New to Homeschooling? Begin Here

Are you new to homeschooling? Maybe considering homeschooling but aren’t sure where to begin? Or possibly having homeschooled for a bit but still aren’t quite sure of your path? If you are any of these things, then pull up a chair and follow along! I am going to give you all the goods to feel confident about your homeschool journey.

It’s hard to believe it has been 18 years since I started homeschooling. Even more astonishing to me is that I have graduated all my children from homeschool. Two have since graduated from college and my youngest is pursuing a trade with her passion for horses. For 16 years I have been writing about our family’s journey and sharing homeschooling tip and resources, as well as reviewing homeschool curriculum.

Now I am here (Managing Editor and still a writer/reviewer), to share my expertise with you!

New to Homeschooling? Begin Here

1. Find Out Your State Homeschool Regulations

When people ask me where to bein if they want to homeschool, I always recommend they start with their state homeschool regulations. This is a really important step that cannot be skipped. You need to know what is expected in your state to be able to legally homeschool your children. AND… it is different for every state.

• No Notice, Low Regulation – this means parents do not need to initiate any contact
• Low Regulation – parents must identify students to be taught at home
• Moderate Regulation – parents must send notification, test scores, and/or professional evaluation of student progress
• High Regulation – parents must send notification and achievement test scores and/or professional evaluation, plus other requirements (e.g. curriculum approval by the state, teacher qualification of parents, or home visits by officials). New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island are the states with the highest level of regulation for homeschooling.

State homeschool regulations vary widely from state to state from the very unregulated, to the more stringent rules and reporting that is required. I happen to live in New York State, which is considered one of the most strict homeschooling states! I promise you, it’s not nearly as scary (or as hard) as it might seem.

2. Find Local Homeschoolers

I can’t begin to tell you how important it is to have local homeschool connections. I never would have had the courage to start homeschooling without the support of the only two homeschool moms I knew at the time. Yes, only two! One was a mother from the gym where my oldest did gymnastics, the other an older mom I knew from the church I grew up in. They are both very different, but helped me so much to get started and find my way.

Now you are wondering, where do I find local homeschoolers?

• I often recommend heading to local parks, libraries, and museums during the day. You will very often find homeschoolers in these locations during the day.
• Ask around in any activities your kids may be in, like swimming lessons, recreation soccer, etc.
• Do an online search. This can often turn you on to at least state groups where you can ask questions to help find homeschoolers in your local area.
• Facebook. I know many aren’t comfortable with Facebook, but if you are, join some homeschooling groups. You can search for state specific ones, or join larger groups and ask within if anyone is local to you.

Once you find one homeschooler, you can usually find more! One of the ladies who helped me get started pointed me in the direction of a local, one day a week enrichment homeschool program for kids. We started there our first year, meeting new people and making friends along the way. It just rippled out from there.

3. Choose Your Homeschool Method

Did you know there are different methods or types of homeschooling? As with so many things, there is not one right way to homeschool! And even people who fall within the same method will have very different looking homeschools!

In this article, What do Homeschool Methods Look Like in Real Life? I talk about 8 different homeschool methods, outlining what they are, providing resource options, and talking about what they might look like in real life.

4. Select Homeschool Curriculum

Finding and selecting homeschool curriculum can feel overwhelming.

It helps to ask yourself a few questions:

1. What is my educational philosophy? This will be fulfilled as you learn about the various homeschool methods, and choose one for your family.
2. What ways do my children learn best? (kinesthetic, auditory, visual)
3. What do I need as a teacher to help me homeschool effectively? For example— do you need a scripted curriculum that tells you exactly what to say, a curriculum that can be used by multiple ages, a curriculum that has all the components right in the box that you can pull out and use etc.
4. Why am I homeschooling? What is my vision for this year? What are my goals for this year/desired outcome?
5. What is my budget?

In this Ultimate Guide to Choosing Homeschool Curriculum you will here from some of our veteran writers talking about how they choose curriculum and offering advice to you on how to find the best homeschool curriculum for your family.

We also have specific help for Choosing Middle School Homeschool Curriculum and Help for Choosing High School Homeschool Curriculum.

Ultimate Homeschool Guides

Here at The Curriculum Choice we have a HUGE collection of Ultimate Curriculum Guides. To find them, as well as TONS of reviews, resources, tips, and encouragement to help you along in your homeschool journey, head over to our Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling: Everything You Need for Grades K-12.

In this Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling you will find:

• Homeschool Resources broken into K-3, grades 4-8 which includes late Elementary and Middle School resources, and High School
• Our list of Ultimate Guides by Subject
• AND The Incredible Index of Homeschool Curriculum Options!

My Personal Advice for Those New to Homeschooling

Starting at the beginning, the beginning of anything, can be scary. There are so many unanswered questions. So many things you want to do, and know, and learn. Speaking from my over 18 years of homeschooling experience, let me share with you some things I would want new homeschoolers to know about homeschooling.

One of the big things I have focused on, and talked a ton about with our homeschool journey is life skills. Life skills count! It is one of the biggest gaps I feel public school has created.

Life skills, are things that are best done at home, in real life. For instance, our teen daughter wanted her room repainted, so we had her do it with us. My 11 year old son could do laundry from start to finish. Teaching our children everyday things like how to run the dishwasher (don’t put dish soap in it like my daughter did once), how to do basic sewing repairs, lawn mowing, money management, etc.

All of these things are not only essential in life, but you can most definitely count them towards your school time! Yes, you can count it for school credit. We certainly did!

For more on my personal advice for those new to homeschooling go to: 10 Things I Want New Homeschoolers to Know