QUICK GUIDE to teaching your children at home!

Interested in homeschooling, but still not sure? Read All You Need Is...'

The information in this guide can also be found in Beverley's comprehensive The Educating Parent Resource Directory, a free download.

• About Home Education
• Is it Legal? Registering
• Getting Ready: learning plans, environment and resources
• Assessment
• Keeping Records

A Typical Home Educating Day

Many families new to home educating assume it's similar to what happens in school. It can be if you want, but ass home educators we are free to create our own daily schedules. How one family home educates is usually completely different to another: we each find our own routines and rhythms based around what works for each family member.

Although some authorities might ask to see a schedule of lessons, there is no requirement to do this: simply outline how a typical day will look like for you, averaging how long you think you'll focus on each subject area over a week.

The following presents a naturally balanced home educating curriculum and can easily cover learning across all subjects. However, there is really no such thing as a 'typical' day: all days are different and that's okay.

• Arise, make beds, prepare and eat breakfast
• Completion of morning chores: personal, household, and animals
• Study: daily focus on maths and language based activities drawn from children's learning plans (about 1-2 hours)
• Snack and stretch
• Work on ongoing project, unit study, art, craft, etc
• Lunch: prepare, eat and clean away after
• Shared or individual reading, followed by time to pursue personal interests and hobbies, music practice or lesson
• Outside physical activity: sport, walking, swimming, playing, tree climbing, etc
• Afternoon chores: personal, household, and animals
• Help prepare and eat dinner, clean away after
• Watching television, playing educational and fun games, use of computer for games or projects, quiet reading
• Story time and ready for bed

Not every day will look like this: some days will be taken up by field trips or excursions, visits to friends or home educating group activities. Other days will be spent focussing on particular projects either as individuals or as a family. Some days the children will play all day, absorbed in whatever game they are playing. Other days will be more structured.

This was the last page in our quick guide to getting started. Our hope is that you will be feeling reassured and more confident to begin your adventure! Please dip into the hundreds of pages on this website where I share many of my thoughts and experiences on all things homeschooling and unschooling!