Check List to Get Started
The blessing of an education at home is flexibility. Sometimes the playground instead of school is necessary! Set up household chores and schedules before you add school schedules. Enlist the help of the children in your daily tasks. This will give more time to school when the house runs smoothly. Set up a school area. For many this is the kitchen table and the living room sofa. Corral a bookshelf or closet to hold your supplies. You will need a place for books, pencils, papers, maps as well as record keeping.
v Pray for God’s guidance, for you and your children.
v Get parenting and your marriage in order, ( We hope it already is; if there are major conflicts it will be a distraction for both teacher and student.) We have never fully “arrived,” but it’s helpful if communication lines are healthy.
v Set up a schedule:
o For Chores (which includes even young kids!)
o For Routines (wake /sleep times, meals, breaks)
o For Education—set goals and work toward them.
Flexibility Is the KEY!!
v Read books on homeschooling.
v Check out homeschooling laws in your state
v Join a support group (Fort Bliss, SHN, Vista Hills, etc)
v Research curriculum
v Set up your “classroom” with basic supplies. A place for books, a homework folder, paper, pens, and pencils, maps, and writing surface.
v Record keeping materials.
v Letter of intent to withdraw child from public school (If necessary)
v Learn flexibility! It’s amazing how much your kids will learn from field trips and even group hang-outs with other kids. Kids too wiggly?? Take 10 minutes to let them run out some energy! Encourage community involvement and volunteering. Make up costumes like the people group you are studying, use music to learn geography, math, etc. (youtube is great: BUT caution: preview it firstJ)
Helpful Sites to Get You Started
Legality/Texas Laws:
Texas Home School Coalition: www.thsc.org
Home School Legal Defense Association: www.hslda.org
Online Places to Buy Curriculum:
USED:
Ebay: www.ebay.com
Half.com: www.half.com
Homeschool Classifieds: www.homeschoolclassifieds.com
Amazon.com: www.amazon.com
*Depending on your curriculum, you may find many of your books at the local library: www.elpasotexas.gov/library/
*Ask around—you may find someone who can lend to you!
New:
Rainbow Resources: www.rainbowresource.com
Christian Book Distributors: www.cbd.com
Amazon.com
*Your curriculum writer will sell directly! Look them up!
Learning Styles and Teaching Styles
We use our senses to learn. Students learn Visually, Auditorily and Kinestethically. As you think about your child you can probably guess which style he/she prefers and learns best with.
Keep this in mind as you plan lessons and look for curriculum.
Today's popular homeschooling methods are varied. Textbook curriculum, unschooling, Living Books, Classical approach and Unit Studies are all educational methods that espouse specific theories, material, and pedagogies.
Most textbooks and workbooks present material to be learned in an incremental bite-size manner; to be consumed daily, with mastery attained by year's end.
An unstructured learning approach defined by John Holt that relies upon the child's innate desire to learn about the world. Unschooling may be called "child-directed" learning as its basic premise involves allowing the child to pursue his own interests with guidance and support from the parent.
Charlotte Mason: (Living Books)
Based on the writings of Charlotte Mason, favors the use of excellent literature and life experience as educational material for learning. With a distinctly Christian flavor, the method emphasizes narration and dictation of passages from books for the inculcation of traditional Christian values.
The classical approach is a structured system that relies heavily on classical literature of Western Society as a foundation for teaching the skills of logical thought, discussion and debate. Often including instruction in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, this method equips the child with superior language and thinking skills.
Parents who use that unit studies approach teach math, science, history, languages and the arts around a common theme or subject All grade levels can learn together when one subject is the family's focus and each of the 3R's become more relevant when related to one another through a common theme.
This method simply borrows elements of all of the popular homeschooling methods and mixed them to suit individual needs.
Setting Goals and Objectives
is the Key to choosing your styles and Curriculum.
Goals help us plan. It is wise to start off with long term goals and work down to short term goal.
It is also helpful to create a mission statement for your school.
Once you understand your goals and objectives you can choose curriculum based on your goals and how they will be met.