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. 

FAQ-What if my child is currently in public school?

After you address the legal issues, you may wish to take a few months to do some ‘de-schooling’.  (It is generally recommended to De-school one month for every year the child has attended public school. That may not be necessary in all cases though.)  De-schooling basically allows your child to let go of the rigor and expectations of public school.  They are no longer required to rush from one subject to the next without having time to digest the information.  They are adjusting to not being graded over every thing.  They are able to relax and see that they can learn things in a more natural way, from real life.  This doesn’t mean they sit around watching TV and playing video games all day.

Some things you can do during your de-schooling time are:

•  Field Trips to museums, science centers, etc. 
• Reading together.  This means in a relaxed way, not with constant questioning to ensure comprehension.  Make weekly trips to the library for reading material. 
• Nature Study 
•  Pursuing Hobbies such as woodworking, rock collecting, etc. 
•  Learn Life Skills such as cooking, gardening, etc. 
• Talking and Listening.  This should be a time to reconnect with your child.  Work on your relationship before becoming the teacher.

Keep in mind that a lot of the de-schooling information out there is described in preparation for ‘un-schooling’.  However, many families who choose other homeschool methods still have a period of de-schooling before they begin their new curriculum.  You can also use your de-schooling time to take care of the next step—Homeschooling Methods.

Some experiences can be found here and here.

Patio Project

Last we brought home some dilapidated wicker furniture that had about had its day.   The cushions were disgusting so I tossed those.  One week during the fall I did my best to strip the wicker of its old paint using a type of wire brush The King got me from Lowes and the jet spray on my water hose.  It did a fairly decent job, but I soon realized there was no way I was going to get all that paint off. 

Then it got cold out and I sort of let it sit in limbo until this past month.  I used primer and a paintbrush to do the majority of it.  It takes a while.  Once that was done I started using white outdoor spray paint and did some of the tiny areas and grooves.  After that, I used an outdoor clear sealer and sprayed them all down.  I hope it holds fairly well.

Here is the new patio set up in all it's glory! 

 That's my rain barrel in the background.  It works wonderfully at helping me keep my patio plants watered.  The recent lack of rain hasn't been helping keep it full too well, though.

 That ac unit isn't going to be there permanently.

I haven't decided for sure yet what I'll be doing about new cushions.  The budget is tight right now, so I won't be paying $80-$100 for a new set of outdoor ones.  At best I'll get a nice set at a very good end of season price.  At worst, which really isn't that bad, is to get some cheaper indoor cushions and keep them in the greenhouse when we aren't sitting on them.  That will require me to have the memory to put them away after each outdoor jaunt.  Let's hope I find a good end of season sale. 

FAQ-How do I start? What about testing?

Go here to find your state and look up the info on the laws you need to know.  Each state is different.  I'm in a moderately regulated state.  I have to keep attendance records and have my boys tested yearly.  I keep those records on file for each year.  I have the choice of home visits or sending in copies each year.  Most homeschoolers in my state choose to send in their info.

It is best to get your information from your state website for several reasons.  One is that we are all busy parents homeschooling our children and it is a kindness to not impose a long list of already answered questions to another mother with a busy schedule.  Secondly, laws can change.  It is best to go directly to the legal source.  Thirdly, as mothers we don’t always have the best memory and we wouldn’t want to cause problems by giving out information that wasn’t quite right.  

It is always best to understand the rules and regulations yourself instead of relying on others.  Can you tell this is a bit of a pet peeve of mine?  I don't mind helping new homeschoolers, really.  However, in almost every case I've done so, I've had to reexplain the same thing several times, mentioning the website several times.  Go to your state website first and ask questions about the things that may be a little unclear after that!

All your veteran homeschool moms will love you for that. 

FAQ-How can I build confidence that I can really homeschool my kids?

Time is your friend.  Nobody feels comfortable with homeschooling in the beginning.  Especially for the first year, you will be on a trial and error basis.  You will discover some of your fabulous ideas just aren’t working.  New information will come your way that will work better for your family.  

Take the time to read up on homeschooling.  (You will see that I recommend this in many cases as there is just no way to address the vastness of information on child education in this FAQ series or even verbally.)  There are many ways of going about it-none of them completely right or wrong.  Sometimes you come across another homeschool mom or two who are very passionate about their method of homeschooling.  It is wonderful that they are happy with how things are going for them, but don’t let it dissuade you from something that is working better in your family. 

Your homeschool is unique.  Don’t compare yourself with others.  Every family will find their own rhythm and will be pursuing a course that is best for them.   Some families thrive on strict routine, others need spontaneity.  Some families are musically inclined; others are ‘Give me literature or bust!’.  Then you have eclectic families who are doing a bit of this and that.   Uniqueness is a gift, so I encourage you to revel in yours!  Highlight it!  Put it on a t-shirt and wear it!

FAQ-How do I know if I can homeschool?

The best way to determine if your family is ready to be a homeschool family is to gather information and discuss it.  There are many sources of homeschool information in book form and on the web.  Make Google your friend.  Most answers can be found through a Google search.  Some things to think about are:

•  Am I committed to making it a success? 
• Can I follow through with decisions I make and a schedule?
• Do I have my spouse’s support?
• Can we reasonably change our financial circumstances?  (For many homeschooling means that a previously working parent stops working, but this may not be the case for all.)
• Does my health permit it?

Many parents find themselves asking their children what they think.  While this isn’t a bad idea, the decision of whether or not you will become a homeschooling family is the parents’ decision.  It is okay to decide something that the children won’t like at first.  They may have erroneous ideas about what homeschooling will be like.  If they are currently in public school, they may feel like they will be isolated or they may feel made fun of for becoming a homeschooled child.  (We will address socialization later.) 

Once you have decided that this is something you can do, present the facts to the children in a positive way.  Find out their concerns and then make sure you address those needs.  New things can be frightening.  Commit to homeschooling for at least one full school year (barring any emergencies).  Any new project (moving, new job, new school) requires a generous amount of adjustment time.

Know that you CAN do this!  Seek out support through local homeschool groups and friends.  Perhaps you can find a homeschool ‘buddy’.