FAQ-Where do I get the materials?

Where you buy your materials will depend upon what you’re looking for and the type of homeschool method you have chosen.  I recommend checking Rainbow Resource once you know what you want to buy.  Many times they’ll have the item cheaper than anywhere else.  Some of the different suppliers of homeschool curriculum are as follows:

Abeka  www.abeka.com

Calvert   http://www.calvertschool.org/home-school/

Saxon Math   http://saxonpublishers.harcourtachieve.com/en-US/saxonpublishers.htm

Math U See  http://www.mathusee.com/

Sonlight  www.sonlight.com

Rainbow Resource   http://www.rainbowresource.com/index.php

Handwriting Without Tears   http://www.hwtears.com/

AVKO   http://www.avko.org/sequentialspelling.html

Discount Homeschool Supplies   http://www.dhss.com/shop/

Rock Solid Inc.    http://www.rocksolidinc.com/

Another idea is to look for places that sell used curriculum.  Websites such as www.amazon.com; www.ebay.com; www.half.com and www.homeschoolgatheringplace.com are a few you can look into. 

Homeschool conferences are a good place to see and review different curricula before purchasing.  You may also wish to ask fellow homeschooling families to allow you to view the materials they use so that you can see before you buy.  A good place to read reviews of materials is http://www.homeschoolreviews.com/ . 

FAQ-What if I work full-time?

Many parents who work full-time consider homeschooling their child/children.  It is not an impossible task.  There are many things to consider when making this type of decision.  What is your work schedule?  Will you be working in the home or outside the home?  How old is the student(s)?  Can he/she work independently?  How much time each day are they spending alone?  Are they prepared to deal with home emergencies on their own?  (fire, burglary, etc)  Is my child a social butterfly/introverted and how will this affect the development of their personality? 

These questions bear serious consideration, especially for those parents who will be working outside the home and are considering leaving their child to work on their own.  It is the rare child who copes well in that type of situation. 

Another option that is available in our state is that of having your child join another homeschool already in operation.  You may know someone who is currently only homeschooling their children and is willing to take on yours as well.  That is a situation that may work for some.  For details on the laws in regards this, please see your state law website. 

FAQ-What if my child has a Learning Disabiblity/ADD/Autism?

Teaching a child with a disability can be a daunting task.  However, know that you are not alone.  Many parents have found the public school system inadequate for their child’s needs.  More and more, parents are turning to homeschooling as an answer to helping their child learn and cope with day to day life.  There are many advantages to homeschooling a special needs child.  For instance, there are less distractions, the child is able to work at their own pace without the demand to meet somebody else’s time schedule and the stress is greatly reduced when the child is at home, allowing the mind to concentrate on learning.   Homeschooling provides the one-on-one attention that many students with disabilities need. 

Depending on your child’s disability, there are many resources to look into online.  Yahoo Groups offers a wide variety of groups to join so as to gather more info on your child’s particular issue and ways to meet the demand of teaching for your child.  As with everything, you must be guided by wisdom and discernment in regards joining the different groups.  However, most that I’ve seen concentrate on the issue at hand.  Here are a few websites geared toward helping teach the learning disabled student.

http://www.teachingld.org/

http://www.ldanatl.org/aboutld/teachers/index.asp

http://www.ldonline.org/

http://www.ldhope.com/autism_pg3.htm

http://www.kinderart.com/teachers/autism.shtml

Personal Note:  I've had lots of ups and downs and doubted myself along the way with what we've done and how we've proceeded.  I think that's pretty normal.  Not only is each child unique but each family is unique too.  Even if two children were exactly the same, if they are in two different families, what works or helps will be different.  I think if homeschooling is something you have decided to do, you should know that you will have days where you think you just can't do it.  That you need to send your child back to school.  That may be true in some cases.  However, in talking to parents whose children are in public school, I stay happy overall with our decisions.  There are no miracles either way, just hard work and slow but steady progress.

FAQ-What about socialization?

Ahhhh, the dreaded question.  All homeschoolers face this question at some point either from themselves, their spouse, well-meaning relatives or ‘concerned friends’.   To answer this question one must first understand what socialization is.   Webster’s College Dictionary defines socialization as “a continuing process whereby an individual learns and assimilates the values and behavior patterns appropriate to his or her culture and social position”.  As parents we are all very concerned about how our children acquire their “values and behavior patterns”.  It is generally thought in our society that a child is not socialized unless he/she has attended public school.  However, that idea isn’t in line with the definition of socialization.  Let’s think about how we as adults socialize.  Do you always hang out with friends that are the same age as you?  When have you learned the most, when you are with same-age peers or when you’ve socialized with people from a variety of backgrounds and ages?  The same can be said of our children.  They can benefit from a homeschool social scene.  Most homeschool groups are comprised of young people from a variety of ages and backgrounds.  Older students learn to get along with and care for the younger ones.  Compare that with the attitude displayed in public school where the Freshman are made fun of simply because of their age and grade level.  Additionally, homeschool students receive socialization by being in public places such as libraries, parks and stores.  The majority of our lives are spent in these real life social situations, not the artificially created social scenes of public school. 

