Is homeschooling the best choice for your child, your family, and yourself? That is a question that parents must give serious thought to as they are making the decision about whether or not to start homeschooling a child. Here are some important things to consider before you make the transition from public school to homeschooling.
Can you afford to homeschool?
Parents who are displeased by the public school that their child has been assigned to might be thinking about homeschooling instead. After all, homeschooling is obviously cheaper than the tuition that a private school would charge.
Keep in mind that homeschooling means that one parent must be at home on a regular basis for the “work week”. Can your family afford to go from two incomes to one? It can be extremely difficult to work as a homeschool teacher all week and then work a part-time job on your “days off”.
How good are your organizational skills?
Parents who homeschool are going to have to come up with their own lesson plans. Another option is to find pre-made lessons plans that fit into what you wanted to teach. Both options take time. Are you prepared to plan interesting field trips that help emphasize the concepts you teach? Do you enjoy making schedules and sticking to them?
If you are a person who would describe herself as “organizationally challenged” you may find homeschooling to be really hard. In addition to preparing lessons, you also have to focus while teaching them and find time to grade papers. New teachers are often overwhelmed by the amount of work required of them.
Is your family ready for a lifestyle change?
Right now, your child attends school five days a week, for a few hours a day. That gives you time to do housework, run errands, or have some “me time”. Homeschooling means that you will be with your child 24 hours a day. How will you get those tasks done now?
How determined are you to homeschool?
No matter what your job is, there will be days when you just aren’t feeling motivated to do it. This is true for homeschooling, too. You will have times when you are sick, mornings when you didn’t get enough sleep, and days when your mind is on other issues. Can you make yourself get up and teach?
Where will you put everything?
Those textbooks, school supplies, dry erase boards, and other materials have to be stored somewhere. Will you be using your kitchen table as the “classroom”? Figure out how and where to store everything when you need your table to be used as it was originally intended – for dinner time.
Image by Catherine on Flickr.
Related Posts:
Great Reasons To Homeschool Your Child
The Basics of Year Round Homeschooling