So, you want to homeschool?
There are many factors involved in making this choice.
Every state seems to have different requirements for homeschooling. Thankfully, we live in Alabama and have minimal requirements. Some states require meetings with advisors on a regular basis, some require testing, some have strict curriculum requirements. Alabama doesn’t have any of these. When I have a question about homeschooling I access the HSLDA website first. If I don’t easily find my question there I look to my “cover school” website as they also have lots of information.
In Alabama we have 3 homeschooling options; a cover school, a private school, or a tutor. The easiest and cheapest being a cover school. There are many cover school options in our state. There is quite a price range, but also a wide range of what the cover school wants/requires. The cover school my family uses is a more expensive one compared to others, but has minimal requirements. Some have curriculum requirements, some require grade reporting, some require regular attendance reporting. I have talked more in depth about cover schools here.
Alabama requires 160 days of schooling. This is insanely easy as you have 365 days to get these in. Some days we do school in the car while doing errands, we may go to the museum, or we may visit the zoo. When we went to Paris everyday we were traveling was a school day as we were learning other cultures, doing lots of reading, and of course learning plenty of geography.
Depending on your cover school you may have freedom to choose your curriculum. We have been very happy with our curriculum choice thus far. I love the simplicity of ordering a box set and having it all available. I worry sometimes about being more free with our curriculum choice and forgetting to teach our son about nouns and verbs.
We not only read books from our curriculum set. my son also gets books from the library and on my kindle to read. I have found a great website to test his comprehension as he finishes reading a book. What would be the point in reading an entire book if he isn’t understanding the story properly. We have also found some reading rewards for the time he spends reading.
If you have any questions regarding homeschool that I haven’t covered, please let me know and I will be happy to help you find the answer. I don’t know everything about homeschooling, I have just found lots of great resources during our journey.
My biggest advice if you want to homeschool is to have patience and take everything day to day. Some days are great and some days you may wonder if you got it all wrong. Also, find supportive friends you can talk to along your journey. I always hear it takes a village, and I believe it!
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