Readers Forum:
I would like to home school my own children, and invite others to attend as well. What are the requirements for doing this (any special licenses, etc.), and what steps should I take to get the ball rolling? Where do I get the supplies to begin? Any information would be greatly appreciated!
Ok well you didn’t say if you have a degree in teaching or not so that may be an issue if you are going to have a formal school. If you don’t have a degree or teaching experience, and it sounds like you have not yet tried homeschooling your own kids, my advice would be start with your kids and see how that goes first. It isn’t easy and it takes a lot of time to keep on top of more than one child and maintain a household. Are you well informed about the different curriculums, do you have a room in your home where you can accomodate a number of children? How are you going to teach different children at different levels with different abilities? What age are you going to start at? How high will your school teach to? How will you handle behavioral problems or children who refuse to do the work? How will you handle it if a child gets sick? How will you handle it if YOU or YOUR child get sick?
There is a lot to consider. And the cost outlay might be very expensive. To me homeschooling is not easily turned into a business. Then it is just your private school that your kids attend. Homeschool is sometimes about having a day off in the middle of the week to go to the Dr or taking an odd couple of days off because Grandma is in town. Or going on field trips. How would you transport everyone?
I wish you luck.
There is a website edhelper.com It costs money but it might be worth it if you are home schooling multiple kids.
You need to find out the laws where you live. In some places, people other than the parents can not homeschool others. In other places,it has to be a certified teacher or run as a private school. Here, I know of people who ran dayhomes (like daycares in their homes) and homeschooled kids that way.
Finding out the laws could take a lot of time as it is before inviting others to homeschool them. You’ll need to look at both the state level as well as locally. If you are a business in your home, you may or may not require a special license, inspections, insurance… Work that out first before you get into all the supplies.
Definitely check state regs: these will determine whether you can set up a private school at home, which is what you are in fact proposing.
Your state Dept of Ed. should have readily available info on whats involved. If you’re in ID or TX or UT, you’re in luck; there’s almost zero regulation. If you’re in Georgia, you’re pretty much hosed. We’re lucky here in WI–lots of freedom.
It really depends on the state you live in. Some states require the parents/guardians do the teaching, others allow co-ops, others don’t say who can teach. It sounds like what you are planning is closer to a private school than a homeschool. You will need to check with the state board of education to see what their rules/regulations are.
Also, make sure you contact your homeowner’s or renter’s insurance folks to make sure your “business” is covered in case of injuries.
You might consider starting a co-op with fellow homeschoolers. My son went to one for Latin and really enjoyed it.
Best wishes.
You can home school your own children and you can tutor other children but you can not run it like a school. Homeschooling is done on an individual basis not in a group setting. So you can not “invite other students to attend”. Some of the learning can be done in group settings but not classroom like environments.
Search through the homeschooling questions on this site for info on homeschooling your own children.
As everyone stated, you want to check you states laws regarding homeschooling before doing anything. But you might also want to consider co-op. This would allow you to have the experience of teaching while not really becoming a formal school. Try going here http://www.hslda.org and seeing what they might have to say about your state laws first.