Homeschooling FAQS
There are many blogs and websites that focus on homeschooling families. One such site is TryHomeschooling.com, where you can download articles on organizing your homeschool, issuing report cards, creating high school transcripts, keeping a portfolio, dealing with special needs, and much more. The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine is considered the “trade magazine” for homeschool families and is available for free online at www.TheOldSchoolhouse.com. It provides dozens of encouraging and valuable homeschool articles with each issue.
Almost every state has annual homeschool conventions where vendors, speakers, and parents get together to swap books, ideas, and encouragement. Search “homeschool convention [your state]” online.
Many states also have state-level homeschool organizations that can offer guidance on state laws, direct you to local support groups (sometimes called co-ops), and advocate on behalf of homeschoolers in your state legislature.
Even if your state doesn’t have an overall homeschool organization, small independent groups can be found within driving distance of just about every family in the country. Our local all-volunteer group serves a wide range of families from up to an hour away. We have field trips, “Friday Classes,” holiday parties, and public service events. Many of our members found us via our Facebook® page or a Google® search.
SchoolhouseConnect.com, HomeschoolNowUSA.com. and hslda.org may also help direct you to local homeschool organizations and events near you.
You can also find some information on different speakers here: homeschoolspeakers.com.
DIY Education = Homeschooling
DIY has become a way of life for some folks. From landscaping to minor home repair, there are entire websites and even TV networks dedicated to encouraging people to do it themselves. But what about teaching your children? Could you do that yourself? Today, an estimated 2-3 million children are taught by their parents at home. The reasons range from wanting to provide individualized instruction that builds on a child’s strengths and interests, to health issues or special needs, to avoiding school violence, increasing family time, and many more. One big reason is that the public schools are rapidly descending to an agenda far away from Christian principles. DIY Education happens when you take what you have and put your own brand on it.
In the 1970s, a few courageous parents decided to DIY their children’s education. There weren’t a lot of resources available back then, but with ingenuity and determination, they successfully taught their kids. Today, that generation of homeschoolers is all grown up, and the resources available for them to teach their own children have vastly increased. There are complete boxed curricula, online courses, DVDs, homeschool co-ops, homeschool magazines, and hundreds of companies that cater directly to the needs, learning styles, and varying interests of students and their parents. When you start to think outside the “box,” you’ll see that you really can educate your kids yourself.
So, when it comes to your child’s education, there’s no reason you can’t Do It Yourself, especially since it’s completely legal to do so in all 50 states. And with an estimated 2.5 million children currently being home educated in this country, an enormous homeschooling community is standing by to help. SchoolhouseTeachers.com is one such resource of support: it’s the curriculum site of The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, the trade magazine for homeschool families. Now is the time to bring your kids home, and we’re glad you’re here. Come explore homeschooling!
“A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher” Luke 6:40.
