementary students. Wonderful children’s books are the focus in all levels of Five in a Row; they capture attention and provide inspired learning opportunities for every child. Visit our product pages to learn more about each level of Five in a Row and which one is the best fit for you and your child." Beyond Five in a Row goes to age 12. Five in a Row is not intended to be a complete curriculum for math and language arts. It does not teach phonics, writing, or math in any sequential progression  According to one review I found "Five in a Row is perfect for visual, auditory and kinesthetic learns and teachers"

Memoria Press We have used Memoria Press with our kids, both their regular program and their program for kids with special needs. I liked their lesson plans, I enjoyed the art, and music, it was very detailed in how to present things which I liked. Memoria Press uses a classical educational approach to teaching. They have an online option. They also introduce and teach  Latin from grades 3-12. For math they use Rod and Staff which for some people can seem a bit repetitive and bland but is good for those who need a lot of review or those who have kids who are easily distracted with lots of colors and pictures. We decided we needed a different program however since even with their special needs program I did need to adjust what I was teaching because of our kids special needs.

Master Books  We were so excited to use Master Books and we tried. We stuck with it for about two months before we just had enough. The books are lovely, but they have stories for everything (if you like reading 1-2 page stories for every single subject (including Math!!!) then you would love this. For us, our kids just wanted to do the work and be done. This is a Charlotte Mason style of learning. I know some people like it, we however did not. They do however have good prices. 

BiblioPlan This program is actually written by some dear friends of ours! I am so impressed with how hard they have worked on this program.  According to the Authors Julia and Rob Nealle, "BiblioPlan is a Classical, Christian, History curriculum with a Charlotte Mason flair. We are easy to use, K-12, open and go program that allows families to do history together. Everyone studies the same time period together!! It is adaptable for special learners and gifted learners. It's fun, history-rich, literature rich, challenging and hands-on! There is something for every learning style! It's easy to use. Start simple. Focus on the first unit. Focus on the history part (just do BiblioPlan books) and add in a few lit. books. Watch some movies. Enjoy it. If simple works and you want to do more than add in more for the next unit. Focus on the oldest child and go down from there."

Which is the best? 

There is no such thing. Every single child is different. What might work perfectly for one family might not work at all for another. There are so many choices that it can feel very overwhelming. However it is so worth it in the long run! Think of school as a one size fits all,  your child is expected to be on the same level with every single other child in the classroom. When you homeschool, you design the school around the needs of your child. Have a kid who is a math wiz but struggles in language arts? With homeschooling you can move faster through the math and go slower with language arts. You can go faster or slower throughout the year depending on what your student needs. Need a easy writing program for struggling writers? There are things like Handwriting Without Tears or TV Teacher that work with handwriting for kids who struggle with fine motor. 

Do I need to spend 8 hours per day teaching my child?

NO!!! The reason why public schools do is because they have one teacher to 20-30 students. Then you figure in that kids spend a good amount of time moving between classes, PE, Music, Art, Library, etc. Some people choose to do a longer day than others but most only spend 3-4 hours doing formal learning, some do a lot less. However the people who tend to do less often times just add in learning to their daily lives. For example they would get their kids to help with cooking, so they are gaining reading skills for reading the recipe, math skills by using measurements, and time management with learning how to prepare something to be ready when the rest of the food is. They might go to a science museum and let their kids explore and discover new interests or existing interests. Most homeschooling families just adapt learning into everything they do. They go to a zoo and dont just walk past the animals but might keep a notebook and write facts they learn from the signs, or observations, or maybe they just talk about it or take pictures, but the average homeschooling family just makes learning a way of life and it isn't just scheduled for a set time of day.

What Should A Homeschool Day Look like?

That is the beauty of homeschooling. It can look however you want.  If you want a strict routine you can do that, you can do prepacked curriculum, you can choose it to be faith based or secular, you can make it unit based or computer based. You can unschool. There is no right or wrong way.

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What books/levels/grades should I get for my child if they are on an IEP and need their work modified or if they are advanced? I just tested my child on a placement test from one of the homeschool links below and my child is WAY behind what they are teaching for that grade, what do I do???

If you are looking for a prepackaged curriculum then you will want to find an assessment so you can see where your child is compared to where the program is at for that level of work. In one of my homeschooling groups a mom mentioned that while they have been doing public school and her child is in 4^th grade, which she did an assessment it said that her child would be doing 2^nd-3^rd grade work based on the assessment. If that is the case do not worry. Just start where your kids are. This is not like public school where they have No Child Left Behind and will pass your child to the next grade even if all the material was not mastered. You can spend more time on the areas where your child struggles and you can breeze through the subjects that are easier for your child.

