Many parents would like to homeschool their children but are afraid they do not have the training or ability to be their children's teacher. This is certainly understandable, because most parents never had any formal training to be a teacher. However, most parents do not have to worry about this issue.
There is literally a supermarket of education resources available for parents to choose from to help them homeschool their children. These include low-cost Internet private schools that take most of the homeschooling burdens off parents' backs.
There are also hundreds of low-cost instruction books on how to teach your child reading, math, and many other subjects. These are available in most libraries and great book stores like Barnes & Noble and Borders. There are also thousands of computer software programs that will help you teach your child reading, math, and many other subjects. Also, the Internet is a vast source of information both for you and your children. All these sources are geared towards average parents
Also remember that over a million average parents like themselves already successfully homeschool their kids. One study has shown that over half of homeschooling parents only have high-school diplomas. Also, millions of parents in this country taught their kids the basics at home for over 200 years before we ever had public schools, which first started in the 1850's. Also, these parents did not have bookstores, Internet private schools, computer software, or all the other education resources you have available today.
Second, if you research and use the many free-market educational resources described in my book, "Public Schools, Public Menace," it will be hard for you to fail. You can choose from a wide variety of quality Internet private schools, learn-to-read (and math) books and computer learning software, and home-schooling resources to teach your children. Also, Internet education sites are always there, always ready to coach your child, twenty-four hours a day.
These education alternatives are reliably inexpensive, yet offer high-quality instruction. Your job as a parent is to commit some time and energy to find the right education resources for your children, then help and encourage them to learn.
Also, like most kids, your children want to learn when they study subjects that interest them. When learning becomes fun, your kids can become your best home-schooling partner and help you succeed. Your kids may enjoy home-schooling so much that you may soon have to drag them away from their books or the computer for lunch. But is not that great? Would not you like to see your kids totally engrossed with their studies, improving their reading skills quickly, and finding joy in learning?
Here's the beauty of homeschooling – if one math or reading book, software program, or Internet school does not excite your children or provide satisfactory results, there are many more to choose from. If you find home-schooling difficult in the beginning, use all the resources described in "Public Schools, Public Menace" to find books, Internet schools and tutors, teaching materials, home-schooling organizations, and other home-schooling parents you can network with. Almost a million parents just like you already teach their children at home.
While no one can guarantee you success, like anything else in life, if you keep trying, you will probably succeed in giving your kids a great education at home. If you say to yourself, "I will make this work, for my child's sake," you'll be surprised at what you can accomplish. Tell yourself what Gene Kranz, actor Ed Harris's character in the movie Apollo 13, said to his Houston crew about rescuing the astronauts in trouble: "Failure is not an option." If you say this and mean it, you're halfway to success for yourself and your child.