There are many things you can do to ensure that your student has interaction other than family members.  The best method is to seek out other homeschoolers.  Look for homeschool groups in your area.  Talk to parents at parks.  Many public park recreation departments have classes that your students can participate in.  There are 4-H clubs, music classes, dance classes, horseback riding etc.  Even more can be done when participating in a volunteer work.  Teens, especially, can volunteer at a local museum.  Visit all sorts of places on field trips and you will be exposed to a plethora of situations where your students can “assimilates the values and behavior patterns appropriate to his or her culture and social position”. 

So if someone asks you as a homeschooler, “What about socialization?” you can answer with confidence “Got that taken care of, thank you!”

http://school.familyeducation.com/home-schooling/human-relations/56224.html (article with some quoted research)

http://learninfreedom.org/socialization.html (a little more research)

FAQ-How do I schedule my day? How many hours should we school?

Once again I like to refer people to the internet for the many examples of daily/weekly schedules.  No family will have the exact same schedule.  The wonderful thing about homeschooling is that you can adapt it to your needs.  Generally, the younger students do better schooling in the morning.  With older students, there has been some research suggesting that they may do better getting started later in the day.  It doesn’t hurt to try different approaches until you find what works best for your family.  Some families do school work in the evenings or even weekends! 

 http://simplycharlottemason.com/planning/daily/(how to set up a Charlotte Mason daily schedule)

http://homeschooling.about.com/od/scheduling/a/dailyschedule.htm (click on individual names for more of their scheduling story)

http://www.chartjungle.com/schoolhome.html (free printable pages for you to fill in your schedule)

http://www.donnayoung.org/forms/help/schetips.htm  (scheduling tips and this website has lots of forms as well)

http://heartofwisdom.com/blog/homeschool-organization-morning-routine/  (with military precision)

http://thehomeschoolmagazine.com/TOSEBookSellSheets/Modules/10Planner/10Planner.htm  (an all encompassing planner that many homeschoolers use)

The length of time spent schooling during the day will vary.  Younger students may school for 1-2 hours per day while older students may spend 5 hours per day on their studies.  Another variable is the method of homeschooling you have chosen, in addition to the curriculum.  One piece of advice that I have found helpful (from Charlotte Mason) is to have short periods of instruction.  This serves the dual purpose of keeping the student engaged and focused as well as teaching the student the habit of attention.  If your student knows that they just have to focus on their spelling for say 5 minutes, then they are more inclined to concentrate and put a good amount of effort into those 5 minutes.  If you find your student dragging a math lesson out to half the morning, set a timer.  Currently, my 5 year old son can only focus on math for 10 minutes.  Once he goes over 10 minutes he starts dropping pencils, falling off his seat and mentally heading off into la la land.  In time, I will increase his math allotment to 15 minutes, then 20 minutes, etc.  Sometimes your scheduling must be a building process.   It’s no fun to nag or be nagged at to stay on track.  Short lessons help solve that problem.

As you can see, there is great variety in how people homeschool.  Please remember to use what works for your family.  Time, trial and yes, sometimes error, will get you to your 'sweet spot'.

FAQ-What will it cost?

The cost of homeschooling is a completely individual thing.  A boxed curriculum will usually cost you more money per year.  Piecing together your own curriculum can cause a wide variety of costs.  There are a number of websites and books that you can find on how to homeschool for less.  Additionally, there are tons of websites for printing free worksheets.  The library is also an invaluable resource.  Basically, you can spend as much or as little as you wish.

Here are two websites where you can look at homeschooling on a budget.  Please note that this is general info.  I don't claim to agree with everything written.

http://www.betterbudgeting.com/articles/parenting/homeschoolingcheap.htm

http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/weblinks/livelihood.htm

My personal notes:  I do think you can homeschool for very little if needed.  Since I use the Charlotte Mason method and the curriculum available at Ambleside Online, I have found much of the material is available for free online.  Many older literature books are online and in audio form.  I have found librivox.org to be very useful in our home.  

That being said, I have found that at most I have spent $1000 one year and as little as $100 a different year.  This is what I meant earlier when I said that putting together your own curriculum can vary greatly in cost.  I will tell you that my most expensive year has been at a homeschool convention.  Hah!  Those conventions can be traps if you don't go knowing exactly what you want.  That one year I didn't.  In subsequent years, I've gone to the convention with a specific list in hand and I did much better.  

