Homeschooling in 50 States Series

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Welcome to the Homeschooling in 50 States Series! Are you new to homeschooling, contemplating making the jump into the homeschooling world, or moving and need to know the homeschooling laws in your state? You are in the right place!

It can be nerve-wracking and sometimes difficult to find the laws and requirements for homeschooling in your state. For this series, a group of bloggers and homeschool experts from around the U.S. have come together to help you navigate each law. We are also going to help you find groups, activities, and classes in your state, so you have the best resources at your fingertips!

Homeschooling Is on the Rise

As a homeschooling family going into our 6th year, I can tell you first-hand how amazing homeschooling can be. There are so many resources now for homeschooling families and their kids to take part in. It really is a different world than it was 20 years ago.

According to the National Home Education Research Institute, over 2.5 million kids are being homeschooled. There are approximately 7 different homeschooling styles that parents can choose from to homeschool (and often use a mixture of many!).

One family may pick a more traditional model of homeschooling while another family chooses to use a Charlotte Mason approach for schooling their kids. However, no matter which method your family chooses, it is always most important to know the laws in your state!

Activities and Classes for Homeschoolers

One of the best parts of being a homeschooling family in this era is the number of homeschooling activities, classes, and programs out there specifically just for homeschoolers.

Here is a brief list of activities to check on in your hometown:

Museums: Call your local museum and ask them if they have any special classes for homeschooling students. A lot of museums have their own set of classes they teach to local kids.
Zoos: I know this sound awesome right? Some zoos are now offering classes for homeschooling children. These classes are taught to educate children about local animals or the animals in the zoos. Some zoos even let you go “behind the scenes” as an extra learning experience!

Local Co-Ops: Co-Ops can be a wonderful resource for your family. A Co-Op is a group of families who come together to homeschool. Some Co-Ops are parent taught and others have paid teachers. They often offer classes once a week for science, math, history, English, writing, art, and music. Usually, their fees are very reasonable.
Local Gyms: Often there is at least one gym in town that may offer some type of homeschooling class. Often these are PE centered classes but can be a huge benefit for children. These classes can support social interaction, friendship, discipline, exercise, and teamwork.
State or National Parks: State and National Parks offer programs for children to learn about that environment, animals, and history of the area. National Parks offer a program called The Junior Ranger program. Each National Park has its own booklet for a child to search for clues and answer questions about that park. They also will stamp your child’s book, and some give them a patch for completing their program.

Art Studios: Are your children getting enough art classes? I know mine are not. The great thing about classes at your local art studio is they can teach different art mediums you may not be familiar with. Your child may learn sketching, drawing, painting, clay work, and mosaic work. It can be quite fun!
College: Believe it or not, there are colleges out there that love to have homeschooling students involved in their college classes. Our State College here offers greatly reduced college tuition to homeschooling high schoolers. This can be a great resource for your high schooler. They will get high school credit and college credit for taking the same class! Imagine your high schooler graduating high school with an Associates degree.
Homeschooling Groups: Homeschooling groups are a fantastic way to meet other homeschooling families. A lot of these homeschooling groups take field-trips together, sign up for a class together, or have social gatherings. We have met some dear families just from joining our local homeschooling group.

Facebook Groups: With technology being at the forefront of our society, it is only natural for there to be Facebook Homeschooling Groups. These can be a great way to meet other homeschoolers in your city. Most big cities have their own Facebook groups or pages for homeschoolers to gather information about.

A great place to search for activities, sports, co-ops and more is the FREE directory at Homeschool Hall. They are growing daily – check it out to see what is listed near you!

Laws and Activities in YOUR State

We as homeschooling bloggers have come together to help you navigate your state laws and also help you find great resources in your state. We have over 25 different homeschooling bloggers working on this series for you. I hope you find lots of great resources to help you in your homeschooling journey!

States

Homeschooling in 50 States Sponsors

In addition to the wonderful bloggers sharing their tips and resources, this series has a few incredible sponsors helping to make it happen. Thank you for supporting these homeschool businesses and brands!

Homeschooling in 50 States Giveaway

Thanks to our sponsors, we have an amazing prize package to give away worth over $550 in tools we hope will bless you in your homeschooling!

One person will win the entire prize package which includes the following 4 prizes:

Item #1: 12-month CTCMath membership

CTCMath is a full math curriculum which specializes in providing online video tutorials that take a multi-sensory approach to learning. Favorably reviewed in Cathy Duffy’s 102 Top Picks and The Old Schoolhouse Crew Review, the lessons are short and concise to help your children and appreciate math in a whole new way!

Each one of the video tutorials is taught by internationally acclaimed teacher, Pat Murray. Pat is renowned for breaking down math concepts into smaller chunks so your children can master them up to 3x faster.

Most importantly, it works!

Item #2: Syllabird Homeschool Planner, Premium 1-Year Subscription

Syllabird is a simple and beautiful digital planner that makes your homeschool curriculum planning easy. With Syllabird, you can easily track grades, reschedule assignments (even shift entire courses), print schedules for your children, create repeating assignments, and much more. Syllabird has a clean and modern design that makes it a joy to use!

Item #3: Dell Inspiron 15 3000 Laptop

$329.99 value. This is a nice entry level system to help with all your homeschool needs! Intel® Pentium® Silver N5030 (4 MB cache, 4 cores, 4 threads, up to 3.10 GHz), Windows 11 Home (S mode), English.
Graphics Card: Intel® UHD Graphics 605
Display: 15.6″, HD 1366×768, 60Hz, Non-Touch, Anti-Glare, LED-Backlit, Narrow Border
Memory: 4 GB, 1 x 4 GB, DDR4, 2400 MHz
Hard Drive: 128 GB, M.2, PCIe NVMe, SSD

Item #4: A copy of the book TEACH – Creating Independently Responsible Learners

TEACH by Dennis DiNoia is a book full of practical, easy-to-implement strategies to get your kids on the path to self-directed, inspired, and independently responsible learning. This will become a staple in your homeschooling-how-to resource library!

Use the KingSumo form below to claim as many entries as you can to get in on this amazing giveaway. Each blogger represented on the entry form has contributed to make this series happen, so definitely take the time to do all of the entries (someone’s gotta win this thing – could be you!).

Giveaway ends August 31, 2022 at 11:59pm CT. Must be at least 18 years of age. Must be a resident of U.S. to enter. Selected winner will have 48 hours to respond to email notification to claim their prizes, or another winner will be drawn. By entering this giveaway, you agree to be added to the email lists of the participating bloggers and sponsors (see the Terms & Conditions on the KingSumo form for the complete list).