Homeschooling For Dummies

Jennifer Kaufeld has nearly three decades of homeschooling experience. She is a regular speaker at state and regional homeschooling and education conferences, and frequently contributes expert advice to several communities on Facebook and elsewhere online.

Introduction 1


About This Book 1


Foolish Assumptions 2


Icons Used in This Book 2


Beyond the Book 3


Where to Go from Here 4


Part 1: Heading to Homeschooling 5


Chapter 1: Answering the Big Questions 7


Getting to This Point 7


Knowing Not to Know It All 9


Affording It 9


Hanging in There 11


Signing up for the long haul 11


Staying at home forever 12


Breaking the News to Mom 13


Addressing Socialization, the Hot Homeschooling Buzzword 14


Social outlets 14


Socialization 15


Presenting the Issue of the Year 16


Chapter 2: Taking the Leap 19


Realizing That Anger is Not Enough 19


Ensuring educational excellence 20


Meeting your child's special needs 20


Retaining religious convictions 21


Accommodating family lifestyle 22


Determining What's Best for Your Family 22


Creating Solutions for Special Situations 23


Working around your job 23


Dealing with special learners 24


Beginning the Journey 25


Choosing the perfect time of year 25


Deciding at what age to begin 26


Assigning homework 27


Making homeschooling more than school at home 28


Using the extra time 28


Chapter 3: Complying with Uncle Sam 31


Conducting Yourself (Yes, Ma'am) in Accordance with State Law 32


Locating Your State's Law 33


Counting Out the School Days 35


Calling a Truce: Interacting with Your Local School 37


First: Know your law 37


Second: Make sure your ducks are in a row 38


Third: Know your law 39


Chapter 4: Pulling Them Out and Starting from Scratch 41


Making Those First Days Count 41


De-stressing the children 42


Easing into coursework 43


Rebuilding Your Family Unit 44


Setting your schedule 44


Working together 45


Dad's or Mom's role in your homeschool 45


Starting from the Very Beginning 47


Teaching in small blocks 48


Using the objects you own 48


Drawing on Your Strengths and Filling in the Gaps 49


Speaking to your strengths 49


Teaching them what you don't know 50


Part 2: Tackling Kids of Any Age 53


Chapter 5: Teaching Your Toddler While You Change Your Baby 55


Juggling Primers, Preschoolers, and Diapers 56


Surviving Life with a Toddler 57


Teaching with a toddler 58


Teaching your toddler 59


Covering the Preschool Basics 60


Teaching with a preschooler 61


Teaching your preschooler 61


Chapter 6: Covering the Elementary Years 65


Setting Out with Elementary Students 65


Learning through Language Arts: Reading and Grammar 66


It's as easy as A, B, C 67


Beyond the basics 69


Going on to the heavy hitters 70


Eating Your Way through Math 70


Going beyond "Our Community Helpers" 73


Firing Up the Bunson Burner 75


Timing is Everything 78


When timing is off 78


While you wait 78


Chapter 7: Handling Junior High 81


Beginning in the Middle 81


Keeping Track of It All 83


Putting Grades to the Test 84


Chapter 8: Help! I Have a High Schooler 87


Starting at the Eleventh Hour (or Eleventh Grade) 88


Switching before the Last Bell 89


Deciding your academic approach 89


Changing courses midstream (or at winter break) 90


Dancing the High School Subject Tango 91


Language arts 93


Math 94


Science 95


History and social studies 97


Languages 98


Driver education 98


Electives 99


Planning for the Tidy Transcript 102


Check your state's requirements 103


Start at the end and work backwards 103


Choosing courses that count 105


Prepping for College 107


ACTing on Your InSATiable Desire for Standardized Tests 109


SAT 109


ACT 109


Chapter 9: Completing Twelfth Grade Doesn't Mean It's Over 111


Spreading Their Wings and Earning Their Keep 112


Continuing to college 112


Marching in the military 112


Studying at a trade/vocational school 114


Entering the workforce 114


Strapping on the Tool Belt 115


Continuing Homeschool through College 117


Staying at home 117


Finding a suitable program 118


Part 3: Choosing Your Cornerstone: Basic Curriculum Options 121


Chapter 10: Orbiting as a Satellite School under the Umbrella 123


Riding the Satellite 124


Opting for a Complete Curriculum across the Distance 124


Pinpointing a Program 125


Elementary through junior high and beyond 126


High schools 127


Matching Your Needs with Their Offerings 129


Chapter 11: Does Classical Education Mean Teaching Vivaldi? 131


Classifying It Classical 132


Trying the trivium 132


Forming the foundation with literature 134


Assembling Your Classical Curriculum Components 135


