I Need Info on How to Begin Home Schooling.

hi C.. i too am worried about when my daughter starts school. she is only 2 right now. but we live in the same school district that her father and i attended. you may remember hearing about a middle school principal being shot by one of his students a few years back? that was one of my old principals :o( my younger brother also attended this school district and it was not just that one isolated event. one of his classmates committed suicide. they have a police officer that works at the high school, but there were many bomb threats, drugs, so many different things i could get into. this school district is not inner city or anything either. it baffles me how drastically times are changing.

my aunt home schools her girls through an online school, its called common wealth connections i think. you could google it if you want. she is very successful with that. and her girls are very well mannered and behaved. they are more social and involved in activities than most kids i know, home schooled or not. so its all up to the parents i think.

but we are considering home schooling or private schooling as well, like a Montessori. not to take anything away from my child. and not to keep her with me or cling to her or anything like that. but just b/c of all of the awful things that have happened in our district. i want my child to be safe, and have a good experience and i am not confident she will get that in a district with so many unfortunate mishaps.

i wish you much luck in deciding what is right for your family. and i hope i didnt scare you with my post. not all school districts are like the one we live in. honestly i would never have thought ours would be either, its mostly country area.

Hi C.,
Check with the Board of Education for your township as to the rules for home schooling. My son was very unhappy in his first years at school (he got a stomach ache every morning when it was time to go catch the school bus), so I home schooled him in second grade. The principal at his (public) school loaned me text books and everything as if my son was in a class room there. This cooperative attitude helped a lot when my son returned to school for third grade, the following year. I also received curriculum guidelines for that grade level in each of his core courses, which I found to be helpful. What made it such a great success though, is the fun we had together. When we baked banana bread, he would find the recipe on line (computer skills), make a list (writing/reading) of ingredients that we would get at the store, estimate the price (math) of each and add up the list for the amount of money he would need to bring. Life is the best school. Then he measured (science) and mixed the ingredients and we cleaned up while it was baking. He also had private piano lessons and loved to practice during the day. We rode the bus to his piano teacher and we talked about stuff.
We joined a group of home schoolers in our community that did group activities together like ice skating, museum field trips, sleepovers. I have to say that the children that were home schooled were extremely well adjusted and interested in learning, and did not act out to get attention in inappropriate ways, as I have seen in schools. Unfortunately, socialization has a lot to do with knowing how to behave when others are behaving inappropriately. Children can be very hurtful. As an only child, your daughter might not experience this (due to your intervention) and be overly sensitive.
Good luck!
N

I started homeschooling this year. I have two daughters ages 5 and 2. When you start it will be a lot of trial and error until you find the style of teaching that fits your family. If you google homeschooling it will give you a lot of different websites that can help you plan. Also I would suggest googling homeschooling in your state and that can help you find out what the state requires. We have joined a Co-op group and my daughter goes every Friday for 2 hours. She really likes it and it lets her know that there are other kids that are homeschooled and it gives me some other mommy connections for homeschooling. Here are a few websites that might help you out:
http://homeschoolinformation.com/ http://www.youcanhomeschool.org/starthere/tips.asp http://www.letshomeschool.com/

If you need anything please let me know. A good magazine is the Old Schoolhouse. It has a lot of great ideas and if you sign up for some of there newsletters you can get a lot of great ideas too. Hope this helps.

A.

My oldest will start school next year, too. We were considering homeschooling until we heard about cyber charter school. It's similar to homeschooling, but there is an actual teacher that you and your child would be in contact with. Here's a link to the one we're considering in case you want to check it out as another possible option. They give you a computer and will reimburse you a portion of your internet fees (as do most if not all cyber charter schools).

http://www.k12.com/agora/

Hi, I been home schooling with Connections academy for about four years. I did because our school district is not very good. I choose Connections Academy because they have certified teachers, they give you the books and computers for each child. The only thing I question with you is that you baby sit, and it maybe a little hard to do that and try to give your child the support she needs. I use to baby sit my sisters kids and it was very hard to do both. I liked the idea of doing it with a virtual school. You follow the cirriculm that's grade appropiate for your child. They also have a system where you can contact your childs teacher at any time for support and help.
I am sure you will do what is best for your child and family.

C.,
It's great that you are considering homeschooling. For pre-K and K, there's nothing "official" you need to do to get started. In fact, you don't need to report your homeschool program until your child is 8 y/o, this is the compulsary age for school in PA. So for now, I would just encourage you to think start with some simple goals for what you'd like your daughter to learn at this age and go from there. At her young age, doing as much as she can using all her five senses - is not only important but a fun way to learn. You do not need to spend time sitting at lessons but rather doing a lot of enriching activities. You can however, get your hands on preschool workbooks that are even available at dollar store, so she can practice writing her letters, etc.
I recommend Pauline's website "www.askpauline.com" for more detailed info on homeschooling in Pa. Good luck and God bless!

