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Homeschool FAQ Homeschooling Resource Homeschooling tips

How To Set Up Private School For Homeschooling?

If you are in California and want to set up your own private school as one of the four options that get started homeschooling your kids legally and right way, here is how to set up and file for PSA (Private School Affidavit) and set up your own private school for your kids to teach. Establishing Your Private School is easy once you know the steps and how to get started on it.  Home educators may establish a private school based in their home by filing a Private School Affidavit with the California Department of Education as an option for homeschooling your own children.

Please check out our article on : How to Homeschool in California Article for more choices.

How and When to File the PSA?

One of the easiest way for parent to file for The Private School Affidavit can be online at the California Department of Education website from October 1st to October 15th of every year. You can file any other time during school year, but during Oct 1st through Oct 15th is easiest method. Schools that are created after the filing period should file at the time the school is established every year during these time. The CDE usually leaves the form up until early spring. If you need to file your affidavit and cannot do so electronically (or choose not to), you can still file a Statement in Lieu. We will share soon how to file Statement in Lieu in coming next articles.

If you need a step by step instruction on how to file PSA for California, here is free downloadable link: Step by Step Guide to File PSA

How the PSA Works For Homeschooling?

There is a huge misconception about it, as I was also not sure how it work and how it made it all legal. This is what the information I got from official California Homeschool Website. The Private school  affidavit is not a license to private school. The State of California accredits neither public nor private schools if that makes sense.  By filing an affidavit you are showing intent to establish a private school, and informing the state, as required by law. Parents have been legally using this provision for many years to conduct their own home-based private schools. So, I know it works and recommended by experts.

What are California Private School Requirements?

According to http://leginfo.ca.gov/, Education Code sections §48222, §48415, §33190, §51210 and §51220 set the criteria for a private school. The following legal requirements apply to all private schools regardless of size:

  1. The administrator of every private school must file an affidavit with the Superintendent of Public Instruction between October 1st and October 15th of each year.
  2. Private school instructors must be “capable of teaching.” There is, however, no requirement in the CA Education Code that mandates that teachers in a private school setting hold a state teaching credential or have the equivalent training.
  3. The names and addresses, including city and street, of the faculty must be kept on file, as must a record of the educational qualifications of each instructor.
  4. Instruction must be in English.
  5. Instruction must be offered “in the several branches of study required to be taught in the public schools.” The materials and methods you use to teach these areas are up to you. You are not required to teach every subject as long as it is offered and available to the student:
    • Grades 1-6: English, math, social sciences, science, fine arts, health and phys ed.
    • Grades 7-12: All that is included in the above plus: foreign language, applied arts, vocational ed and drivers ed.

For information about record keeping for Private schooling records see here: Private Schooling Records (Coming soon!)

Important Things to know about PSA (Private School Affidavit)

  • Kindergarten attendance is not mandatory in California. You can teach your child at home but do not fill out PSA for Kindergartener.
  • If you are using ISP or Charter school to homeschool, no need to file PSA as it is done by the school itself.
  • Some Correspondence school PSP may require filing PSA while other do not. So check with your PSP when in doubt.
  • Fingerprinting is not needed when a parent or legal guardian is working with his or her own children.
  • State should not be asking more information other that what is listed in California Education §33190.
  • If you are part of ISP, PSP, Charterschool program, no need for filing PSA is required.
  • Best time to file for PSA is between Oct 1- Oct 15 of every year.
  • Do not file for PSA as backup when you have signed in with public school, PSP, ISP or Charter school.

 

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Fun Learning

How To Learn With Autism

When a child has a Autism, learning can be challenge for kids, parents and teacher. But it does not have to be, by just getting right help and support. Learning about Autism, early signs to know if your child might be autistic, how to help and educate the right way so it might be easier for child as well as parent and teacher too will make a huge difference in child’s life. Hope you enjoy this info graphic on one of the most mis-understood subject for many of us.

Autism and Learning Overview
Diagnosis of Autism and Learning with Autism
Elements of a Successful Education
Additional Autism Resources
Information Provided by OnlineCollege.org
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Fun Learning

Homeschooling By Number: Info Graphic Chart

Before I started homeshcooling my kids, I surely did not know there were so many homeschooling families.  I was happily surprised to know that there are many good and concerned parents who homeschool their kids successfully and legally. However I did not know until I found this info graphic that shows homeschooling by numbers so we can see how we fare among others. It is surely interesting facts that I am sure will fascinate all homeschoolers and potential homeschooling parents.

