As a professional educator, I am often asked about my thoughts on home schooling.  My answer to that question, often leads to this question:  What advice would you give to individuals contemplating home schooling?

Homeschooling your children is a huge but rewarding commitment. Parents choose to homeschool for many reasons ranging from religious beliefs, lifestyle choice or in some instances not having access to any other form of reliable, workable and/or affordable educational options.  Many parents are excellent homeschoolers and their children thrive while others feel overwhelmed by the sheer responsibility of it all. Parents should really make the choice knowing that there is skill in teaching and the time commitment to do a great job is considerable.

If a homeschooler’s  goal is for their children  to be able to attend post-secondary, (if they choose to go that route), they must ensure that they are following a strong, well rounded curriculum base.  The best way for parents to do that is to choose resources and sources of information before they need them.  Always, remember that textbooks are not a curriculum, they are a resource.

Homeschooling should only be entered into after considerable thought and investigation into what is available.  Hunting for reliable resources when you are in panic mode is not a good game plan.

Homeschooler’s should also contemplate the length of time they want to home school.  Do they wish to homeschool until the end of elementary?  If so, what is the exit strategy?  Do they wish to homeschool to the end of grade twelve?  If so, and the students wish to go to post-secondary, what is the exit strategy?

There are many rewards in homeschooling and many frustrations.  Find great, reliable and affordable resources before you need them.  Those resources will be worth their weight in gold and make your journey into homeschooling more rewarding than frustrating.