How to Start a Homeschool

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Linda Wooldridge. I'm a home school mom. Ten years ago, I started my homeschooling journey. If you're considering starting yours now, there's a couple of things you need to consider. Remember, it's a little bit like diving into the deep end of the swimming pool. It seems like an awful lot at first, but after a while, it just comes naturally. Your first step is to check with your state. What rules and regulations do they have for establishing your home school. Do you need to affiliate with a cooperative of some sort or register with a specific school or are you registering on your own and providing your own school system. You're probably going to have to buy your own materials. Text books aren't cheap, but the library is. Once you've looked into how to register your school, and you've gotten your materials, it's up to you how you organize your day. Make sure you stay within your state's guidelines. Some states require that you work a certain number of hours each day. Some don't care what you do as long as your child shows progress at the end of the year, and don't forget about that all important end of the year evaluation. Do you have a record keeping service that is sending materials in for you? Do you have to provide your own testing? Make sure you get all of your materials into the system within the deadline that they provide. You don't want to have the school system come after you wondering why you haven't followed the steps that they gave you at the beginning of the year. It's a lot easier to do it right the first time. Once you've gotten all of those things established, and you've gotten those dates written on your calender, you're good to go. It's time to have a great homeschooling year. So, come on, dive into the swimming pool. It's a lot of fun. I'm Linda Wooldridge. Have a great homeschooling day."