Getting Started Home Schooling Tips: Home Schooling a Special Needs Child

November 16th, 2009 Shaka

Careers Jobs Tips >> Home School Tips >> Getting Started Home Schooling Tips
Getting Started Home Schooling Tips: Home Schooling a Special Needs Child
Are you contemplating whether or not to homeschool your special needs child? Here are some important questions to ask yourself:

• Is the stress of going to school too great for your child?
• Does the school have enough support?
• Is your child accepted and appreciated by the other students?
• Does your child feel like he or she is accomplishing something?

The answers to these and other questions may very well lead you to try homeschooling, where you know your child is learning best and where there is love.

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Getting Started Home Schooling Tips: Only Child Homeschooling

November 16th, 2009 Shaka

Careers Jobs Tips >> Home School Tips >> Getting Started Home Schooling Tips
Getting Started Home Schooling Tips: Only Child Homeschooling
Since I have two boys, this is not first-hand info. I understand that homeschooling an only child can be done successfully, but it’s very hard. Much depends on the child. If the child is incredibly social, it takes extra effort to plan a social life in which the child feels he or she interacts enough with other children.

At least one parent must be the social type to plan a social life for the homeschooled child. Most homeschooling functions are not “drop-off” activities. If you are a parent caring for the child, you might find yourself spending hours with other homeschooling parents (mostly mothers). If you are not comfortable with this much socializing, it could be a problem for you.

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Getting Started Home Schooling Tips: Accepting the Choice to Homeschool or Not to Homeschool

November 16th, 2009 Shaka

Careers Jobs Tips >> Home School Tips >> Getting Started Home Schooling Tips
Getting Started Home Schooling Tips: Accepting the Choice to Homeschool or Not to Homeschool
Just as with Yankees and Red Sox fans, when it comes to the issue of educating their children most families are for one of either homeschooling or public schooling.

While homeschooling parents might wax poetic all day about the virtues of their style of education, public school parents would wonder how homeschooling parents can isolate their children from the mainstream even if they acknowledge the faults of a public school education.

In reality, homeschooling is a choice that is right for some families and not for others, so if you’re considering homeschooling your child be honest with yourself and with your family. Can you provide a nurturing educational environment? Is your public school system below standard or quite good? Can you take the time to construct good lessons and exercises? There is no right educational style, but a right one for each family, so think carefully before committing your child to one approach.

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Getting Started Home Schooling Tips: Critical Family Members

November 16th, 2009 Shaka

Careers Jobs Tips >> Home School Tips >> Getting Started Home Schooling Tips
Getting Started Home Schooling Tips: Critical Family Members
What should you do about family members who are critical about your decision to homeschool? I suggest you take the time to educate your family about homeschooling.

Most family members are critical simply because they are genuinely concerned about your children and/or are ignorant about homeschooling. Give them some statistics,tell them what a typical day of homeschooling is like, or ask them to come and observe you for a day. All of these things will go a long way toward reassuring the family about your homeschooling decision.

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Getting Started Home Schooling Tips: Socialization

November 16th, 2009 Shaka

Careers Jobs Tips >> Home School Tips >> Getting Started Home Schooling Tips
Getting Started Home Schooling Tips: Socialization
“What about socialization?”
This is the most frequently asked question in reference to homeschooling! If you are worried about your child getting “socialized,” you need to consider that in the average school day of 6 hours, the child spends approximately 1.5 hours “socializing” (two 15-minute recesses and a 1-hour lunch). The rest of the time the child usually sits at his desk, separated from the other children by “good behavior.” And, as the school atmosphere becomes increasingly restricted and dangerous, the socialization that occurs is not particularly social!

Homeschooling parents, on the other hand, often find their children have too much socialization – park days, skate days, and field trips! Children who live in urban or suburban areas come in contact with people all day long. Children who are taught at home have more time to socialize freely without being told what to play, when to play it, and where to play it!

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Getting Started Home Schooling Tips: Teaching Multiple Grades

November 16th, 2009 Shaka

Careers Jobs Tips >> Home School Tips >> Getting Started Home Schooling Tips
Getting Started Home Schooling Tips: Teaching Multiple Grades
One great thing about having two or more children in a homeschooling setting is that the younger ones want to keep up with the older ones. There is less total work when children are fairly close rather than far apart in age.

Some families report that their children set up natural, healthy competition among themselves. In the case of English, the younger child may have to catch up to be on the same level as the older, but will do that on his or her own. A few subjects may require individual teaching, but that is more the exception than the rule.

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Getting Started Home Schooling Tips: Going Back to Regular School

November 16th, 2009 Shaka

Careers Jobs Tips >> Home School Tips >> Getting Started Home Schooling Tips
Getting Started Home Schooling Tips: Going Back to Regular School
If you and your child decide that “regular” school is better for you both, don´t worry about your child getting back in to school. Children who are US citizens cannot be denied public education unless they have been legally expelled or some other extenuating circumstance exists. Depending on which state you live in, there are different routes to enrolling your child into public school. If you declare yourself a private school, then keeping good records of daily activities and the subjects studied is crucial in deciding to enroll your child in school. If you enroll in an independent study program (ISP), either private or through a public school, you will have no problems transferring back into the system.

If you do decide to go back to “regular” school, don´t feel like a failure. You have to do what is best for both you and your child. Sometimes, that is not homeschooling.

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Getting Started Home Schooling Tips: The Legal Nuts and Bolts

November 16th, 2009 Shaka

Careers Jobs Tips >> Home School Tips >> Getting Started Home Schooling Tips
Getting Started Home Schooling Tips: The Legal Nuts and Bolts
In every state and province, homeschooling is legal. However, the level of state supervision and regulation varies widely, from very strict in some states to no regulation at all in many others. Check with your local parent-run homeschool association about the legal responsibilities in your state before you contact any state agency.

*You can read all about your states current homeschooling laws in Home Education Magazine.

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Getting Started Home Schooling Tips: Friends

November 16th, 2009 Shaka

Careers Jobs Tips >> Home School Tips >> Getting Started Home Schooling Tips
Getting Started Home Schooling Tips: Friends
Sometimes, it happens that all of a child’s friends will be in “regular” school and that child will feel different. Explain to your child why you decided to homeschool and explain it with a sense of pride. If need be, buy some “school” things to help your child feel more like he or she is in school. Try these ideas:

• Buy a typical classroom desk
• Hang typical elementary posters and bulletin boards to help with the “school” atmosphere
• Hang an alphabet freeze as a border

Creating a school-like environment can help kids to adjust to home schooling—especially if they have been pulled from a school to be homeschooled.

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Getting Started Home Schooling Tips: Is Teaching Hard?

November 16th, 2009 Shaka

Careers Jobs Tips >> Home School Tips >> Getting Started Home Schooling Tips
Getting Started Home Schooling Tips: Is Teaching Hard?
Most people who homeschool high schoolers don’t find that teaching them is difficult. Usually, study habits are already set up and the child is accustomed to completing a certain amount of work. Also, students who have been in school typically enjoy finishing their schoolwork early, leaving enough time to work a part-time job, becoming an apprentice, practicing a sport, or taking college classes.

Parents of teenagers who have never been in school might have to be more involved in finding out how to teach algebra, chemistry, or other tough subjects. Many families in both categories solve this problem by pooling resources and hiring a tutor to instruct a small group in a particular subject once or twice a week. Usually this type of arrangement is conducive to a positive learning experience. The children know why they are there and they want to be there, so it works out well for all.

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