Christian Homeschooling 101 – Step by Step Guide of How to Get Started

The idea of homeschooling for the first time can feel daunting and overwhelming. All of a sudden you are your child’s teacher, principal, record-keeper, administrator etc.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. The homeschooling journey is an amazing one. Filled with opportunities to teach your children about Christ, spend quality time and have fun learning together.

So to get you set up on your own unique, fun and crazy (at times) journey, follow these 10 simple steps. These steps are a process and you are not going to get it all done in one swoop, or even one year. Many of these steps you start, change and adjust throughout your homeschool.

1. Christian Homeschooling 101 – Determine Why You are Homeschooling?

It is wise to determine the why behind your homeschool? This will guide many of your decisions and keep you on track to your mission and purpose in homeschooling. Writing down the why will also help you in those moments when you are struggling or feel like giving up.

You can pull this piece of paper out at any time and remember the reasons you are doing this. You will need to remember that from time to time to keep going. So get out a piece of paper, or take notes on your phone and write down two main reasons you are homeschooling.

For me, I wrote this down when I started homeschooling 8 years ago:

1. To teach my children about our wonderful God and His love in everything that we do. To point them to love the Lord with all their heart, soul and mind.
2. To instill and nourish a love for learning in my children.

Now put that piece of paper in a safe place and refer back to it as often as needed.

A couple of years ago, we were going through a really tough time in our marriage and our lives, and were packing up and moving. I felt discouraged about everything, including homeschooling, and that piece of paper with my why of homeschool was sticking out of a book. I read it and felt so encouraged, and felt that God gave me the encouragement I needed at just the perfect time.

2. Christian Homeschooling 101 – Find Out Your State Requirements

Next, it’s important to find out your state’s requirements for homeschooling. Each state has their own requirements for things like withdrawing a child from public school, testing, required subjects, record-keeping and more. The best resource for this is Home School Legal Defense Association or HSLDA.

For example, in California where we live, there are three different choices for private homeschooling. Also, we are not required to do testing, but have subjects we are required to teach.

3. Christian Homeschooling 101 – Lay a Solid Biblical Foundation

The hands-down best thing about Christian homeschooling is the ability to teach your children about Jesus in everything you do. The best advice I’ve heard is, if at all possible, teach just Bible in your homeschool for the first six months. If that is not an option, try it for at least a couple of weeks.

This is a great time to spend time in the Word together, let you and your children adjust to school at home, and make it fun and light. I still use the first couple of weeks of each new school year to just do Bible time together. This really helps us all adjust to routine again and eases us back into the other subjects.

For more details on how to do a family Bible time, check out my post about Teaching Bible to Your Children.

4. Christian Homeschooling 101 – Be a Learner of Your Child (Find out their Learning Style)

Study your child and figure out what their likes and dislikes are. What subjects do they get excited about. And what is the method of learning that seems to come most naturally to them. The basic learning styles include:

• Visual – Learns best from observing and seeing. Prefers learning with the use of graphics, charts, images and maps.
• Auditory – Learns best from hearing and listening situations like lectures, read alouds and audio CDs.
• Read/Write – Learns best with words. Tend to take a lot of notes and is an avid reader. Can more easily take an abstract idea and put into words and essays.
• Kinesthetic (Hands on) – Learns best from through tactile use of information. Prefers learning with manipulatives and hands on activities. May see this child take things apart and put them back together to learn.

You will continue learning new things about your child for the rest of your homeschooling and they will continue growing and changing.

This is also one of the beauties of homeschooling. You are not stuck in a box and have to teach one way. You can find out your child’s learning style and choose curriculum that will help them and give them an advantage in that subject.

It is wise to still use all of the learning styles for your children. You want them to be well rounded and be able to learn through seeing, hearing, touching and reading/writing. However, you can help your child, especially with their toughest subjects by using something in their particular learning style and easing that subject for them.

5. Christian Homeschool 101 – Learn About Different Homeschool Styles

There are many different homeschool methods from traditional textbook and worksheet to unschooling and everything in between.

Research a few different methods to get a feel for what style you may like. If there is one or two you feel more inclined towards, start with that and see how it goes.

Note – don’t go crazy in researching dozens and dozens of homeschooling methods when you are first starting out. Start off with just 3, to get an idea for ones that sound interesting to you. It will take actually trying them out to see if they work for you and your family.

So don’t get stuck in research and learning mode. Learn a little bit, and then apply it to your homeschool to see if its a good fit.

Below is a starting list of some of the homeschool styles:

• Computer Based – Similar to traditional school, but instead of texts and worksheets curriculum is online
• Relaxed – Is parent-directed, but also allows for child led interests. Still has structure
• Charlotte Mason – Emphasis on living books and literature instead of textbooks
• Classical – Goal is for children to think themselves; uses three main stages – grammar, logic and rhetoric stages.
• Unschooling – Child led learning; Parents help provide resources, mentor and guide in what children’s interests are.
• Traditional – Replicating school at home using textbooks and worksheets.
• Ecletic – A mix or variety of the different homeschool types

6. Christian Homeschooling 101 – Choose Curriculum

This is a step that tends to overwhelm homeschool newbies. I remember after my first homeschool conference, walking over to the exhibit hall and being surrounded by hundreds of options of curriculum.

