Here’s some good advice from an unknown source:

Homeschooling for those who have been in public school can be a culture shock.
Many children who have been in public school can be way behind much of the homeschool curriculum. Some of the things I learned when I pulled my oldest three out of public school might help make your new adventure better.

1. Start with remembering that home school, unless all you are doing is online public school at home, is NOT public school done at home. Homeschooling, a full day of learning, often takes between 2-4 hours at the most.

2. Before diving in, it helps to know exactly where the learning level of your child is. How well does your child read? How well does your child understand the basics of writing? Do a basic math test to find the learning level as well.

3. Homeschooling is much less about grade level than mastery learning. Grade level really does not mean much if that child has been passed from grade to grade without ever mastering the learning tasks. For example: Your child has not excelled at math but due to the “no child left behind” laws, has been passed from year to year in math. In spite of being passed from year to year in math, it is possible that your child has never mastered the very basics of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

4. In doing homeschool, you should be teaching critical thinking skills. Teach children to think for themselves and not just to follow what they are told.

5. When raising children, keep in mind that you are not raising children to remain children. Your end game should be to raise responsible adults.

6. In the early years, children need WAY more playtime. Children learn by playing. Let them play! Don’t make them sit hour after hour to “learn.” Work on basics then let children do what children do. When I say play, I don’t mean sitting in front of the TV, on video games, etc. Help them learn to actually play if they don’t know how.

7. One of the most common myths about homeschooling is that children are not being socialized enough and that children need to be around large numbers of their “peers.” Remember, children in large numbers are often very cruel and single out others to literally bully and torture. You can raise well-socialized children without subjecting them to being bullied. Contrary to what some people believe, being bullied does NOT build character but rather destroys the human taking years to recover and some people never recover from it.

8. Homeschooling can be a whole lot of fun. My children learned the Gettysburg address at Gettysburg. When we took vacations, which we made sure to budget for every year and often did on shoestring budgets, we always did some history and science along the way. There are many “science experiments” that can be done in the home. Cooking in and of itself is a science lesson.

9. Learn to look at the world through the wonder of the eyes of a child. Then, encourage that wonder. Encourage them to pursue things they are interested in. Help them to learn to enjoy learning rather than just to endure it.

10. As children grow, their learning can become more structured. Even then, don’t forget to make it fun.