27 answers

Beginning to Homeschool

hi, are there any homeschoolers out there? i have made the decision to homeschool my 2 youngest, and am just wondering how to get started. please don't tell me all the reasons not to do it, the decision is made. i am just curious about other peoples experiences, any legal issues, and what support groups have been helpful. thanks!

3 moms found this helpful

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More Answers

There are plenty of resources out there for homeschooling. Joining homeschooling associations is a place to start. They exist and are on the web.
http://www.home-school.com/groups/IL.html Here's one for you to start with.
I have never homeschooled, but have had a close friend home school her children for 10 years. She sent them to school after that, and they were completely on target for their age group and grade level.
If this decision is made, make sure that you are prepared with the right curriculum that if the opportunity presents itself and your kids eventually return to school, you know that they will be ready academically.
http://aha.typepad.com/

In order for you to homeschool, you must read all that you can on the process. In MY opinion, you should be at least college educated. You should be able to not only teach all subjects and curriculum that your local school district teaches, but I also believe that you should also be fluent in every subject you teach. My friend that I spoke of is a double master's degree and is an educator herself.

J., please do not take anything that I say as a way of trying to sway you in any certain direction, but I think you should seriously reevaluate your decision. (Gina, don't try to correct someone else's spelling mistake and make the mistake yourself with the same word)

I just want you to know all the facts. You may have made the decision and your feelings are strong, but you really need to consider the future. You don't know if 5 or 6 or 10 years down the road you will, for whatever reason, need to send them to school. It would be a complete injustice if they are sent to school and are not prepared for the world of public education.

I told you about my friend that succeeded in homeschooling, I also know of another child that was homeschooled by her 20 year old half-brother while the parents worked. This school year they sent the girl to school (3rd grade) and she ended of being in my son's class. I have seen her work. This past summer, she was playing with my kids out in the front of the house and they were playing "school" and what I saw was SCARY! This 8 year girl cannot read and has the handwriting of a 3 year old.

Now, I'm not saying that you're going to slack. I'm just giving you my experiences and observations. Homeschooling is an incredible commitment. Just make sure you're ready for it. Starting with making sure that you correct your mistakes; spelling, capitalization, and punctuation when you are writing.(I noticed this from your post) Children watch us and mimic everything we do. If you become their educator, you must be on top of everything at every moment and never letting down your guard.

Here are more resources for you to read:
http://www.illinoishomeeducation.org/onlineresources.htm
http://lds-nha.org/ft207.php
http://homeschooling.about.com/od/ilassoc/Homeschooling_A...
http://homeschoolfun.com/new/default.asp?pc_id=5#il
http://hsislegal.com/

One last thing, know for sure by having evaluations done that none of your children require special services that you will not be able to provide by homeschooling. Homeschooling a special needs child adds to the already stringent commitment. I know that you previously posted about one of your child's speech delay. This issue must be addressed.

This is another reason that my children go to school. My son requires special services which I cannot provide at home.

Good luck with your decision.

2 moms found this helpful

I would recommend Homeschool Legal Defense Association. Join that, and they have all the information you need to help you get started. They have a terrific website. We are in our 12th year of homeschooling and my kids are all teens. You are welcome to e-mail me with any questions.

2 moms found this helpful

I'm so excited to see that someone else is interested in homeschooling. I plan on homeschooling my little girl when the time comes and have already attempted to start weeding out info. I know that Illinois is homeschool friendly and that it's considered "private school" should you choose to do so. I have some links I have found that might be of use. Thanks for throwing the subject out there, I'm curious to see what others can contribute to the search! Keep us posted!
http://oldfashionededucation.com/
http://www.design-your-homeschool.com/
http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/teacherslounge/articles/
http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/teacherslounge/styles/
http://www.homeschool.com/new/
http://heartofwisdom.com/about.html#

2 moms found this helpful

I've just started a preschool program with my twins who are almost 3. There is a homeschooling conference coming up in Saint Charles - http://www.homeeducatorsconference.org/ that is supposed to be pretty good. Illinois is a great state to homeschool because there are no "requirements". You don't need to meet with the school boards, you don't need to keep records of what the kids are doing (although I think this is a good idea to do in case you ever move to a stricter state) The JOhnsburg Library has a Homeschool Resource Center, so I'd recommend just browsing there for a bit. Depending where you are there are also some homeschool co-op groups in the area. Feel free to contact me if you have other questions. I'm new to it, but have done a bit of research!

