As a new homeschooling parent, it is really easy to get overwhelmed by all the information available. There are so many different types of curriculum and opportunities for you and your kids. How do you choose?
It would help if you answered a few questions:
Why are you homeschooling? I started homeschooling because I wanted a more rigorous educational experience for my kids. I also wanted history to play a key role. These two factors led me to read “The Well-Trained Mind” by Susan Wise Bauer, and we started off using a classical approach. What is important to you? Lots of field trips? Time in nature? Combining your religious beliefs into your child’s education? Make a list of these and rank them in importance. If a curriculum doesn’t meet the top three on your list, don’t spend time on it. Figure out the homeschool “philosophy” that will work best for your family and limit your search based on that.
Are you planning on having your children go back to school eventually? This is important because if you plan to continue homeschooling for the duration of your child’s education, you have a lot more flexibility. If you or your child want it only to be a temporary fix, you need to be sure you are covering the material your local school is covering. You still have the flexibility to cover it the way you want, but the standards need to be met – especially if we are talking about high school.
How do you want to homeschool? Do you want to do “school at home” or do you want to “road-school” and live on the go? Maybe a little of both? Take a few minutes and write down how you envision your homeschool looking. Are you guys all snuggled on the couch reading a book together? Are your kids older and they would be in their rooms working on the schooling independently? Or maybe you work from home and you need your child to do most of their work online. Take the time to figure this out and get some input from your kids if they are older. What do they want?
What is your budget? Save yourself some heartache and think about this now. It is tempting to go overboard in buying curriculum and books. They all look so good! And then you fall in love with a costly program and stretch yourself too thin. Your kids’ education is priceless, but you don’t need to go bankrupt to homeschool. There are so many free resources available online and books that you can get from the library. Set a budget and stick to it. If you HAVE to get that really expensive program, look for it used.
These will help you eliminate everything that won’t work for you so you can look at what will. I hope this helps!