Considering Homeschooling?
While there are a million different reasons for choosing the homeschooling path, there are a few things area homeschool parents recommend keeping in mind if you are considering any type of home education.
Make time for it. Roe says parents often approach her at her seminars and say they want to try to homeschooling while also working full-time. That is not an approach she recommends. “Would you want to be teaching after eight hours at work?” she asks. “Also, the kids have been waiting around all day and now you expect them to still be fresh enough to learn. It’s not something that you can fit in around the fringes. It is a lifestyle. It is a full-time job from a parent’s perspective.”
Know your kids. One of the things Melissa Corkum of Baldwin loves about homeschooling is the flexibility it offers her family. “Do lots of research, because there are so many ways to homeschool. Consider your child’s learning style. Know that there are options for every personality, family and kid. You don’t have to be a genius parent to homeschool. You don’t have to be a former teacher.”
Cathy Hall of Pasadena also recommends considering whether your child wants to be homeschooled. Hall homeschooled her daughter Courtney last year, because she was not feeling challenged in her middle-school classes. “It made it so much better that she was the one who wanted to do it. If I had forced her to do it, it would have been a totally different story,” Hall says.
Understand that it doesn’t have to be forever. “If you decide to homeschool, it’s not a life sentence,” Corkum says. She says her family is taking it one year at a time. “There’s something to be said for stability, but if you try homeschooling for a year and you feel like it’s not for you, you have the option to enroll your kid somewhere else the next year.”
Shop around. Roe’s advice is to make sure you find a curriculum that meets your needs, whether it is a fully prepared curriculum or one that you create as you go along. “I found my way to Calvert because I was using a curriculum that said it was complete, but I was expected to do all of the lessons before I taught them to my children. It was about three hours of preparation for each hour of schoolwork. No sane parent has that kind of time.”
Capp agrees. “It’s really about knowing what you need as a teacher. If you need a full curriculum, get that kind of curriculum. If you are someone who is really organized, go ahead and put your own curriculum together; it’s much less expensive. But, don’t change your mind once you have something, unless it’s not working for your child.”
Know the rules. Every state has different rules regarding homeschooling. Hills recommends contacting The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) for the rules in your area. Its website, hslda.org, has state-by-state summaries of legal options for homeschooling as well as information on federal and state legislation regarding homeschooling and resources for homeschool families.
Go for it! “I would encourage every parent who has an interest or desire to pursue it,” Roe says. “It’s the most rewarding thing I have done in my life.” Capp says she doesn’t think people realize how easily they could do it. “You really could do it. It isn’t easy, but nothing about raising kids is easy.”
