Where do I begin? Homeschooling...

[Romans922]

My wife and I are planning on homeschooling our children. Our oldest (almost 5) we are teaching to read right now in hopes that by this fall we can start homeschooling officially.

But we have no clue where to begin in the homeschooling process. I believe the first step would be to know what our state requires of us (Kansas), to know the laws, etc. Anybody who can help me find the Kansas statutes on this would be great (I have searched google, but I am being confused...).

But then what do we do next?

 

[Hamalas]

So if I understand correctly you're looking more for legal processes here than curriculum choices correct?

 

[Miss Marple]

COntact HSLDA.org (home school legal defense association) and they well get you to your state organization and they will answer all of your questions, I am sure.

Have fun!

 

[jwithnell]

Here's a link for Kansas law:

http://www.hslda.org/laws/analysis/kansas.pdf

It looks like you don't have to do anything until age 7.

 

[Mindaboo]

I second the HSLDA suggestion. They know the laws and requirements. They will walk you through the process. We've had to use their services, and they were amazing.

If you are looking for curriculum. The best advice I was ever given was: "Find something you like and do it." I really love Sonlight for the younger years. It gives you the lesson plans, you know how much you need to accomplish in a day, and it doesn't require a lot of prep time on mom's part.

 

[Romans922]

Im looking for legal first, because that is fairly important.

After such answers are answered, I'm looking for how do I determine what 'subjects' to teach and then what sources I use. I understand it is up to the parents, but I would like suggestions...

 

[JimmyH]

Continuing my attempt at 'homeschooling' myself in Greek I found this site through google today. Might be helpful ; Classical Christian Homeschooling: Language in the Grammar Stage: Grades 1-6

 

[Leslie]

I second the vote for Sonlight. It is truly Christian, and it is not as USA-centric as most other Christian curricula. It was originally created for missionary kids, so it has a strong whole-world emphasis. It teaches a lot of history/social science by means of literature, integrates the subjects very well. I used it to homeschool an Ethiopian boy that we adopted some years ago.

 

[Hemustincrease]

Continuing my attempt at 'homeschooling' myself in Greek I found this site through google today. Might be helpful ; Classical Christian Homeschooling: Language in the Grammar Stage: Grades 1-6

I agree. I’m home schooling myself in Latin and Greek and my eldest is already demonstrating the wonderful benefits of learning the classics. I’d definitely advise Latin first. Greek is way easier once you have the Latin basics worked through. (Well, in my opinion at any rate.)

McGuffey readers are excellent. I highly recommend them. My children love reading them too.

Concentrating on memory work whilst they are young proves helpful in the long run. They can so easily learn all manner of facts (including Latin/Greek conjugations/noun endings ) before they come to actually understand and process them fully. Classical conversations has a useful and fun app if you have an Ipad. I don’t personally favor their curriculum or use it, but the app is worth the money in my estimation. It just gets those facts in so easily and they don’t forget them. When they come to more formal work, these facts all nicely fit into place and serve them well.

 

[Edward]

COntact HSLDA.org

I'd go beyond that and say that you need to join. It isn't cheap (Discounts for preachers), but the services are invaluable if you get sideways with the bureaucrats. I don't have any vested interest - we aren't members, and we don't homeschool. But if we did, even in a homeschool friendly state, it would be part of the budget.

 

[Scottish Lass]

Once you know the regs per HSLDA, see if you can go to a homeschooling convention near you, search FB homeschooling groups, etc. Grace is only four, so we read, read, read. Along the way, we incorporate predicting, cause and effect, letters, phonics, etc. One day a week we work on letter or number formation for about ten minutes. There are free options like Easy Peasy that only need a little supplementing to full boxed curricula like Sonlight and A Beka, or others do nearly a whole curriuculum using library/living books and not much else. A lot of that is determined by how much guidance y'all need. There's literally boxed curricula for pre-k, but I think we do okay winging it.

 

[Mindaboo]

I'd go beyond that and say that you need to join. It isn't cheap (Discounts for preachers), but the services are invaluable if you get sideways with the bureaucrats. I don't have any vested interest - we aren't members, and we don't homeschool. But if we did, even in a homeschool friendly state, it would be part of the budget.

When we needed them for some legal issues they were worth every penny we've spent over the years. We let our membership lapse for a period but never again. They also have a payment plan if you can't swing the lump sum. We pay $10 per month. It cost more in the long run, but I'd rather have it than not. We're in a homeschool friendly state, but when the Truancy officer and Social Services showed up on our step they were right there walking us through the process. I wouldn't homeschool without that system of support.

