Thinking about home-schooling your child, even after he or she has been attending public school? The transition may not be as traumatic as you may think. If you feel that home school is the best option for your child, no matter where they are in their educational career, you can help you son or daughter to make the switch, as well as assist them in cultivating the additional aspects of their lives that will help them to grow into healthy, productive adults.

Where do I start?

One of the most important things to think about is how soon you want your son or daughter to begin home schooling. If your child is still in elementary school, of course, it will be a little easier to begin the home-schooling process, since they will not be as accustomed to a school environment.

It may also be a little less difficult for smaller children to leave their friends, since you can arrange play dates for them outside of school time. If you are considering home school for a son or daughter in middle school or high school, try not to make the transition at a crucial time in your child’s academic life. For instance, if your child has another year or semester of middle school left, it may be best to let him or her finish out the year, and begin home schooling for high school.

Or, if your child is about to begin his or her senior year in high school, home school may not be the best option if your child has been going to the same high school for three years and wants to graduate with his or her class. Remember, the time a child spends in school should be some of the best years of their lives, and home schooling should definitely contribute to this.

However, there are extreme cases in which you as a parent may feel that your child should make the switch to home school right away. If your child is having a hard time adjusting to school outside of the home, socially or academically, the sooner you observe and acknowledge this, the sooner you may be able to solve the problem with home schooling. But, once you see that your child is not learning as much as he or she could in school, or that he or she needs more one-on-one attention than is available in a classroom, it may be best to wait a little while and see if there are other options before trying home school.

For instance, talk with your child’s teacher about ways to make sure that your son or daughter gets the most out of his or her education. Try to help your child with homework and extracurricular activities as much as possible, so that you what your child’s strengths and weaknesses are. Home schooling should be a well-thought out decision that you honestly feel will be in your child’s best interest, and not a seemingly easy fix for behavioral or academic problems.

Many parents decide to home school because their children have learning needs that a teacher with a classroom of other students may not be able to meet. If this is the case, take home schooling one day at a time. If your child suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD (which is the most common learning disability in children) or any other complications that will prevent them from effectively learning in a traditional classroom, home schooling could be extremely effective.

However, it’s up to you to exercise the amount of patience and careful planning that it will take to make home schooling a success. You may not be able to keep a ‘normal’ schedule for school; for instance, your child may learn best in the afternoon, so plan to begin school late morning. Or, you may need to take several breaks before resuming a lesson. Don’t let this discourage you—or your child.

The ultimate goal is to make sure that your child learns what he or she needs in order to excel, no matter which methods need to be used, or how many schedule adjustments need to be made during the day.

What about my child’s social life?

Home schooling may very well be the best choice for your child’s education, but as a parent (and now teacher), making sure that your son or daughter is becoming well-rounded and socially healthy is just as important. Planning lessons and introducing new academic concepts to your child may be fairly easy, but it may be more of a challenge to make sure that your child’s school life is just as exciting and rewarding as it would be if he or she were in public school.

If you’ve decided to home school your child, chances are you have a few friends or family members who have done the same thing, or are considering it. Whenever possible, make arrangements for your children to learn together. If you’re working on a big science project, or want your kids to practice reading to one another, group learning in groups is a great way to give your son or daughter time to spend with their peers.

One of the reasons that parents choose home schooling is so they can provide a more intimate learning setting for their children, so small groups are definitely manageable. Your son or daughter doesn’t necessarily need to be in a classroom full of children to be comfortable or feel ‘normal’; but regular contact with other children will help to improve their social skills and help them to remember certain academic ideals.

What about lesson plan ideas?

There has to be some order to home schooling; after all, it is still school, and you want to make sure that your children are learning. However, base the way that you present new information and introduce academic concepts on your child, not necessarily on tradition. For example, math concepts are explained in different forms, such as word problems, and step-by-step instructions in textbooks. However, you may want to use pictures, or have your child draw the problem out in order to figure out the answer.

For Language Arts, you may ant to have your child record him/herself reciting grammatical rules, so that they will remember what they hear. Once you know what motivates your child to learn and which tools will help him or her to effectively retain information, you can feel confident that your teaching is definitely paying off.

You should also plan to take field trips as often as you can. Visit museums to learn more about famous artists and literary figures, or go to the park to learn more about plants and the ecosystem. Smaller children will also enjoy going to places like the local fire station, police station, or even the grocery store to learn more about the different roles each person in the community plays, as well as how grown-ups use math, English, and science in their daily lives. You can also have your children document the events of the day with pictures and written descriptions to make sure that the lesson was learned.

Since technology has been introduced to all aspects of education, you can use this to your advantage, even if you’re home schooling. Use the internet as much as you can to find information on every subject, as well as excerpts from famous works of literature and instructions for science and reading projects. Many teaching or educational websites will also provide links to other great academic sources, as well as books that you may be able to purchase online to use in your daily curriculum.

You will also be able to print out pages of lesson plans or certain chapters from books you may want to use, and this won’t cost you anything extra. Using the computer has become a regular part of the school day in both public and parochial schools, so using this resource at home will help to make sure your children are aware of current learning tools and objectives. If you want a particular textbook or teacher resource book, there are a number of websites that specialize in selling both new and used textbooks at discount prices.

Check out sites like www.amazon.com and www.directtextbook.com to find out how you can purchase some of the same books that students are using in classrooms; you may even find books that you think may be better for your child’s learning experience that may not have been previously recommended for your son or daughter’s grade level. Remember, you can home school at the pace that is best for your child, so if you find that he or she is more advanced, you can purchase textbooks as you see fit.

Depending on your budget, you may still want to have a pretty extensive library in your home for convenience, and to show your child that education should be as close to them as possible. Whether your library consists of a few shelves of books in your living room, or you have a whole room to devote to books and academics, the main objective is to make sure that your son or daughter has everything they need to receive the best education at home.

Progress Reports?

It’s a good idea to have conferences ever so often with your son or daughter to make sure that they are learning at the proper pace for their age and grade. These progress reports will also help you to see what needs to be improved in the curriculum. Be sure to be open-minded during these conferences with your child. Ask what you can do to make home school more effective and exciting.

If your son or daughter comes up with a creative idea for presenting a lesson plan, try it out to see if it will work, even if you’re a little skeptical. Being both parent and teacher can be difficult, but if you keep the lines of communication open with your teen, he or she will feel the comfort and attention that are hard to come by in a traditional classroom. And, you’ll create a unique bond with your teen that very few parents can claim. And, if your son or daughter tells you that a particular teaching method is no longer working, don’t get offended; get creative.

Ask for suggestions on how you can improve as a teacher, and if need be, give tips on how your teen can strengthen their abilities as a student. Making sure that your child feels that he or she is a part of the learning process will definitely keep your star pupil focused and motivated about learning.