What if I work?

While it is hard work, if you have childcare for your kids during your working hours, and you have enough energy to work with your kids when you are off work, homeschooling is still an option. If your kids are older, and are able to self-motivate, then they could work on some of their work on their own and you could review or help them later when you are off work. Another option is to do most of your homeschooling during the weekend or just in the evenings. While most homeschooling families have at least one person who stays at home with the kids, there are families out there where the parents work and they are making it work.  

Is homeschool affordable?

There are many options out there that can be very affordable. Keep this in mind, if your child goes to public school there are fees for labs, there are back to school clothes and back to school supplies that you have to buy, gym uniforms, fees for art class or fees for pictures, etc. Then there are school lunches. It all adds up. When you take all the fees you have to pay when your child is in public school and add them up, homeschooling is very affordable. There are also some free options such as Easy Peasy.

So many choices!! Which do I pick?

It can be confusing and hard to pick when you are just starting out. One thing I like to do is ask myself a few questions. Does this look interesting to me? Do I think my kids would be interested in it? Will it be fun to teach or will I dread it?

Homeschooling/Unschooling, what is the difference?

The biggest difference between unschooling and homeschooling is the approach to learning. In a homeschooling environment, parents act like teachers in the classroom. With unschooling the principle is that children are naturally curious and will follow their interests in their own way and will learn because their interests lead them to learning.  We have never unschooled but there are many many webpages and blogs out there that can tell you more about unschooling. In homeschooling we still take our kids interests into account, but we also work with  a curriculum or I put together one from several different subjects.

Are there programs for kids with special needs?

YES!! Here are a couple of them

So Happy to Learn SHTL is a program designed by Mrs. Brown. Mrs. Brown has been working with children with special needs for over 20 years. She was working with children in the public school system but grew frustrated with the way kids with the lack of success that kids with special needs were having. She has come up with a program that focuses on not just communication but writing, reading, and math. She started with just working with children in her home and has taken it to online as well. This program has a Facebook group that helps guide you through the teaching program. The motto is Teach don’t Test! Each month you go online and download the material and print it. There are also videos that help guide you through the process. There are also videos that talk directly to your learner. It is a great program that we have used with our kids with special needs.

Simply Classical by Memoria Press Simply Classical is a full packaged curriculum that is by Memoria Press. They have both a regular curriculum and also a program for kids who has special needs. Both of their programs are classical programs that focus heavily on things like famous works of art, poetry, literature, religion, and Latin. We enjoyed the classical curriculum that this program offered. It is very well planned out with lesson plans and is very detailed in how to present the work. 
Master Books While not set up as a program for special needs, Master Book is affordable and flexible. They have a Charlotte Mason inspired approach to learning with living lessons, captivating pictures, lots of stories. 

OTHER!!!! 

We have discovered that while we have used all three programs above with our children with special needs, the program they have learned the most from is actually NOT a special needs program. If you are able to make some adjustments to a program then you can tailor almost any curriculum to your child's needs. This is what we have done with Abeka. Our kids are starting their second year with Abeka and are thriving! 

What if I dont like a curriculum once we try it out?

Change it!!! However before you rush off to buy a curriculum I suggest you see if they offer a downloadable sample of their program (most do) that way you can see if you like it at all. If you discover along the way that you like some things about some curriculum but not others you an always mix and match. You might like Math-U-See if you have a child who learns best with hands on math, or maybe you like a more old school approach and you would like Rod and Staff. The beauty of homeschooling is you are not stuck with something if it doesn’t work. In public school you are at the mercy of whatever the schools are teaching and if your child doesn’t learn very well with that their self-esteem gets crushed because they feel like they are failing which it is actually the school system failing them. There are a lot of people who homeschool so if you find something is not working you can usually resell your curriculum on places like ebay and craigslist and on homeschool pages that allow items to be posted for sale.

Do I have to use a prepackaged curriculum? 

NO!!! You can mix and match. Evaluate what works for your kids and what does not.  One size does not always fit all. Sometimes you just need something different. It is perfectly fine to like a program but not like part of it. We have used programs that we have liked, but had to find other resources for things such as handwriting because fine motor is hard for a few of our kids.

What are the regulations like in our state?

Every state is different. While I could tell you what our state requires that would not help you if you live in a different state. Some states have a lot of regulations, some states have less. I have provided a link and picture below so you can check out the regulations in your state. (by clicking on the picture it will take you to the laws in your state)