Homeschooling - My Advice.

I realize that I have not been homeschooling as long as some people and not the entire length of my kid's school careers.  I also know that I have not yet graduated a child, so take my advice with a grain of salt.  I think I'm onto some things though.

First of all, you do not have to spend a ton of money.  You can homeschool with paper, pencils and library books if need be.  If you don't own the books, you'll have to keep checking them out and that would be kind of a pain, but not impossible.  An internet connection, even a slow, cheap one like we have, is also helpful.  A printer is a wonderful homeschool helper.  There are tons of resources for free on the internet.  Currclick offers a free product each week.  Teachers Pay Teachers offers free products about once a month. 

Secondly, you don't have to have a dedicated room in your home for homeschooling.  We originally started doing the first part of homeschooling at the kitchen table but none of the kids do their schoolwork there now; it's usually the living room or their bedrooms.  They have also done school work in the car, at grandma's house, in doctor's offices, the library and outside in the yard.

Thirdly, you do not have to "do school" just like the schools do school.  They are running an institution and crowd control is a concern.  Homeschools are more like tutoring services than schools.  One on one individual instruction is more efficient and it does not have to take as long.  Your child does not have to wait while 15 others go to the bathroom, unless you have a very large family.  :-)

And last but not least, homeschooling can and should be as much fun as you can make it.  Even though you are running a school, you are still also a family and can and should enjoy each others company.  I realize that this is hard when someone is whining about math (trust me, I have been there!) but most of the day can be pleasant and even fun.