So You Have Decided to Homeschool - Now What?

You have made your decision to home educate the children in your care. So now what? Suddenly the process of selecting your home schooling style, curriculum and resources can become overwhelming. There are many choices out there and how do you work out what will work best for you and the children?

The Home Schooling Philosophy (HSP)

This is the time when having a home schooling philosophy (HSP) is so important. A HSP is a statement that explains why you educate your children the way you do. This statement will be the tool that underpins your home educating environment and will not only enable you to make confident decisions but will also reinforce your decision to home educate in times of burn out, struggles and other stressors. This article will endeavor to walk you through the process of establishing a HSP for your family so that you always have something to fall back on and found your decisions upon.

Step one: List your reasons

As a new homeschooling parent I know that there is never just one reason for choosing to home educate. Take the time to sit down, with your partner if relevant and possible, and write down the reasons why you did and did not want to conventionally educate your child through either public or private education as well as the reasons for home schooling and any concerns you have about that possibility. These are most likely not your philosophical reasons but will likely point to them.

You may find that if you are at the end of a long day you may need to just list a few and arrange another time to look at it again with fresh eyes and list some more before proceeding to the next step. Just do what works best for you.

Step two: Draw out your philosophical reasons.

Once you have brainstormed all your reasons sit back and reflect on each one asking yourself 'why is this important to me?' A common example from the United States is the reason that 'children are not allowed to be instructed in prayer in conventional public education'. For some parents this reason not to use conventional schooling is important as they value a child being able to form a strong relationship with the Lord so that they develop a firm faith.

In our case, a strong reason was that, with an interstate move, we were told by the state authority that they were unwilling to do anything to support our eldest son with either his speech difficulties or his giftedness as neither were 'serious' enough. Of course, this decision is made without consideration that the combination exaggerates both. Why was this a strong reason for us? I am a strong believer that a child should be empowered to further develop their strengths without being held back by a 'grade level' and that a child should have access to all the support they require to overcome personal adversities. These are just two of my philosophical reasons for home education in my home.

Step three: Frame your reasons

Once you have drawn out your philosophical reasons you need to draw them together as your HSP. As you look at your philosophical reasons they probably look like a jumbled mess. What you want to do is draw them together in logical groupings these groupings will quite possibly include:

• value of the individual,
• value of the child or learner,
• philosophy on role of the parent or facilitator,
• personal stance on learning environments,
• beliefs of faith, and
• views on discipline or the exercise of self-discipline.

Of course, this list is not exhaustive but it will give you an idea of how to cluster your philosophy and rewrite it to make it a coherent statement. This statement now has the ability to empower you to make decisions that will reflect why you started home educating in the first place, will strengthen your resolve when expressing why you home educate and will help you rekindle your motivation, energy and focus in the harder days of home education.

Step four:Review your statement

Every year or two take the chance to review your HSP and see whether the same still holds true. You may find that some aspects are less relevant or, more likely, that there are new things that you feel should be added. Take the time to change your philosophy as required.

Author Info:

Kristy Bennett is a homeschooling, business owner and entrepreneur. She is the founder of Organic Learning a site dedicated to home schooling. She is also the owner of Green & Nutty, MIB Business Solutions and MIB Engineering Technologies. Kristy's breadth of experience in taking a strategic approach to managing both life and business is reflected in her skills and expertise which she openly shares both online and at speaking engagements.