I have filed all my paper work with the dept of education in my state (DE) and have made a start date of Sept 6 2011. Now what ? I know from the forms I filled out that I am required to submit attendance reports, but what does that really mean ? How many days he studies? What he studies? How many hours a week he does school work ? Beyond that what do I do, how do I start? What curriculum is best for a child going into the 3rd grade, but now leaving public school and being taught at home by mommy ? What are the rules ? The state forms didn't give me any. I'm so lost and I haven't begun homeschooling yet. I found lots of sites that say ''how to get started'' but they are so vage, Im still at a loss reading all of those.
Hi Michelle I saw your email and figured I would reply here in case anyone else needed the info. It is actually very simple to bring your child to homeschool. ( I think it's so simple it scares the heck out of you at first because it is so simple) Basically I sent in the paperwork I got from my school district office the day I pulled my daughter from public school. They sent me back a paper with my new homeschool name and number on it and let me know that there would be a paper coming in June for attendence. When that paper came in June it was 2 pages. Very simple pages all you had to do in a box was fill in how many days your school was opened and how many of those days each child in your school attended. (That was for having multiple children for sick days etc.) That was it! What the "schooling" will be is your choice. I think you will find it easier and easier ( and alot less stressful) once you get going. There are still moments I have of worrying if I am doing the right thing but if you step outside the box and realize how much more your child is learning through out the year and compare it to what they would be doing in school it will put your mind at ease. The way I look at is this, on a normal school day my child would get up early (usually earlier than they want to) and get ready (sometimes forgeting things, or stressed out over something they are walking into a drama or test or teacher they don't like) and that sets their day off so there is an instant "block". This block keeps them from learning what they need to learn that day, then they go and wait for the bus, get to school and wait for it to start. They start their class which is usualy what a half an hour long? Which it takes the kids several minutes to settle then for the teacher to go over what they "learned' yesterday then once they get into the lesson to be learned that day the bell rings and they have to change classes. This goes on all day so in school they are only getting about 10 mins maybe of actual learning. Then they have all of this homework to bring home (another stresser because they just spent their whole day in school and would much rather be outside or doing something for downtime) With homeschool there is not that distraction if your child isn't understanding it you can keep going until he does. Once alot of the stressers are gone it is amazing how the child is able to learn! Not just from worksheets and books but from life and they learn how to apply all of the basics to everyday life and learn to teach themselves to learn from it. It is going to be a wonderful adventure for you both! I am so glad we met and I will be able to see you both on this adventure, we are going to have so much fun :)
