Starting Out
If you have made the decision to homeschool, or are considering homeschooling, you probably have many questions about what comes next. We would strongly encourage you to:
- Research about homeschooling
- It is important to realize that there are as many different opinions of the best curriculum and methods as there are home schooling families.
- Read as much as you can about home schooling and learn about the various educational approaches before purchasing materials based on particular philosophies.
- An excellent website to begin your research is http://creation.com/parents-corner Topics include:
- Getting Started
- Staying the Course
- Socialization
- Teaching different subjects
- Special Needs
- High School
- plus many more topics
- Decide on the approach you feel most comfortable with. Determine what your priorities and goals are for your children’s education. The following questions are helpful in making your decisions:
- What do you feel they need to learn to be prepared for life?
- What is your child's learning style?
- Do they do well with workbooks?
- Do they need lots of activities and a hands-on approach?
- What is your learning style?
- What type of curriculum will you feel comfortable using?
- Do you have lots of time to prepare lessons or not much time at all?
- Join the support group. Our support group offers essentially four different but equally important functions
- parental support group meetings
- provides an opportunity to ask questions
- provides encouragement both in the formal part of the meeting and through casual interaction with others
- provides fellowship with others who understand your passion for homeschooling
- provides fellowship with those who can relate to your frustrations or joys
- see our meetings page for more information
- parental support through our Yahoo list
- ask questions about homeschooling
- share concerns and suggestions
- encourage one another
- sell used curriculum
- inform others of last minute field trips or get togethers
- education and social group activities for the children
- weekly programs
- Field trips
- resource library
- we have an extensive library of homeschooling books and resources on a wide variety of homeschooling topics.
- resources are available for any member to borrow at our parent support group meetings
- for more information and the library catalogue see our library page
- Attend our conference
- Attending a conference is an excellent way to see curriculum that is available and to hear a wide variety of speakers who are expert in their respective fields and or home school parents who want to share what works for them.
- Our conference has been held in the Kitchener area, annually since 1993 and is the largest conference in this area. It is usually held in early April and features over 50 seminars and a large exhibit hall with more than 50 vendors. This conference is open to anyone, not just registered members of our group.
- See our conference section of the website for more information.
- Choose Curriculum
- There are many places to choose curriculum from. Our conference provides an easy way for you to see what is available. If you are looking at purchasing materials at a time other than conference time, please check out our list of exhibitors. There are links to their web pages, where you can view their materials, and order from them.
- The Learning House (www.learninghouse.ca) in Goderich (about an 1.5 hour drive from KW) has a store that you may want to visit. The company carries products from over 50 publishers and has access to hundreds more. If you would like a hands on approach to picking suitable material, this would be a good option for you. Directions to the store are at their website, http://www.learninghouse.ca/contact.php
Please check out the other pages of our website for more information.
If you have questions that are not answered on any of our pages, please contact us at kwchea@kwchea.ca