Home schooling is a major undertaking that requires planning, preparation, and commitment.

How To Start Homeschooling

CHEF recommends a prayerful and thoughtful approach to the first-time home educator. Homeschooling should not be undertaken lightly or hurriedly. Because of this, we have compiled the following checklist of things you need to do to prepare to home educate your children.

1. Give yourself at least 30 days to prepare

Ninety days is better. You will need to do research, order curriculum, and affiliate with a home education church school. You need lots of time for that. Don't take your child out of the classroom school until you have taken all these steps.

2. Learn all you can about home education

Think it through... it must be a heart felt decision. Do some homework and reading. Some of the many helpful books available include:

  • The Right Choice--Home Schooling by Christopher J. Klicka
  • The Christian Home School by Gregg Harris
  • How to Home School, A Practical Approach by Gayle Graham
  • The Home School Manual by Theodore E. Wade, Jr.
  • The How and Why of Home Schooling by Ray E. Ballman
  • The Big Book of Home Learning, Vol. 1 by Mary Pride

3. Enroll in a local church school

You will need to enroll in a local church school organized as a home education ministry in order to comply with Alabama law. Your children will be enrolled with the church school, you will become a faculty member, and your home will become a classroom of the school.

4. Join Home School Legal Defense Association

If your children are of compulsory attendance age (between the ages of 7 and 17), CHEF highly recommends Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA). The annual fee is $115. Join the HSLDA Discount Group sponsored by CHEF of Alabama and save $20.

5. Attend seminars and curriculum fairs

CHEF hosts a convention and curriculum fair every year.

6. Subscribe to a home education magazine

You'll find them very helpful and informative. You'll find a list of these on our resources page.

7. Select your curriculum

Consider your teaching style, your child's learning style, affordability and objectives. Several books and tapes helpful in choosing curriculum are:

  • The Three R's (Grades K-3), by Ruth Beechick
  • You Can Teach Your Child Successfully (Grades 4-8), by Ruth Beechick
  • The Big Book of Home Learning, Vol. I and II, by Mary Pride
  • The Home Educator's Curriculum Manual, by Cathy Duffy

8. Order your curriculum

There are many options for home education curriculum. You may wish to use one publisher's complete graded coursework for the first year. Please see our resources page for a preliminary list of curriculum suppliers. Once you get on a few of the catalog mailing lists you will have many catalogs in your mailbox on a regular basis. Once you have begun you may want to design your own curriculum from the many available sources. Curriculum catalogs are also a convenient way to see what is available and order your materials if you are familiar with the curriculum. Other options are available such as correspondence courses, Internet based courses, computer based courses, and satellite delivered courses. The Calvert School is one such textbook based complete correspondence school.

When not to try homeschooling

  • If both husband and wife are not in agreement that home education is right for their children, it is best not to proceed. Keep praying!
  • If the parent who will do most of the teaching must have a regular full-time job outside the home, it will be extremely difficult to devote the time necessary to home education and general supervision.
  • If the parent has difficulty maintaining discipline, it may be difficult to have an effective home education program.
  • If you are not committed to the task of teaching, you will not reap the rewards of home education. Unlike a hobby, the education of your children demands a steady "day-in-day-out" commitment. Avoid the "experiment" mentality.
  • Consider your motivation. You want to remove your child from a bad situation, but if you are not answering the call of the Lord to teach your children, you will find it difficult to be successful. Running away from ordinary challenges might teach your child the wrong lesson.

Resources