How to Start Homeschooling When You Don't Know Where to Start

After more than twenty years of teaching, I've noticed something about families at the very beginning of this road. Their first question is almost never "Which curriculum should I buy?" It's quieter than that.

Where do I even begin?

If that's where you are tonight, take a breath. You're closer to ready than you think. I wrote a free guide for exactly this moment, and the first week is below.

Get the free How to Homeschool guide

The list isn't long. The pile is.

Most new homeschool families begin by shopping. A program for math, another for reading, a third for science. Before long there are boxes on the kitchen table and a schedule that looks like a mountain.

Here's what surprised me when I laid a whole year out on one page. Every third-grade standard in Common Core math and English, plus the national science standards, comes to about 82. Spread across a 36-week year, that's about two a week.

The list itself is short. It's the pile of programs that makes it feel impossible. You don't have to buy an education one box at a time. You can design one.

Your first week, in about 15 minutes

Here's the whole plan. You can start this week.

1. Check your state's rules (5 minutes). Homeschooling is legal in every state, and every state sets its own rules. Look yours up first, so everything else stands on solid ground.
2. Choose one question (3 minutes). Notice what your child already wonders about, then pick one. A question that came from them is worth more than a perfect topic from a catalog. Nothing coming to mind? Borrow ours: How do things fly?
3. Block two focused hours, Monday to Thursday (2 minutes). Ninety minutes for the project, thirty for movement, reading and a little skill practice. Put them on the calendar like an appointment you'd keep.
4. Pick Friday's outing (3 minutes). An air and space museum, an airport viewing area, a breezy field for kites, a bird walk, the library. Anywhere that connects to your question.
5. Find a notebook and a folder for each child (2 minutes). The notebook becomes their flight log. The folder becomes their Hero's Portfolio™, where the week's real work lives.

That's your first week, with a shape and a rhythm.

Day one can be tonight

You don't have to wait for Monday. Fold a paper airplane together. Each of you throws it three times from the same spot. Mark each landing with a sock and count the steps. Write down the date, the design and the steps.

Tomorrow, watch a bird take off.

You've just started a flight investigation, and it cost one sheet of paper. Counting steps is math. Asking why one plane glides farther is science. Writing it down is writing. One real question can carry the whole week.

One question, every child, a different depth

This is the part that brings the most relief to families with more than one child. You don't need a separate plan for every grade. Everyone shares the same question, and each child works at the edge of what they can do.

• About K–2: Notice. Observe, count, compare, draw and talk.
• About grades 3–5: Investigate. Measure, record, test and explain in writing.
• About grades 6–8: Analyze. Calculate, model, use evidence and argue a position.

Three children, five subjects and fifteen programs means fifteen schedules. One question, three depths and one plan means one table and one week everyone shares.

Then Friday becomes Portfolio Friday. Each child chooses their best work, checks it, reflects on it and celebrates it. A simple map shows which state standards the week touched, so you can always see what it covers. Plan the learning first. Map it to the standards second. Teach any gap directly.

Start with your learner

Every child walks through a different door first. Some explore. Some build. Some map the pattern, some care for others, some create, and some dream big. When you know which door your child tends to try first, every part of the week gets easier to plan.

That's why we created the Learning Code™. It's free, it takes a few minutes, and it gives you a starting point for each of your children. Think of it as a first idea about which door to try, not a label.

Your free How to Homeschool guide

I wrote the whole plan down in a free guide for families, and it's yours. Inside:

• Your first week, planned in about 15 minutes
• The legal basics, with California, Florida, Texas and Utah up close
• The six Learning Code™ archetypes
• One question worked through every subject, from kindergarten to grade 8
• A sample 2-Hour School Day™ week
• Five printable templates for the kitchen table

Get the free How to Homeschool guide

Read it with your child's Learning Code™ beside you, and you'll start to see where their door fits into every part of the week.

Discover Your Learning Code™

And if your child is staying in school, the guide still works. Use it on weekends, over breaks or as an after-school project. Curiosity is welcome everywhere.

Understand your learner first. Then build the education around them.

Stay curious,
Tonya Remillard
Founder & Master Teacher, SmartHead Co.™

This post is general information to help you plan. It isn't legal advice. Homeschool rules differ by state and change over time, so check the current rules where you live.