Homeschooling by the Numbers
Comparing 2008-2009 SAT Scores • Independent Homeschooling, Religiously-Affiliated Homeschooling, Public Schools
National Average Percentile Scores, Public School Versus Homeschool
Education Level of Homeschooled Parents
Number of Children Per Homeschooled Family
Via DegreeSearch.org
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Fun Learning

Know Your Learning Style

Discovering your learning style and sometimes teaching style can be a huge eye opener. It sure was for me when I started homeschooling my 3 years old first time. Now that I have tested my own and my child’s learning style, teaching and educating is much easier. This works for daily learning as well, not only for homeschoolers, you know? Try it and check it out yourself.

What Type of Learner Are You?
The Styles of Learning - Visual Learners, Read/Write Learners, Auditory Learners, Kinesthetic Learners
Visual Learners - Characteristics, Learning Suggestions
Auditory Learners - Learning Suggestions, Characteristics
Kinesthetic-Tactile Learners - Learning Suggestions, Characteristics
Percentages of Learners - Kinesthetic-Tactile, Read/Write, Visual, Auditory
Source: See above & onlinecollege.org
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Fun Learning

How Did Homeschooling Started: History

Want to know How Homeschooling Started? Here is fun info graphic on history of Homeschooling! Hope you like it.

Homeschooling
Via: Online College Source

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Homeschool Curriculum Homeschool FAQ Homeschool Finance Homeschool Parenting Tips Homeschooling tips

How to Finance Your Homeschooling?

1917 dollar

Image Source: 1917 US One Dollar

Financing homeschooling is one of the huge thing to consider when we started homeschooling and you might be wondering the same thing. Public school are free (sort of, we all pay taxes for it, even those of us who homeschool) and private school are just too darn expensive for many people. Here are some suggestions for how to finance your homeschooling supply, text books and field trip.

See: How to homeschool your child for almost Free!

When people talk about teaching their children from home in the absence of any definite or structured curriculum, it is perhaps
natural to think that homeschooling is cheap. But this is far from the truth. Although homeschooling does not stick to any particular
text, this is perhaps more of a bane than a boon, when it comes to finance.

When you need to make sure that your children receives state-of-the-art education so that they can compete with regular
school goers, expenses will naturally mount. The actual cost of educating a child at home is surprisingly high. Up-to-date
textbooks, course materials, a library, computing equipment, lighting, specially designed furniture all cost money. In this
case, the cost may be slightly lesser when it comes to homeschooling the second child. Add to this any additional tuition
cost for tutors who come to teach subjects that cannot be handled by parents, like higher-level math or science. The total cost can
be a bit mind boggling.

If you take another important factor into consideration, homeschooling costs may effective triple. The need for having one
of the parents tied to the house and fully dedicated to providing education deprives the family of a second earning member. The
average homeschooling teacher is usually a lady with a college degree. This means that she can easily bring home a pay of $35,000
or more. It is also interesting to note that most families that have more than 2 children do not opt for homeschooling at all.

But, there are those who have been successful in carrying out homeschooling at low rates. This is dependent on the size of the
family, the support group, the type of materials used and the availability of the material. When successive children can reuse
the materials, cost goes down. Much of the course material can be got from vendors of homeschooling materials. A membership in a
public library, theatre, concerts, ballets and other cultural events also help in cutting costs. Sometimes, it is even possible
to barter expertise. For instance, the mother of an 8-year old gives dancing classes, and her daughter receives drawing classes
for free. Support groups allow you to divide the cost of field trips, science projects and fairs.

Whatever the cost, advocates of homeschooling say that the benefits far outweigh these considerations. When you are able to
decide what knowledge your child receives and when he or she should be taught and to what extent, it gives you a lot of freedom
and a lot of power. Both the children as well as the parents benefit from this mutually enriching experience.

Check out:

10 Things to Consider Before you Start Homeschooling

Homeschool Reference Books for Parents

Best early education homeschool curriculum

Best kindergarten curriculum I love! Sing, Spell, Read and Write

Homeschool Curriculum Reviews

Getting Started

Homeschooling poster: Cheap, fun and educational

Homeschooling via DVD Videos

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Homeschool-Family Homeschooling Resource Homeschooling tips

Reasons Some Parent Homeschool

There are many reasons, parents may decide to homeschool as I talked about it before in Why Some Parents Choose To Homeschool?  In olden days before there were any official school system or mandatory education in those systems, parents taught what they knew to their children, be it what type of work they did, how to cook, clean and survive and so on. That was kind of education at home for that time. Many of famous people around a few hundred years ago were homeschooled, there was no surprise as it was the norm then before schooling system came in to picture.

According to wikipedia and NCES (National Center For Education Statistics) survey done around 2007 shows following data. While it has now been 2013, information is important to know.

