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		Beginning I am Ann Zeise, your guide to the best and most interesting and useful sites and articles about home education on the web.
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Help Getting Started   Thinking About It In the Beginning Deschooling Setting Goals Making Plans Practical Considerations   Start With Where You Are   Deschooling Gaining Confidence Getting Started Going Our Own Way Help Getting Started Homeschooling Guide Just For the Summer Kindergartners Where Do I Start? Beginning to Homeschool Start With Where You Are What is Homeschooling? Why Homeschool? First Comes Mom Homeschooling Families Planning A to Z Home's Cool Home Articles Beginning to Homeschool Chat Room Community Networking Concerns Curriculum Shopping Distance Learning Programs DVD Rentals Early Years Events Explorations 4 Kids Field Trips Gifted Kids Holiday Directory Homeschooling Jokes Laws & Legalities Lessons & Ideas Methods, Styles Regional Information Religion & Cultural Special Needs Support Group Resources Teens & College-Bound Thoughts & Hard Facts Unschooling Explorations 4 Kids Computer Literacy Drivers Ed Fine Arts General Interest Health & Fitness Language Arts Languages Math Science Experiments * Astronomy * Biology * Chemistry * Earth Science * Physics Social Studies   A to Z DVD Library DVD rental and purchase store Babysitting Class Online NEW A to Z AFFILIATE BabysittingClass.com would like to ask parents to take a few seconds to do the following safety check before leaving a sitter alone with your child. Working & Single Parents First Year of Homeschooling Your Child Your Complete Guide to Getting Off to the Right Start by Linda Dobson With the constant concern about the safety and quality of our nation's schools, many of today's families are opting to teach their children at home. The first hurdle these families face is getting started.   Homeschooling: The Early Years: Your Complete Guide to Successfully Homeschooling the 3- to 8- Year-Old Child by Linda Dobson The formative years are the most critical to a child's education. They lay the foundation for developing learning skills that last a lifetime.   Creative Home Schooling for Gifted Children: A Resource Guide by Lisa Rivero Lisa addresses areas not usually covered in homeschooling books such as asynchronous development (uneven development), perfectionism, and learning for self-actualization.   Home Education Magazine Every issue of this award-winning magazine features outstanding articles on a variety of subjects, interesting and informative columns by experienced homeschoolers, and reviews of the best new homeschooling resources. An excellent source of support and encouragement for homeschooling! Subscription Form. Best Selling Homeschooling Books

Help Getting Started Homeschooling It is not possible for one to teach others who cannot teach his own family. - Confucius. Sponsored Links Thinking About It The Benefits and Disadvantages of Homeschooling A brief discussion of the benefits and disadvantages of homeschooling. After reading it, you should be able to better identify whether or not homeschooling may be right for you and your family. Homeschooling - It's A Wonderful Life! I'll tell you some of the things I started to dream of during that last school year, because those things all came true and then some. By Lillian Jones How does homeschooling work? Here's a funny thing about education -- it comes in all shapes and sizes. When you get curious about something and come to a place like How Stuff Works to learn about it, you are participating in a form of homeschooling. Is Homeschooling For You? Homeschooling has gained credibility in recent years, but it's still not for everyone. How can you tell whether it's right for you and your children? Listed below are twelve character traits I've found to be conducive to homeschooling success. By Marty Layne. Conscious Choice, May 2001. Leaving School and Learning at Home Removing your kids from school -- permanently -- can be both frightening and exhilarating. By Isabel Shaw. Should parents be allowed to homeschool their kids? I think the real question is: WHO should be responsible for raising our children? If it is not us, as parents, then WHO? And WHEN? by Resa Steindel Brown. Turn 'em on, Tune 'em in, Drop 'em out Linda Dobson's twist on the 60's message of Dr. Timothy Leary. HEM S/O 2002. Waiting for a Bad Teacher Waiting for a bad teacher is akin to waiting for a known tumor to grow malignant. By Linda Dobson, HEM M/A 09. You Have Choices What completely surprises them, is that they find that the homeschooling option has been available to them all along. By Ronnie Ugulano. In the Beginning Advice for New Homeschooling Parents There are no specific books that you are to use, no specific curricula that you are mandated to use and no specific time lines that you must follow. Beginning To Homeschool First it's a feeling of euphoria: Free at last! Then panic sets in: What do we do now? Considering Methods & Styles of Homeschooling Parents looking into homeschooling these days are frequently told that the first thing they need to do is pick a method or style. All this attention to methods and styles can actually be a stumbling block to a smooth beginning. By Lillian Jones. Dropping the Bombshell Laurajean Downs writes in Home Education Magazine about telling your relatives that you are going to homeschool. The First Year of Homeschooling: It's All Greek To Me! It was as if I had finally made the decision to pull my kids out of school, only to be suddenly handed an airline ticket to a foreign country I'd