Homeschooling ... don't make it harder than it has to be.

First, go here and look at the tab on the right that says "My State" Home School Legal Defense Association

Look for the laws in your state.   Then click on "Support Groups" to find a group near you.  Those people will hold your hands while you walk through the beginning and hopefully, graduating phases of homeschooling.   Our homeschool groups have been wonderful.  We've been members of 3 over the years.  

To shop for curriculum, I recommend Rainbow Resource,   There are also free resources just about everywhere, most notably Easy Peasy Homeschool which tells you what to do, each day.  

So do the bare minimum that your state requires, join a support group, take a ton of field trips and most of all, HAVE FUN!

Homeschooling is the BEST.

4H adventures, winning prizes for art, setting pigeons free to fly home, holding a gecko and a baby pigeon.

Kayaking.  This was a field trip.

Mammoth cave.  Field trip. 

Doing algebra at the kitchen table.

Learning to run a small business through 4H. 

Louisville Water Plant - Field trip. 

Lincoln museum, field trip. 

So, for the only state I have experience with, Kentucky, there are 4 steps.

1.  Notify the local school district department of pupil personnel with a letter of intent to homeschool.

2.  Get a curriculum that covers the basics.

3. Do it with your students 170 days per year.

4.  Keep reasonable records of work.  (This is where some people go too crazy.  Most of the time, in Kentucky nobody is going to check these, overall, they seem to trust us to do what we need to do. This may change in the future.  I know we have people at HSLDA working to keep homeschooling legal in all 50 states. Don't work too hard on the  records part, just keep very basic records.)

Start again the following July/August with the letter of intent and repeat until your child turns 18.  

I'd add another step, HAVE FUN.   

Read this book.  Free Range Learning, How Homeschooling Changes Everything.