Most likely, if you are reading this article, you are exploring the option of homeschooling your child or children. This article covers five important considerations you must make before diving into a homeschooling journey.

Consideration 1: Ask yourself if you can afford to home school. While this is not entirely a full-time job, it does take up a good portion of your day everyday without the benefit of a monetary paycheck. Your reward is the education your child receives which unfortunately, does not pay the bills. Determining if homeschooling is an option within your family budget is a priority.

Consideration 2: Research to find other homeschoolers in your area. Approximately 2 million children are homeschooled in the United States alone, and the numbers are growing rapidly. The internet is a powerful research tool and you can connect with other homeschoolers through online forums. Homeschooling families on forums are only too happy to share tips, and you can find other homeschoolers in your local community to meet with.

Also, if you and your child are on an outing, and you see other children and their parents out and about, do not be afraid to strike up a conversation. Ask if they are also homeschoolers. You never know!

Consideration 3: Remember that homeschooling need not mimic public school in the way of curriculum. Many, if not most, homeschooling families do not follow a set curriculum. Leave the notion that you have to be just like a school teacher behind you, and create your own learning program that best suits you and your child.

Consideration 4: Homeschooling is a family activity and it is perhaps prudent that you don’t make this decision without family input.

Consideration 5: Talk to your kids about taking them out of school. The way you approach this is going to depend greatly on the age of your child. For younger school-aged kids this might be more challenging, as younger children thrive on routine and removing them from school will be initially disruptive. Talk to your child so you can explore their feelings about being at home.

On the other hand, teens are much more easily adaptable and talking to them about learning through real-life experience may appeal to them much more than being in a strict schedule that public school offers.

In our homeschool, we do Classical Education based on the book, "The Well-Trained Mind." I have tweaked the curriculum selections of the author a good bit with the following things in mind:

1. Although the author, Susan Wise Bauer, seems to have a Christian worldview, she believes the choice to take a religious slant with a child's education to be the choice of each parent. Therefore, her suggestions tend to be on the secular side. I have supplemented my children's education with materials portraying a Christian worldview.
2. I have four children, so my curriculum choices will reflect this. Selections I make will tend to have little teacher preparation time. Selections will prefer student independence, instead of hand-in-hand instruction in the older grades. There will be a few DVDs! We have to do what we have to do to keep the toddler busy and the preschooler happy and the younger ones intrigued and the older ones learning!
3. My husband has one full-time job, and I stay home to educate the kids... so we are a one-income family. We will not be purchasing extravagant science kits. That being said, I think quality materials are important. I don't know about your family, but my kids, minivan, and I can really work over the cover of a book! I will always be on the prowl for a used book, a sale, or free shipping. We make one purchase in the spring with $300 of our tax refund. My parents give the kids a $300 "scholarship" each year for school materials. And we scrape together $300 a year (sometimes I do childcare for a week for a friend, or sell something on E-bay) for another $300 order each year.

It has been about $1000 a year for us so far. If you think about it, some people spend $500 a month on private school (for one child). Some people spend over $100 a month on designer clothes, shoes, accessories and accoutrements to fund the public school lifestyle. I think that less than $100 a month to educate four kids is pretty good. I confess that I like to own books and not check them out of the library. You may prefer to hunt them down at the library after finding a title you like. I just don't want to do that every other year though, as my kids each roll through each grade.

A few things to keep in mind when you analyze the cost of homeschooling:

• How many children will use these materials? Divide the cost of each book by the number of children who will use it and come up with the real cost-per-child.
• Do you plan on reselling them when your family is through with them?
• Will your children take care of them (to be able to resell them)?
• Is this book consumable or re-usable?
• Are grandparents willing to give scholarships of any amount?
• What do your public schooled parents spend each month?
• What does private school cost in your area?

I am sure these questions and ideas will get your brain working and you will be able to choose the best materials for your family’s education.

Get up early. If a mother expects to have any kind of  success she should be up before the children. The earlier, within reason, the better. If she is up at least an hour before she expects the children to get up she can be dressed and have her personal needs taken care of. Then when the children get up, she's ready to tackle the day.