In the 2003 and 2007 NHES, parents were asked whether particular reasons for homeschooling their children applied to them. The three reasons selected by parents of more than two-thirds of students were concern about the school environment, to provide religious or moral instruction, and dissatisfaction with the academic instruction available at other schools.

From 2003 to 2007, the percentage of students whose parents reported homeschooling to provide religious or moral instruction increased from 72 percent to 83 percent. In 2007, the most common reason parents gave as the most important was a desire to provide religious or moral instruction (36 percent of students). This reason was followed by a concern about the school environment (such as safety, drugs, or negative peer pressure) (21 percent), dissatisfaction with academic instruction (17 percent), and “other reasons” including family time, finances, travel, and distance (14 percent).Other reasons include more flexibility in educational practices and family core stability for children with learning disabilities or prolonged chronic illnesses, or for children of missionaries, military families, or families who move often, as frequently as every two years.

Number and percentage of homeschooled students in the United States, by reason for homeschooling: 1999, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
Reason for homeschooling Number of
homeschooled students
Percent standard error
Can give child better education at home 415,000 48.9 3.79
Religious reason 327,000 38.4 4.44
Poor learning environment at school 218,000 25.6 3.44
Family reasons 143,000 16.8 2.79
To develop character/morality 128,000 15.1 3.39
Object to what school teaches 103,000 12.1 2.11
School does not challenge child 98,000 11.6 2.39
Other problems with available schools 76,000 9.0 2.40
Child has special needs/disability 69,000 8.2 1.89
Transportation/convenience 23,000 2.7 1.48
Child not old enough to enter school 15,000 1.8 1.13
Parent’s career 12,000 1.5 0.80
Could not get into desired school 12,000 1.5 0.99
Other reasons* 189,000 22.2 2.90

The data numbers may have changed but reasons behind parent choosing to homeschool somewhat remains similar. What are your reasons for homeschooling?

10 Things to Consider Before you Start Homeschooling

Homeschool Reference Books for Parents

Getting Started

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Homeschool FAQ Homeschool-Family Homeschooling tips

Finding The Best Information on Home Schooling

Homeschooling could be the most feasible option for parents who want to educate their children but cannot afford the expenses in a typical school. The Best Information on Home Schooling is important to make right choice that works for you, child and your family.

With homeschooling, parents can still have the best education for their children without having to resort to expensive everyday expenditures of sending children to school.

However, one should bear in mind that homeschooling is not for everybody, and not all homeschool curriculum are appropriate for everyone.

Learning through homeschooling may differ from one person to another. This is because in homeschooling; the traditional aspects of learning are not present like the typical classroom setting, the fixed schedules, etc. This goes to show that parents may opt to change the program in order to fit the needs of their children.

In homeschooling, the parents are the ones who teach their children. They just have to buy a particular homeschooling curriculum that they think would best work for them. In this way, the parents are able to educate their children on their own free will and without the influence of a typical “school system”.

With its many advantages, homeschooling is now recognized as a legal educational system in all of the states in the U.S., though each state has its own set of rules and regulations regarding what and how homeschooling should be executed. To find out your local homeschooling information, check out our: Homeschooling Resource page.

However, many people question the reliability and efficiency of homeschooling. Many are still wondering whether children can really learn form this type of education. Statistics show that students who had their basic education from homeschooling, were able to do very well in college.

Most experts contend that the data and the assertions are true because with homeschooling, the parent-child relationship is a very effective tool in educating an individual. This is because children in a homeschooling program are less pressured and less tensed because it is their parents who do the teaching and not somebody else; therefore, the inhibition is lessened.

In this manner, learning is more interactive, more comprehensive, and more properly initiated as long as there is a good curriculum that will serve as a guide.

In order to know more information about homeschooling programs in your community, it is best that you consult your state’s laws on homeschooling. Each state has its own set of rules, hence, what may work for one state may not be applicable to the other states.

Just keep in mind that it is important that you and your child are comfortable with the program in order to make homeschooling effective.

See also:

Buy educational Toys that boost child’s creativity

10 Things to Consider Before you Start Homeschooling

Homeschool Reference Books for Parents

Best kindergarten curriculum I love! Sing, Spell, Read and Write

Homeschool Curriculum Reviews

 

Homeschooling via DVD Videos

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Homeschooling Resource

Educational and Homeschool Quotes and Sayings

Here are some homeschooling and education related quotes and sayings to inspire you, make you smile. Hope you enjoy.

