Home Schooling Subjects: What to Teach Your Children

Homeschooling is legal in all 50 states, and day after day, more parents decide to homeschool their children instead of letting them attend public schools. This may be due to countless reasons, nevertheless, home schooling isn’t any lesser than formal education.

The first dilemma that may enter a parent’s mind when he or she decides to homeschool his child is what to teach. Fortunately, some states require certain subjects to be taught to students. Colorado, for example, requires children be taught in communication skills of reading, writing and speaking, mathematics, history, science, literature, the Constitution of the United States and civics.

Different states require different subjects and different numbers of teaching hours for homeschooling; however, this should not limit the potential of homeschooling. Homeschooling is the most lenient of the schooling systems, and as long as the minimum requirements are attained, a parent shouldn’t have any problem.

One of the good points of homeschooling is the freedom to teach almost anything to your child. Parents should focus, aside from the general subjects, on things that their children are most interested in, on skills that they enjoy using, as these will be very useful to the child when he goes to face the real world.

Consequently, homeschooling need not be confined in the four walls of the house, as schooling in itself isn’t confined to the four walls of the classroom. Some parents of homeschooling children organize get-togethers and field trips with neighbors. Homeschooling doesn’t have to be an anti-social experience; rather, it should be a way to promote socialization using the parameters of the real world. There are no school rules, but the ethics of the real world apply.

There are may types of homeschooling approaches. Those most popular are structured, interest-initiated, and eclectic. Structured is more like the formal education you get at school and is probably the most formal of all approaches. The interest –initiated approach, on the contrary, focuses on real life experiences, and the children learn based on their interests. The eclectic approach makes use of a random, or chosen combination of all other approaches, depending on the family’s needs.

Indeed there are times that homeschooled children excel in socialization and communication more than formally schooled children. However, not all homeschooling is good schooling, and not all homeschooling programs are applicable to your child. This is why you, with or without professional programs, should monitor what to teach and when to teach it.

Homeschooling has increased more in the past few years than it has for the past decades. Initially, homeschooling or any type of private education wasn’t allowed in the United States, but when a public court ruled for the Society of Sisters for the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary and allowed them to set up a private school in 1925, public schools weren’t the only institutions providing education to children. This sparked the homeschooling idea and not long after, parents have decided to educate their children in their own homes.

Homeschooling is legal in all 50 states; however, each state has different requirements and guidelines reagrding the homeschooling program. Some states simply require parents who opt for homeschooling, to simply file an intent notice to the local school superintendent or any school official, and some require lesson plans to be made and approved by the school board before the program starts. All of these requirements aim to fully educate children whether they are educated at home or in public schools.

In California, homeschoolers have three choices, thay can use a credited tutor, enroll in a qualified private school or be part of an independent public homeschooling program. Parents may form private schools for their own children; however, all those who wish to form private schools need to file an annual report with the Department of Education.

Certain courses, similar to that of public schools, that can fit into a few pages, (contrary to the hundreds of pages required of public schoosl) need to be present, as well as attendance records. But teachers need not have credentials, they must simply be “capable of teaching”.

Differences in state requirements can also be observed in testing and assessment. Some states require homeschoolers to take standardized tests or have evaluations done by qualified teachers. Other states however, do not require such evaluation methods. In California again, students are encouraged to take the standardized tests that Public Schools are implementing at the end of every term.

Graduating procedures also differ with states, some require that home schools be operated as private schools, have graduation procedures that doen’t differ from private school gradaution. However, some have no graduation requirements at all; basically, the schools determine who graduates or not, this applies to homeschoolers in the state as well. In other states, homeschoolers receive no recognition, but are still granted access to colleges and universities.

Requirements and laws differ from state to state, and there is no absolute list of requirements for the whole United States. The best a parent who intends to homeschool her child is to find web sites or go to local school officials for information.

What is homeschooling?

- Homeschooling mostly means learning at home; this may be due to physical restrictions, emotional inhibitions or simply the parent’s want to be with his/her child. Homeschooling, no matter it’s purpose is basically the parent taking responsibility for his/her child’s education and is a totally acceptable procedure.

Is homeschooling permitted in my state?

- Yes, homeschooling is permitted in all 50 states, however, there are differences in the implementation. Most of the time, the superintendent must first be notified with the intentions of homeschooling. Each state’s regulations regarding home schooling varies, some have high, some have low, some don’t even require the parent to give notice for a child’s homeschooling.

What are the requirements for homeschooling?

- As said earlier, homeschooling varies from state to state, however, every state requires a certain qualification for the parents, a certain list of subjects to be taught, exams and other evaluation procedures, and a certain number of hours of teaching in a school year. Most of the time, if the requirements aren’t met, homeschooling is discontinued and the child gets sent to a public school.

How do you actually homeschool?

- Some parents employ a set of programs provided by qualified curriculum analysts, however, homeschooling can involve a regimented program or what they call natural learning, which is more of a hands-on experience.

Where do I get my curriculum?

- The internet is a great source, so are libraries and local homeschooling support groups

What about testing?

-Some states require a certain amount of evaluation method, not necessarily written exams. Basically tests are the decision of the parent. Presently, some actual formal education institutions are discouraging the idea of formal exams. A good rule of thumb is, if your child is discovering new things and it is apparent in his/her behavior, then that should be evaluation enough.

What about College?

- The main disadvantage of homeschooling is its lack of a diploma, since the child isn’t taught in a public school, the state cannot issue a diploma; however, some states allow parents to “make” their own diplomas to be given to the child on the day of “graduation”. Nevertheless, homeschooled people shouldn’t find it hard to get into college or pursue higher education as many institutions, colleges and universities highly accept and sometimes even encourage the entrance of homeschooled students into their school program.

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