Language arts 135


Math 137


Science 137


History 138


Geography 139


Art 139


Music 140


Latin 141


Foreign language 142


Gathering More Information 143


Chapter 12: Reading Real Living Books with Charlotte 145


Calling Charlotte Mason 145


Leaping through living books 146


Nuzzling up to nature studies 146


Putting Together Your Package 146


Language arts 147


Math 149


Nature science 149


History 150


Geography 150


Art 150


Music 151


Foreign language 151


Chapter 13: Mining the Montessori Method 153


Exploring at Their Own Pace 154


Guiding your children 154


Combining academics and life 155


Setting Up Your Space 155


Walking through the Day 155


Mathematics 156


Language arts 156


Practical Life 157


Sensorial 157


Culture 157


Chapter 14: Wandering through Nature with Waldorf 159


Working Together with Head, Hands, and Heart 160


Enjoying the outdoors 160


Making things by hand 161


Flowing with the day 161


Locating a Waldorf-Style Curriculum 162


Picking favorites 162


Opting for similar goals 163


Chapter 15: Teaching Them What They Want to Learn 165


Unveiling the Integrated Unit Study 166


All unit studies, all the time 166


Locating unit studies 167


Making them last 169


Changing Pace with Unit Studies 171


Focusing on Project-Based Learning 172


Short- and long-term projects 172


Designing a project to suit the learner 173


Designing Unit Studies 174


Subject-ing yourself to this? 174


Digging for topics 176


Calling all units 176


Chapter 16: Unschooling: A Walk on the Relaxed Side 181


Raising Eyebrows and Suspicions 182


Fitting the Bill 183


Learning through the Course of a Day 184


Filling Your Home with Unschooling Tools 185


Books 185


Games 186


Software 188


Technological and building toys 189


Videos 189


Recording Their Progress 190


Chapter 17: Hitting the Road with Worldschooling 193


Roadschooling versus Worldschooling 194


Engaging the environmentally curious 194


Following your dreams full or part time 194


Planning is everything 195


Choosing Your Academic Approach 197


Ditching the books or not? 197


Living on and off the 'net 198


Chapter 18: Charting Your Own Academic Course Eclectically 201


Knowing Whether Your Kid's Kinesthetic 202


Pulling from Different Publishers 203


Starting with what you know 203


Pulling from the stacks 204


Writing a Curriculum from Scratch: The Diehard Approach 212


Chapter 19: Special Concerns for Special Students 215


Considering Yourself Capable 216


Guiding the Gifted 217


Taking different paths 218


Rounding up gifted education resources 219


Teaching the Medically Fragile 220


Getting the Goods You Need 220


Special equipment and services 221


Individualized Education Program 221


Information 222


Part 4: Nailing Down the Details 225


Chapter 20: Defining Your School Space 227


Making Room for Chalk 227


Setting aside the optimal amount of space 228


Buying too far in advance increases storage needs 229


Deciding between the Den, the Dining Room, or the Whole Darn Place 230


Gathering around the kitchen table 231


Setting aside a special room 231


LEGO bricks in the living room and homework in the hall 233


Chapter 21: Cutting the Costs and Searching for Stuff 235


Slashing Curriculum Prices 236


Choosing an inexpensive curriculum 236


Finding free, the least expensive of all 237


Locating used curriculum 238


Writing your own curriculum 239


Sourcing Your Curriculum 240


Looking at your local store 240


Avoiding the malls: Ordering via Internet or mailbox 241


Attending a Homeschool Conference 242


Hearing It from the Horse's Mouth 243


Tapping the Fountain of Fellow Homeschoolers 243


Borrowing books long term 243


Buying as a group 244


Asking for the Discount 245


Breaking Out the Library Card 245


Understanding Copyright: What is Fair Educational Use? 247


Chapter 22: Teaching Your Traditions 251


Christian Curriculum 251


Publishing all-in-one, Protestant style 252


Science and other individual courses 253


Adding Bible to the day 255


LDS curriculum choices 255


Roman Catholic curriculum options 256


Jewish Resources 258


Islamic Resources 259


Pagan Resources 259


African American Resources 261


Native American Resources 262


Chapter 23: Turning Chaos into Organization 265


Tracking Your Week with a Planner 266


Seeking the Paperless Society 268


Thirty Days Hath September 270


Scheduling for Sanity 270


Keeping Your School Spotless 272


Feeling the Burnout 272


Chapter 24: Making the Grade 275


Deciding Whether to Keep Grades 275


Writing the tests to make the grades that you record in the house that Jack built 276