2 moms found this helpful

HI J.!
We are a happy homeschooling family!
Feel free to e-mail me...
R.

1 mom found this helpful

Hi J.,

I'm the mother of 4 children ages 25, 24, 20 and 17.
I have home schooled the 25 and 20 year olds through graduation. The 24 year old wanted to learn building trades, and other 'men' type jobs, I didn't have his heart or cooperation, so he went to the public schools. I am still homeschooling the 17 year old, with some classes also at the high school, he is taking Art and Design, I couldn't help him in that area.

When I wanted to begin homeschooling we prayed about it first and forever more. Keep it in prayer! God will show you and lead you.

My children were in public schools already when we decided to homeschool, so I wrote a letter to the principle to tell him the children wouldn't be back the next year, very pollitely thanking him, and asking for my children's school records.

Next, I teamed up with a friend that decided to homeschool also. We found a group of families at our Bible based, Christian church that homeschooled also. There was a support group formed already.

Each states have their own laws on homeschooling, you may want to search the web for laws in your state. Some states make it very hard for you to homeschool. But it's becoming more acceptable.
There is a group called Homeschool Legal Defense that can give you a lot of information on each state, and if you join, at a fee of course, they will advise and help you with any legal issues you may come into.

Do you have a curriculumn picked out or know where to find any?
There are schools that will sell you a program and you correspond with them for them to keep records for you, some will sell just the curriculumn and you keep track, or you just choose from different curriculumns. If your child will be going to college, I would recomend using the correspondance type, at least for the high school years.

Remember, your children will be looking to you for examples of how to live. You will be their role model.

Email me if you'd like, I'll give you updates on my graduates or any other things you'd like to talk about.
____@____.com old are your children?

Enjoy your children and treasure all that seems to be going right, as well as all the challenges also, you will be learning too.

May God Bless you on your new endevear.
C.

1 mom found this helpful

J.,
I am in Chatham and am in a homeschooling network. My husband and I are homeschooling our preschooler and plan to continue through high school. I know that there are many homeschoolers in the area as well as homeschooling resources such as Homeschool PE class, Homeschool music class and a Homeschool coop. If you would like to get more information feel free to email me and I will give you the info I have. Good luck on homeschooling!
J. S
____@____.com

1 mom found this helpful

Hi J..

I live in Rushville, IL and am going to homeschool our son. He is 3 so we don't necessarily "do school" yet. I tried to implement worksheets and turn our home into a school, but that definitely does not work for him. While he does learn from those, he also gets bored with them very easily. I found that playing games is how my son learns the best.

I'm going to wait for him to mature a little more, and be able to sit for extended periods of time, before I start any kind of curriculum. Right now, we go to the library every couple of weeks and I check out the books that would interest him. He wants to be an astronaut and has loved planets for a long time, so we check out books on planets and such. I also want him to learn to tell time, so I borrowed a book about telling time. We also play lots of games (board games, mostly) or he'll choose a letter and we'll go around the house and find things that begin with that letter. There are TONS of learning games online.

The beauty of homeschooling, I've found through research, is that I can tailor-make his learning experience to fit his personality and learning style. While worksheets may have worked for me (I still love filling in blanks, crossword puzzles, surveys, etc.), it's just not working for him. I just have to be more creative.

Just keep up the good work. Join some Yahoo groups in regards to homeschooling. I don't know if you have boys, but I'm part of a group called HomeschoolingBoys that has lots of ideas. I also receive a daily email that is very encouraging. It's from Alpha Omega Publications called Daily Focus: www.aop.com.

Feel free to email me if you want to talk. :)

1 mom found this helpful

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