Sonlight uses a lot of literature. I loved the reading and read alouds. I do not care for the Bible portion of the curriculum at all. What I did love about it was the emphasis on learning history about missionaries, the native lands they were working in, and the geography was good too. I needed the structure. I've never been confident in my own teaching abilities. I only used Sonlight for history, language arts, reading, and read alouds. Most of the books you can pick up from the library, but when my oldest was using it I felt like it was worth the investment with three more behind her. We've read and reread those books over and over again.

 

[ZackF]

A bit of a side note on legal issues as a fellow Kansan. Recently we've been having some help with our two-year old daughters speech development as she is a late talker. The agency we use is "private" but she ages out at three of which is upon her soon. We have had to decline, in writing, that we are not going to be using the services of the school district when our daughter reaches three and provide our reasons. We were provided with a packet on the relevant statutes and procedures surrounding "parental rights." If it takes a thick stack of papers to illustrate our "rights" that require a trained attorney to wade through then we will be enrolling in HSLDA when the time comes. Just saying....

 

[kvanlaan]

We started homeschooling about 14 years ago in China and use Sonlight. My wife does tinker with it, since there are weak spots (she doesn't like their Language Arts program) but their literature/history program is so strong, our children have worn out multiple copies of many selections. Also, it is not a workbook approach - this is a program that helps them to love learning. For example, the reason why their history program is so strong is that it is almost linked to their literature program and thus history is taught through literature in many ways. Johnny Tremain and Across Five Aprils are two that we have needed to purchase again and again because our children have worn through them. They add such life to both the Revolutionary War and the Civil War; we have found that that is a real selling point with the children.

PS - while HSLDA is not an absolute "must" it is wise, especially in today's world.

 

[Hamalas]

I would echo the words of others and strongly encourage you to check out the classical Christian approach (the same education which shaped many great Presbyterian leaders in previous centuries: Center for Reformed Theology and Apologetics). If you're open to it I could recommend a few good books which would help to give you a feel for what classical Christian education is and how it works.

 

[jwithnell]

Zack, I can't speak to anything that might generate from the state of Kansas, but likely you were encountering federal regulation regarding special education. And yes, it takes reams of paperwork that the locals really can't control. (That's just one more reason I disagree with having education controlled at the federal level.) All that said, our autistic son benefited greatly from the speech therapy services of our local school while we continued to homeschool him and our other kids.

 

[Romans922]

Zach and JWithnell, it seems in KS that I don't have to report or something until age 7. Thankfully it does not seem that my children will need state services before that time. If they do, I would imagine there are private people/businesses that could help right? Where the state/feds wouldn't see any paperwork on it?

 

[gmalloy]

Hello Andrew. If you are interested, my wife has helped a lot of families begin the homeschooling process. She has a background in curriculum design and she has researched and/or utilized many of the popular homeschool materials. We are by no means experts, but I have seen her help several families. I am sure that she would be willing to spend some time on the phone with your wife if you like. Feel free to send me a message if you guys are interested.

 

[Scottish Lass]

If they do, I would imagine there are private people/businesses that could help right? Where the state/feds wouldn't see any paperwork on it?

Yes, but it's pricey and probably not covered by insurance. We used First Steps with Gracie (state early intervention in-home therapy program) until she aged out at three. The school system tested her, but she didn't qualify/need further assistance via the school (they offer once-weekly speech therapy without having to do half-day pre-K). Private therapy for two years would have bankrupted us.

A lot of HS'ers are split on whether to take school services such as speech therapy or sports teams. On one hand, your taxes have already paid for it; others feel it opens HS families to extra scrutiny by the system, which I think would really vary from place to place, state to state.

 

[Mindaboo]

A lot of HS'ers are split on whether to take school services such as speech therapy or sports teams. On one hand, your taxes have already paid for it; others feel it opens HS families to extra scrutiny by the system, which I think would really vary from place to place, state to state.

I believe in some states they try to require you to take a minimum of one or two classes through the public school to be able to participate in the sport's programs. For me, that would be a problem. That may vary area to area as well. I think the city we were living in was trying to require that. I could be wrong.

 

[jwithnell]

For the most part, early on, I'm big on letting kids learn by being kids -- playing, exploring, helping around the house. Get them to love a good story by reading increasingly complex stories. Keep materials at the ready to color, draw, cut, create. Bring out the math in every day situations. Give them lots of time to run, play, and make up their own games. Math, handwriting, and spelling were the only formal text books I used with my second grader this year, which I treat as a transition year to more formal study. But he crawled all over the replicas of the ships that brought the first Virginians to the new world, climbed a waterfall, watched spinning and weaving, ate colonial-era food, etc. Etc.