Getting Started

3. Learn About Home Schooling

Home schooling is different, in some ways, from institutional schooling.

Classroom teachers need a lot of classroom management skills, to handle lots of children with only one adult (with one teacher). Because you are already parenting your children, you should already have the basic "group management" skills you need for your children.

But you will be doing a lot of "one-on-one" teaching. Remember teaching is just communicating what you know to your children (you may use books, hands-on demonstrations, field trips, computer programs, etc. to help you communicate what you know to your children, but teaching is still just communicating what you know to your children). At times it will also include seeking answers to questions with them (which is a great way for them to learn how to find things out). Either way, it will mainly involve communication skills that you already have.

However, there are different methods of home schooling (see our "Decide Method" page), different ways of organizing, different styles of teaching and learning, different curriculums, etc.

Read some books. Read some Internet sites. Talk to home some schooling parents. And don't study too much before you actually start doing some home school things with your children. The best way to learn is hands-on (for us and for them). Once you try a few things, it will help you absorb what you are reading much better, and it will give you a much better idea of what you need.

Books

There are many excellent books on home schooling. Some books cover one specific topic (e.g. one method of home schooling, home schooling teens, home schooling special needs children, why you should home school, Christian home schooling, low cost home schooling, etc.). Other books talk about home schooling in general (e.g. how to get started, the different methods of home schooling, success stories and personal experiences, etc.).

What books you should read, depends on your needs at this time. If you are very new to home schooling, get books that are more general, that are about the different ways to home school.

Go to your local library and bookstore and get a few books on home schooling (don't buy too many books, or you'll get overwhelmed and won't read them).

Internet Sites

There are lots of great Internet sites on all different aspects of home schooling. Check out our "Home Schooling Internet Sites" page for a few great sites, to start with.

Then, to find more sites, and especially to find ones that are exactly what you want, use a search engine, like Google (at www.google.com), or another search engine, and search for "home schooling" or a more specific topic like "home schooling teens," "home schooling special needs children," etc. (after you read this site, of course).

Home Schooling Parents

And make sure you talk to other home schooling parents. They can give you lots of information, very quickly.

You Have Time

Remember that you have many years to home school your children. You don't need to know everything now, just enough to get started. We all keep learning the new things we need each year, as we home school through higher grades. You can learn next year's stuff, next year.

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