You just can't spend better time than reading. Nothing will increase your knowledge of any subject better than reading a good book; and the emphsis here has to be placed on good. There are more homeschool books available on the Internet than you can shake the proverbial stick at. Use websites your can trust through recommendations by other homeschoolers or your homeschool organization. Buy books by authors with whom you are familiar and try to get the latest and most up-to-date editions.
For many parents, teaching your children at home is a more acceptable alternative to the education that their children could expect to receive in a public or private school. Anyone who homeschools their own children understands the flexibility and latitude they have in planning their own curriculum
When you homeschool your children you have the freedom to create a more robust and targeted course of study that better suits your children. You can include topics in your lessons that are more directed to what your child is capable of learning.
The economics of homeschooling are perfectly clear if you now have one or more children enrolled in a private school. So, if you have now decided that homeschooling your children is your best option, your first task is to create a viable curriculum that is capable of growth and development. One way to prepare yourself is to read a broad spectrum of literature in the subject areas you plan to teach.
The easy way out is obviously to read books that cover the subject of Homeschooling Your Children. They may help but they won't improve your knowledge of the subject matter itself.
You must remember that teaching techniques are only important in that they allow you to clearly explain what you know about a subject to your child; but they won't help if you don't know the subject. Limiting your reading to how-to courses on homeschooling will not give you the necessary knowledge needed by your children.
You might feel that it is an impossible task to read enough books that will give you all of the knowledge you will need to present a class on a given subject. Teachers are only supposed to be knowledgeable in those area they teach. That is true but no one expects you to have encyclopedic knowledge on every subject. And, being a homeschooler, you and your children can learn the subjects together. Too be frank, you only need to be far enough ahead of your children to be able to answer questions and help out when they get stuck.
But, keep this in mind. The important thing is that you have a good practical knowledge of each of the subjects you will cover.
Most of the time all you will have to have read is enough to give you a good background and feel for the subjects in your curriculum. You can't read everything, there are simply too many books. Besides, you probably already have some knowledge of each subject from your own schooling so you have a basic knowledge from the get-go. A little review should bring you up to speed pretty quickly. You may never reach the status of expert but there is no need to. Your knowledge at this point, especially after your "refresher course" will usually be more than enough to satisfy your children's inquiring minds and you'll be able to handle any of their questions. If not, their questions may point you in the direction of further study and you can benefit along with your children.
Just how much you will have to read, how many books, will be determined by the school grade and the depth of coverage you will be teaching. A good place to begin is to get a copy of the standard texts used by high school students in your area. For any one subject, the details of that subject can be examined and researched as needed
Remember, nobody expects that you will have an encyclopedic knowledge of every subject and that you will be able to answer any and every question your children might ask. Treat such questions as you would normally. Look up the answer and explain it to your child. You must have a comprehensive knowledge of your subjects, so you can set up your homeschool curriculum in a manner that makes sense of the materials and that can be presented logically and in a clear and reasoned manner. You have to know what your subject is all about and how it works so that you can present it in a continuous, logical manner. You want to know how to lay the groundwork for your subjects and which concepts to teach first.
Being an avid reader in each of your subject areas will give you the tools and confidance you need to homeschool your children and provide them the excellent education they deserve. It will also give you a roadmap for further study that both you and your children can explore that can only benefit teacher and student alike.
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