Getting Ready to Homeschool

The summer is ending fast and I'm getting geared up to start homeschooling. I have been going through the materials for this next year. I think your first year homeschooling is always the hardest because your not quite sure what to expected. For me it was like I had to start school all over, but as time goes on I figured out what worked and what didn't.


I have a couple of tips for you to start the school year. I also found a book that is a guide of what you could do and the things you need to start homeschooling. The book is call "Complete Guide to Getting Started in Homeschooling" by Mary Pride, it had some really good ideas and I took what I needed for the book to start my schooling. How I learned what I needed was mostly by hit and miss, but the book is a wonderful guide to help you get started with what you need.


1. Sit down with your children and give them the guidelines of what you expect from them this school year. Remember you will have bumps in the road along the way. Last year we had some obstacles and butted heads, but we got through it. You need to remind them that you are not only mom or dad, but also the teacher. You have the way that you want it done and they need to respect that.


2. When you get their curriculum make sure you go through it and know how you want to start. Sometimes going through it chapter by chapter isn't how it is set up, or how you like it. You may have to skip around. Look through it very carefully and decide how you want to start. Make sure you make a plan for it. If you don't have a plan you may run in to some trouble.

3. I also sit down with my daughter (she is 14) and let her look through it also. We are starting Algebra this year and I wanted her to know what it is going to be like. We are also doing a harder grammar. I'm not very good a grammar so I will be learning right along with her. I feel that if she knows what is ahead of her she won't be as intimidated and also it gives me an idea of what her concerns are. If they are little you can show them what they are doing and they will give you an idea of what you are started out with.

I have given you a couple tips to get you started before school starts. Remember have fun with it.

Michelle

Thinking about home schooling

If you are thinking about homeschooling this year and have never done it before, let me give you some tips. When my husband and I came to the idea of homeschooling are daughter I had no idea what to do. I had a wonderful next door neighbor who offered to do it for us since she was already homeschooling her daughter. So all I had to do is give her the money for my daughters books and the things she needed and that was it. She was amazing with her, she got her reading to where it needed to be and our daughter really liked school. When the 6th grade rolled around my next door neighbor decided to go back to work so that meant I had to teach. I didn't know where to start what to do with her. I did get some advice from my neighbor but, I still felt very over whelmed. So it took me two years to really get into homeschooling. So here are some of the things I have come across in my travels with homeschooling.

If you are new at homeschooling and don't know which way to go,



1. Look in to a curriculum. I know they can be costly but you have everything you need right there.


2. If a curriculum is not the way to go for you. Make sure you look through the books you want to do. Make sure you read them and find out what they are teaching. I have ran across some books that were just reading no quiz or test. Which is fine but you will have to make up your own.


3.There are a lot of teaching aids out there make sure you find what is best for you and your child. You need to make at their pace. My daughter is a little slower at learning, but my oldest is very fast, find out how they learn then set it to their learning abilities. So if you make it to tough for them you will have a lot of road blocks and being to easy you will find that they have a lot of free time.


4. Remember that the day is up to you to make them work. My daughter does a lot of reading and I do a lot of looking over her work. Know what they need to work on that day before the day starts. I have found myself getting ready on that day and have always given her the things I didn't want her to do yet. I always do a lesson plan on Sundays for the whole week. If they don't work out you can always adjust them. I don't feel as lost if I do it a week at a time. Then you have something to go off of if you have to adjust.


5. I have learned how I do my curriculum is up to her. If she really likes what she is doing we can go a little faster. If she is having trouble understanding then we can go a little slower. Last year I started a new curriculum and we ending the year in April. To me that was just to fast so this year I'm added more things to do and spending a little more time on things that she is having trouble with.


6. Make if fun for them but also make it challenging. When you come to the things your not sure about you may have to find a tutor or a friend that knows how. I have also used the internet for finding out some math problems and I will find those sites for you.


7. One of biggest thing that I am looking to doing is something out side of the home. Some where that they can be with other kids their own age. Something I wish I would have done it earlier. You need to check your local home schooling association and get involved.

8. My last piece of knowledge is to know your homeschooling laws for your state. I just ran across my for Idaho yesterday making sure I was with in the laws (which I am, we don't have very many for homeschooling). Since my child is going to be in 9th grade, which is high school, I have to make sure I keep good records of her work and grades.


I have given you some of my tips to start homeschooling. I will be trying to make a list every week of things to do or things I have done that have or haven't worked.

Summer vacation while homeschooling

Most of us are on summer break and it is hard to find things to do with the kids that are educational. I have found that if you take your kids to the library and have them read a book or you read to them it helps them think instead of the the TV or internet doing it for them. Taking them on field trips just to your beaches and do a scavenger hunt. Make it interesting for them. Have a cooking class or a scrapbooking class. If they are always learning then their mind is always expanding.



Have fun this summer,



Michelle

I want to briefly tell you about myself and family in my new blog. I have never blogged before, but if I can help someone who is starting to home school their children or is thinking about it maybe I can help. Maybe someone can help me with some of my struggles also.

I have been home schooling my daughter since she was in the 3rd grade. My husband and I have decided when she got into some trouble at school that enough was enough. Now she is in the 9th grade and doing really well.

My next door neighbor helped me out a lot the first couple of years. She got her were she need to be in her reading and I got her up to speed in her math. Now I have found what her strengths and weakness are and we can focus on those things that need help.

I had been working up until this last year, seeing that trying to work and home school was way to hard on us both. My husband and I both agree that if you have child that is able to work independently it would have been alright to work, but she was not one of those children. I was cleaning houses so I didn't have a full schedule until about the last year of work. Now that I am a stay at home my I have my own struggles with that, but learning to work around it.

Maybe some of you can share with me some of your own struggles and maybe we can support each other. I'm always looking for new ways to get through the homeschooling year. I am also looking for things to do in the summer time that doesn't cost to much. If you have any ideas or just want to say hi please post on this blog.

Thanks for your time to read this

Michelle