Hello C.,

You might want to consider Cyber Charter schools. My son is enrolled through PACyber Charter. It's somewhat like homeschooling but you don't have to worry about if you are keeping up with your state requirements.
PACyber provides you with a computer, printer, internet reimbursement, PE allowance and all the books for classes. They are headquartered out of Midland, PA but have an office off of 95 near the Philly airport where they hold art classes, dance classes and other optional classes such as architecture, spelling bee, geography bee, earth science, etc. which allows the kids to meet other kids in the program.
They have a variety of programs available, so you can pick what would best fit your child. You can choose from a self study program (Lincoln) where the student can move ahead as fast as need to in any subject, or choose a more traditional class with an actual teacher and class time somewhat like a teleconference using the computer. They also offer Calvert. Their programs go from preschool to 12th grade. They also run field trips and family activities such as bowling and ski trips.
Here's a link to their website: http://www.pacyber.org
Good luck with your decision. It has been wonderful for us to have the Cyber option available to our son.

Go to www.HSLDA.org for info about the laws in your state. www.chaponline.com is also a great resource for forms and laws. YOu can also find homeschool support groups in your local area. You will learn a lot from them
V.

Dear C.,
Home schooling will allow you to make decisions about the education your child receives. As long as you and your husband agree with home schooling, it will work for you. The important thing is that you are in agreement as to the education she is to receive and the people you trust to educate her. Nowadays, there are no guarantees. I wish I had home schooling as an option.
This is very important that you and your husband agree!
My child was in a Montessori program and loved it....they should have had it through the upper grades.
Good luck with the raising of your daughter.
E.

Please be very selective if you are going to homeschool. It is not for all kids. the kids in the country get no interaction with their peers. It can be very lonely and depressing for a child. My friend has 3 kids and used one home school system last year, and spend so much on paper, ink and postage (they don't tell you this up front). all 3 kids failed because she didn't have the $$ to buy the ink. She also had to take them almost 2 hours away to take their tests.
If you are going to set there and keep her attention focused - then it might work. My daughter would hate it! She is a social butterfly (who just took her SAT today - 2nd time to improve score). We thought about homeschooling her - but our district isn't very good about letting homeschooled kids participate in activities (band, choir, drama, musicals, model UN, etc.) The school has so many more opportunites for your child to grow - but there too - YOU will also need to be involved to make all learning positive. Become involved in the PTA, Scouts, sports and music. If your child knows they can count on you, learning will be much easier on her.
You need to choose not only what is right for you - but your child. Each child is different. Good Luck

It scares how many people are leaning toward home-schooling in this country, so I encourage you to really think about why you want to go that route. I've seen a number of parents who home-school because they can't let go or have a need to control their child's experience, but don't those kids need to get out on their own at some point? Some parents think they can do better than their school options, but based on what measures? Some parents are concerned with their children's socialization habits, but isn't that all the more reason to encourage them to practice those skills? I guess you can tell that my preference is for parents to work with the formal school system to enhance the education that your child receives not to replace it, so here are my key reasons . . .

After years in a corporate environment, I truly believe that the interactions that kids get in a formal school setting are critical to future success in the work force and society at large. The moms I know who home-school say that their children interact with other kids in structured settings like sports or other extra-curricular activities. However, the dynamics in those settings are completely different than they are in the classroom. Home-schooled children also get to learn only in the environment that they prefer, because their parents tend to cater toward their learning styles (this is human nature, even if one tries very hard to avoid it). Learning from many different teachers is important to ensure that children develop the ability to thrive (or at least survive) in a setting that doesn't come easily to them -- not everything in life will come easy to them. OK, I guess I should get off my soap-box now ;)

I rarely offer this viewpoint, because many have already made up their minds. Because you asked for cons, I wanted to offer up a few. This isn't to say that home-schooling isn't right for your family - just that you and your husband need to weigh all the reasons for and against, and that you should continue to re-evaluate whatever decision you make as your daughter matures and her learning needs change. Lots to think about so good luck!

I just have to say that the socialization reason for not homeschooling is a complete and utter myth. Research has shown that children do no differently whether they are home schooled or in a public school. If they never ever saw anyone then yes that may be an issue but with so many opportunities for other activities there are plenty of chances for your child to socialize with other children. It will not and cannot be proven to hinder them in the slightest.

There is also a stigma about home school children being out of step and nerdy. Again, you have to consider that there are many special needs children that are home schooled including autistic and gifted children that also have autism. They may account for some of the 'quirkiness' that others may perceive.

There are many success stories with homeschooling and more and many go on to attend college and do quite well for themselves. At this age I have no idea how you could get homeschooling wrong. Look at the websites others have listed and you will love doing it!