This is the 7th in my series of articles on homeschooling, my experiences as a secondary school teacher, tutor and trainer in the public school system. Please read my other articles.
So you've made the choice to start homeschooling your child. Now you must make practical arrangements for you to homeschool and for your child/ren to study. Even if you are raring to go and feel that such arrangements will take care of themselves, they will not. Firstly you need to purchase a large box file or a Lever Arch File with file dividers and plastic pockets to go in the binder for correspondence to and from the Local Education Authority and any other agencies regarding the subject of homeschooling.
You must firstly send 2 very important letters that must be worded and spelt correctly and then photocopied, the originals are the one's to be mailed out. It is best if you send these by Recorded Delivery, so that you have a record of the letters sent and don't be surprised if that file is bulging with correspondence before you even start homeschooling.
Homeschooling requires time and you need to set aside a certain amount of time each day and each week for it. This should be a time when you know you will not be disturbed. To start with, at least, arrange a flexible timetable at the beginning of the week for the following week's program of study for your child and what subjects you will cover. Otherwise it will be very easy to go through a complete week meaning to study one particular subject but never quite getting round to it.
It is essential that you perform some preliminary research. If you live in the UK The Department of Education and Skills website details are:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/EducationAndLearning/Schools/ExamsTestsAndTheCurriculum/ExamsTestsAndTheCurriculumArticles/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=4015959&chk=EboSyO
The National Curriculum for five to 11 year olds : Directgov - Education and learning
Or if you live in any other part of the world, your local school board's website, or indeed there are many websites that will provide you with the information that you require, for the level that you are to teach your child/ren. Find out as much as you can concerning the National Curriculum for your country because the Local Education Authority/Schoolboard (from now on being referred to as the LEA) will have to satisfy themselves that you and your child/ren are able to achieve the educational standards required by law. They would also need to ensure that:
1. That the homeschooled child/ren would follow the same set of
subjects that would be taken in a public school; and obtaining
guarantees from you that no part of the curriculum would be 'left
to chance.
2. You as the teacher, would set attainment targets or benchmarks
that your child/ren had to reach by certain ages. This would be
to ensure that your teaching was and would become more purposeful
and the use of time was made for each subject and subject area.
3. That you would be following a broadly similar curriculum for the
age of your child/ren as was used in your public school and to
show evidence of your intention to provide continuity in your
child's education.
You will have to compose a study programme spreading each subject and study area over a number of weeks. This will normally be as a minimum approximately 2.5 hours per week for each of the core subjects, English, Maths and Science. 2 hours each for Technology, History and Geography and 1.5 hours per week each for Music, Art, P.E, Environmental Studies and Personal and Social Education (PSE). This would last for a period of 36 weeks. However, you may want to homeschool your child/ren for longer periods each week, reading books to and with your child, you and your child/ren attending a discussion/support group of homeschoolers and their children, with your child/ren having the opportunity to interact and socialise with other homeschooled children.
You may immediately be able to think of when you will be able to spend 21 hours homeschooling your child. However, you may be unsure of the amount of time you can devote to structured homeschooling. Below is a way of working this out in some detail and to enable you to think about homeschooling and the subjects and subject areas to cover, fill in for each day the amount of time in each of these sections. Then add up the total number of hours of homeschooling time that you have available in the week.
_____________________________________________________________________
MORNING AFTERNOON EVENING TOTAL
_____________________________________________________________________
Sunday
_____________________________________________________________________
Monday
_____________________________________________________________________
Tuesday
_____________________________________________________________________
Wednesday
_____________________________________________________________________
Thursday
_____________________________________________________________________
Friday
_____________________________________________________________________
Saturday
_____________________________________________________________________
Total Time
_____________________________________________________________________
Look at your chart and think about the following questions.
* Is anything going to happen in the next few weeks in you or your
child/ren's life that would alter the number of hours that you
have noted down? eg are you going on holiday etc... if there is
something like this then fill in the chart again with a different
coloured pen or pencil for a week during that time.
