Introduction 1
About This Book 1
Foolish Assumptions 2
Icons Used in This Book 2
Beyond the Book 3
Where to Go from Here 4
Part 1: Heading to Homeschooling 5
Chapter 1: Answering the Big Questions 7
Getting to This Point 7
Knowing Not to Know It All 9
Affording It 9
Hanging in There 11
Signing up for the long haul 11
Staying at home forever 12
Breaking the News to Mom 13
Addressing Socialization, the Hot Homeschooling Buzzword 14
Social outlets 14
Socialization 15
Presenting the Issue of the Year 16
Chapter 2: Taking the Leap 19
Realizing That Anger is Not Enough 19
Ensuring educational excellence 20
Meeting your child's special needs 20
Retaining religious convictions 21
Accommodating family lifestyle 22
Determining What's Best for Your Family 22
Creating Solutions for Special Situations 23
Working around your job 23
Dealing with special learners 24
Beginning the Journey 25
Choosing the perfect time of year 25
Deciding at what age to begin 26
Assigning homework 27
Making homeschooling more than school at home 28
Using the extra time 28
Chapter 3: Complying with Uncle Sam 31
Conducting Yourself (Yes, Ma'am) in Accordance with State Law 32
Locating Your State's Law 33
Counting Out the School Days 35
Calling a Truce: Interacting with Your Local School 37
First: Know your law 37
Second: Make sure your ducks are in a row 38
Third: Know your law 39
Chapter 4: Pulling Them Out and Starting from Scratch 41
Making Those First Days Count 41
De-stressing the children 42
Easing into coursework 43
Rebuilding Your Family Unit 44
Setting your schedule 44
Working together 45
Dad's or Mom's role in your homeschool 45
Starting from the Very Beginning 47
Teaching in small blocks 48
Using the objects you own 48
Drawing on Your Strengths and Filling in the Gaps 49
Speaking to your strengths 49
Teaching them what you don't know 50
Part 2: Tackling Kids of Any Age 53
Chapter 5: Teaching Your Toddler While You Change Your Baby 55
Juggling Primers, Preschoolers, and Diapers 56
Surviving Life with a Toddler 57
Teaching with a toddler 58
Teaching your toddler 59
Covering the Preschool Basics 60
Teaching with a preschooler 61
Teaching your preschooler 61
Chapter 6: Covering the Elementary Years 65
Setting Out with Elementary Students 65
Learning through Language Arts: Reading and Grammar 66
It's as easy as A, B, C 67
Beyond the basics 69
Going on to the heavy hitters 70
Eating Your Way through Math 70
Going beyond Our Community Helpers 73
Firing Up the Bunson Burner 75
Timing is Everything 78
When timing is off 78
While you wait 78
Chapter 7: Handling Junior High 81
Beginning in the Middle 81
Keeping Track of It All 83
Putting Grades to the Test 84
Chapter 8: Help! I Have a High Schooler 87
Starting at the Eleventh Hour (or Eleventh Grade) 88
Switching before the Last Bell 89
Deciding your academic approach 89
Changing courses midstream (or at winter break) 90
Dancing the High School Subject Tango 91
Language arts 93
Math 94
Science 95
History and social studies 97
Languages 98
Driver education 98
Electives 99
Planning for the Tidy Transcript 102
Check your state's requirements 103
Start at the end and work backwards 103
Choosing courses that count 105
Prepping for College 107
ACTing on Your InSATiable Desire for Standardized Tests 109
SAT 109
ACT 109
Chapter 9: Completing Twelfth Grade Doesn't Mean It's Over 111
Spreading Their Wings and Earning Their Keep 112
Continuing to college 112
Marching in the military 112
Studying at a trade/vocational school 114
Entering the workforce 114
Strapping on the Tool Belt 115
Continuing Homeschool through College 117
Staying at home 117
Finding a suitable program 118
Part 3: Choosing Your Cornerstone: Basic Curriculum Options 121
Chapter 10: Orbiting as a Satellite School under the Umbrella 123
Riding the Satellite 124
Opting for a Complete Curriculum across the Distance 124
Pinpointing a Program 125
Elementary through junior high and beyond 126
High schools 127
Matching Your Needs with Their Offerings 129
Chapter 11: Does Classical Education Mean Teaching Vivaldi? 131
Classifying It Classical 132
Trying the trivium 132
Forming the foundation with literature 134
Assembling Your Classical Curriculum Components 135
