Getting Started
Let the Adventure Begin!
Here you'll find some handy tips on getting started on your homeschooling adventure! Don't worry - it's not as complicated as calculus or chemistry. Follow some of our tips below.
TIPS TO GET YOU STARTED
(1) Join a support group.
(2) Research about homeschooling and support groups.
(3) Establish priorities, goals, and comfortability in your children’s education.
(4) Attend Conferences.
(5) Have fun and enjoy your time spent together while providing the opportunity of a life time!
Curriculum Hints
(a) If possible, attend a local home schooling conference and preview the different kinds of curriculum available.
(b) Most local home schooling groups have a curriculum night at which they share what curriculum works for them.
(c) Be aware of curriculum salespersons. God’s way is always the way of peace.
(d) Don’t be pressured into buying a curriculum because ‘there is no better’, or ‘if you buy now you are entitled to certain discounts’. These are high pressure sales tactics. There is always time for consulting the Lord before buying when the sales people are selling according to God’s principles.
(e) Seek out other local homeschoolers and ask for their advice of what curriculum is working for them.
(f) You do not have to choose all your curriculum from one source. Each family is unique in God’s eyes. He will direct you to what is appropriate to your child’s and family’s needs.
(g) There are several excellent home schooling resource catalogues which offer a wide variety of quality teaching materials. They have some of the most popular home schooling books, texts, workbooks and resources with a short description of each item.
(h) Don’t be curriculum bound. You can cover as much or as little of the curriculum as you choose, and in most cases you can also choose the order of the topics within the books.
(i) Don’t buy more than you need right now. Buy only what you feel is necessary. Get your feet wet first before buying anything extra.
(j) Don’t be surprised if you change publishers or methods after a year or two.
(k) You might want to write to suppliers for catalogues and current price lists. Some curriculum suppliers take credit cards and some do not. Some charge a nominal fee for their catalogue and some do not. You will find this information in the Big Book of Home Learning but not in The Christian Home Educator’s Curriculum Manual.
(l) Order curriculum as early as you can because summer is very busy for curriculum companies and suppliers and some take as many as six to eight weeks for delivery.