Information on Home Schooling

First off, it's never too late to homeschool any of your children, no matter how old they are!

Second, yes - you can do this! One of the coolest things about homeschooling is that it is totally customizable not only to your children's learning style and your teaching style, but also to the whole family's lifestyle. There are basic rules that you follow with your state, but after that - pretty much what you say goes. There is no law that says you can't homeschool in the evening after you're home from work.

The way that you're going to convince your husband is through having all the facts straight and in order. Continue doing your research and check out all of your homeschooling options. When you gather the info and present it to him, surely he will only be able to see the positives of it all!

Some sources for you:

A book in getting started. It extensively goes through just about every HSing approach out there. Check to see if your library has it: http://www.amazon.com/Prides-Complete-Getting-Started-Hom...

Chat it up with other HSing families online: http://www.thehomeschoollounge.com/

HSLDA - Advocates for HSing and a good source for info on your state, as well as the rest of the country: http://www.hslda.org/Default.asp?bhcp=1

Also, do a Google search for Maryland Homeschooling and see what all you come up with. There is a wealth of information out there!

~Best wishes!~

I can't give you alot of information on homeschooling. I agree with you schools these days. My daughter is in kindergarten. I have been teaching her at home since she was born. I started reading to her EVERY night the day she was born and could get away with me. We extended that to teaching to sound out letters and than finally on to words. I teach her on the way to the store in the car and when I'm on the computer I read her what is going on and she learns from it. I have a game called JUMPSTART Kindergarten WORLD. Which she's not on to 1st Grade WORLD. I haven't so much not sent her to school I've complemented it with my own. She started kindergarten last year knowing how to read, spell and even add and subtract. She was on an advanced 1st grade level on reading already. So I pride myself in that. (Actually both of us) But she still get the benefits of the school. Leaning the social side of things and what i don't teach she still learns. My daughter would be lost without school since she is SOOOOO social and feels alone when she's not in school. But it also gives me a chance to work when i need to. Good luck

Be careful of the homeschooling laws in Maryland. They say that the parent has to be responsible for the majority of the child's education. I'm a 9 year homeschooling veteran and I am at home, but I do know parents that work full time and homeschool. I would think from experience that K and 1st grade would be easy to work around your schedule and then there are computer and cd courses for the older ones (and YES you can pull your oldest and homeschool him!) but those in between years may be tricky when the hours add up. Is there any way that you can work the second shift instead so you were home most of the day? My husband wasn't on board at first either, but my 16 year old was homeschooled for 8 years and is a kind, well mannered boy who just finished his first year in a private high school (he wanted to play sports there as he is an athlete) and he got straight A's and a ton of honors. I am now homeschooling my 4 year old and plan to do so until high school as well. Good luck and feel free to email me personally if you have any questions on homeschooling issues. I'd be glad to help. C. ____@____.com

--The benefits of home-schooling as far as researchers can tell come from two things:
1) being in an environment where most of their role models are adults, not other kids.
2) being schooled by parents, who instinctively tailor their teaching style to their kids.

When you first mentioned home-schooling your child while working full time, I thought you meant doing the schooling with your husband before and after work. That *is* doable, especially if you have a flexible work schedule. But I guess you meant sending him to someone else's house the whole time you are at work?... errrr... that's not really home-schooling. Sorry. If the kids there outnumber adults, you won't get benefit #1 above. And if you aren't doing it yourself, you won't get benefit #2. Occasionally, regularly sharing with another family for special lessons like music or Spanish and taking turns using different homes is great for homeschoolers. Expecting another family to educate your child full time for free? No. That is like sending him to a very small, unlicensed private school. Does their insurance cover him if there is an accident? Their car insurance? What if he is hurt by an adult there or another child? Are you going to be able to reciprocate and take care of their kids 40 hours a week every other week? Do something else comparable? Some kind of reciprocity is usually involved.

If you want to do it yourself before and after work and on weekends, that is doable. Here is why:

When homeschooling, little actual time needs to be spent sitting down with the little person doing academics in the traditional sense. Homeschooling is super-efficient in terms of using time. No time is wasted for busywork like coloring, waiting for the slow kids, waiting for the late kids, being lost because the lesson is going too fast, moving between rooms, lunch hour, assemblies, summer vacations, that kind of thing. All you need, really, is about two-three hours a day for close attention to reading, writing, and stuff like that. The rest of the time the little person plays and does self-directed learning. Is he interested in bugs? He gets a microscope, books, and a net. Stars? A telescope, books, and bunch of glowing stars to install in his room. He'll need lots of time to play with other kids, too.

This will be obviously easier if you and your husband can get flexible work schedules and/or one of you switches to part time work. The older kids can also do lessons (this will be great for all of them). It is best to set aside morning hours before you go to work, for this more traditional hands-on teaching. Little people do not learn well at night when they are tired.

Also, what does he do while you are both at work? He can't stay home by himself. You'll need a babysitter or a nanny, unless you can work from home while he is there.

The best way to convince your husband if the research doesn't do it, is to get him to agree to try it for one or two years. The little person is still young enough that even if it doesn't work out it will be just fine.

