This is a question that every parent seeks an answer to when they think of homeschooling. Whether you should start at birth or preschool, it’s important to consider certain psychological and legal constraints. Many parents once they set off on this journey of homeschooling, discover that, within one family, one child may need an early start while others need to take some time before getting into homeschooling, or any kind of formal education for that regard.

Some aspects to consider before deciding the age at which your child should go into homeschooling are:

• Homeschooling laws
• Teaching methods
• Parent and child’s temperament
• Child development/socialization stages
• Other constraints

Paying attention to these points will prove to be valuable to the child and the parents’ long term mindsets in regards to homeschooling. It will create a stress-free positive environment where the child can thrive.

Homeschooling programs, especially ones that are divided into different grades, allow parents to base their teaching off an accredited source. Parents may not be fit to teach their child as well as a teacher may be, and following a certain curriculum may be a good start to warm up the child and the parent. A lot of online homeschooling programs, each offer a different approach in terms of the materials used and the philosophies adopted. For example, if you want your child to have a strong religious influence on their learning, there are numerous online programs that offer a two-pronged teaching approach, incorporating religion into the daily formal education curriculums.

Another approach is the abundant use of technology in teaching the child. Some parents want their child to be tech savvy and grow to learn the importance and benefits of technology around them. Numerous homeschooling programs allow children to hone their skills regarding basic technological items around them and some even pay close attention to sharpening much more sophisticated skills like programming, database designing etc. Depending on the child’s age, an appropriate incorporation of technology can be arranged depending on the program selected.

One very common approach is the literature-based curriculum. This pays close attention to the idea of teaching students the love of learning and its origins rather than going with a mere fact-based method of education. A literature based learning approach will equip the student with abilities to judge art and be able to understand a broad range of cultures and perspectives.

Once a parent has figured out the constraints under which they must operate must they choose to homeschool their children, they must consider different programs under which their child is most likely to thrive and under which the parents are most content. This is the beauty of homeschooling, it is a tedious process and the progress may be slow at the start, but you have complete control over the outcome. The more you put in, the more you will get out of it.