Look for the side bar on the site that says something like “your state” and click on it.

For support groups type in your search box “homeschool” the name or your county, and the name of your state (no need for any punctuation or the word “and” in between.) Then press “search” and you are on your way.

As far as how to get started, just start reading out loud to your kids now. Read classics and contemporary children’s books. Give them Play-dough to play with. Take them outside and talk about what you see.

There is a yahoo group I belong to that has homeschoolers from around the world exchanging ideas and experiences. Its a Christian group, if that is okay with you then check it out

[email protected]

check out http://rainbowresource.com for resources.

Also look at the question someone asked about homeschooling a Kindergartner, there is a whole list of websites to check out there, many of those sights would appeal to you soon, and some would continue to be useful all the way through High School.

I homeschool my three children, and I could share a boat load of stories with you! Feel free to contact me if you want to hear them, my profile allows you to e-mail me. Just click on the picture next to my name and that will take you to my public profile where there is the option to e-mail.

One website that is really neat for young ones is

http://www.starfall.com

I got bored later so I decided to add this list instead of just telling you to look at my other answer.

http://www.handwritingforkids.com

http://www.enchantedlearning.com

http://www.abcteach.com

http://www.homeschooldiscount.com

http://www.sonlight.com

http://www.abeka.com

http://www.homeschoolstockroom.com

http://www.rocksolidinc.com

http://www.christianbook.com

http://www.earlychildhoodlinks.com

http://www.kn.att.com

http://www.first-school.ws

http://www.wxdude.com

http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/star

http://about.com/education

http://www.freeworksheets.com

http://teacher.scholastic.com

http://www.mathsisfun.com

http://www.coolmath.com

http://www.dltk-kids.com

http://www.auntlee.com

http://www.funbrain.com

http://www.brainpopjr.com

http://www.iknowthat.com

http://kidsites.com

http://www.spelltime.com

http://www.eclectichomeschool.org

http://www.rainbowresource.com

http://www.donnayoung.org

http://alphaphonics.com

http://www.triviumpursuit.com

http://themathworksheetsite.com

http://startwrite.com

There are many resources available for homeschooling, and it is good that you are looking into it early because it can be overwhelming if you have to make all of these decisions in a short amount of time! I also started looking into it when my children were quite young, and I think it made our start in homeschooling much easier.

There are many homeschooling forums (feel free to contact me via my profile and I can link you) where you can communicate with other homeschool moms and get ideas, opinions, feedback, etc. Other moms are your best resource!

We use A Beka as our curriculum provider, which is published by Pensacola Christian College which I see a previous answer mentioned. It works for us, but there are many different types of homeschooling and many different curriculum providers available, and it may or may not work for you and your children-that is something only you can decide.

Good luck!

I second what the others said about ‘preacher’ – Pensacola Christian College puts out the Abeka curriculum, which has EXCELLENT preschool stuff. I liked their material the best through first grade because it teaches so much. I didn’t like them so much in 2nd grade so switched to other things. [I will add here that my kids are in middle school and a LOT of hs curricula has been published since mine were little, so there could be things out there comparable to ABB by now.]

I will add to what the others said – the VERY BEST THING you can do to prepare your little ones for homeschooling is…teach them to obey. I meet so many people that say, “I would love to homeschool, but my child listens to his teacher more than he listens to me.” Well…what they mean is, “I never taught my child to obey, so now I have lost the chance to do what is best for our family.” And I know SCORES of homeschooling moms who struggle through each school day with resistant students; the problem is NOT math or grammar – it is a disobedient child. Second to teaching obedience is teaching work ethic + building a positive relationship with your child. Neither of these second things can be accomplished if you haven’t taught obedience first.

The HSLDA has a great overview of your legal homeschool options – looks like VA has 3 choices. Because they argue cases before the state courts regarding homeschooling (and in many cases, helped draft the state laws), I think you can trust their information. You can also check with one of your state homeschool orgs.: http://www.heav.org/ or http://www.vahomeschoolers.org/

The next thing to do is read, read, read. Go to the library and see what they have in the homeschooling section (generally around 371.042). A few good starter books would be:

_Mary Pride’s Complete Guide to Getting Started in Homeschooling_ by Mary Pride available on her website or from Amazon.

_The Well-Trained Mind_ by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer and available from Peace Hill Press and Amazon.

_The Complete Home Learning Sourcebook_ by Rebecca Rupp available from Amazon.

_The Successful Homeschool Family Book_ by Raymond and Dorothy Moore available from Amazon

_A Charlotte Mason Companion_ by Karen Andreola available from Amazon.

_So You’re Thinking About Homeschooling_ by Lisa Whelchel (yes, from “The Facts of Life”) available from Amazon.

For junior high/high school:

_The Teenage Liberation Handbook_ by Grace Llewellyn available from Amazon.

For curriculum reviews:

_100 Top Picks for Homeschooling Curriculum_ by Cathy Duffy available from her website (which has reviews of many more curricula) or Amazon.

I haven’t read all of these, but I am familiar with the authors and ideas presented. There are several schools of thought on homeschool methods and this should give you an overview of some of them. It’s also important to recognize your children’s learning styles (they may be different) and your teaching style.

At this point you don’t need to worry about curriculum. Just play and explore with your kids. If you read all you can over the next 3-4 years, you’ll be ready when it comes time to choose curriculum (assuming you use any at all!)

I would also highly recommend getting involved in a support group or co-op in your area, even right now. They are an invaluable source of information, especially during the first year (the toughest). Many have curriculum swaps/sales where you can get good, used curriculum for very reasonable prices, as well as having field trips, park days, sports teams, youth clubs, academic teams, science fairs, … .

Also (and you probably already know this), be wary of the answers you receive on Y!A. There are many on here who purport to know about homeschooling, but are completely unfamiliar with the facts. Your best source of information will really be other homeschoolers, especially those in your area. That said, other homeschoolers can be really biased in *favor* of homeschooling and may neglect to report some of the not-so-favorable aspects of homeschooling. The best thing to do is observe for yourself the true results of homeschooling, then form your own opinion.

Best wishes!

I would NOT use an outside source like the HSLDA, they could have the laws interpreted incorrectly. Instead go to the primary source (in this case your states laws) – this is sound research advice for any topic! See http://hsislegal.com/ for a different opinion on the HSLDA.

There is at least one statewide homeschooling organisation in your state, Home Educators Association of Virginia. They may be worth checking out.

http://www.heav.org/resources/manual.html

Yahoo groups are another source of homeschoolers to network with. There may even be a local one catering to young kids. Again, I caution you to verify information with a primary source. Good homeschool group leaders will provide you with a link to verify their information. Lots of times, well meaning folks pass on inaccurate information – probably they were told it by someone who thought they were correct and the cycle perpetuates.

Homeschooling in a great journey, enjoy the trip.

Below is website for you to find out requirements and help you get started with your home school journey.

and I thnk if you did just color pages and Maybe abcs and numbers 1 to 10 That should be good for a 2 year old Getting a head start is always a goo Idea!!

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