Homeschooling 101, there are 10 easy steps to homeschooling your children which are guaranteed to take the frustration out of this amazing journey. Homeschooling is such a great benefit to your 
children and to yourself! Do not let this overwhelm you!
As a mom of 11 children who was blessed to homeschool 10 at one time, I can testify you are the best teacher for your children. No one cares more about their education then you. Though this blog is designed to help you, this Homeschooling 101 course is about you being you!
Each of your children have such unique characteristics, and you know their inner workings and what motivates them like no one else. Realize this moment, you are fully equipped to do this. Decide to plunge into this adventure wholeheartedly, the rewards outweigh all the work and sacrifice. Decide to enjoy this journey. Make each homeschooling day- a day of adventure and fun. Wishing you joy in this task!
Homeschooling 101: The Steps
Step 1: What do I need to get started? First and foremost, pray and ask God for His wisdom and leadership. If you are not a Christian, I will be praying for you! The Creator of all things desires to help you create the best homeschooling 101 experience specific to you and your family!
Step 2: Join HSLDA! You must learn the homeschooling requirements for your state and stay true to those goals. HSLDA has all the information needed to get started. They also can connect you with homeschooling groups within your state, curriculum book fairs, provide help every step of your path, while guiding you with resources to help you stay current with your state’s requirements.
Step 3: Choose a curriculum best for you and your children. My favorite was Christian Liberty because they incorporate a variety of the best homeschooling curriculum into one easy to use site. Christianbook.com also provides a huge inventory of the absolute best curriculum to choose from. Both links are included here:
Get Organized
Step 4: Purchasing a good Lesson Plan book is essential to your Homeschooling 101 plan. This lesson planner will be your friend. After looking at the scope and sequence (a list of the concepts, topics, and material that is covered in a book, course, or the lesson plans of a particular curriculum) of your children’s curriculum, you will use this lesson planner to add daily tasks that will help them complete their goals weekly, monthly, quarterly until the expected end.
These lesson planners may be used even for new readers. Because the ages of my children varied I even used pictures to help our youngest understand their assignments-this helped them feel like they could get up and get started just like their older siblings.
I do recommend drawing or writing encouraging notes to your kids on a weekly basis in these planners. This is where you completely design your homeschooling to fit you! It is your very own children’s planners– fill them with your personality and love. My favorite planner can be found at: https://www.milestonebooks.com/item/1-19081/?list=Teacher_Helps
Some Details
Step 5: Read over the curriculum and familiarize yourself with the books in a general way. You do not need to read every book. Remember this is a learning experience for the whole family. What you have forgotten from schooling days you will become refreshed together as you study with your kids and you will learn new things together. Enjoy the journey!
Step 6: Decide what you must do weekly to complete your curriculum in your chosen time frame. Some school all year with a month off, others follow traditional school time with a 2- or 3-month break. The good news is you can create your own timetable based on your family’s schedules. When our children were younger on beautiful days, we would head to the park after breakfast and enjoy an hour or more of playing, and head home for a relaxing day of learning. You are not only the best teacher, but the best activity coordinator for your family. You know what works best like no one else ever could!
You Are Almost There
Step 7: Purchase notebooks, pencils, pens, paper, craft or experiment supplies you will need on a weekly or monthly basis, whichever suits you best. 
Step 8: Homeschooling 101 day by day: Write the lessons for the week in your child’s lesson planner. Give each of them daily assignments. Expect them to begin work each morning and plan a time to meet with them to go over, teach, and correct. Depending on ages of children and/or lesson for the day, you will know whether to meet with them early in the day or later after they have completed their assignment. Younger children may need to sit at a table with you throughout the time of school to receive ongoing assistance. Your older children can read and answer questions in some subjects and then meet later for teaching, exams, etc.
Step 9: Be prudent, but flexible. Though you do want to honor this privilege by being judicious and establishing a good routine; be pliable when it calls for a bit of flexibility. Homeschooling is so chock full of educational value and lack of wasted time you will easily obtain your goals if you remain consistent. Allow for visits to grandma’s, field trips, parks, etc. that can enhance your homeschooling days. You are free!
Step 10: Be thankful for this gift. When you look back you will appreciate the gift of being able to spend your children’s best days together! Time goes too fast. Quality time with them is a treasure. You are building so much more than a school, you are building bridges to their future and to yours. It is well worth it all!
WOW – so this is how homeschooling 101 looks. You are destined for this journey! You will do what you thought you never could because you love and care for those gifts given to you from above like no one else ever could. You will give your children everything they need to grow into amazing adults who learn from the very ones God entrusted with to teach them well!
Deuteronomy 6:5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
