Talk to your child about how he feels regarding homeschooling. Although you may think it is a great idea, it is important to take into account how your child feels. If he is feeling unsure about it, take him to meet with other children who are homeschooled or another homeschool environment. If he can see how homeschooling is going to go, he may not be so apprehensive. It is important to make sure he knows that you are doing what is best for him and that it is going to be a great experience overall.
Ask your child what she would like to learn. One great thing about homeschooling is that you can spend more time or less time on certain parts of the curriculum. It is important to ask for your child's input when looking at curriculum and creating lesson plans. In addition, you should allow your child to be creative. Include arts and music into your child's studies or have her pick a hobby to focus on.
Create an appropriate environment for homeschooling. Choose a room to conduct homeschool in that is free from distractions like the television, computer and pets. Make sure there is a desk or table that will be your child's designated workspace. This can be a fun preparation activity to do with your child, so he can feel involved in the process. Let him help you pick out new school supplies and help decorate the space in his favorite color or design that will get him excited to work there.
Create a schedule. Just because your child will be home all day, he needs to know that he will still do schoolwork. Creating a schedule and familiarizing your child with it will help to the transition into homeschooling an easy one. Make sure he is aware of the times to wake up, start school, finish school and go to sleep. He also needs to know that the schedule is important and that he must follow it. Involve your child with deciding on the order of the schedule.
Get your child involved in an extracurricular activity. Allow your child to choose an activity he is interested in and sign him up. This will give him a chance to get out of the house and socialize with other children. Knowing that he will still have fun with friends will ease any fears that he's going to be lonely as a homeschooled student.