Getting Started

Just Getting Started with Homeschooling?

Unsure where to begin?

You’re in the right place. These eight steps will get you moving down the road, in the right direction, with the necessary equipment. 

Step 1:

PRAY & Understand What’s Most Important

Pray for God’s guidance as you begin your homeschool journey. God cares about you and your children. He will help you, and He will never leave you. 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:5-6

 

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all, without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

James 1:5

For more encouragement in Step 1, check out some of Kris’s personal experience.

Step 2:

Rules of the road

Learn your state’s homeschool laws. Homeschooling is legal in all fifty states, but each state has its own requirements. If you’re not from Minnesota, visit hslda.org to find your state’s laws. If you are from Minnesota, you can

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Watch our free video on Minnesota homeschool laws here;

Use the Minnesota Reporting forms provided by the Minnesota Association of Christian Home Educators (MACHE) to meet state requirements;

Use our free tutorial to apply for tax exempt status.

Step 3:

Identify Your Destination

Set out in concrete language the target of your homeschool. You won’t know what to do or if it is working unless you know what you want to accomplish. Your target doesn’t need to have microscopic detail at the beginning, but it should have a vision and some goals. 

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Vision, for this purpose, is a mental picture – using imagination as much as needed – of what your homeschool in the distant future would look like and accomplish if somehow every part of it was working the way you want it to. That doesn’t mean this will ever happen. Almost certainly it will not. But it’s helpful to have a mental picture of what that would look like if it did. Another way of thinking about it is to ask what your homeschool would look like if it showed up at the end of a Hallmark movie.

You can create a rough vision by writing down some thoughtful answers to these questions:

    1. Why are you homeschooling?
    2. What are your hopes for the future for your family? 
    3. What are your hopes for the future(s) of your individual child(ren)?
    4. What do you want your children to be able to do when they leave your home?
    5. What do you want you and your children to spend your time doing? 

With your answers written down, consider crafting a mission statement to help provide an overarching framework for your school. Here’s an example: ___________________. 

Goals are smaller, specific tasks that move you closer toward your vision. If the vision is a house, a goal is a brick or a tool that can be used to build the house. We recommend creating specific goals at the beginning of each school year, based on your vision. A goal might be educational, spiritual, personal, or family-related. You might have a set of goals for each student in your homeschool.

Here are some examples of goals:

For more guidance with vision and goals, watch our Firm Foundations seminar. It provides three hours of helpful information, insights, and encouragement on how to get started with homeschooling and how to homeschool well.