The Right Start to Your Homeschool

This adventure has taken me down the rabbit hole and it has frankly been quite overwhelming at times. I remember attending my first homeschool conference when my oldest was 3. I made the mistake of first entering the Exhibit Hall and was caught off guard by the onslaught of curriculum and activity resources. I was such a newbie that I was no where near ready for that. My advice: avoid the Exhibit Hall until you have a few key things under your belt. Seriously.

First, if you have no prior experience with homeschooling, and maybe even if you do, sign up to attend an introductory seminar. Even folks I know that were homeschooled themselves ten or twenty years ago are now lost in a sea of information, and still bogged down with stigma and misperceptions these days even as the world of homeschooling has completely changed. Many homeschool organizations have introductory seminars that give you the nutshell version of the first things you should consider and may want to know. This varies state to state of course. Every state has their own homeschool laws and resources, and some states are more strict than others with homeschool requirements.

For folks in Colorado, CHEC hosts their Homeschool Introductory Seminar pretty regularly in different locations along the front range. They also put on the annual Rocky Mountain Homeschool Conference coming up here next week which has a free day of seminars for new homeschoolers or even those just new to Colorado. Wherever you live, I highly recommend finding a reputable non-profit homeschool organization that focuses on homeschooling in your own state. They will likely have introductory seminars or other resources for you. Or you can attend another seminar in another state or a nationwide conference like Teach Them Diligently. There are also web resources like the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) for anyone interested in homeschooling but unable to attend an in-seat seminar. HSLDA is one of the most trustworthy and up to date resources for homeschoolers across the country, and provides an immense amount of support to their members (also highly recommended).

Once you have the general lay of the land in your state when it comes to homeschooling, I’d recommend sitting down intentionally and coming up with your “why” or mission statement as to the reason you are choosing to homeschool. More and more these days, I hear people pulling their children out of public or even private school because of a particular incident or situation. Honestly, I don’t bat an eye at that initially but as Leslie Nunnery, an experienced homeschool mom and founder of Teach Them Diligently explained, this is not going to be enough to see them through the hard times of homeschooling. I’ve witnessed this with friends of mine as well. It may be part of your why, but an isolated incident shouldn’t be all of it. For us, our mission is to raise our sons to be Godly men strong enough to hold firm in and fight against a culture that has perverted every Biblical institution and help to fulfill the great commission in bringing the Gospel to those who haven’t heard it, thus ushering in the second coming of Christ.

Identifying your “why” helps to orient you toward the type of homeschool that fits your family within the purview of your state’s laws and regulations. For instance, some states like Texas do not require any notice to the school district or otherwise that you’ll be homeschooling but you may have to use a written curriculum. Other states, like Colorado require that you either notify the school district and fall under their jurisdiction or enroll in an umbrella school that is responsible for testing or evaluations. Based on your “why”, you’ll probably soon find that some of your choices are easier to make.

Once you know what your legal options are and the choices available to your homeschool that fit your “why”, only then would I suggest considering curriculum, enrichment programs, co-ops, etc. It’s easy to get excited when someone tells us they are interested in homeschooling. We homeschoolers want to share with them the curriculums and resources we use, especially when that is usually their first question. But the reality is many new families haven’t even gotten that far, and they don’t know it. Hearing about all the curriculums and programs available can be overwhelming, unnecessary, and potentially problematic before you are ready.

For example, if you are in a state that requires a written curriculum and you are planning to go the extreme unschooling route and educate your children, shooting from the hip in your environment without any written guide, you could wind up in a dicey situation if the powers that be coming knocking on your door. None of us want our children to be insecure about the viability of their education when they become adults, or even before. As Jon Dunagan of Mission Minded Families explained recently, we should all be preparing our children for college, regardless of whether they actually go or not. That should be their choice, not something they couldn’t even do if they wanted to. They need to be intellectually ready and also formally accepted as ready with a legitimate homeschool high school diploma.

Curriculum is generally available nationwide, but enrichment programs and co-ops are of course more local in nature. Delving into these areas involves evaluating a number of different factors such as where your children are academically and where they have been logistically. A 16-year old who has been in public school his entire life is likely going to have different needs than a pre-K child who attended preschool at home. With the 16-year old, maybe you want more interaction with other homeschoolers outside of your family, so an enrichment program or co-op might be a good fit. Whereas, the soon to be Kindergartner may not need any additional curriculum or programs.

This is again where a trustworthy state organization, unaffiliated with any particular curriculum, comes in handy to help you identify and sort out all the many supporting programs available. To find organizations in your own state, visit HSLDA and click on the map. There are also great companies like Homeschool Summits, Rainbow Resource and Toddlers to Tweens that guide homeschoolers on the many curriculum options available to them, being sensitive to each family’s own needs.

It can be a lot. I know. But it all boils down to these simple steps to help you get oriented and get started homeschooling: