Anyone Can Homeschool: It's Not as Daunting as Some May Think

by Alicia Bodine, Contributing Writer

Image © Lyn Lomasi; All Rights Reserved

The first thing you need to know is the regulations your state has put in to place. There are only 6 states that require you to have a teaching degree in order to home school your children. Those states are Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and North Dakota. So unless you live in one of those states, you are not required to be a teacher to home school.

I have been home schooling my daughter for 5 years and I do not posses a teaching degree. My daughter is also advanced and a year ahead for her age. I have a sister who never did very well in school who is now home schooling her three children successfully. All curriculums come with easy to follow teachers manuals so don't panic. There are three things that will help anyone become a great home schooling parent. They are 1. Take it one subject at a time 2. Plan ahead and 3. Stay organized. If you can do those three things you will experience success.

1. Take it one subject at a time. Any task can seem overwhelming if you are looking at the big picture. Break down the task by categories. In this case you have 4 main subjects. You have Math, Language Arts, History, and Science. Take each curriculum and count out how many pages the main book is. Divide the number of pages by the number of days you must home school (most states it is 180 days). That will give you the number of pages you need to cover per day to finish the curriculum in 1 year. Take one day to set up a schedule for each subject based on how much material needs to be covered in per day.​

2. Plan ahead. Take a look at least a week before at what material needs to be covered for the following week. Check to see if there are any extra materials you need such as items for a science experiment. One week we needed some celery and food coloring to do an experiment and by planning ahead I was able to do the experiment on time. Also check to see if Language Arts is going to require you to begin a book report. You may want to take the weekend to go to the library and pick something out so you will be ready. It only takes 15-20 minutes to look through each of the subjects to see if there is anything else you need to have before that weeks lessons begin.

3. Stay organized. Keep a journal for all the days your child attends school. Make sure that you home school for 180 days. You can use a calendar to keep track if you prefer. Next, keep a journal for grades. Write down participation grades, workbook page grades, tests, quizzes, experiments, and projects. Have a folder for each subject and keep all completed school work in that folder. It is easy to do if you label the folder with the subject name and school grade. You can keep these in your attic when the year is completed. Finally, stay organized by writing out your daily assignment for the upcoming week. Then each day you just look to your chart and complete what is written on the chart.
If you follow all three of these things you will have no trouble with home schooling. Remember to take advantage of library programs and community activities.

This article was previously published on the Yahoo Contributor Network. 

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