* Do you have a full 21 hours noted down for the week's homeschooling
on your chart? If not then you need to consider how you can make
21 hours up. How many hours are you short from the 21 hours?
Perhaps you could find some half hours you have not considered
before.
* Have you noted down any periods of longer than 1 hour at a time for
your child/ren to study? It is advisable not to spend too long at
any one time working without a break. 1 hour or 1 and 1/2 hours is
long enough. Longer than that and your child/ren may well find it
hard to concentrate. You will then find that you are spending a
lot of time homeschooling, but getting very little done and your
child/ren will soon get fed up too.
* In which sections of the day is the most time available? You may
find when you begin homeschooling that your child/ren are better
able to study at one time of the day than another and you will only
be able to find this out by trial and error; but it is worth
keeping it in mind. If you do find your child/ren preferences for
study time, then you can adjust your homeschooling plans
accordingly.
The Content of each of these subjects is outlined in your state/country's documents. These basically have 2 major elements.
ATTAINMENT TARGETS What your child/ren should know and be able
to do at each stage;
PROGRAMMES OF STUDY What your child/ren should be taught in order
to reach the attainment targets.
The work in each subject should be parcelled up into groups of related attainment targets (ATs).
In the many documents researched, it does not specify how individual subjects should be taught, or how lessons should be organized. Many country's curriculum's do not specify how much teaching time should be given to each subject, although the attainment targets and programmes of study do reflect general assumptions about the amount of time appropriate for effectively teaching the core and foundation subjects. To meet these requirements, this could be met through such subjects as craft, design and technology, home economics and information technology. This is a matter for you to decide.
ASSESSMENT
A great emphasis must be placed on the assessment that charts your child/ren's progress through the various subjects and you as the homeschooler must continually assess your child/ren and give more formal assessments - called Standard Attainment Tests (SATs) at certain stages.
KEY STAGES
Year groups are now classified into key stages and at the end of each key stage you will have to give your child/ren important formal assessments. However, the transition from Key Stage 2 (the end of primary education) to Key Stage 3 (the beginning of secondary education) must move towards more formal homeschooling within individual subjects.
I personally found it beneficial to dedicate a room just for homeschooling that had a large table where he could sit, with plenty of space (and preferably not your best dining table) and 1 chair for each child and 1 spare for yourself. The room should be light and airy, well ventilated and comfortable.
Other essential furniture/equipment to be purchased:
* A large book case - with at least 2 shelves,
with sliding doors at the bottom, the top shelf
being large enough for display a large academic
calendar.
* 5 Lever Arch Files - 1 each for Schemes of Work,
Lesson Plans/Action Plans,
(for each subject)
Continuous Assessment
Reports for each subject,
Formal Correspondence
Daily Homeschoolers Journal
* 2 A4 Ringbinders for each subject, in different
colours for each subject
* 6 Boxes of hole-punched plastic inserts
(100 inserts per box)
* 10 A4 Wallet Folders for each subject
(different colour for each subject) -
this is for inserting project work that cannot
normally be inserted into a ringbinder.
* Stationery for both you and your child/ren.
Pens, Pencils, Rulers, erasers, scientific
calculator and a holder to put them all in,
sellotape, white envelope labels, A4 size
academic diary, student homework log/journal and
large display academic chart, highlighters etc.
* Art and Craft materials
* Text books for each subject
* Laptop/Desktop with at least 1GB of RAM
with speakers, webcam, printer/scanner/fax
combined and associated software both commercial
and educational.
* At least 6 Reams of A4 plain white paper
* At least 6 Colour Sets of printer cartridges
In conclusion, think of how the times and places you have chosen to homeschool will work in practice. If you are unable to find a
convenient place to study in your home, you could consider using the local library, community centre or other local facilities where you and your child/ren can get some peace and quiet. You may not need to do all of your homeschooling there, perhaps just the one day in the week when you are likely to be disturbed.
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