Jennifer Kaufeld - Homeschooling For Dummies

Knowing you picked up this book tells me who you are. You, of course, knew who you were all along. I’m the one who has to figure it out, and this is what I came up with so far:

This phenomenon called homeschooling interests you and you want to find out more about it.

You are thinking about teaching your children at home, you already teach your children at home, or you may know someone who does.

This book is the answer to your search for an understandable guide that you can hand to concerned-but-loving grandparents, siblings, and friends because you already homeschool.

You may have a computer at home with Internet access (because most homeschoolers around the country do). Or you may not. Either way, you can use this book because it was written with you in mind.

Words such as unschooling, classical education, and portfolio reverberate in your mind like a half-understood foreign language.

Throughout the book, you see a collection of handy icons in the margins. While they manage to make the pages look cool as you flip through, they also perform a useful function. They mark information that you want to note for one reason or another.

Beginning homeschoolers need to know more than the basics. They want to see a working example of how homeschooling looks in real life. This icon gives you a glimpse into the daily life of a homeschooler, usually me. Browse through the paragraphs attached to these icons when you need a reminder that teaching your kids at home isn’t always a bowl of chocolate ice cream (although whatever the current crisis, you usually find yourself laughing about it later). These icons mark real life in action: the frustrating parts as well as the huggable ones.

This icon saves you from tying strings around your fingers to help you recall information as you read. This icon sits next to a paragraph that you may need later, and it makes the section a little easier to find the next time you need it.

This icon makes your life easier. It may mark a handy resource you should be aware of, a shortcut that saves you time, or a tidbit of knowledge born of experience. These icons mark the places you may want to highlight so you can find them later.

Think: Danger, Will Robinson! When you see this icon, tread carefully. While nothing in this book causes your computer hard drive to crash or the dog to eat your brand new science textbook, these icons do remind you to pay attention. Some icons point out information that the general public doesn’t know, but you need to be aware of. Other icons mark information that can change depending on which state you live in.

While Homeschooling For Dummies gives you a good introduction to the topic, your adventure certainly doesn’t stop here. For a list of child- and family-friendly magazines and newsletters (some specifically for homeschoolers and some just for fun), take a look at the book’s Cheat Sheet online at Dummies.com. In addition to possible periodical reads, the Cheat Sheet also gives you some handy website suggestions and an easy way to determine a grade point average. Find it at www.dummies.com , and then search for “Homeschooling For Dummies Cheat Sheet.”

Because Homeschooling For Dummies, like all For Dummies books, is divided into easily managed sections, you don’t actually have to start reading at Chapter 1if you don’t want to. Diving into the middle of the book is great — especially if it contains the information that you need right now. How you read the book is up to you. Read it from front to back, back to front (a little more difficult, but still manageable), or start in the middle and go from there. This decision, like almost every other one in homeschooling, is entirely up to you.

No matter how you decide to digest the book, dive right in — a wealth of information, ideas, and other tidbits await you.

Part 1

IN THIS PART …

Ponder the big questions related to homeschooling. How did you get here? Can you afford it? Do you know enough about everything? And how are you going to tell your mother?

Determine your own reasons for homeschooling, and look at some some interesting situations such as teaching and working another job. How and when you begin your journey is completely up to you, but this Part offers suggestions to guide you.

Find your state homeschooling law, including the number of days you need to teach each year in order to be legal. When and if you need to interact with your local school system, you’ll be prepared.

Draw the entire family into the homeschool experience. If you plan to pull students from a public or private school, spend some quality time detoxing from school, or deschooling , before you embark on your new adventure.

Chapter 1

IN THIS CHAPTER

Thinking about homeschooling

Knowing it all — or not?

Affording the adventure

Schooling as long as you like

What about socialization?

Perhaps you just found out that your best friend intends to homeschool his children next year, and you want to know more. Maybe you’re thinking of pulling your children out of the local school and want to know about your options. You may be a veteran homeschooler who always taught from the textbooks and now want to add different subjects or unique learning opportunities into your day. Maybe you’ve heard one particular term over and over, such as “unschooling,” and want to know more about it.

Whatever your reasons for picking up this book, start here if you want to begin at the beginning. This chapter answers those big questions that are uppermost in almost every new homeschooler’s mind, including a discussion about that elephant in the room, socialization. Find a comfortable chair, settle in, and begin your journey into the world of home education.

Stunned, you look up one morning over your cup of coffee. How did you get from being a perfectly happy public or private school parent to someone contemplating homeschooling? When did the feeling begin to dawn on you that you weren’t ready to send your bundle of preschool joy out into the school world, and you also aren’t entirely sure he’s ready to go, either?