Don’t overwhelm yourself! Start with the most important subjects and add on week by week.

Mathematics, reading and writing are a good foundation and then add History and geography, spelling and science.

• First find a math program that you like. My favorite is Saxon Math, it is self explanatory and has a placement test, which helps you to decide which book to start your child in.
• Writing is easy!! Written to Grandma lately, what about a letter to Santa, short story contests, book reports, write your own book, journals etc. After you are used to the basics start adding grammar every day. Then you can also take your child’s spelling lists from his writing.
• Reading is very important and there are so many ways to get your child excited to read. All I need to do is go down to the library and my children can’t stand to leave without a book, even the ones who have to be bribed to read! Barnes and Noble is another exciting place, look out for story time programs as well, this also encourages interaction with other people.

There are many ways to study the rest of the subjects, the same day each week works well, or use the Unit study approach, which covers most things, fill in the gaps as you go along. I find that the most exciting way to do this, is to have a School Counsel and find out what your children are excited about, sometimes a field trip is a good way to get them excited about the same thing. A trip to a beaver dam, planetarium, dinosaur museum etc.

• Make a list of field trips, and set a regular day for them, but let your children earn them, accomplishing schoolwork earns points, which in turn earns field trips and school supplies.
• Be organized yourself. Have a filing system for ideas and information.

Now for the most important part... Decide on an afternoon a week that is your own. Have a regular babysitter or rotate babysitting with someone else. Use an older child, whatever you need to do to get out. Meet your husband for lunch and go and play. I go to all the little shops that I skip, go to book stores and browse, do Christmas shopping etc. Remember that you need to be rejuvenated.

Make sure that school is a balance of work and fun stuff. I recently was at the elementary school spinning for a kindergarten class, who were learning ‘Baa Baa black sheep". I had taken my younger children with me and my 7 ˝ year old Jacob said to me as we left: "I miss all the fun stuff in public school." After chatting a minute, we had translated fun stuff to be all the stuff on the walls, so now we have added fun stuff. Be in tune with your kids and they will lead you. My Father once said to us as we were leaving after a weekend visit, "Kids, listen to your Mom and Dad." Then he turned to us and said, "Listen to your kids."

The decision to home school your children is a major one. It should not be made lightly. It will have an affect on your lives and the lives of your children, but it will also have a ripple effect on your extended family and hopefully society. At a recent home school conference and a speaker indicated that her main goal in home schooling was to raise her children to be "nice people." Home schooling can truly give us this opportunity. You need to affirm your decision with yourself, your spouse and your children everyday. You need to commit yourself to striving everyday to do the work and to constantly look for better solutions for you and your children. That is what this site is about. Let us know if there is anything you need that you are not finding here, or if you have discovered anything that has helped you in your efforts, share it!
 

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