Homeschooling For Dummies. Jennifer Kaufeld

21 covers cost-cutting measures in depth.

      On the other hand, families can spend as much as they like on homeschooling. I know at least one family that considers homeschooling their major spending hobby, and they have plenty of money to spend. Such a family may drop $6,000 or more per child, per year, on homeschooling, but to do that you need to purchase the most expensive curricula that you can find.

      

Look for curriculum ideas and resources throughout this book. Also glance through Appendix A for more options. Although I could fill a 700-page book with nothing but recommendations for books and kits that you can use to teach with, I don’t have that many pages. As I mention various teaching methods, age groups, and so on, I also try to throw in a few products or books that you may want to look at if you want to pursue that particular topic.

      

If you purchase everything mentioned in this book, you’ll easily top the $2,000-per-child marker. No homeschool family does all this. For one thing, people only have 24 hours per day, and trying to follow all these systems and add-ons would take many times that.

Hanging in There

      When you first jump into homeschooling, the question nags at you: How long can I keep this up? Another question that sometimes rankles is: How long will the educational establishment allow me to do this? Because these are two different questions, they need varying answers.

      Signing up for the long haul

When your child spends her days in a home where she’s loved, cared for, and guided to knowledge, she’s in the best possible place. If you truly have her best interests at heart (and what parent doesn’t?), then you’ll ensure that she learns to read and add. Even if you miss something along the way, your child will grow to be a productive, useful adult. She can always pick up a community college course in the subject later if it proves to be extremely important to daily life. I know it’s hard to believe, but many balanced, rational people came from educational systems that offered no weekly art class. (If you and your child love art, then structure it as a course in your homeschool. Your child will survive, however, if he learns everything but art appreciation.)

      With the energy and assurance that comes from knowing that you’re doing what’s best for your family, you can homeschool until and even through college. Although many parents are ready for their children to spread their wings and fly a bit after high school and encourage their fledglings to seek schooling or work outside the nest, some situations encourage you to homeschool even through college. For the 12-year-old who is ready for calculus, college at home is the best possible solution — after all, she needs to pursue some type of schooling until at least age 16. Community or online college courses meet these students’ needs while allowing them to mature.

      

Just because you can homeschool through high school, of course, doesn’t mean that you have to. Many families pull their children out of school for one or two years to help them over a tough academic or social spot. Then, after the problem is corrected and the student reads at grade level again or the sticky social situation irons out, they send their child back to school. The bottom line is doing what’s best for your student. If he only needs a year away from the school routine to catch up, and you’re comfortable sending him back after that year is over, send him! You may find, however, that after a year or two at home, he really doesn’t want to return, and you don’t want him to go. That’s okay, too.

      

Most families take teaching one year at a time even after they homeschool several years. Those who find that homeschooling enhances family life and family schedules tend to stick with it the longest. We spent several years homeschooling during a time that the kids’ dad traveled much of the time with his job. Because of our flexibility, we could periodically pack the schoolbooks in the middle of the fall, winter, or spring and go with Daddy to a conference. After we arrived in the conference city, I covered school in the hotel room during the early mornings, and we would take advantage of local museums, parks, city fountains, and pools for the rest of the day. My daughter still says she did math in every hotel she ever saw.

      Staying at home forever

The United States allows you to teach at home as many or as few years as you want to, no matter what state you live in. Although each of the 50 states publishes its own requirements for homeschoolers, none of them says that you can only teach between this year and that one. You can begin homeschooling in preschool and continue through college if you want to, although often parents pull their children out of a public or private school because something isn’t working and they homeschool to bring balance back to the child. Or, if parents begin homeschooling in the preschool years, they may opt to send their children to public or private high school. Few families homeschool all the way through the first four years of college.

      Look for chapters that cover various homeschooling ages in Part 2.

Breaking the News to Mom

      The parents in your life, whether they are actually your parents, favorite aunts and uncles, or close friends who function in a guiding role for you, always have something to say when you announce a major lifestyle change. Sometimes they’re for the change; other occasions tend to spark less-than-positive responses. Although they usually mean it in love, negative reactions from those around you tend to derail you if you aren’t ready for them. Be prepared — when you announce that you’re thinking of homeschooling your children, someone will probably give you flack.

      Before you respond, take a moment to consider whether a person is having a knee-jerk reaction because you threaten to go against time-honored United States culture (at least for the past hundred years or so) or whether this person is voicing well-grounded objections. If you truly believe this is the best course for your family members today, you need to proceed forward in the face of negative reactions.

      

This book gives you the ammunition you need to discuss homeschooling rationally. In fact, you can even hand a copy to your mom, if you like. In 30 chapters, this book talks about all the major homeschooling movements, educational needs of children at various age levels, and even includes chapters on adding zing to your school days.

      When you discuss your decision with your mom, tell her what you know. Homeschoolers do get into college if they choose to go, they aren’t afraid to play outside or make friends, and today’s homeschoolers have many, many activities to choose from in addition to time at home with the books. If you have already decided on a teaching approach (such as classical curriculum, unschooling, or operating as a satellite school, which are all discussed later in this book), tell her about it. Tell her why you chose this method over all the others. In short, share your enthusiasm and hope.

She may not agree with you at first, but time will probably prove your decision to be a sound one. When we began homeschooling, I worked with a nonverbal, almost-3-year-old. That child not only learned to speak his native language fluently, but he went on to graduate from college, work as a web developer, and start his own international not-for-profit dedicated to making information on the Internet accessible to everyone regardless of disability or restriction. I’d say that for this child, homeschooling worked!

      

When we announced that we planned to homeschool, even