|
A parent's decision to home school your
child is a crucial one to make. Many parents
question if it is the correct thing to do. A
lot of them question if their children can
achieve the established “grade” of education if
they are homeschooled. There are any number of
motivations why parents elect to homeschool
their kids. For a lot of them it is because
they desire to add moral content to their
children’s learning experience. Making this
very important decision to home school is often
a very arduous one and it is not one to be
looked upon lightly. It is a special decision
that no friend or relative can make for you,
but maybe I can support you in the thought
process by providing you with a exhaustive
guide to making the choice to homeschool your
kids a advantageous 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
merely sitting down with books for a couple of
hours. There are experiments and projects that
have to be done, lessons to get ready, papers
to grade, field trips, park days, music
lessons, and the list just keeps on going. 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.
Free Home Schooling Curriculum Programs
Requirements for Home Schooling
children
Michigan home schooling state aid
home schooling internet teaching jobs for
certified teachers
Iowa home schooling curriculum
requirements
information about home schooling in
Ontario
Wisconsin home schooling certification
Charter home schooling programs in San
Diego
door signs for home schooling
Videos Home Schooling
theeagleswings.spreadtheword.com
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.
|