The very first step is deciding that you are going to home educate.
There is an over-abundance of material on home schooling from unschooling to hyper-vigilant schooling or somewhere in between which takes hours to navigate, discern, organize, and disseminate; –but is your ultimate KEY decision is to or not to homeschool.
This decision is like approaching a wide, deep river that, seen from a distance among a peaceful lovely setting appears black, cold, and immense -even if it is in the midst of lush peaceful luxury. The river calls to you and yet instills fear of the unknown, but you continue to slow walk forward to the banks and realize that you can see a bit into the edge waters. You dip in a toe to find brisk running water that is invigorating, refreshing, and awakening. You yearn to wade deeper. You take another step, and another to discover that the water is crystal clear. Taking a deep breath you plunge fully in and come up sputtering with a secret joy of discovering educational freedom, a normal pace, and the ability to focus on The important as best fits your family. You look around, and like learning a new word, discover home schoolers all around, options to learn collaboratively, true socialize across the generations as families; but, this discovery only occurs by braving the waters. So, the very first step is to decide to home educate or not.
Perhaps you fear that home schoolers are not truly educated or might miss something. Read further… Or you have fear associated with not being able to manage the level/scale of teaching (guiding) toward high school graduation requirements. These are valid fears, but the are fears. Take a deep breath, dive in, and realize that finding your initial daily rhythm is your first big hurdle. Many of our FAQ’s may also be of help.
More families are homeschooling that are attending private school, and our movement is not longer a quiet grassroots way of life, but a mainstream educational option understood and admired by most of society. Most of all appreciated by colleges which says all that needs saying towards our level of success. Please note that most of us are just regular people learning alongside our children and expanding our knowledge base in order to be prepared to teach our children (sometimes the following day).