When did you...

"Officially" start homeschooling?

[lenswyf]

For ds, it was "officially" the September that he was eligible to start K if he attended public school.

He's a July baby, and part of our decision to homeschool was uncertainty regarding his readiness for any school environment. He seemed ready -- but so did dd, who was also a July baby, and she had some minor problems with school. We figured we could start with homeschooling, and if he needed more time to be "ready", then we could either slow the pace or stop until he was.

Unofficially, we did a lot of preschool-type activities the year before.

In Maine, compulsory education is 7-17, so you don't have to do paperwork or get portfolios reviewed until they are 7. Of course, if they turn 7 at the middle or end of a year, you have to do it for a "short" year.

[Mama Bird]

We started in first grade for our dd. She went to public school in Kindergarten, but it didn't go as well as DH hoped ( ). We moved the summer between K and 1st, and decided it was a perfect break. We started informally "doing school" that summer, with math, science, etc. We signed up with the state at the beginning of the "official" school year.

We love it!

[AprilBr]

We actually started when Rachel was 3yrs old but it was pretty relaxed. We had a curriculum but I went with her pace. She absolutely loves doing school and still asks to do it on the weekends and gets upset if we don't have time to do it one day. In GA you don't have to have them registered with the county until age 6 and I can't believe that will be next year!

In my mind...I'm a HS Mama from before birth.

As far as when we start curriculum work, we do that in K. The following year I add more into the schooling.

Well, we started too early with dd#1 because what we were doing was too advanced, I think. Or maybe it wasn't too advanced, but it was too academic. With dd#2, I'm sure we'll do some Before Five in a Row stuff this fall very informally (never calling it school - just reading the books and maybe doing some of the activities). She'll be 2.5 and B4FIAR is intended for 2-4 year olds.

We started using a curriculum (Math-U-See) and a phonics workbook when Kevin was 4. He'd been in our church's Mother's Day Out the year before and we'd signed him up to go 2 days a week the next year, but then he started having real separation problems toward the end of the school year, and the teachers and director started talking to us about ADHD and autism. So when the separation problems didn't get better over the summer, we decided to just start homeschooling that fall. That makes this upcoming fall the beginning of our third year of homeschooling (I can't believe it!).

"Officially", though, we'll register with the county this September for the first time (we have to do that by September 15th every year after they turn 6).