Relax. Be creative. Enjoy time together. Learn to love learning.
Home schooling is not public schooling. Get comfortable. Don’t plan on sitting at desks all day. Go with the flow of family life. Set priorities, but be willing to work around illnesses, births and other family events. Family comes first.
Don’t buy everything you see. (I speak from experience.) Use the library. Find free stuff online. Enjoy being home and spending time together.
If you are transitioning from public school, allow everyone to get used to being home. Find the joy of being together–then work on academics.
When you are ready to begin, begin with the basics: Reading, Writing, Arithmetic–and History. Don’t allow yourself to be overwhelmed with materials; keep things simple. Allow your children to follow their interests. Feed the flame.
For five-year-olds: read stories; go on field trips (join a home schooling group to access ideas and opportunities); listen to good, varied music (classical, “Rory’s Little Broadway,” jazz, ragtime, Hap Palmer, etc); basic art supplies (crayons, paper, finger paints, playdough, Sculpey, watercolors and brushes); phonogram cards, McGuffey Readers and short, consistent lessons in beginning math. (Sources for materials listed below.)
Watch Kristen’s presentation at the 2013 Agency Based Education Conference: “I’d like to homeschool, but where the heck do I start?”
For specific tips on home schooling teens, please see Mentoring Teens.
I have listed below some ideas to check out for all grade-levels. I have arranged them by subject and then by age-group, youngest first. They are just possibilities. You will not be able to use them all and there is plenty more where they came from. Again, the key is not to get overwhelmed. Just find things that meet your needs. Keep it simple.
An inspiring, confidence-building introduction to homeschooling:
A Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola
History
Genevieve Foster’s Books (Great for younger children. Augustus Caesar through Lincoln.)
The Story of the World (We use the audio cds in the car. This set provides an awesome birds-eye view of history. Some of this is not appropriate for very young children, particularly Vol. 3: Early Modern Times.)
Language Arts
McGuffey Readers (My children have usually been done with these and ready to try other beginning readers after the first or second volume.)
Phonogram cards from Back Home Industries
Language Mechanic (punctuation) and Word Roots from Critical Thinking Press
Teach cursive writing.
Why teach cursive?
Literature
Read to them, or have them read aloud or silently, from great books. If they are just learning to read have them read aloud to you or an older sibling, so you can help as needed.
Almost any book published in the U.S. before 1929 can be found electronically here: Gutenberg.org
Mathematics
Teach standard algorithms, so they don’t need to use a calculator for everything. Information on what not to do: Utahns Against Common Core
Some good math options are Miquon Math, Life of Fred, Ray’s Arithmetic and Teaching Textbooks, Wikibooks.org, Jacob’s Math
Science
Magic School Bus books and videos
General Knowledge
Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? by Richard J. Maybury
The Fallacy Detective (third item down; available in many home school catalogs and at Amazon)
Webster’s 1828 Dictionary: Have them look up a word a week in that dictionary, a modern dictionary, and the Bible dictionary; write all definitions down in a notebook, distill the meaning and record it in their own words.
Other great resources:
Please see Legal Issues by State for home school laws governing your state.
