General Requirements For Homeschooling Your Children
I often hear, "I've thought about homeschooling my children, but"
General Requirements For Homeschooling Your Children
I'm not a teacher. I don't know how to educate children. I don't know what to teach my child. What if I miss something and my kid has a gaping hole in knowledge? I'm really good with English and History, but I can't imagine teaching Algebra. I don't know what the laws are regarding homeschooling.
While all these concerns are valid, you can easily overcome them with a little research.
Homeschooling laws
The laws regarding homeschooling differ from state to state, and you need to follow the rules of the state you are in physically. Some states have easier rules than other states. In Colorado, where I live, the rules boil down to schooling for a certain amount of hours and keeping records of that, sending a letter to your school district notifying them you are homeschooling, and having your child take a nationally recognized standardized test at the end of the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, and 11th grades and the child must pass the test at or above the 13th percentile.
Look for your state's specific laws regarding homeschooling. I like about.com's resources for this, because it has a link for each state to the full text of the law if available, a summary of the law by the Home School Legal Defense Association, and other useful links.
What should you teach your child?
As a rule of thumb, you should teach your child at least reading, writing, math, science, history, civics, art, and music. Few people are adept at all these topics, but that's okay. You can buy fully developed curricula that walk you and your child through the educational process. If you don't want to buy a curriculum, you can design your own. You can make sure you don't forget any major topic by following standards, which pretty much state everything you need to teach.
How do you teach a child?
You don't need to be a certified teacher to teach a child. What you need to be is patient, kind, and understanding. That doesn't mean you need to be perfect. You just need to be aware. Learn to deal with your frustrations yourself and not let your child experience them, because your child will have his own frustration.
Most people don't have any problems teaching the early grades. Some people start to have problems when their kids hit advanced math and science. Remember that you don't have to teach your children everything. You do need to facilitate ate their education though. So, if you need help with a topic, consider these options:
A local community college Ask for the help of someone in that field. Offer a trade. Homeschooling cooperatives Tutoring
About.com's homeschooling links - Colorado Educational Standards
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