Five Factors To Consider In The Choice To Homeschool Your Kids Or Not

If you are thinking of homeschooling your children, you should know that it is not as simple as ordering some school books off of Amazon and staying home with your kids. A lot goes into a successful homeschooling experience. This article will discuss the five factors you need to consider before taking the homeschooling leap with your children.

1) Your Kids’ Socialization Opportunities

Because your children will not be in school all day, you will have to work a bit harder to provide social opportunities for your kids. The good news for parents who homeschool is that websites such as Homeschool Coop help with this very common problem.

2) Personal Time

Parents who homeschool their children will have little time to themselves, unless they either have outside assistance or a helpful spouse. Since you will be with your children 24/7, ensure that this is an arrangement you want to pursue.

3) Time

Believe it or not, it takes a lot of time to homeschool your children every day. You and your children will need to do experiments, papers, lessons, go on field trips, music lessons, and any other types of activities you come up with for your daily lesson plan. Expect to spend as much time, if not more, teaching your children as they would have spent in the classrooms of your local school.

4) Homeschooling Expenses

For the most part, homeschooling can be done inexpensively. But homeschooling can only be done if you or your spouse are not working outside of the home. If your family is used to the lifestyle that comes from a two-income household, sacrifices will have to be made. If you are worried about your family living on one income, note that almost three percent of American students are homeschooled by their parents every year. That statistic describes over a million parents, many of whom do not have all the money in the world.

5) School Supplies

Depending on how complicated your lesson plan is, school supplies can become very expensive. However, you can find savings on all sorts of school items, such as discount school microscopes, notebooks, writing implements and textbooks. Sometimes all you will need to do is a simple Google search. Getting involved in online and in-person homeschool support groups are another source where you can find out about discounts on school supplies.

There are many books and websites on the subject of homeschooling. Since this experience will potentially shape the rest of your children’s lives, it is important that you take this decision seriously. You will also want to talk to mothers and fathers in your city or town that already homeschool their children. Their input will be even more valuable than books or websites, as you will be able to lean on these parents for support, should you decide to take the plunge and teach your children at home.