Take heart, this is totally normal! And there is no way you are going to have time to learn about them all (and you just shouldn’t!)

Some things to consider when choosing curriculum:

• How teacher involved are they?
• What learning styles are they suited for?
• What homeschool style are they suited for?
• Are they christian or secular?
• What grades/abilities are they meant for?
• What is the cost of the curriculum? What is your budget?

Don’t worry about figuring it all out. You won’t in the beginning. Just take the next step you think is right for your homeschooling.

You don’t have to follow a curriculum page for page. The curriculum is to help you, not be a burden to you. It’s best to use it as a guide; skip what you want, supplement with other resources or ditch it altogether and change it when it’s not working for you.

Be sure to check out Cathy Duffy’s must-read book for new homeschoolers How to Choose Homeschool Curriculum.

7. Christian Homeschooling 101 – Find support

There are tons of homeschool groups out there, but finding one that is a good fit for your family may be a struggle. I know it has been for us and still is.

Check out your local Christian Homeschool Association if you have one. Ours in Ca is called CHEA and does have a list of homeschool groups.

Also, check out facebook christian homeschool groups, talk to other moms at church, or in Bible studies you are in to see if there are homeschool moms.

Friendships take time and so it’s important to be patient. And to be honest, you may go through seasons when you and/or your children feel lonely. This also happens in seasons of motherhood.

Continue reaching out to others and be a friend to others as you would like them to be to you. We’ve had seasons where we had a few friends from a Bible study that also homeschooled and we’ve also been a part of a larger homeschool group.

There is an ebb and flow to the relationships and friendships you make in homeschooling. God has taught us to sympathize and reach out to others who may also experience loneliness.

8. Christian Homeschooling 101 – Determine a schedule /routine for your family

Create a routine that works for your family and this season of your life. Many families choose morning time, but there have been seasons when afternoons worked best for us, when a baby or toddler was napping for instance.

You can also split it up. Do some subjects in the morning and read alouds when they go to bed. There is no one size fits all for this. If something isn’t working switch it up.

Also, consider the order of the subjects. Maybe your student is one who does better getting all the hard subjects out of the way, or maybe your child needs to ease into things and starting with easier subjects works better.

Below is an example of our general routine now. Please remember, this is just what works for us in this season of our lives, as our children are starting to get older, yet we still have a toddler in tow.

When I first started preschool with my first child, this looked so different. We did everything in the afternoon and did only Bible, verses, songs and crafts. Then slowly as she entered grade school we did the main 3 R’s – arithmentic, writing and reading. It was a very gradual process to add in more subjects.

7-8 breakfast
8-9 pray, bible, memory verse, worship song, rotating subject (we rotate through geography, music and art)
9-9:30 kids finish chores
9:30-10 kids get screen time for finished chores and good attitudes
10-12 core subjects – math, english, penmanship, spelling, typing, Spanish
12-1 lunch and read aloud

We also do once a week unit study of science and history and one day a week we go on a field trip.

Children learn throughout the day in just about everything they do. Whether they are playing Leggos, reading books or playing outside they are learning and developing new skills.

9. Christian Homeschooling 101 – Determine Where You Will Homeschool

Find a place where you can do school. This can be an open area in your home like the living room table, or a designated homeschool room. You could also place a desk in your child’s room and that could be a nice, quiet place for them to concentrate and study.

For the majority of our homeschool, we have used our dining room table. My oldest daughter has a desk in her room and she uses that now. We are tight on space, so the living room table still tends to be the spot for most of my younger children.

School is not limited to the home, although, I would recommend having a designated place in your home for this. It is fun to mix up school by taking the environment outside. Take your books to the park, and give kids incentive to finish letting them play on the playground afterwards, or throwing a baseball together after.

We use “car”school on occasion too, listening to Mystery of History audio CDs and scholastic audio books. These are also great to use when going on a vacation road trip. You still get learning time in and it keeps the children occupied and using their imaginations.

10. Christian Homeschooling 101 – Learn as You Go and Enjoy the Ride

Homeschooling is like building a house. You lay the foundation first, and then brick by brick you keep building. Your foundation in homeschooling is centering everything on God. Little by little you learn more and may add more as you get comfortable and feel ready for the next step.

Determine your why, create a solid biblical foundation and find support. These will be the decisions that continue to propel you forward with purpose and fulfillment.

As you go, you learn the other details; curriculum, learning style, homeschool style and the where and when of your homeschool.

Homeschooling, like parenting, is one of the toughest jobs. But it is also an important one. Anything worth doing is going to be hard. Don’t give up.

There will probably be a thousand times when you wonder if what you’re doing is worth it, if you’re kids are going to turn out ok and if you are doing the right thing.

Be willing to be moldable and teachable by the Lord. Be humble, and ask your kids for forgiveness when you need to. Build solid relationships with your children; this is one of the most beautiful fruits of homeschooling and having the opportunity to spend quality and quantity time together.

Be willing to fail, learn and grow. Hang on and enjoy the ride!