only vaguely heard about on the news. The idea of homeschooling was exciting. The actuality of traveling there was scary. By Cindy Englan Stanley, RMEC. Get Started with a Little Help from Your Friends OK, we've made the decision to homeschool. Now what? Someday I'd love to be one of those strong, independent homeschoolers I read about, but right now I'm overwhelmed and slightly terrified of what we're about to do. I don't want to screw this up! Where do I start? By Carol Narigon, HEM S/Oé07 How Do I Do This? Homeschooling, like parenting, is not a precise art. There is no carefully detailed prescription; no clearly defined road map guaranteeing that if you just follow this road here and turn right there and bear left at that point - you'll arrive at your perfect destination. By Jane Boswell. Deschooling Deschooling Help understanding the need for downtime when first leaving school and before starting any homeschool program. Setting Goals Big Hairy Audacious Goals I asked my kids what big, hairy, audacious, sky's-the-limit kind of goals they would like to pursue while they're still kids at home. I was startled by the clarity and unique vision of each child. By Julie Bogart HEM M/J 01. Destinations I highly recommend this workbook for families just starting to homeschool or experiencing burnout and wondering why. Overview and ordering information. By Ed Dickerson. Learning to Fish I could tell you where to find every thing, or I could teach you to network and you'll have a skill for life. By Cafi Cohen, Home Education Magazine. What is your child's purpose? At its best, home schooling begins in much the same way panning for gold does. Until you see a child's INTEREST glistening, you can invest all the energy you want, but you'll just be moving ... and maybe muddying ... the waters of life which can be made to swirl around a child. Making Plans Curriculum Plans This family site has a good example of a brief curriculum plan and progress reports for the whole school year for two teenagers. Usually you do not need to be more detailed than this should your state requires such plans and reports. Foundations for Successful Homeschooling AN A to Z ARTICLE Ensuring success when homeschooling children of diverse ages. My Recipe For An IEP Writing an IEP is sort of like making potato salad. Every woman has her own recipe that suits her family. Here's mine. By Rhonda Robinson. Setting Goals Insures Success Write down all the things you think are keeping you from enjoying what you do. Brainstorm all the possible ways you can overcome these obstacles. Include even the most outrageous and absurd ideas. By Jane Smith. Too Much of a Good Thing? Don't get overly involved in the plethora of homeschooling choices available today. If you decide to choose homeschooling, that's good enough. Then just do it, whatever "it" may be to you. By Linda Dobson. HEM M/A-04. Practical Considerations Costs to Homeschool This was an informal, voluntary, anonymous survey of homeschooling families in the San Francisco Bay Area conducted in June-July, 1995. The results were compiled by the editor of Homefires - not a demographics firm. Must I Be Organized? Contrary to what some perfectionist homeschool moms espouse, organization is one of the LEAST important factors of a successful school year. Need I Join the Homeschooling Legal Defense Association? Because of changes in state laws, lawsuits involving homeschooling are increasingly rare.

Books To Help You Get Started Homeschooling The Complete Home Learning Source Book : The Essential Resource Guide for Homeschoolers, Parents, and Educators Covering Every Subject from Arithmetic to Zoology by Rebecca Rupp This ambitious reference guide lives up to its name. Practically three inches thick--and we're not talking large print here--it's packed with titles, ordering information, and Web site addresses. Home Learning Year by Year How to Design a Homeschool Curriculum from Preschool Through High School by Rebecca Rupp A structured plan to ensure that your children will learn what they need to know when they need to know it, from preschool through high school.   The Ultimate Book of Homeschooling Ideas: 500+ Fun and Creative Learning Activities for Kids Ages 3-12 by Linda Dobson As a homeschooling parent, you're always looking for new and creative ways to teach your child the basics. Look no longer! Inside this innovative helper, you'll find kid-tested and parent-approved techniques for learning math, science, writing, history, manners, and more that you can easily adapt to your family's homeschooling needs.   Homeschooling : The Teen Years Your Complete Guide to Successfully Homeschooling the 13- To 18-Year Old by Cafi Cohen This book reveals the adventure and rewards as well as the special challenges of working with this age group. The Teenage Liberation Handbook How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education by Llewellyn, Grace Written primarily for teens who need to convince their parents they can teach themselves. 1998 Paperback   Homeschool Your Child for Free More Than 1,200 Smart, Effective, and Practical Resources for Home Education on the Internet and Beyond by LauraMaery Gold and Joan M. Zielinski The best sites for everything from reading-readiness activities for preschoolers to science projects for teens. The Unschooling Handbook : How to Use the Whole World As Your Child's Classroom by Mary Griffith Unschooling, a homeschooling method based on the belief that kids learn best when allowed to pursue their natural curiosities and interests, is practiced by 10 to 15 percent of the estimated 1.5 million homeschoolers in the United States.