In Maryland, legally at least one parent must be the primary educator to be considered homeschooling. But, no one else should be instructing your child daily for the majority of his lessons. (Co-ops are described below.) If you might meet someone who offers to "homeschool" your children for a fee, that is an illegal school in MD. And, if you have a high schooler, you will want to be in compliance so that when it comes time for transcripts, etc., you can produce the documents he will need to further his career goals. As for teaching support systems, there are several venues open to high schoolers: there are courses offered at community colleges and co-ops. A co-op is a group of families who meet either once or twice per week to teach their students together a select group of subjects. There are at least two core subjects that are not included in that co-op. Some co-ops are virtual (computer-based) and some meet at churches. But, if you continue to work full-time in the daytime and your husband works, you might not be able to participate. Co-ops meet during school hours and some require parents to teach at least one class or serve as a volunteer. A tutorial is a program that hires professional educators to teach several specialty subjects; however, again, they do not teach all subjects. Most will leave either math or grammar to you. Anything structured differently is a school. Yes, there are computer-based programs, but then your child misses out on positive peer interaction/human interaction. High schoolers also have hours that must be counted to equal an actual credit. Anyway, I wouldn't advise the computer as my sole homeschool method for either a preschooler nor for a teen in the first year. There are also emotional/spiritual support systems and resources, which I can offer offline if you need them.

As for whether or not you can work and homeschool--Yes, You Can! Well, at least after you consider some things. What type of career do you have? Is there enough flexibility built in or is it deadline oriented? Frequent meetings? Travel? It can be done, but it's not comfortable. You have to plan for the chaos that could ensue no matter the choice you make. If you homeschool your 4-year-old and not your older child, you still have obligations to the PTA, your job, and your family, now ALL while you have to spend the time teaching your preschooler. You will still have to do lesson plans and take on the role of an entire school!? It can be done, but do so with eyes wide open.

The first year is the hardest for so many reasons. But, once you get into a rhythm, you wonder why you didn't choose home education sooner. As for pulling out your teen, I have heard of people who begin homeschooling with teens, and it's hard. You need a period to adjust as a family, and depending on your teen's grade level, you lose that relaxation when you know you soon have to prepare for SAT, prom, higher level courses & recordkeeping, transcripts, etc. This is my opinion.

How to sell this to your husband? There is a convention at the Dulles Expo Center on July 10 and 11. Google NOVA Homeschool Convention. Maybe you could take your husband, though the conventions tend to be a bit overwhelming. There are workshops and vendors who offer discounts, but I wouldn't buy anything at that time. You can find more resources with deeper discounts used online. If you want to learn more about home education in MD, a workshop is scheduled for Saturday, July 25, 11 am-1 pm, at the Accokeek Library. Pick up a flier. Hear from a county representative some of the rules and challenges in homeschooling. There are tons of books out there, and again, the co-ops. If you decide to homeschool, send an email to me offline and I'll send you links to Web sites and more resources.

Meanwhile, as you research home education, be realistic. Present the pros and cons to your husband. Finances, time management, and socialization are real challenges of life anyway. You'll need your husband's buy-in, because if he's not onboard, it's double the challenge. Schools have substitute teachers. You might not for a while. Add to that your full-time job requirements and deadlines, and it gets really complicated.

I advocate home education, but I'm not against institutionalized instruction. Research private school for your preschooler. Some offer scholarships. If you still want to homeschool, don't be surprised if your teen thinks you've lost your mind and resists, especially if he had dreams of avoiding homework, sleeping late, eating and watching TV and video games all day. My son was shocked when he found homeschool to be harder because he couldn't hide behind any of his classmates and had to really pay attention and answer questions. LOL

Hi there,

Not sure what state you are in but there are LOTS of resources out there. One that comes to mind is vahomeschoolers.org there are also many lists if you look at yahoo groups for homeschooling. I have been homeschooling officially for just one year but am happy to help out if I can. My email is ____@____.com, let me know if I can be helpful.

Take care, S.

Everything you want to do is possible, even homeschooling your older children. BTW, if they are home during the day, you can leave your youngest with them. Your oldest is fully old enough to be legally responsible for his little brother during daylight hours. So they stay home and have fun, the boys do chores and play with their little brother and you break out the books when you get home (homeschooling gives you the flexibility to keep odd hours and write your own schedule, just think outside the box :). I'll bet that your oldest will soon be coaching and helping to educate his younger siblings. Homeschooling just makes kids responsible like that.

Next, get yourself a copy of "The Homeschooling Book of Answers" by Linda Dobson. It's a fantastic book full of inspiration, backbone and great advice and resources. Borders carries most of the best (I think) books on homeschooling and the ones they don't have, you can find on Amazon. BTW, you don't NEED any books, homeschooling is about doing what YOU feel is right for your own children, not what someone else thinks is right. However I found that this book gave me peace of mind that I was doing the right thing and some great ideas for expanding our horizons.