Why is this important to homeschool success? If the children are up first, the mother usually ends up just following them around all day cleaning up messes. she needs to be prepared so she can direct the children's activities and be in charge of the morning routine. Then she can focus them on their school work, and they don't get hung up on doing their own thing before school. This will save much of the battle of trying to get them to mind.

Plan the lessons ahead. The lessons should be planned before school starts. Using a curriculum that follows the same format each day will help.  If special materials are required for that days lesson, they should be gathered up before school time. The lessons should come one right after the other with no time for messing around in between.

Why is this important to homeschool success? So often mother is busy getting the lesson ready when she should be teaching the lesson and the children all wonder off.  She loses their attention and a lot of time is wasted trying to get them focused again.

Don't hurry. A homeschool schedule should be planned carefully leaving enough time for everything to be done.  If it's not working, a new schedule is in order. One that either includes more time or less work in a day should be used.

Why is this important to homeschool success? How well can a child learn if she's always being pressured to hurry? She needs time to do her best work.  Quality should never be given up for quantity.

Most parents do not take the decision to homeschool their children lightly. A lot of time, effort and research is put into this important decision, as well as discussions with other family members and often the child themselves. Even after you have decided that homeschooling is for you and your family, you may find yourself now asking “What now?”

The first thing you need to do is find out what community resources you already have at your disposal. What you find already locally established may even surprise you. Knowing your available resources will make your task as homeschool teacher, all the more easy and all the more exciting. The resources may include, but are not limited to, your local library and associated activities, activity groups, support groups, classes (art, drama), clubs (girl guides, scouts, etc), sports (team, individual), gardens, planetariums, museums, and more!

Homeschooling has been a very important and valid educational alternative for families for centuries, with the modern movement thought to have begun in the 60’s. As time has passed, and society has changed, homeschooling is gaining popularity and being hailed as a better choice for many parents and children.

Educating your child is not, however, always an easy task. Some of the challenges that may face you and your family as homeschoolers may not be known until you are deeply committed, but it is a rewarding journey that can be very advantageous for your children and your family as a whole. And, let’s face it, our families are worth the effort and challenge.

Many critics of homeschooling claim that children who are homeschooled lack the socialization opportunities of their public schooled peers. Parents of homeschoolers argue, however, that homeschooled children actually have a socialization advantage over their counterparts because unnatural age segregation enforced on public schooled children does not provide the best environment for socialization. Homeschooled children tend to naturally interact with children of varied ages, as well as with adults, quite comfortably. Homeschooled children are also spared the peer pressure and bullying that can accompany a public school education.

Parents of homeschoolers tend to take advantage of social situations, and many homeschoolers get together with each other in social homeschool groups, where homeschoolers can join together for a class, lecture, activity, or just plain fun.

Of course there are many other extracurricular activities that will enable your homeschooled child to interact with other children on a regular basis.

Homeschooling need not be such a scary or stressful transition if you do your research. Getting started can be facilitated with the assistance of quality books, advice from other homeschoolers, and general research over, for instance, the internet.

Like all great plans, homeschooling your children may have a planned duration and an exit strategy. For instance, some families only homeschool for the primary years, then their children join their peers at public or private schooling. It is important to research the requirements and areas of study that it is expected that your child learn, dependent on where you live. You can homeschool for as long as you feel qualified to meet these requirements, all the way to college if it suits. Alternatively, you may only decide to homeschool for a couple of years when your family is mobile due to work requirements. Homeschooling is all about the flexibility so enjoy this key feature to its fullest.

Those who are new to homeschooling may find the entire process a little overwhelming at first. That includes homeschool planning. Many homeschoolers design their homeschool planning around their local school system's calendar consisting of school weeks that run for approximately nine months. However, homeschoolers don't always have to follow this rule. After all, homeschooling allows you to have more control and flexibility in managing your family's time. You can plan longer or shorter school weeks, depending on your preference.

What are some things you should consider when homeschool planning?

• Consider the number of days/time you need to fulfill your state's requirements. Most parents prefer homeschooling from Mondays to Fridays. Some like to school in the morning, others homeschool in the afternoon and evenings.  If you like, you can schedule your homeschool on different days and even longer - it's entirely up to you.

• Once you have decided on the timing and length of your homeschooling, then start creating your homeschool calendar.  When will your year start?  When will it end?  Will you follow the local school schedule in regards to days off, teacher work days, and holiday breaks?  Thanksgiving? Christmas? Winter break? Spring break? Those decisions are all up to you!

