How To Start Homeschooling – The Free Beginner’s Guide

If you are confused about how to start homeschooling your children, look no further than this! Together we are going to go through this step-by-step guide to help you start your family’s homeschool journey with confidence, ease, and all the support you need.

The decision to start homeschooling is not always an easy one. For some parents, they always knew this life was their calling. But for others, it’s a change they made at some point during their child’s education. Regardless of when you start homeschooling, we all start in the place: lost in a myriad of decisions, advice, and options.

Throughout the next several posts we are going to look at how your family can begin their homeschool journey. Regardless of your reasons, regardless of your background, and regardless of your own education. I am going to walk you through this, step by step, and together we are going to help you nurture your own homeschool.

What Is Homeschooling?

Let’s start at the beginning with a definition. Start by understanding what homeschooling is.

According to Myriam-Webster homeschool can be defined as “to teach school subjects to one’s children at home.”

That’s close to true, but as most homeschool parents will tell you, homeschooling does not always happen at home. Homeschooling can and does happen wherever you go.

However, the first part of that definition, to teach school subjects to one’s children, that part is (mostly) accurate. I say mostly because there is a large group of homeschoolers who unschool – which is different than homeschooling, but still part of the process (we will cover this more in later posts).

Confused? Don’t be. Homeschooling is truly and simply a process of you, the parent, guiding and directing your child’s education. A process where you take control of your child’s education rather than leaving it up to private or public schools.

And actually, you’ve already been doing it. You just didn’t realize it. 😉

Homeschooling Starts Well Before School Does

Did you teach your child to eat with a spoon? Did you teach them to walk or talk? Were you successful in potty training your child?

Have you taught them to ride a bike, tie their shoe, or count to 10 or 50 or even 100?

Did you, from the time they were born, encourage them to grow and try new things? Did you spend time with them reading books or observing nature?

Because all of these things, they are teaching. They are educating. They are you, the parent, schooling your child and imparting wisdom, knowledge, and how to do something.

And you have successfully been doing this since they were born. Whether you worked full-time outside of the home or stayed home all day long with them, you have been teaching them. You just didn’t know it.

You just did what any parent does with a newborn, or a toddler, or a small child.

You taught them without ever fully realizing that you were homeschooling all along.

A Word Of Encouragement

Homeschooling, ok well formally deciding to homeschool, is different than anything else you will try. Homeschooling is a family decision, a statement to the world that says, “I got this.”

Regardless of whether you have always known this was the course you were going to take, or if you are just looking to get started, this series is for you.

Like starting any new thing there is some research and learning to be done on your part before you ever start educating your children. My hope is that over these next few posts, we can navigate the chaos and find your purpose, your direction, and your goals for your home and children.

Together we are going to look at how to get started homeschooling, how to discover learning styles, how to explore the curriculum options available, and five things to let go of.

I like to think of these as my beginner’s mistakes, things that I learned the hard way and I don’t want to see you struggle with.

But these are also things I have learned along the way. Tips, tricks, and ideas that have worked for us. Inspiration to keep you motivated, ideas to try, and pitfalls to avoid.

Most importantly though, a reminder that homeschooling is not just school at home. It’s not days filled with math facts and history dates. It’s the freedom to allow your child to learn at a pace that works for them. The ability to say “today we try something new.”

It won’t always be easy. It won’t always work the way you thought it would. But it will always be worth it.

Getting Started with Homeschooling

Here we go! You have decided to homeschool your children. Whether your kids are currently in public or private school, or toddlers at home, you have made a monumental decision. You have made the decision to take on the educational needs of your children, and that is pretty amazing. No one knows your kids as you do, and no one can teach them as you can.

Now what? Believe it or not, I truly feel the first thing you need to do is create your mission statement. This statement is the purpose, goals, and dreams you have for yourself and your children.

It doesn’t need to be perfect, and it can always be revised as you go along, but this short little piece of paper will help you when the days are long, the lessons are challenging, and the character flaws are showing in all of you.

So what are your goals for your homeschool? What is the mission, purpose, and direction for you? Here are a few questions to get you started:

• Is your main focus: character development or academic achievement?
• Do you want to instill a love for learning or simply teach to test?
• Do you want to allow for a more independent/student-lead education?
• Does your child(ren) have a specific area of interest you would like to encourage?
• Does your child(ren) have a specific talent they would like to develop?

Your mission statement is what will keep you going. It directs your family and the decisions you will make along this journey.

For more help creating your family’s homeschool mission statement, grab your free copy of my Homeschool Mission Statement Planner!

Keeping Things Legal

This may be shocking to read, but Federal Law does not dictate homeschooling. However, state law does. Each and every state has various laws regarding the age of attendance (sometimes called compulsory age), the minimum number of student days or required hours of study, and graduation requirements.

And of course, each state has its own set of reporting requirements as well. Some states require very little from parents, while other states are highly regulated.

Sometimes, finding this information can be challenging. While I am not a member of Home School Legal Defense Association is a great place to start because they have laws for every state. HSLDA has been advocating homeschool rights for over 30 years. Other resources include your states’ website and department of education.

Once you understand your states’ laws you need to start thinking about when you would like to begin homeschooling, when you need to notify (if required) and who you need to notify, and start formulating a plan for actually getting started.

Or just read the next post where we start digging in! 🙂

***Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, nor am I providing you the legal advice you need to homeschool in accordance with your state’s laws. I advise you to seek proper legal advice where necessary and to obey the laws governing homeschool in your state.

Finding Hope As You Start Homeschooling

Homeschooling is a wonderful option for educating your children. It allows you, the parent, to not only direct the course of study but to increase your time with your family.

Traditional schooling options often have children away from home for 6-8 hours a day! And with the increased push for mandatory kindergarten and the increase in pre-k programs, kids are leaving home at younger and younger ages. My daughter started pre-k at our local public school she was still 3! Hindsight being 20/20 I wish I had made a different decision then, but I can’t go back.

What I can do is change – and I have. We are no longer a public school family, but homeschoolers for life.

Our own homeschool journey has been mired with ups and downs, success stories and utter failures, and countless opportunities for growth. We have all grown and learned many things as we have navigated this path, grateful for those who came before us and their advice, insight, and willingness to share.

Today, as I sit and write this to you I think back at all that I have learned. The many resources available to help you, tips to make your transition smoother, and ideas that I have come across along the way. I am combing my memories and stories to share with you that show both sides of the homeschool coin: the good and the bad.

If you haven’t done so, draft your mission statement and begin looking into the laws of your state. That will more than enough to keep you busy until my next post on resources and support.

Continue this series with part 2, How To Start Homeschooling: Your Homeschool Family.

Even More Help As Your Start Your Homeschool Journey!

Access the entire How To Start Homeschooling series in one place! Filled with the entire series, exclusive bonus content, workbook pages, planning pages, the learning styles guide, curriculum recommendations, and the GIANT curriculum guide, when you purchase The Complete Beginner’s Guide To Homeschooling! This 92-page ebook is just available now and is ready to walk you through the process of starting your homeschool.

Are you ready to get started on your homeschooling adventure? Need more help than I listed here? Leave a comment below or shoot me a message at kelly@hopeinthechaos.com!

This post has been updated from its original version published June 2017.