Children have to be educated, but they have also to be left to educate themselves.
– Abbé Dimnet

Teaching does not make learning – organized education operates on the assumption that children learn only when and only what and only because we teach them. This is not true. It is very close to 100% false. Learners make learning.
~ John Holt

Real education must ultimately be limited to men who insist on knowing. The rest is mere sheep herding.
~ Ezra Pound

There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.
~ Bertrand Russell

The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance – it is the illusion of knowledge.
~ Daniel J. Boorstin

Authority has every reason to fear the skeptic, for authority can rarely survive in the face of doubt.
~ Robert Lindner

Stand firm in your refusal to remain conscious during algebra. In real life, I assure you, there is no such thing as algebra.
~ Fran Lebowitz

To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain a perennial child.
~ Cicero

He that loves reading has everything within his reach.
~ William Godwin

Unless education promotes character making, unless it helps men to be more moral, more just to their
fellows, more law abiding, more discriminatingly patriotic and public spirited, it is not worth the trouble taken to furnish it.
~ President William Howard Taft

The way you help heal the world is you start with your own family.
~ Mother Teresa

Cowardice asks the question: is it safe?
Expediency asks the question: is it politic?
Vanity asks the question: is it popular?
But conscience asks the question: is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular – but one must take it because it’s right.
~ Martin Luther King Jr.

The reward of a thing well done, is to have done it.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.
~ Thomas Edison

Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.
~ Christopher Morley

o be perpetually talking sense runs out the mind, as perpetually ploughing and taking crops runs out the land. The mind must be manured, and nonsense is very good for the purpose.
~ James Boswell

When freedom prevails, the ingenuity and inventiveness of people creates incredible wealth. This is the source of the natural improvement of the human condition.
~ Brian S. Wesbury

The shrewd guess, the fertile hypothesis, the courageous leap to a tentative conclusion – these are the most valuable coin of the thinker at work. But in most schools guessing is heavily penalized and is associated somehow with laziness.
~ Jerome S. Bruner

Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion has no hold on the mind. Therefore do not use compulsion, but let early education be a sort of amusement; you will then be better able to discover the child’s natural bent.
~ Plato

Boredom is a sickness the cure for which is work; pleasure is only a palliative.
~ Le Duc de Lévis

My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.
~ Adlai Stevenson

The plain fact is that education is itself a form of propaganda – a deliberate scheme to outfit the pupil, not with the capacity to weigh ideas, but with a simple appetite for gulping ideas ready-made. The aim is to make ‘good’ citizens, which is to say, docile and uninquisitive citizens.
~ H. L. Mencken

If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the opposite direction.
~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The state will take youth and will give to youth its own education and its own upbringing. Your child already belongs to us… What are you?
~ Adolf Hitler

School days, I believe, are the unhappiest in the whole span of human existence. They are full of dull, unintelligible tasks, new and unpleasant ordinances, brutal violations of common sense and common decency. It doesn’t take a reasonably bright boy long to discover that most of what is rammed into him is nonsense, and that no one really cares very much whether he learns it or not.
~ H. L. Mencken

There is no idea so stupid that you can’t find a professor who will
believe it.
~ H. L. Mencken

There is more to life than increasing its speed.
~ Gandhi

You can find more educational quotes here.

Check out more motivational Quotes and moral stories to inspire you.

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Homeschooling tips

How To Unschool? : Guide To Unschooling Part 2

This is part 2 of the series how to unschool your child. I have written about it before on the blog How to Unschool your child and Guide to Homeschooling Methods.

Check out the first of How to Unschool  Part 1.

By Leo Babauta

There are many more reasons, of course, and each person will find her own reasons. These are just a few of mine.

How to Unschool

This is the hard part, because there is no right way to do it, no single way. And parents who are starting out always, always want to know how to do it. I know we did, and the honest truth is, we’re still figuring out the answer.

Why is there no answer? Because every kid is different. Everyone has different needs, interests, abilities, goals, and environments. What would you say if people told you there was only one way to live your life, one way to do your job? You’d hate it, because it would take away your freedom, and also all the fun.

Telling you how to unschool is like taking away your freedom and all the fun out of it. The questions are everything, and the finding out is the fun.

That said, I will offer some ideas of how we unschool, and some ideas of how you might approach things — but these are just ideas to start you out!

