Tip! Do not be shy about your homeschooling. You don’t have to announce it to everyone you meet, but visible home-schoolers help make homeschooling familiar and acceptable to the general public.

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In Part two of this series of articles we covered choosing a curriculum. In this article we will explore the idea of creating a curriculum tailor made for your children.

Homeschooling gives you and your children a lot of freedom. Freedom to choose how and in some ways what to teach. As was stated in our first article you must stay within your state requirements, but otherwise you are free to let your imagination take flight.

To begin, I recommend you download a copy of your state academic standards. When beginning to homeschool it is nice to have an idea of what is being taught in the public schools. Now please, don’t misunderstand my intentions. As a homeschooler I do not endorse all of the public school curriculum. Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. Take what is good for your family and leave the rest. You have the freedom to choose.

Tip! Less Distractions - Homeschooling programs enable students to solely focus on the task at hand. They can pay 100% attention to their studies, without any worries, social distractions or pressures of a regular school setting.

Using the academic standards as a guide, you have a big picture idea of what direction you can take in the education of your children. You can download the standards for each subject and then explore the different options for covering the material.

Obviously your local library is a great source for material. Talk to your research librarian. Explain that you are homeschooling, what subjects you are covering for the week or month and she(or he) will point you in the right direction.

The internet is another great source of material. Check out the Google Directory for reference and education. The sites listed there are very helpful.

Tip! Be aware of your state’s statutes on homeschooling. Keep current copies of all applicable statutes in a safe place in your home for easy reference.

My favorite sites for lesson ideas:

• 42explore.com
• Dicscoverychannel.com
• brainyhistory.com
• mathman.com
• coolmath.com
• history.com

Subscribe to educational magazines. Check out the local library to see what magazines would best suit your family’s needs. Zoo books, National Geographic, US World Reports, the possibilities are endless. A benefit to having the magazines about, you always have material for notebooking and collages.

There are thousands of ways to homeschool your children. Taking the time to be creative with your lessons will benefit your children so much and its fun too.

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