Homeschooling

Preparing for HomeschoolHomeschool, like traditional schools, is based on a year period of time for planning and assessment purposes; progress through a student's education is measured by grade level. There is lots of work you need to do to prepa...

Homeschooling Isn't New: A Brief History of EducationIt is useful to put homeschool in a somewhat historical perspective. Because of the pervasiveness of public and institutional education over the past 100 years or so, it is easy to think that t...

Social Skills and Homeschooling: Myths and FactsIsabel Shaw The DebateI've heard it a hundred times. If you're thinking about homeschooling, it probably troubles you. "What about socialization?" is the major homeschooling question people hav...

Participating in Homeschool Conventions, Conferences, and SeminarsHomeschool conventions, conferences, and seminars are a great way to expand both your knowledge of homeschooling and your personal homeschool network. These activities generally of...

Including Vacations in Your HomeschoolFor homeschool families, vacations are often the ultimate field trip. The great thing about using a vacation as a field trip is that your kids will be learning without even realizing it! There are many ways t...

Getting Involved with Homeschool AssociationsMost states have a homeschool association. Most of these associations serve several purposes, such as representing the needs of homeschoolers with state government leaders, influencing the legislative ...

You've come to the right place! Family Education Network has free worksheets, games, and activities for your eighth-grader. ...

Helping a Homeschooled Child Keep in Touch with School FriendsIf your child has been in an institutional school for awhile, he probably has some friends. Removing a child from the school environment obviously presents challenges for your child ma...

Finding Homeschooling MentorsOne of the best relationships that you can cultivate is with one or more homeschool mentors – a mentor is simply someone who has more experience with homeschooling than you do (hopefully quite a bit more), who is wil...

Understanding the Reasons for Transitioning from "Regular" School to HomeschoolIf your child is already in school and you have decided to homeschool him or her, your reasons for doing so probably fall into one of the following two categories:My c...

Homeschooling: Choosing the Subjects You Will Teach in a School YearThe first step in planning your school year is to select the subjects that you will be teaching each student during the upcoming year; the subjects define what you are going to t...

Connecting with Other Homeschoolers (You Probably Know Some Already)Connecting with other homeschoolers probably won't be as hard as you imagine – it is likely that you already know several homeschoolers even if you don't know that you do. Just ...

Creating and Maintaining a Homeschool Calendar and ScheduleNow that you know how many days of instruction (school days) you will have in a year, when the school year will start, and when the breaks will be, you are ready to create your homeschool...

Understanding Why a Homeschool Network Is So ImportantThere are many reasons you should build a network of homeschool people with whom you interact regularly:Encouragement and support. There's nothing like being able to share the joys and frustra...

Nothing is more important to academic achievement than being a good reader. Parents know their children best and can provide the one-on-one time and attention that will lead them to success in reading. Here is a list of ways to help your children...

Planning Your Homeschool YearAfter you have determined the number of days in your school year, you will need to decide how you want to achieve that number of days by planning your school year. You know that the year has 365 days available for sch...

Monitoring Legal Activity Regarding HomeschoolingIt is a fact of life that education legislation changes frequently, and this can impact homeschooling. At any point in time, there is usually various legislative and legal activity occurring in sev...

Defining Your Homeschool YearIn order to start the process of lesson planning, you need to know how much time you are planning for; in other words, what is a school year for your homeschool? First, determine the total number of school days in yo...