The decision to home school your child can be a difficult one

to make. Many parents wonder if it is the right thing to do.

Many wonder if their children can get the same "grade" of

education if they are homeschooled.

There are many reasons why parents choose to homeschool their

kids. For many it is because they want to add religious content

to their children’s learning experience.

Making the decision to home school is usually a very difficult

not and it is not one to be taken lightly. It is a personal

decision that no one can make for you, but maybe I can help in

the thought process by providing you with a comprehensive guide

to making the choice to homeschool your kids a successful one.

When making the homeschool decision, you must first consider

these things:

1. Time commitment that is involved. Homeschooling has a

tendency to take up a lot of time in your day. It involves more

than just sitting down with books for a couple of hours. There

are experiments and projects that have to be done, lessons to

prepare, papers to grade, field trips, park days, music

lessons, and the list just keeps on going. You can go online

and search for some sample schedules that will help to give you

an idea of a typical day.

2. Personal sacrifice. The homeschooling parent has very little

personal time or time alone and away from their children. If a

lot of care is not taken to set aside time for yourself, it is

easy for the parent to feel overwhelmed. Basically, the parent

and child are together 24 hours a day and this can get

frustrating on both sides.

3. Financial problems can arise. Homeschooling can be

accomplished with very little cost to you; however, it usually

requires that the teaching parent will not be working out of

the home. Some sacrifices will need to be made if the family is

used to two incomes. Of course, if you are a single parent, this

could pose an even bigger problem.

4. Time for socialization. More attention will need to be given

to getting your children together with his/her peers. The best

part of homeschooling is being able to have more control of the

social contacts your child makes. However, the downside is that

you must prepare your child yourself on how to socialize with

other kids. Homeschooling has a tendency to make your child

feel isolated.

5. Household organization is harder. Housework and laundry and

other house work will still have to be done, but it probably

won't get done first thing in the morning. If you are a neat

freak, you might be in for a big surprise. Not only does

housework need to be let go at times, but homeschooling creates

messes and clutter on its own. You will have to get organized so

that you can keep your home together.

6. Both parents must agree to it. It is important that both

parents agree to homeschooling. It is very difficult for this

to work if one of the parents is against it. If your spouse is

against it at this time, try doing more research and talking to

more people so that you can be absolutely certain it is

something that both of you can agree upon. Otherwise, the

chances for success are much lower.

7. Your child has to be willing. A willing student is crucial

to the success of homeschooling. Ultimately, the decision is

the parents to make, but if your child is dead against it, you

might have a very difficult time in teaching them. The fact of

the matter is that an unwilling child can sabotage his or her

own school efforts.

8. Know that it works one year at a time. It isn't a lifetime

commitment and doesn’t have to become one. If you find that

homeschooling just isn’t worth it, you can choose to go the

regular route.

There is a lot more to homeschooling than deciding to just do

it. As a parent, you must know that your child’s education is

the most important factor in his or her future. You need to be

thoroughly prepared for all of the time and commitment that is

involved.