YOU CAN DO THIS!!! Message me if you'd like some homeschool chat, or even just a pep talk. It really will immensely benefit your entire family and you'll be glad you did it. If you want, message me your e-mail address and I'll e-mail you my extensive list of reasons to homeschool AND reasons to keep your kids out of public school...maybe this can help you convince your husband.

_________________________________________________________

Please do message me, I get the sense that you're thinking this has to be done a certain way, and that's incorrect. Homeschooling is all about FREEDOM! :) It's fantastic! And FYI, I just homeschooled my oldest son through first grade and here are a couple of interesting facts: 1.) we only spent about 2-3 hours per week on formal lessons, the rest of the time was spent on fun (a.k.a. educational-although he didn't know it) activities driven by his interest which encouraged him to push his own limits. 2.) At the end of the year I chose to administer a standardized test for our proof of progress (which I probably won't do next year because I don't like the labels these things engender) and he scored more than two grade levels above first grade on EVERY subject. (may I remind you that we spent 2-3 hours PER WEEK on lessons and sometimes not even that.)

Kids are natural born learners, homeschooling allows us to preserve this love of exploration whereas public school is all too likely to crush it.

OK, I think I'm finished for now, but I'll have a lot more to say if you want to hear it! :)

Hi A., There's a good book called The Socialization Trap by Rick Boyer for about $10 that supports Home Education and quotes public school teachers of the year, gives hard statistics on literacy and teen pregnancy, etc. that may help you talk to your husband. I also like Lorraine Curry's Easy Homeschooling Techniques for organization, easy startup, etc. There is a method called Robinson that you could use for your older son where he reads books while you are working and you talk about them when you get home. YOU CAN DO IT! D.

A.,

I work as a homeschooling consultant. I have my masters in education (curriculum and instructional development) and have homeschooled all of my six kids the last 12 years. I would be happy to help you through the process.

S. DuShaw

hi A.,
yes, you can homeschool both your high schooler and your pre-schooler while working full time, it's just going to be more of a challenge.
here's a great website for you to poke about while you're making up your mind.
http://www.homeschoolinginmaryland.com/
don't get too hung up in the law that states the parent has to be responsible for the majority of the child's education. it's great when that can happen, of course, but the law can also be interpreted rationally as meaning that the parent is 100% responsible for deciding how their child will be educated and hiring some professionals to help them out with that. hasn't yet been challenged definitively and hopefully you won't have to be the one to do that, but don't be afraid to utilize co-ops and formal homeschool academies to supplement (heavily) what you do at home, assuming you can afford it.
i started homeschooling my older kid halfway through 9th grade, the younger in 5th. i wish i'd started 'em earlier too, but you figure it out when you figure it out. if you pull the older boy out, give him some time to de-school. i highly recommend the teenage liberation handbook by grace llewelyn.
i worked a fairly heavy part-time schedule while my boys homeschooled and it WAS a challenge. fortunately i had a fantastic network of friends and a couple of great co-ops, so my kids had a neat balance of working independently at home, coming to work with me and doing educational projects there, studying with friends, and purely social activities, all while i worked. you need to develop a strong community of people you trust, and even more important, you have to trust your kids. learning happens even when worksheets aren't being filled out and textbooks aren't being cracked, and that's very hard for traditional-ed folks like myself to wrap their heads around.
from time to time i'd shriek 'DO SOME WORKSHEETS!!! I HAVE TO HAVE SOME WORKSHEETS!' and my boys would grin and comply. but my trust in them was totally borne out. both are now in college, and both made dean's list last semester.
getting your husband's support is crucial (mine was also extremely skeptical at the beginning) and seeing if you can tweak your hours so one of you is with 'em more would be ideal too. the statistics on homeschooled kids are readily available. the socialization question (the most pressing one most non-homeschoolers bring up) is a non-starter.......socialization in schools is harder than ever now with rules that prevent anyone from touching each other, lunch rooms that have pre-arranged seating and fewer recesses and opportunities to hang out. now, my homeschool community is very relaxed, liberal and secular so it may be different in very religious communities, but i don't know any kids who are stuck at a desk at home toiling away in lonesome misery. the homeschooled kids i know spend more days with friends than alone, but are also comfortable and confident with being alone. they don't only have friends in their age-peer group, but are used to doing things with all ages from newborns to adults and know how to interact and converse with any of 'em.
also, try to relax if it seems as if your kids are having 'too much fun.' if you can sit on your hands and let them be, you too can have one of the best experiences a homeschooling parent can have- when your kid comes to you and says 'i'm kinda tired of video games and think it's time i worked on math. can we go look at curricula?'
it was the single best parenting decision i ever made, even if i did it late and with working i had more challenges than many.
good luck!
:) khairete
S.

You are a mother much like me. I wish it was as easy as me being a stay at home mom. Evn though my husband says this is an optiom, reality sets in and it is really not. We need both incomes to make ends meet. I served in the military for 18 years and now in law enforcement. I thought this would be easier, but i dont have the support of family here in Md, it is just us me and my husband. I don't know what to do. I am determined to give my kids the life and resources to obtain that life. I hope that i will find appropiate child care and schooling for them all. My little wonders who are 9, 7, and 4. Little steps I call them (smile). Good luck with your children as well.