• The number of hours for any given school day can depend on the curriculum you need to cover that day. Some days may be shorter while others may also be longer. You could also vary your homeschool days depending upon the age of your children.  The daily schedule for early learners may start out shorter and gradually increase as your children get older and the curriculum topics increase in complexity and number.

• Homeschool laws in most states lay out a minimum number of teaching hours per school day, usually a minimum of three hours. Some schools, however, hold more than three hours of teaching for each school day. Homeschooling gives you the flexibility to maximize the time needed for teaching your child.  You may actually find that your child will learn more in just a few hours of teaching at home than he/she would have in a full day in a traditional school setting.

When done properly, homeschool planning is can be extremely helpful in having a successful homeschool year.  The key, though, is to keep a consistent pace and follow what you have carefully laid out in your homeschool plan so that you can achieve the best possible results.

Any first time homeschooler can recount the details of their first homeschool convention. Some may have wonderful experiences, but the many that I have come into contact with, come away feeling hopelessly overwhelmed and confused by the availability of choices. The families who go to homeschool conventions and come away with the right fit or mix of curriculum normally have a well thought out plan.

Perhaps you are the type of homeschooling parent who does not attend homeschool conventions. Possibly you prefer to order your homeschool curriculum from various catalogues that you request by telephone, mail or over the internet. Here you are selectively contacting those curriculum providers that you feel will best suit your needs.

You could possibly be part of a third group - the homeschooler who enjoys surfing the web and sifting through the maze of homeschool curriculum advertised on line. This was where I found myself about 10 years ago. Not being in a country where annual homeschool conventions were the norm all those years ago, I needed a strategy to survive the curriculum hunt.

Here are my top 8 tips for choosing the right curriculum for your family, whether online, via catalogue or at a homeschool convention.

Tip #1 - Know your children well. Here I am not talking about learning styles. This is knowing their particular bent - their interests, their heart, their hopes and dreams.

Tip #2 - Family focus. Here you consider what you as a family are about. Are you a missionary family? Are you a family with special needs children? Perhaps you want to travel more. All these issues need to be taken into account.

Tip #3 - Learning styles. Knowing your children's learning styles (and your teaching styles) is an important consideration but it should not be the only thing that you consider when purchasing curriculum.

Tip #4 - Long term goals. What are your long term goals for your family? What are your children's goals for their own lives? The answer to this question may only become clearer as your children get older. But if you desire that your children are self employed then you would look for curriculum and resources that aid you in this goal.

Tip #5 - Cost.  This is an important factor. While there are many homeschooling families who feel alright with photocopying and borrowing material, I have never thought it fair to "rob" others of their income. This does not mean that buying a homeschool curriculum need to bankrupt you, but planning in advance can make all the difference if you know what your budget is.

Tip #6 - Philosophy. Research what homeschool philosophy appeals to you. There are a large number of differing schools of thought. Briefly they are: Literature Based, Unit Study, Textbook, Unschooling, Accelerated, Catholic, Classical, Delight Directed and Charlotte Mason.

Tip #7 - Time available to mom. This is an important factor to take into consideration. Do you have lots of children? Perhaps you work part time? Do your children pursue lots of activities and have other co-op classes? These need to be thought through as you prepare to purchase any curriculum.

Tip #8 - Know your child's preferences and weaknesses. Part of choosing curriculum is finding the right tools to build up your children in their weaknesses so that they achieve an acceptable standard. It is also good to have a general knowledge of all scholarly disciplines, but this is not necessarily the only goal. Make sure you also choose things in which your child can delight in.

Finally, before starting out to the homeschool convention, surfing the net or sending out catalogue request, be sure that you have prayed about your choices, sought your husbands counsel and that you have your guidelines in place. Happy curriculum hunting.

Wendy Young is a homeschooling mom to four children aged 14 to 7. They have always homeschooled. She has been married for 19 years and seeks to serve God in all she does. Visit her website at Homeschool-Curriculum-For-Life.com.

