If you’re just starting out as a homeschooler, and your child is in the early grades, don’t be intimidated. Homeschooling can actually free you from many burdens.

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Socialization

Untold difficulties come into a family’s life when children are taught non-Christian ideas or develop bad associations. Homeschooling puts you back in the driver’s seat. Your child can be fully socialized, but you’ll be in control of who he/she will associate with during this vital time of development. To find your local homeschool support group and get connected, go to our Community page HERE.

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Running a Household

Some young mothers wonder how they’ll keep up with housework while teaching children. An important principle is not to do for your children what you can train them to do for themselves. An essential part of their development as complete human beings is to teach them to participate in the life of a home, take responsibility for themselves, and help with household duties. To function in life, a child must learn such character traits as obeying authority, being a self-starter, following through and completing unpleasant but needful tasks, and doing what he/she is supposed to be doing when no one is looking. Teaching Christian character is of greater importance than (for instance) memorizing all fifty states and their capitals.

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Teaching

Don't be intimidated by the responsibility of teaching your child. A kindergartner has already learned some of the most formative things about life from his/her parents before formal schooling begins. God arranged the family so that children learn from their parents. You are already your child’s teacher. The main thing in the early years is to teach your child to read, write, and do basic math. You yourself already know how to do these things.

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The early years of homeschooling can be the most fun years.  Many homeschool moms feel most comfortable with a standard curriculum as the framework of their homeschooling endeavor, but don’t limit yourself. The more real, hands-on, and stimulating you make homeschooling, the more your child will be eager to learn. Cultivating a love of learning, reading, and the joy of discovery is half the battle won.

 

Be creative! Math manipulatives (physical objects used to illustrate addition, subtraction, grouping, etc.) can be a most helpful addition to a math curriculum. Science can focus on nature study. In the early grades, you may want to teach science by taking “nature walks” and keeping a nature journal. A trip to the library will provide books by which you can identify the plants and animals and label drawings. The nature journal can become more detailed as the child grows.

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Unit studies are an excellent way to draw various branches of knowledge together and to show how one subject relates to another. Perhaps a visiting missionary from Peru speaks at your church. Again, a trip to the library can provide numerous books on that country and South America in general. You can study not only the volcanoes, but the cultures, languages, industries, and agriculture. What are the people like and what do they do? With such information, a child can begin a prayer journal in order to better pray for the missionaries there and the people they’re trying to reach with the gospel of Christ.

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A Typical Year

Here’s what your school year could look like. Begin planning the next year and gathering materials in the spring and early summer. Finalize your education plan and submit the application before August. Once approved, begin work in August or September, keeping track of the days you do school work. When you’ve completed about 90 days, pick a weekday as the end date of your fall semester and prepare the grades, days of attendance, and end date for submission. In December or January, log into your Parent Portal and submit the grades and attendance.

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Begin the spring semester in January, again keeping track of the days you do school work. Begin thinking about your plan for the next school year. When you’ve completed at least 180 days total and you’ve finished the material, pick a weekday as the end date of your spring semester and prepare the grades, days of attendance, and end date for submission. In May or June, log into your Parent Portal and submit the grades and attendance. Finalize your plan for the next school year and submit an application as soon as possible after May 1st.

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When to Start

To begin kindergarten, a child must be 5 by Aug 15th of the intended school year. Generally, the state of Tennessee expects children to attend school from age 6 to age 18. Though attendance before 1st grade is not legally required, many public schools will not enroll a 1st grader unless he/she has completed an official year of kindergarten. So if your plans may include 1st grade at a public school, it’s to your advantage to enroll in a recognized program like Gateway for kindergarten.

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What Subjects to Put on the Education Plan

A Pre-K education plan might include these subjects: alphabet, numbers, shapes, colors, fine motor skills (e.g. drawing, tracing, beginning to write).

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For Kindergarten students, we expect to see at least these subjects: learning to read (phonics), learning to write, and beginning math.

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For 1st through 8th grade students, we expect to see at least these 4 core subjects: English/language arts, math, science, and social studies (history and/or geography).

 

About Special Education

Since homeschooling allows great flexibility, a child who has an IEP from a public school may not be Special Ed in homeschool. For our program, Special Ed means that the student is unable to work at grade level.