The longer you are at your homeschooling experience the better you will get at assessing your real needs and can go from there.  As is common among over achieving mothers, we can be a bit overconfident at how much can be accomplished in one year.  You'll get the hang of it with a little practice.

FAQ-So we've deschooled, decided to skip deschooling or my child has never been in school, now what?

Research and decide upon the homeschooling method that suits you and your children.  This is important because there is a lot of information and homeschool material out there.  Knowing the method that you choose to teach with will help you to weed out curriculum and other materials.  You will more or less know by looking at a product if it fits in with your method of teaching.  Here are some popular homeschooling methods:

• Traditional:  This is basically public school at home.  You have a full, set curriculum, which requires grading, and careful record keeping.  Usually comes in a ‘boxed’ curriculum format—meaning everything for Grade 2 is bought as one package. 
• Classical Education:  Based on a three-part system called the Trivium.  Stages are Fact Absorption (Grammar stage), then Thinking through Arguments (Logic stage), then finally learning to Express themselves (Rhetoric stage). 
• Charlotte Mason Education:  This method encourages ‘real-life’ learning.  Geography, history and literature are taught from ‘living books’ that make the learning come alive.  Study of nature, art, music and handicrafts are considered necessary, as is outdoor playtime. 
•  Unit Studies:  This is when all subjects to be taught are centered on a theme.  For instance, the student would learn math, geography, etc through his study of insects or whatever is the current theme. 
•  Eclectic Education:  The parent takes bits and pieces of many different methods to formulate their own teaching method. 
• Un-schooling:  Also referred to as Natural Learning.  This is a child-led way of educating.  There is a great variation in the ‘true’ definition of un-schooling and many explanations of how others go about it. 
•  Montessori Method:  An education method based on theories of child development.  Mainly used in pre-k and elementary settings.  This method places importance on the child being provided with many manipulatives and physical experiences to foster self-directed learning.

I know this is a lot, but don’t let it overwhelm you.  Just start by learning the basics of each method and narrow it down to a couple that feel comfortable for you.  Then you can study those two in more depth.  It’s also highly likely that what you start out with will not be the only method you use in your homeschool career.  Many start out with Traditional homeschooling and gradually change over to one of the other methods that suit them better.  Don’t be afraid to make changes! 

Blossom, Odie and Osita

This is Blossom.  She is a mix of Chihuahua, Pug and Dachshund.  She's about 11 lbs of pure spunk!  We had her and Odie (her brother--they are both 1 yr old) in the dog pen which is made from field fence.  We lined it with chicken wire because she was so tiny she could get out.  Then she started climbing the fence and hopping out.  In December when we had our first snow, she got out of our main fence and wandered near the road.  We think she got side swiped by a car because she was freaked out and bleeding when I found her.  She was also in shock.  So she stayed overnight at the doggy hospital with a busted ear drum.  She was on meds for two weeks.  Free dog that wasn't so free.  Yikes! 

After that I had to spend a week or two doing rehab with her.  She was absolutely terrified of being outside the house.  Wouldn't even go out to potty.  The way I treated it was to stay outside with her for periods of time.  Especially at meal time, I started 'bread trailing' her food.  I started very close to the house dropping pieces of food here and there and then gradually got her farther and farther away.  By the time she was done with her meds, she was back to normal with her behavior.  I was very thankful that she had no permanent or lasting damage either physically or psychologically.  So now we have the underground fencing going thru the regular fencing and she wears that collar.  She just never got big enough to not fit thru the field fencing we've had for years.  Oh well.  One exciting year after another, right?

 This is her brother, Odie (about 20lbs).  This is Tigger's dog.  Really he didn't turn out to a kid dog but he's ok.  Tigger loves him and that's what matters.  I've nick named him Chicken Little.  In these pics, he keeps licking the air because he's afraid of the camera.  He's also afraid of the water hose, the rake, the broom.....you get the idea.  He basically just goes off to find a 'safe' place when I have one of those in hand.  Strange thing though, he sat within a few feet of The King on this day while he was using a power saw.  Dogs are just weird.

 

 

 This is our old girl, Osita.  She's 8 years old and weighs in around 30-35 lbs.  We got her from a relative who found her as a stray off on her own.  She came to us a few months after Tigger.  LOL  But, she is Pooh's dog through and through.  She's a mutt but I've been told she looks like a Carolina Dingo and she definitely has the look from what I've seen online.  She also has a blue spot on her tongue so they wouldn't consider her pure bred Dingo even if she were.  I don't know what the deal with the spot is but that's what their website said.

So that's our pack.  They all do pretty well together.  Osita never gave us a problem when we got the puppies.  She's a good-natured girl.   Hopefully, life will settle down with all of them and be fairly boring for the next few years.