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Your decision to home school your child will be a challenging one to make. Numerous parents
wonder if it is the suitalbe thing to do.
Numbers of them wonder if their
children can get the stipulated “grade” of education if they are homeschooled. There are numbers of
reasons why parents choose to homeschool their kids. For any number of them it is because they
would like to add religious content to their children’s learning experience. Making a decision to
home school is normally a very crucial one and it is not a decision to be thought of indifferently.
It is a private decision that no friend or relative can make for you, but perhaps I can advise you
in the thought process by providing you with a comprehensive guide to making the selection to
homeschool your kids a appropriate one. When making the homeschool decision, you must first
consider all the facts.
1. Time commitment that is involved. Homeschooling has a tendency to take up a lot of
time in your day. It involves more than only sitting down with books for a couple of hours. There
are experiments and tasks that have to be done, lessons to prepare, papers to grade, field trips,
park days, music lessons, and the list just never ends. You can go online and search for some
sample schedules that will help to give you an idea of a typical day.
2. Personal sacrifice. The homeschooling parent has very little personal time or time
alone and away from their children. If a lot of care is not taken to set aside time for yourself,
it is easy for the parent to feel overwhelmed. Basically, the parent and child are together 24
hours a day , and this can get frustrating on both sides.
3. Financial problems can arise. Homeschooling can be accomplished with very little cost
to you; however , it usually requires that the teaching parent will not be working out of the home.
Some sacrifices will need to be made if the family is used to two incomes. Of course , if you are a
single parent, this could pose an even bigger problem.
4. Time for socialization. More attention will need to be given to getting your children
together with his/her peers. The best part of homeschooling is being able to have more control of
the social contacts your child makes. However , the downside is that you must prepare your child
yourself on how to socialize with other kids. Homeschooling has a tendency to make your child feel
isolated.
5. Household organization is harder. Housework and laundry and other household duties
will still have to be done , but it probably won't get done first thing in the morning. If you are
a neat freak , you might be in for a big surprise. Not only does housework need to be let go at
times , but homeschooling creates messes and clutter on its own. You will have to get organized so
that you can keep your home together.
6. Both parents must agree to it. It is important that both parents agree to
homeschooling. It is very difficult for this to work if one of the parents is against it. If you
spouse is against it at this time , try doing more research and talking to more people so that you
can be absolutely certain it is something that both of you can agree upon. Otherwise , the chances
for success are much smaller.
7. Your child has to be willing. A willing student is crucial to the success of
homeschooling. Ultimately , the decision is the parents to make , but if your child is dead against
it , you might have a very difficult time in teaching them. The fact of the matter is that an
unwilling child can sabotage his/her own school efforts.
8. Know that it works one year at a time. It isn't a lifetime commitment and doesn't have
to become one. If you find that homeschooling just isn't worth it , you can choose to go the
regular route.
There is a lot more to homeschooling than to just do it. As a parent , you must know that your
child's education is the most important factor in his/her future. You need to be thoroughly
prepared for all of the time and commitment that is involved.
Getting Started
If you have considered all of the reasons mentioned above and more , and have decided that
homeschooling really is right for you and your kids , you will likely want to know what to do now.
This section is going to help you know what you should do in order to get things running. Here are
some quick points for getting started with homeschooling:
Locate your state's homeschool group. You can do this online easily by typing in your state and
the keyword "homeschoolinb" at your favorite search engine. Then go to your state listing . You can
usually find many different sites that will offer this information for you.
Locate your local support group for parents of home schooled kids. These groups will help you to
get good tips from other parents and is a great place to find like minded people to share your
troubles etc.
Know the laws in your state about homeschooling. If you have questions , arrange for an
evaluation with your local school board so that you can verify that your child is approved for
homeschooling. They will also check for a proposal from you about homeschooling your child.
Get any magazines , books and/or other supplies that you will need in order for you to have
steady resources on hand to offer tips etc.
What to do next.
When it comes to the homeschooling of your children , there are quite a few factors that play
into not just what you will do about it , but also how you will make sure that you are approved to
do it. Like everything else , this is a process. Many people have questions that they need to
answer about homeschooling. As the parent/teacher of your child you must do the following to get
started with homeschooling:
Develop your homeschooling curriculum that is both approved by the school board or state , as
well as meeting your ability to teach.
Schedule a meeting with the school board or state education officials so that they can offer you
any help with tutors etc., that are approved. You will also be presenting your proposal at this
meeting.
Get information about and register for evaluations with your school board or state to ensure
that your child is meeting with the approved standards in your area.
Get yourself certified to teach your child.
Create a homeschooling proposal for what you are planning to teach your child and how you plan
to go about it.
The court recognized that certain factors should be considered by the superintendent or school
committee when it comes to deciding whether or not to approve any homeschool proposal that they
receive. One of these factors is a form of periodic evaluation of the children that is designed to
ensure educational progress and the attainment of minimum standards that are required by the
state.
The court says clearly that school officials and parents should and must agree on a method of
evaluation that may include one of the following approaches: standardized testing , periodic
progress report , or dated work samples. Home visits may not be necessary as a condition of this
approval.
Dated work samples mean just what they sound like in that they are a few samples of work with
dates on them. You do not have to compile an extensive portfolio in order to submit it to the
school although you might like to keep these kinds of records for your own use.
Progress reports can also serve as your plan for the coming year if you include information
about how current learning will be extended into the next year and what new areas will be added.
While the law does not specify that a homeschooling plan needs to be submitted annually , many
towns have come to expect them.
If you live in a town that tells you that your approval is only valid for one year , you might
also want to add any important information such as how long the homeschool year will be , how
qualified the parents are, as well as the fact that you plan to submit one such report a year.
It is important for you to include in your education plan what form of evaluation you are
planning to use. That way if the school later asks you for a form of evaluation that you'd prefer
not to use , you can refer them to your approved education plan in which you already said that you
would submit your preferred evaluation. It doesn't matter if you choose to submit test scores , a
progress report or work samples.
Adding a line in your annual report such as , an annual progress report/dated work
sample/standardized test results will be submitted upon request is a good idea if you aren't sure
whether or not they'll ask you for anything. Of course if they don't ask , you don't need to submit
anything.
If you know for a fact that your town consistently requires people to report , then it's
somewhat pointless to state the terms"at your request" since you know they'll ask and it just
creates more work for them to have to. Some of the information from the most recent homeschool
policies will vary by state , and what form and frequency of assessment that homeschoolers provide
is also very interesting and worth a quick look. Some of this information is like the
following:
About half of the respondents actually write a progress report.
21% of the respondents who did submit work samples or a portfolio several of them indicated that
the schools expected them to also submit work samples.
14% of respondents chose to test instead. Tests used include the California Achievement Teat
(CAT) , the Personalized Achievement Summary System Test (PASS) , the Wide Range Assessment Teat
(WRAT), the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS) , the Iowa Test of Basic Skills and the
Stanford Test.
13% of the people didn't submit any evaluation at all.
10% of the people indicated their evaluation method changes often.
4% of the people indicated that they use a form of evaluation other than testing , progress
reports or work samples.
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