I live in Washington State, so this will be most helpful for those who live in Washington. Check out HSLDA.com for other state homeschool laws and requirements.  The compulsory age for Washington State is age 8, so you do not have to declare that you are homeschooling until the school year your child turns eight.  The benefit of waiting is that once you declare you are homeschooling, they have to take state tests once a year.  I personally wait until they are 8 years old so I have the option of not testing.

In Washington State, you have to fill out a “Declaration of Intent” before September 15th or within 2 weeks of the first day of school.  A parent also has to have a total of 30 semester college credits or the equivalent of 45 quarter credits to be eligible to homeschool.  Another alternative in Washington State is to take a parenting homeschool class that is provided if the parents cannot meet the required college credits.  Once you have signed up your child by filling out the the “Declaration of Intent”, they must be tested once a year.  These records need to be retained by the parents and kept as a permanent part of the their child’s record.  The test scores are not submitted to any public district.  For more detailed information on Washington State Laws on homeschooling, go to hslda.com.  They are the Homeschooling Legal Defense Association and they have every state’s homeschool laws in the entire country.

If you are starting at the beginning in the elementary years, the best thing to start homeschooling is to develop a love a learning.  Reading, Writing and Math are important in the elementary years but you also want the kids to love learning.  I have found when they are little, they have a natural desire to want to learn about things.  So if my preschooler or 1st grader wants to learn about hippos, then we go to the library and get books on hippos.  We still do the basics daily, but I do like to incorporate fun learning things that they want to know about.

If you are unsure about what you are doing in this new adventure of homeschooling, get a curriculum that has is all laid out for you like Sonlight.  Another full curriculum that I like is “My Father’s World”.  A good resource to check out if you are willing to do some research is CathyDuffyreviews.com.  She reviews a ton of curriculum, so parents can get a jumpstart on what they might want to use.  I will continue in the near future to put some of my favorite recommendations for various ages on this blog.  You can also feel free to ask me questions through the comments on this blog if you are wondering about anything that I have written or want further details on something.