These five factors make a big difference in any homeschool.   Some times the most important things are the simplest and they tend to be overlooked

#1 - Be Positive. I cannot stress this enough. Smile. Let the child know you are happy for every improvement no matter how small. Give suggestions in a positive tone. The child will pick up your attitude quickly. If you're having fun your child will have fun too. Even if everything goes wrong, which it will at first, if you stay calm everything will smooth out.

#2 - Be organized. Start on time. End on time. Stay focused. If it's school time, it's school time. Even if you can only get in three hours a day, make those three hours count. Do those same three hours every day. Have a designated place to do school work. School stays at school. Don't scatter it all over the house.

Have an opening routine. Look at the date. Mark the calendar. Count the day. Sing a song. Write a memory gem on the board. What ever opening routine you choose stick to it. The same with the closing routine. Put away books. Clean up area. Review successes. What ever the routine, this marks the end of school.

#3 - Be creative. Make up games activities. Younger children can be entertained by very simple means. Use resources to give you ideas.

#4 - Be simple. Don't spoil them with a lot of expensive games, fancy pencils, flashy note books, etc. While all the flashy stuff will make school seem fun for that day, the next day it'll all be old. Let it be a once in a while surprise to brighten up the school experience rather than the purpose of school.

#5 - Let the child's interest be your guide. That doesn't mean forget math because your son hates it. But if he's just not interested, try a different teaching strategy. This is where your creativity comes in.

Take clues from the kind of questions he asks. If he wants to know why there is a arrow after 100 on the number line, take the time to explain that numbers go on forever. Tell a story about how we use numbers. If he loses interest, go on to something else.

Lily Ann is a mother to six bright children. She has enjoyed great success in the area of homeschooling. She is always looking for ways to improve and loves to learn new things. Please visit her website.

If you were to write down what a typical day in your house was like, what would it sound like?  Would it sound like a scene from I Love Lucy, full of chaos that would make others laugh? What about a soap opera, where everyone's life is falling apart and it is always someone else's fault?  What does a day in the life of you look like?

By now, most of us have begun our new school year.  Our homes are buzzing with the sound of math drills, pencil sharpeners and reading lessons.  For us moms we have spent countless hours planning and preparing for this time.  So, how is it going?  I know that for me, I have already had to rethink some of what I had planned and my schedule was the first on the list.  It was only a few years ago that I decided to put a schedule of our day down on paper.  It has really helped me to be a better steward of my time.  Here are some tips to help you either create your first schedule or tweak the one you already have if needed.

First thing that is important to do is decide how you will use your school days.  You have lots of options such as, will you school year round or take a summer break?  Speaking of breaks, when will you take them?  If you are going year round then you have room to take more.  Some families like to school 3 weeks on and 1 week off with no summer break.  Our family does take summer off so we like to go 10, 4 day weeks on and 1 week off.  Are you working 5 days a week or just 4 days?  And don't forget about holidays, vacations, field trips & other important events that you already know of.  Many years our school was on the "new baby schedule".  Depending on when I was due we would start school.  If I was due close to Christmas then we would start early summer so that we could take a break & not start back until the baby was about 1 month old.  If I was due in late spring or summer then we kept our normal school schedule of ending in May and starting in August.  Flexibility is the key!

Next is your monthly schedule.  It is helpful to write down meetings that occur on a monthly basis such as, business meetings, homeschool, church, 4H, etc...And don't forget about birthdays!!  Also, some find it very helpful to include their monthly cleaning schedule if you have one.  For example; every 1st Monday we clean base boards, 2nd Monday, outside windows, 3rd Monday's, light fixtures, etc...

Your weekly schedule is next.  Routines are important and your weekly schedule is a great place to get those established.  Some have found it helpful to set aside one day or half a day a week for errands, and catch up on house work.  If you know ahead of time what activities are on your schedule then you will better decide what new activities you will have time for.  Write everything down that you want to accomplish during the week and see if it is even possible.  We can't do everything so don't forget to schedule your children's chores.  My kids have weekly chores & daily chores.  It doesn't take long for the weekly chores to become habit.  Ours is something like this. Monday- bedrooms, Tuesday-bathrooms, Wednesday-closets, Thursday -boys laundry, Friday - girls laundry.  This had really helped the flow of things when the kids know what to expect.

