I quit teaching elementary school after 6 years to stay home with my children not preschool aged. I want to continue to homeschool them at compulsary age. My question is that another family wants to pay me to homeschool their children as well. Are there any laws governing this in Mississippi? I can't find anything out. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Also, I want to go to my church with a preschool program or homeschool option....any ideas, laws, etc. I need to be aware of?

Thanks!!

I have another question as well

What is a typical day like in everyone's home?

I don't know anything about Mississippi law so I can't help you there. As for a "typical" day, I'm not sure one exists! I am sure that what that looks like would be different in every home. What is typical for you might not be anything like what happens in our home. But that is one of the advantages of homeschooling. You can do what works for you and your children. You don't have to follow what anyone else does. I've known people who homeschool very much like a public school, and they follow a strict schedule of classes. Others have no schedule at all and just go through the day with no set plan. We fall somewhere in between. We don't have a schedule, as such (like Math at 9:00, English at 10:00, etc) but we do have a routine of sorts. But we're very flexible with it and make changes as necessary. Since your children are young, your typical day probably won't be anything like mine since I have high schoolers. But as you get started, you'll find what works for you, and you'll be able to make changes as you go along.

Here's a link to the law in your state.

http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp?State=MS

If you poke around on their site, you might find some info about homeschooling other's children.

Blessings,
Christine

THANKS!! I called and talked to the Dept and they answered many questions I had regarding the MS law.

Thanks also for the response on your "typical" day, Lori. I had a feeling that everyday would be different. I taught public school for 6 years and even then schedules changed although i can be in more control of my home situation.

If anyone has younger children I still would like to know what programs you use for preschool/kindergarten? I bought Saxon math to try out. I loved that program teaching 2nd grade in ps...as for reading/language (recognizing letters & such) what do others use and like and ideas for bible study as well would be great.

Please keep telling me basically or detailed what you do everyday so I can kind of get a handle on homeschooling and what each family does differently. As a teacher, I'm used to a certain schedule and I'm kinda a "planned" out person (haha) so I like to create lesson plans for the week and sorta (notice I said SORTA) stick to them so I know what's going on. My children are 14 mos apart so I'm basically doing the same things with both. As they get older I can change if necessary.

And lastly, my husband isn't too keen on homeschooling even though I've shared the amazing information out there with him as well as articles and books on the subject. He also knows what I went through in the ps system and knows very well why I don't want my kids in ps. Does/did anyone else have this problem. I think his major problem is socializing but we plan to try different activities to see what the kids will like.

Ok. enough for now....I thank everyone ahead of time for their input!!!!

I'm trying to remember what our days were like when my kids were little. That seems like a lifetime ago! I know we alternated between school things and household things, doing lessons in short (15-30 min) increments. Then we'd take a break and do chores or the kids would play or whatever before coming back for another lesson. I read to my children a LOT, and I think much of their learning can come from that. We did a lot of hands-on things, but not necessarily anything fancy or involved. They did puzzles, played with play-do, did simple art projects, etc. I tried to involve them in whatever I was doing, even tho' that meant it would take longer to get done. In the early years I would say our day didn't look anything like a public school day, but it worked great for us.

Now that my kids are older some things are very different, but some are much the same. We "had" a fairly regular school schedule, but then things needed to change. Last year we moved from Florida to Texas so things got crazy, and our schedule went out the window. Now we're in our house and settled, but my girls have a babysitting job every morning, so again, our school routine has changed. One goes to babysit from 6:30-11:30 AM. She can take some school work with her but isn't always able to get it done, so she does most of her work in the afternoon/evening. The other two may get up and do school in the morning, or they might do chores or work on projects in the morning and do their school in the afternoon/evening. We have co-op all day Tuesday and half a day Thursday so we aren't even at home, except my oldest daughter who stays home by herself those days. My girls all work fairly independently, so I'm more of a facilitator at this point than a teacher. They may all be on a different schedule from each other, but that's okay with me. They are responsible for their own work and can set their own schedule for the most part.

As for socializing, that was my husband's concern as well. It never was a problem for us, though. They have been involved in church activities, gymnastics classes, karate, dance, co-op, field trips with other families, park days, etc. so they've had plenty of opportunities to socialize with other kids. But what I think is even more important is that they've learned to deal with people of all ages, spend time with adults, older and younger kids, etc. They are comfortable in all different situations and with people of all ages and backgrounds, which to me is much more like "real life" than spending most of their day with people their own age.

I hope that helps some. Now I need to get off of here and take my daughter to work. Best of luck as you start your homeschool adventure!