How Do I Start to Homeschool? (Part I)

Connect: The best thing to do is to meet with a local person who has already homeschooled for at least a year. I had an undergraduate education degree plus a master’s degree, but I couldn’t have done it without the help I got from another homeschool mother. She invited me to her county’s homeschool support group because my county did not have one at the time. I listened to the mothers talk, borrowed books from their library of homeschool resources, and asked lots of questions.

How do you find a person to help you? Sometimes it isn’t easy. Ask other parents while you watch your children play at the local ball field. Your pastor may know someone in your congregation. Look for a state organization. Pennsylvania has two: Christian Homeschool Association of Pennsylvania (CHAP) and Pennsylvania Homeschoolers. Check out their website for local organizations. Call and ask for someone to help you. The school district may also be able to direct you to someone. In Pennsylvania, they have lists of evaluators and can at least give you those names.

Investigate: Consider your options. School at home comes in two basic forms today. Cyber school and independent homeschooling. Cyber schools may be private organizations or funded by taxes. Some cyber schools demand that a child be online at certain times or a certain amount of time a day. They choose the curriculum. They also have time limits for completing work. For example, one asks for a test a month. Another asks for a certain amount of work to be completed each semester. The public cyber schools provide materials free of charge. They charge your school district for you to take their schooling. You are required to do whatever testing that public school children have to do. Private cyber schools charge for their books and help.

Independent homeschooling can be under an umbrella school who will pick your curriculum, do record keeping, and keep you accountable. They usually require testing at the end of each chapter or unit. Independent homeschool lets you choose your curriculum, keep your own records, and doesn’t require unit testing.*

Be Aware: Rules for homeschooling vary from state to state. One place to find out the rules is the Home School Legal Defense Association at www.hslda.org/ph. Most experienced homeschool parents know the rules for their state. The school district can be consulted, but sometimes they don’t keep up with the requirements as personnel come and go. They can, though, let you know if the school district itself has special requirements. Compare their requirements with the law. School districts sometimes ask for more than is really required. 

Type	Cost	Record Keeping	Choice of Curriculum	Schedule	Require Unit testing
Independent
Umbrella School	varies	School keeps	School choice	Parent choice	yes
Own Making	varies	Parent keeps	Parent choice	Parent choice	no
Cyber-School
Public	free	School keeps	School choice	Depends on school	yes
Private	varies	School keeps	School choice	Depends on school	yes

* Check out the book, You've Decided to Homeschool by Marsha Hubler