I know so many people are looking into homeschooling this fall and haven't a clue where to begin. I've been homeschooling my crew for 16 years now. I have a college graduate and a soldier. I call that success so far. I am happy to answer any questions or help in any way. I do have a high school transcript template that works for college and military. I also have one geared toward NCAA requirements, though we didn't use that one.

I know the first question is always how to begin. You'll want to look up your state's requirements. Try to find a reputable source for this, directly from the state or state school board would be best. Regulations and requirements change so what some blogger may post (that includes me!) could be outdated. I do my best to stay up to date on my state for myself.

Texas

If your child is registered in the public school system simply contact the school to withdraw your child. Settle any debts, return any equipment. This is the same as you would do if changing schools. If you child is not registered then you don't have to do anything. Now with that out of the way, welcome, you are now a homeschooler! Yep, that's all it requires.

Curriculum

I know you want to jump in and buy books and things to aid your teaching. I encourage you to take your time. Allow your child time to decompress from the school setting. Homeschooling is not school-at-home. I guess it could be if that's what you need and what works for you, but the beauty of it is the flexibility. My suggestion is to ease into it, maybe just starting with 1-2 subjects and then adding more as you feel ready. No need to overwhelm right away.

There are different styles to homeschooling. I'm secular eclectic. We sometimes use religion based stuff, but we don't center around religion. I personally omit bible verses if they aren't necessary for our work. I like to think I've taught my kids a little of all religions so that they can choose their own path when they're ready, but that's a different topic.

I've used many things over the years. I learned right away that what works for one child doesn't necessarily work for another. My kids are different, they learn differently and we respect that and work with it.

With that in mind I'm going to cover what we currently use and how our day is loosely structured. Then I'll list off some stuff I've used in the past.

We start school after lunch so usually 1-2pm. Both kids are currently using Teaching Textbooks for math. We just switched to the online option after using books and discs for a few years. There is a lecture which my kids tend to skip through or only listen to parts of, I'm fine with that if they can figure out how to do the work. I accept grades above 70, sometimes if too many lessons in a row are in the 70s we'll start redoing. So, 70+ and they can move to the next level the next day. Below that I remove the answers for the missed problems and they get a second attempt. If they get stuck at any time they call me over, we look through the program's explanation, then we google, then Kahn (they really dislike Kahn) and somehow between those things it will click. I don't care HOW they do the problem as long as they can get the correct answer each time. My son is pretty mental with his math, my daughter likes to write things out.

After math is vocab. We use Wordly Wise, again the online option. This is one program I've been using for almost all of my homeschooling years. I do prefer the layout of the books over the computer, but for time reason (I do run a business) we're using the computer because it's one more thing I can offload.

After that our day varies. We do a sort of block schedule which includes literature each day (some days that's just reading a chapter or two) and then we do a full lesson in our other subjects.

Literature- I like two programs for high school. My older kids used Hewitt Homeschool's Lightning Literature. I'm trying to use it with both younger kids since I already own it. I also like Oak Meadow. I think my younger son would do better with OM, but he's doing okay with LL so we'll probably stick it out since I already own it. We don't really do grammar work. If I see writing slipping I'll pick up a workbook or I'll use Easy Grammar or Daily Grams which I already own. Mostly we focus on reading and the writing that goes with it. I should be using a writing program, but I'm winging it. My older kids did fine and the youngest is doing okay so far.

For other subjects we are using Oak Meadow. I just really like the layout. I feel it covers what we need and allows us to jump off if we get interested in something. I was looking to simplify and OM has allowed me to do that. The books are written to the student. Typically one would do a lesson each week, doing a little each day. We do the full lesson in one day and cycle through the subjects. Since a literature lesson can last several weeks with all of the reading this keeps us working at a good pace to finish everything around the same time.

So, our week might look like this:

  • Monday: Math, Vocab, Lit, Science.
  • Tuesday: Math, Vocab, Lit, History.
  • Wednesday: Math, Vocab, Lit, Geography.
  • Thurs: Math Vocab, Lit, Science.

It works well for us. We take a day off whenever we need and just pick up right where we left off. We school year round with breaks as we need them. We tend to get less work done during softball season and December. We take vacation whenever we feel like it.

Other programs I've used in the past, in no particular order:

There are 2 free online programs that I am aware of at this time. I have used part of one for a bit, but I struggle not having something physical to remind me of work to be done. I've only recently made that jump to computer based math & vocab. Having a book is a reminder to me that we need to do that subject so I hesitate to do too much online.

I buy many of my things used (and I resell), usually Amazon, eBay or homeschool groups on Facebook. I use Homeschool Buyer's Co-op for a few things. Sometimes I can get lucky and find things at Half Price Books.

Hit me up with any questions you have and I'll do my best to help you out!