Language arts 135
Math 137
Science 137
History 138
Geography 139
Art 139
Music 140
Latin 141
Foreign language 142
Gathering More Information 143
Chapter 12: Reading Real Living Books with Charlotte 145
Calling Charlotte Mason 145
Leaping through living books 146
Nuzzling up to nature studies 146
Putting Together Your Package 146
Language arts 147
Math 149
Nature science 149
History 150
Geography 150
Art 150
Music 151
Foreign language 151
Chapter 13: Mining the Montessori Method 153
Exploring at Their Own Pace 154
Guiding your children 154
Combining academics and life 155
Setting Up Your Space 155
Walking through the Day 155
Mathematics 156
Language arts 156
Practical Life 157
Sensorial 157
Culture 157
Chapter 14: Wandering through Nature with Waldorf 159
Working Together with Head, Hands, and Heart 160
Enjoying the outdoors 160
Making things by hand 161
Flowing with the day 161
Locating a Waldorf-Style Curriculum 162
Picking favorites 162
Opting for similar goals 163
Chapter 15: Teaching Them What They Want to Learn 165
Unveiling the Integrated Unit Study 166
All unit studies, all the time 166
Locating unit studies 167
Making them last 169
Changing Pace with Unit Studies 171
Focusing on Project-Based Learning 172
Short- and long-term projects 172
Designing a project to suit the learner 173
Designing Unit Studies 174
Subject-ing yourself to this? 174
Digging for topics 176
Calling all units 176
Chapter 16: Unschooling: A Walk on the Relaxed Side 181
Raising Eyebrows and Suspicions 182
Fitting the Bill 183
Learning through the Course of a Day 184
Filling Your Home with Unschooling Tools 185
Books 185
Games 186
Software 188
Technological and building toys 189
Videos 189
Recording Their Progress 190
Chapter 17: Hitting the Road with Worldschooling 193
Roadschooling versus Worldschooling 194
Engaging the environmentally curious 194
Following your dreams full or part time 194
Planning is everything 195
Choosing Your Academic Approach 197
Ditching the books or not? 197
Living on and off the 'net 198
Chapter 18: Charting Your Own Academic Course Eclectically 201
Knowing Whether Your Kid's Kinesthetic 202
Pulling from Different Publishers 203
Starting with what you know 203
Pulling from the stacks 204
Writing a Curriculum from Scratch: The Diehard Approach 212
Chapter 19: Special Concerns for Special Students 215
Considering Yourself Capable 216
Guiding the Gifted 217
Taking different paths 218
Rounding up gifted education resources 219
Teaching the Medically Fragile 220
Getting the Goods You Need 220
Special equipment and services 221
Individualized Education Program 221
Information 222
Part 4: Nailing Down the Details 225
Chapter 20: Defining Your School Space 227
Making Room for Chalk 227
Setting aside the optimal amount of space 228
Buying too far in advance increases storage needs 229
Deciding between the Den, the Dining Room, or the Whole Darn Place 230
Gathering around the kitchen table 231
Setting aside a special room 231
LEGO bricks in the living room and homework in the hall 233
Chapter 21: Cutting the Costs and Searching for Stuff 235
Slashing Curriculum Prices 236
Choosing an inexpensive curriculum 236
Finding free, the least expensive of all 237
Locating used curriculum 238
Writing your own curriculum 239
Sourcing Your Curriculum 240
Looking at your local store 240
Avoiding the malls: Ordering via Internet or mailbox 241
Attending a Homeschool Conference 242
Hearing It from the Horse's Mouth 243
Tapping the Fountain of Fellow Homeschoolers 243
Borrowing books long term 243
Buying as a group 244
Asking for the Discount 245
Breaking Out the Library Card 245
Understanding Copyright: What is Fair Educational Use? 247
Chapter 22: Teaching Your Traditions 251
Christian Curriculum 251
Publishing all-in-one, Protestant style 252
Science and other individual courses 253
Adding Bible to the day 255
LDS curriculum choices 255
Roman Catholic curriculum options 256
Jewish Resources 258
Islamic Resources 259
Pagan Resources 259
African American Resources 261
Native American Resources 262
Chapter 23: Turning Chaos into Organization 265
Tracking Your Week with a Planner 266
Seeking the Paperless Society 268