  • College bound. Our 16-year-old has decided he wants to go to college, and so studies for the SAT on his own, and is taking some free college courses online, and writes practice college essays on topics he chooses. He also learns things on his own, like programming or 3D animation, and plays the guitar.
  • Origami master. Our 13-year-old wants to get good at math, so does some math courses on Khan Academy. She also makes origami and weaves friendship bracelets and reads teen novels and Archie comics and plays piano and goes to the park to play basketball and likes to learn to cook.
  • Wolves and wizards. Our 8-year-old loves to read about wolves, and often will pretend he’s a wolf. Also a wizard or werewolf. He likes to play games and read with us and make up stories and draw. He’s pretty good at math on his own, though we don’t really study that with him much.
  • Forts and restaurants. Our 6-year-old likes to be read to and isn’t into reading on her own, though she’s been learning to read through games and reading with us. She doesn’t like math but will do it in games. She makes forts and art and likes to play outside and pretend she owns a restaurant or store.
  • The power of questions. When the kids ask a question, that’s an opportunity to find out something. We’ll look it up together, or look for books on it in the library.
  • People you know are incredible resources. If your kid wants to be a chef, you might know someone who is a chef or owns a restaurant. If your kid wants to create iPhone games, you might know a programmer. If your kid is interested in science, you might know a marine biologist. And so on. Connect them with these people.
  • Games are your best friend. Play all kinds of games. Don’t be concerned with what they’re learning. They’ll have fun, and learn that life can be play, and so can learning.
  • Fun projects. Working on art and science projects can be a lot of fun.
  • Pursue interests. If the kid is interested in something, show her how to find out more, or play with it.
  • Deschool. If you’re new to unschooling, and your kid has gone to school for awhile, it’s often a good idea to “deschool”. That means to not worry about learning or schooling for awhile — a couple weeks, a couple months. The idea is to get them (and you) out of the mindset of schooling, which can be very difficult, because we’ve been trained to think in terms of school. We think we need to be productive teachers and students, and that school has to be done a certain way, and that if the kids aren’t learning something from an activity, it has no value. All that is crap, of course, so take some time getting out of that mindset.
  • Expose them. Learn to give kids a variety of stimuli — books and magazines lying around the house, watch shows about interesting things, play old board games, get out and explore your town, meet different people, find stuff together on the Internet. This exposure will help them to explore new interests — even if they don’t seem interested at first, the exposure will allow them to find new things on their own.
  • Learn as you go. The most important thing is that you need to figure out what works for you. Try different things. Play. Make things. Go out and do things, meet people, have fun learning about new things. Fun, always fun, never hard work unless it’s fun, never force, always get pulled.
  • Be patient. You won’t see “results” right away … changes in your kid will happen over time, as he learns that learning is fun and can be done all the time in lots of ways. You also might get frustrated that your kids doesn’t want to study or read or write papers or whatever. But instead, let him play music or play pretend games or read comic books or play outside.
  • Trust is important. It’s hard in the beginning (we’re still learning to do this), but it’s important to trust that kids can learn on their own, with minimal guidance, and that if they’re interested in something, they’ll learn about it. We all think kids can’t learn on their own, but they can.

Before you get the wrong idea, I should give credit to Eva for doing most of the unschooling work, and being better at it than I am (Eva is really great, though she won’t admit it). She has read more books and websites on the topic than I am, and does the majority of the unschooling on a daily basis (though I do help out as much as I can). I should also give credit to my awesome sister Kat, who inspired us to unschool, and is one of the most amazing unschooling moms I know.

More Reading

This isn’t a definitive guide — I don’t have the experience or knowledge to write that guide. Better people than I have written much more on the topic, and while I can’t provide a comprehensive list, I will share some books and sites to get you started (many are from Eva and my sister Kat):

  • Sandra Dodd – one of the first and best writers on unschooling.
  • John Holt – another of the seminal writers on unschooling, a classic.
  • A-Z Homeschooling – so many things for homeschoolers. So many.
  • Khan Academy – amazing resource for learning all kinds of subjects.
  • Open Culture – such a powerful collection of free learning resources, including a list of free online college courses, language learning, and so much more. Wow.
  • Clickschooling – newsletter with links to learn about different learning topics.
  • Schmoop – a fun way to learn literature, history and more.
  • Reading Rants – blog by a librarian who gives reading suggestions for young adults.
  • Free Rice – game for learning different subjects.
  • YouTube – It’s an interesting video site that you might not have heard of. But what an incredible resource for learning videos — learn French or Spanish, math raps, and much much more.
  • Self-Made Scholar – free classes.
  • Free-Range Kids – how to raise self-reliant children.
  • The Sparkling Martins – for unschooling inspiration.
  • Homeschoolers Guide to Getting Into College – it’s not only possible, but very doable.
  • Life Learning Magazine – on non-coercive, interest-based learning.
  • Natural Child – learning to treat children with with dignity, respect, understanding, and compassion.
  • Joyfully Rejoicing – great overview of unschooling philosophy with more resources for learning more.
  • Zinn Education Project – excellent resources for learning history, Howard Zinn style.
  • Coursera – free online courses.