Figuring the grade 278


Tracking Those Unit Studies 279


Keeping a State-Required Portfolio 280


Testing Standardized's Validity 282


Chapter 25: Plugging in Your Schoolroom 287


Schooling at Home But Online 288


Coursing through the Internet 289


'Net-ting Resources 291


Touring the World without Leaving Your Desk 293


Enhancing Your Subjects with Electronic Errata 294


Chapter 26: Connecting with Like-Minded Souls 299


Finding Homeschoolers Online Who Share Your Passions 300


Facebooking your way to friends 300


Finding the best blogs 302


Pointing toward podcasts 303


Networking Isn't Just for Computer Geeks 304


Associating and Consorting 305


Praying for Guidance 306


Getting Together for Socialization 307


TEAM: Together, Everyone Achieves More 308


Gathering informally 309


Formalizing your group 310


Part 5: Making Your Year Sing with Extras 313


Chapter 27: Adding Spice with Special Classes 315


Making Time for the Extras 316


Bringing Out Their Inner Artists 317


Music 318


Art 320


Go Ahead - Be Dramatic 322


Speech and debate 323


Drama 325


Homeschool groups 327


Taking Some Laps 327


Cooking Up a Storm 329


Bantering about Birds and Bees 330


Parlez-vous Greek? 331


Cleaning the House and Calling It Schoolwork 334


Chapter 28: Making It Adventurous with Activities and Groups 337


Dirtying Your Hands with a Project 338


Dissecting an owl pellet 338


Playing amateur archaeologist 339


Creating a garden 339


Building a train layout 340


Burying yourself in papier-mache 340


Assembling a model 341


Pretending It's Le Louvre 341


Getting Past Bugs Bunny 342


Volunteering Builds Compassion 343


Packing Up the Minivan 345


Seeing the Sights or Staying at Home 347


Finding an Organization That Helps You Grow 348


Thinking about Playing or Playing to Think? 350


Ante Up 352


Thrilling the Engineer's Heart 352


Part 6: The Part of Tens 355


Chapter 29: Ten Educational Games That Enhance Your School Day 357


Anti-Monopoly 358


Evolution 358


Forbidden Island/Desert 358


The Garden Game 359


How Do You See the World? 359


Into the Forest 359


Krypto 360


Periodic 360


Spell Smashers 361


Wingspan 361


Chapter 30: Ten Common Homeschool Fears 363


My child will never make friends if I homeschool. 363


I don't know enough to teach my child. 364


My child will miss out on socialization. 365


I will buy the wrong curriculum. 365


My child will learn less at home than he does at school. 366


I'll never have free time again. 367


My child may not be learning at the right pace. 368


I won't be able to do it all. 368


After I start, I have to do this forever. 369


I'm not keeping the right (or enough) records on my child's progress. 369


Part 7: Appendixes 371


Appendix A: Homeschooling Curriculum and Resources 373


Abeka 373


Artes Latinae 374


Behrman House 374


Brave Writer 374


California Homeschool Network Records and Resource Guide 374


Christian Book Distributors 375


Cricket Media Magazines 375


The Critical Thinking Co. 375


Great Books Academy 375


Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) 376


Mary Frances Books 376


MindWare 376


MisterArt 376


National Black Home Educators 377


Pandia Press 377


S&S Worldwide 377


Studies Weekly 377


Scotch Thermal Laminator 377


SEA Books and More 378


Teachers Pay Teachers 378


Appendix B: State-by-State Homeschool Associations 379


Appendix C: Speaking the Language: Educational and Homeschooling Terms 385


2E 385


accelerated learning 386


advanced placement (AP) course 386


auditory learner 386


CLEP exam 386


consumable 386


correlated to state standards 387


distance learning 387


dual credit 387


educational game 387


elective 388


fine arts 388


grade level 388


inclusive 388


intent to homeschool 389


kinesthetic learner 389


lesson plan 389


living books 390


low for grade level 390


neutral science 390


online education 390


PSP (Private School Satellite Program) 391


real books 391


reproducible black line masters 391


standardized test 391


teacher's guide/teacher edition 392


transcript 392


visual learner 392


Index 393