Last is your daily schedule.  This one takes me the longest to get right.  I begin with the very start of my day & I write down everything that needs to get done & everything that I want to get done.  Also write down everything that your kids need to do.  I always start with myself first then work my way down through the kids starting with the oldest.  I found some things do not need to be on the daily schedule so I move then to either the weekly or the monthly schedules.  So, what kind of things do you include in your schedule?  I put EVERYTHING, or else I will forget until it becomes habit.  I schedule one on one time with kids, time for myself, reading lessons, time for myself, dinner preparation, time for myself...o'k so maybe I don't take so much time out for myself.  But it is important so don't forget it.  If you have older kids and younger ones then put in your schedule time for the older one to play with the younger one.  They will enjoy it more than you think.    Take your time doing your schedule.  It takes weeks to find the one that will work well for your family. If the first one doesn't work, that is O.K.  Keep tweaking until you find what does work.   An excellent resource for this is Managers of Their Home by Teri Maxwell. In it you can read the schedules of other families & how they manage to fit so much into one day.  I really enjoyed reading it though I didn't implement all of it. It has become one of my favorite tools to use.

Once you have a general idea of how your schedule should flow you will need to put it down on something.  Donnayoung.org is a great place to find printable blank schedules in 30 time increments.  Or you can just make your own if you have EXCEL.  I put the names of our family across the top in individual columns and then the time increments down the side as rows.  You can make this as simple or as complex as you want.

Creating a schedule for your school is not rocket science, but it does take patience.  Your goal is to get a good routine down so that you don’t have to keep looking at your schedule.  I don’t even type out a schedule anymore; we know what order to do our lessons that work best.  But in the beginning, I spent a lot of time re-evaluating and tweaking my schedule.  It still changes with the new seasons of life we come into.  That is why I love homeschooling so much, it changes with our family.

1.) Have control over the material your child learns. Worldview included!

2.) Decide with your child the depth and duration of topical studies. To skim the main ideas or to delve into the deepest detail of whatever topic!

3.) Never again be a slave to the school year or the school day: go to the grocery store and the amusement park when you want to, not the same week as everyone else!

4.) Be the major influence in the shaping of your child, instead of his peer group!

5.) For the ability to take advantage of all the opportunities for interesting, character-shaping talks with your child as they arise.

6.) Delight in the fact that your children will be able to interact and converse with all age groups, not just their own.

7.) For the fact that your kids will be able to investigate "community helpers" and business owners in person, instead of through a worksheet.

8.) To know your child can answer the questions of strangers and relatives with more than a few noises or a noncommittal shrug, that they know the reasons behind decisions and how to enunciate them.

9.) For the freedom to educate the way you see fit- be it stringently organized and monitored or loosely flowing from skill to skill.

10.) For the community of similarly-believing families and the support that comes from those who understand the difficulties and joys of such a lifestyle-shaping choice.

11.) For the joy of spending each day with the children you love and observing them as they journey to adulthood.

12.) For the assurance that no other teacher could ever care more or try harder than the one your children had... you.

Routine is one of the most important factors in a successful homeschool. Homeschooling cannot be considered a matter of convenience.  It will not be easier than sending the child to school.  A successful homeschooling parent must be dedicated enough to be up and ready on time every day.  Every day is the key.

A daily schedule is essential. Rather than including set time limits for everything, a good schedule should focus on order of events. For example:

• Opening exercises - song, prayer, calendar, Memory Gem, journal
• Lessons - Math, English, Grammar, Handwriting
• Break - snack, go outside
• More lessons - Spelling, Phonics, Reading, Science

A start time is important. Start at the same time every day. An ending time will set a goal for school to be finished and keep it from dragging out into the rest of the day.

Now that a workable schedule or routine has been determined, the school can begin at the top of the list and go down to the end.

Persistence in the routine is so important. The same thing happens every day.  Then the child knows what is expected of him on any given day because he knows which subjects, what order, and how much of each one. If he's a self-motivated child, he can go through his lessons on his own and go in the right direction.  If he's a child that is not self-motivated or doesn't especially like to do school work, there is a goal to work toward. He can have this much done before recess, and then get this much done before lunch.  He knows he can't visit friends, play with toys, watch TV, or go anywhere or do anything else until school work is done. Best of all, he knows where the end of the list is.

Consistency in the daily routine of the homeschool will help the child perform better because he knows what to expect.