Many parents prefer to educate their children at home instead of sending them to school. These parents plan their children’s academic education and do most of the instruction. Those who know nothing about home schooling often have the mistaken idea that home schooled children are closeted at home and never have interaction with anyone outside their family. For the majority of home schoolers the opposite is true. One study done by Dr. Brian Ray of the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI) found that 98% of home schooled students were involved in 2 or more outside activities, such as fine-arts classes, sports, scouts, volunteering, church-related activities and support-group activities. You can visit their website at www.nheri.org, for more information.

Because home schooling is growing so fast in the Christian community, the kind of help and amount of curriculum materials available for use in a home school has surged. There is much information available for the parents who choose to home school.

Suggested Home School Reading List

General Interest:
7 Tools for Cultivating Your Child’s Potential by Zan Tyler
The Harsh Truth About Public Schools by Bruce N. Shortt

Home Schooling:
The Little Book of Big Reasons to Homeschool (and Bible Study Guide) by David and Kim d’Escoto
Homeschooling for Eternity by Skeet Savage

The Classical Approach:
The Lost Tools of Learning by Dorothy Sayers (www.gbt.org/text/sayers.html)
Classical Education by Gene Edward Veith, Jr. and Andrew Kern

The Living Books Approach:
You Can Teach Your Child Successfully by Ruth Beechick
Educating the Whole-Hearted Child by Clay & Sally Clarkson

The Unit Studies/Topical Studies Approach:
Everything You Need to Know About Unit Studies by Jennifer Steward
What Your Child Needs To Know When: An Evaluation Check List of Grades K-8 by Robin Scarlata

The Relaxed Home Schooler Approach:
Unschooling Handbook: How to Use the Whole World As Your Child’s Classroom by Mary Griffith
Christian Unschooling: Growing Your Children in the Freedom of Christ by Terri J. Brown

Click here for a full list of books on home schooling

Support Organizations and Help on the Web

Click here for a full list of home school support organizations

10 Steps to Begin Home Schooling

  1. Educate yourself about home schooling.
  2. Pray for God’s wisdom and guidance. This is the single most important step in the whole process!
  3. Develop your philosophy of education.
  4. Investigate the legalities of home schooling in your state, and follow through on steps necessary for legal status.
  5. Determine your child’s learning style and learning mode.
  6. Review programs of study, choose appropriate materials and purchase (or borrow) what is needed.
  7. Organize your schooling/curriculum materials and set up methods of record keeping.
  8. Gather support materials that you will need.
  9. Investigate standardized testing options.
  10. Develop a support system. for the full guide to begin home schooling

Click here for the full guide to begin home schooling

Online Schooling

As the current costs of some campus Christian schools are pricing many families out of the market, and as other families feel uncertain of their abilities to home school their children, online programs are filling a need for some parents who want to provide their children with a Christian education. Most online programs are less expensive than a full service campus school and generally are easy to employ or execute.

Click here for more online schooling information

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