Thirty Days Hath September 270
Scheduling for Sanity 270
Keeping Your School Spotless 272
Feeling the Burnout 272
Chapter 24: Making the Grade 275
Deciding Whether to Keep Grades 275
Writing the tests to make the grades that you record in the house that Jack built 276
Figuring the grade 278
Tracking Those Unit Studies 279
Keeping a State-Required Portfolio 280
Testing Standardized's Validity 282
Chapter 25: Plugging in Your Schoolroom 287
Schooling at Home But Online 288
Coursing through the Internet 289
'Net-ting Resources 291
Touring the World without Leaving Your Desk 293
Enhancing Your Subjects with Electronic Errata 294
Chapter 26: Connecting with Like-Minded Souls 299
Finding Homeschoolers Online Who Share Your Passions 300
Facebooking your way to friends 300
Finding the best blogs 302
Pointing toward podcasts 303
Networking Isn't Just for Computer Geeks 304
Associating and Consorting 305
Praying for Guidance 306
Getting Together for Socialization 307
TEAM: Together, Everyone Achieves More 308
Gathering informally 309
Formalizing your group 310
Part 5: Making Your Year Sing with Extras 313
Chapter 27: Adding Spice with Special Classes 315
Making Time for the Extras 316
Bringing Out Their Inner Artists 317
Music 318
Art 320
Go Ahead - Be Dramatic 322
Speech and debate 323
Drama 325
Homeschool groups 327
Taking Some Laps 327
Cooking Up a Storm 329
Bantering about Birds and Bees 330
Parlez-vous Greek? 331
Cleaning the House and Calling It Schoolwork 334
Chapter 28: Making It Adventurous with Activities and Groups 337
Dirtying Your Hands with a Project 338
Dissecting an owl pellet 338
Playing amateur archaeologist 339
Creating a garden 339
Building a train layout 340
Burying yourself in papier-mache 340
Assembling a model 341
Pretending It's Le Louvre 341
Getting Past Bugs Bunny 342
Volunteering Builds Compassion 343
Packing Up the Minivan 345
Seeing the Sights or Staying at Home 347
Finding an Organization That Helps You Grow 348
Thinking about Playing or Playing to Think? 350
Ante Up 352
Thrilling the Engineer's Heart 352
Part 6: The Part of Tens 355
Chapter 29: Ten Educational Games That Enhance Your School Day 357
Anti-Monopoly 358
Evolution 358
Forbidden Island/Desert 358
The Garden Game 359
How Do You See the World? 359
Into the Forest 359
Krypto 360
Periodic 360
Spell Smashers 361
Wingspan 361
Chapter 30: Ten Common Homeschool Fears 363
My child will never make friends if I homeschool. 363
I don't know enough to teach my child. 364
My child will miss out on socialization. 365
I will buy the wrong curriculum. 365
My child will learn less at home than he does at school. 366
I'll never have free time again. 367
My child may not be learning at the right pace. 368
I won't be able to do it all. 368
After I start, I have to do this forever. 369
I'm not keeping the right (or enough) records on my child's progress. 369
Part 7: Appendixes 371
Appendix A: Homeschooling Curriculum and Resources 373
Abeka 373
Artes Latinae 374
Behrman House 374
Brave Writer 374
California Homeschool Network Records and Resource Guide 374
Christian Book Distributors 375
Cricket Media Magazines 375
The Critical Thinking Co. 375
Great Books Academy 375
Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) 376
Mary Frances Books 376
MindWare 376
MisterArt 376
National Black Home Educators 377
Pandia Press 377
S&S Worldwide 377
Studies Weekly 377
Scotch Thermal Laminator 377
SEA Books and More 378
Teachers Pay Teachers 378
Appendix B: State-by-State Homeschool Associations 379
Appendix C: Speaking the Language: Educational and Homeschooling Terms 385
2E 385
accelerated learning 386
advanced placement (AP) course 386
auditory learner 386
CLEP exam 386
consumable 386
correlated to state standards 387
distance learning 387
dual credit 387
educational game 387
elective 388
fine arts 388
grade level 388
inclusive 388
intent to homeschool 389
kinesthetic learner 389
lesson plan 389
living books 390
low for grade level 390
neutral science 390
online education 390
PSP (Private School Satellite Program) 391
real books 391
reproducible black line masters 391
standardized test 391
teacher's guide/teacher edition 392
transcript 392
visual learner 392
Index 393
