Homeschooling How-to's: General Advice for new homescoolers

My thoughts and advice, generally:

• Find your own way of doing things.
  
• Know that you can go your own pace! You don't need and shouldn't feel like you have to do things the way public schools do them. Find your own style.
• If you're concerned about cost, don't be. It can be as FREE or EXPENSIVE as you want it to be. That's a post of it's very own though.
  
• Here's an article that I love to read from time to time, to remind myself when things are rough. But it's also great for anyone considering homeschooling or for family of new homeschoolers to read this.
• Get on yahoo and find local homeschool groups to join
• Ask around your area and find homeschool park days to attend (if your yahoo groups don't include that info)
  
• And one last tip...this is VERY IMPORTANT…don't allow yourself to get too sucked into the "curriculum searching" side of things. Don’t go to homeschool conventions either. Not until you have a couple of years under your belt. Really. It’s not a good idea. There is SO much out there. You just don’t need to spend all the money or time searching. Read a few books, talk to people you trust, brainstorm on what you hope to accomplish – and run with it! Check each curriculum against your own set of standards. You could spend all your days browsing online and find yourself extremely frustrated trying to settle on one. The books I’ve mentioned should give you a good foundation to work from.

Now on to some of the basic topics new homeschoolers find themselves needing to work out first…

Homeschooling Laws by state:
http://www.hslda.org/laws

Curriculum:
I won’t list ANY curriculum here. First read any or all of the books listed below and then come back if you still have questions about curriculum.

BOOKS:
Home Learning Year by Year: How to Design a Homeschool Curriculum from Preschool through High School by Rebecca Rupp
100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum by Cathy Duffy (you can also go to her site at http://www.cathyduffyreviews.com but if it’s a Top 100 Pick, you’ll need to look in the book for a complete review.
The Three R's by Dr. Ruth Beechick -- this one I HIGHLY recommend if you’re starting with kindergarten.
Peggy Kaye's entire Games for.....series (she also has games ON the website)
The Well Trained Mind by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer (this one is a lot to take in, and a good one to buy. But you could check it out from the library first to see what you think and read the sections that fit your children’s stages first. Be prepared to take lots of notes. And then re-read.)

Free programs to download:
All Tux progams: Math, Typing, Paint

Some websites:
Skillswise (Factsheets, worksheets, quizzes and games to improve skills in Grammar, Spelling, Reading, Listening, Writing, Vocabulary, and Math)
EZSchool (Worksheets, Games, Study Tools, Tutorials, Spelling)
First-School (worksheets and lesson plans for PreK and K)
Dance Mat Typing
Starfall (free phonics)
Poisson Rouge (my girl's call this "the Room Game" - go visit and you'll understand...)

In my Google Reader:
http://www.freelyeducate.com/
http://www.pioneerwoman/homeschool
http://www.thaden-pierce.org/school
http://www.homeschooling.net/blog

Upcoming posts:

• Specific curriculums; what we’ve used, what we’re going to use, what we’ve liked and disliked
• Our own decision to homeschool
• Answering other’s questions about your homeschooling (family, friends, strangers)
• How we feel about what our girls miss or don’t miss (In short, the VAST majority of what they miss, we WANT them to miss. What we don’t want them to miss, we find ways to get.)
• Homeschooling for free, near free, and however little or much you want to spend!