Where to start
Research, research, research. When I met Sundae, she had been homeschooling for several years. So, I got to learn a lot from her experiences.  Her suggestion was to start researching early and attend a homeschool book fair at least a year before I intended to start teaching due to the number of vendors and overwhelming options. The book fair we have in Arlington is huge. It usually has over 100 vendors in a pretty tight area. A significant number of those vendors are specific to one area of study. Needless to say, the vendors that attend the book fair are not the only options. The material and curriculum options are seemingly endless. So, Sundae was right. Start researching early, and go at least a year in advance to the book fair to gather the information that the vendors you are interested in are offering. Bring their information home and study it during the year, ask questions, research on the internet, talk to other homeschoolers and be ready to buy the next year. I would suggest leaving all forms of payment behind on the first book fair trip. There are a lot of impulse buy opportunities. If you are prone to those types of purchases, leave your money at home.
 

Teaching Styles
There are several teaching styles, so this is not an inclusive list.

Classical Method - This is not a new method. Think back to the days of the one room school house. All grades were together with one teacher. (Sounds familiar) You teach the children in three stages, grammar (were you introduce your child to facts about many things in lots of subjects), logic (were you help your child take the facts they gained in the grammar stage and see the logic or the illogic in it or, in other words, you help them learn why), and rhetoric (were you teach your child how to communicate the facts [grammar] and understanding of why [logic] to others.)

Unit Studies - This method utilizes a theme to teach all the subjects to your child. For example: Your theme may be about baseball. For math, if you were teaching multiplication, you may have word problems were the child must figure out how many players were in a certain league. For grammar, he may write a story about a boy who wanted to learn how to play baseball and what he went through. For history, he may learn about what happened in WWII when all the men left and they had to start a women’s baseball league and why, etc. For science, you could learn about gravity of a baseball or the unseen inhabitants of a baseball stadium (insects and animals). You get the picture. This is a very simplified version so please do not think there is not much to this. This method is great for families with multiple children, children close in age, or if money is an object because you can get these studies fairly cheep. However, I have found very few unit studies that went passed the 6th grade.

Unschooling - This method is harder to define in simple terms. There are those who do this method to its fullest, and others who look to its philosophies to help them better teach there children. In simplest terms, it is allowing the child to learn. It believes that all children have a inborn desire to learn, and if left alone will learn faster and better. The parent is more of a facilitator than a teacher. You make sure the knowledge is there in the form of books, instruments, experience with real life, etc.; and the child comes to you if they have a question. Yes, there are people whose children have learned to read, write, do math all the way to calculus and trig, and gone to college afterwards using this method the whole time they are in school.

Traditional - This is the more conventional method of teaching, similar to public or private school, which includes following: workbooks, textbooks, videos, and computers.

Types of Curriculums
There are two main types of home school curriculums—complete curriculums, a program that covers all subjects, and individual curriculums, which covers only a single subject. For the first year, I suggest a complete curriculum. Everything you need is right there and from one source. The teacher’s books tend to be easy to follow and make the getting started part easier. Since all the lessons are laid out, it helps build confidence that you are teaching everything your child needs to know. After the first year, pick what you liked from that curriculum and replace what did not work for you with individual programs.

Homeschool Laws, Legal Assistance, and Local Associations
Homeschool laws vary from state to state.  In Texas, the requirements are few, but in other states that is not the case.  To see what the homeschool laws are for your state or country, check with Home School Legal Defense.

Home School Legal Defense and the Texas Home School Coalition both provide legal protection for homeschool families.  For an annual fee, you can join and they will provide legal representation for you if you ever face legal action.  I consider them an insurance policy.  Hopefully my homeschool will never be called into question.  In the event that it is, I will have very good legal representation through Home School Legal Defense.

Most areas have a local homeschool association.  These are groups of homeschool families who come together for field trips, encouragement, advise, exchange of ideas, etc.  For new homeschoolers, they are a good resource for getting started.  I do not know if this is an inclusive list, but here is a link for the ones listed on Home School Legal Defense's website.

Little Tid-Bits of Advise
It drives me crazy not to finish something.  However, with homeschooling, not every page of a book has to be completed. If your child is understanding how to make a B after two pages of practice, it is OK to not complete the next three pages of Bs. One of the easiest ways to kill a child’s desire to learn is to bore them with useless repetition. Once they have got it, move on and keep them interested in learning. At the end of school, what I want my kids to learn the most is how to learn and how to enjoy learning. School is not about grades. While I do believe grades are important in measuring progress, school is about learning. Helping a child learn and build their confidence is one of the most important aspects of teaching.

Do not push a preschooler past their desire to learn. If in one sitting they want to do 15 pages, let them do 15 pages; however, if the next day they want to do ½ of a page, tell them what a good job they did and send them on their merry way. This will help avoid a burn out in the future.

Before you look into curriculums, I would suggest you look at your family and there needs. Make a list of priorities. This will help you narrow down the different curriculums and even methods. Things to think about for example is cost, how involved you want to be, how many children you have, how they learn best, and how you learn best. These are just a few things.

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