How to Plan Your Homeschool Year: A Complete Guide

If it's your first year diving into homeschooling, it can feel overwhelming sorting through everything you need to prepare and think about with registration, approach, planning and recording. We've made a handy all-in-one guide to get you started.

By Grace Koelma | Editor

Starting life without school this year? Or maybe you're planning on pulling your kids out of school and starting, but you're wondering how on earth you'd manage this thing called 'homeschooling' first? 

We've been publishing stories & articles on our website for a while now, and thought it was time we put our gathering collection of resources on homeschool planning in one handy place.

P.s If you're considering homeschooling, here are 200 quotes to inspire you - it's the largest collection of homeschooling-related quotes on the internet!

Home education is legal across the entire United States of America. But... the federal government has no jurisdiction over education policy. This means that each state is free to craft its own laws in regards to homeschooling. 

The rules vary widely, with state authorities requiring everything from no notice at all (Alaska, Idaho, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, and Connecticut), to high regulation locations that expect things such as the implementation of state-approved curriculums, professional evaluations, home visits by officials, teacher qualification of parents, and more (Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island). The rest of the states fall somewhere in between, with low to moderate regulations at play. You can investigate the legal structure of homeschooling in each state here.

To be safe, you should follow the laws of the state you are actually in.

"When you are physically present in a state, even temporarily, you are subject to that state’s laws, and, in many cases, to the jurisdiction of its courts," cautions The Homeschool Legal Defence Association. "This is true even if your legal residency is in another state and you are only living elsewhere temporarily (such as when active members of the military are completing a temporary assignment)." 

As such, the HSLDA recommends that you comply with the home education requirements of a state if you are live there for a month or more while public schools are in session.

Just like in the United States, home education in Canada gets a thumbs up across the country. And again, just like the United States, the rules about that vary based on where you are.

Each province sets up its own policy on home education. In some cases, there is provincial funding available to families to help support a homeschool curriculum (British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Northwest Territories), though as you might expect, more government oversight is in place in those locations.

Home education is legal across the United Kingdom. Parents must write a letter to their child's school principal before removing their child from school. In England and Wales you do not have to wait for the letter to be 'approved', home education can take effect from the date the child is removed from school and the letter is received.

If a child has never been in school, there the parent has no legal obligation to inform authorities about their decision to homeschool once the child reaches the age of 5.

Home educating families are not required to follow the National Curriculum, or any other curriculum or educational system.

While home school policies over English counties are reasonably uniform, they differ in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. The UK Gov website recommends getting specific information from your local council - a search option is available here.

If you'd like to contribute reliable and up-to-date information about your country's homeschooling policy, please get in touch: hello@themulberryjournal.com

There are a myriad of approaches to homeschooling, and as homeschooling gains popularity and is shared on blogs and social media sites, new styles are popping up more frequently. Once you've legally registered your children for home education, the next step is deciding what approach you'll adopt.

Many families start off with a very structured 'school-at-home' approach, and then this approach morphs and becomes more customised as they get more experience homeschooling. 

We've gathered information from our own site and the best homeschooling resources around the web to give you a brief look at the different styles out there. Click on the links to read more.

• Traditional school-at-home/distance education
• Unschooling
• Classical
• Waldorf/Steiner
• Montessori
• Gameschooling
• Charlotte Mason
• Reggio-Emilia
• Interest-led/project-based
• Eclectic and holistic

Again -- and I'm going to sound like a broken record! -- planning and curriculum requirements differ, depending on where you live. The first step is finding a home education approach that resonates strongly with you. Remember, you don't have to pick one, you can be eclectic and draw from a couple!

Next, you'll need to find resources and books to support your approach. 

These can be pre-written curriculums, books and eBooks, PDF guides, podcasts, e-courses and membership sites. 

You'll need to look for resources on:

• HOW to home school with your chosen approach (ie. The Montessori Method), and
• WHAT to teach (ie. topics, units, outcomes, foundational concepts and skills)

These resources will form the basis of your planning.  

Planning is an incredibly individual task, and comes down to your personality and style.

We recently published a detailed article showing how different parents plan their homeschool using our Mulberry Planner. 

Establishing a rhythm for your days is an important part of planning your homeschool. Your homeschool rhythm may include any or all of the following (click for more information):

• A morning circle time 
• Nature study activities
• Read aloud time and rich classical literature
• Audio books
• Games for learning (ie. Gameschooling)
• Music and singing
• Art and creative exploration
• Hands-on learning and slow science
• Technology and YouTube
• Your own or other cultural traditions
• Cooking and eating
• List making and recording

Recording and reporting requirements differ hugely between each country, and to further complicate it, within each state or jurisdiction in each country. When home educators and authorities talk about reporting, they're not (necessarily or only) talking about test results. Reporting is a catch-all word to encompass the many and varied ways of recording your children's learning and outcomes. 

Families often choose recording methods that suit their family dynamic, routine and preference, as well as being a good fit with their homeschooling approach.

There is no right or wrong, as long as the home education authorities in your state are satisfied with the scope and level of detail you're providing.

Here are a few recording options:

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