Deciding to home school your children will be one of the most important decisions you will make for you family. You will find though, that there are many valuable resources to aid in your decision. Before you do anything, find out what your state law requires, because each state is different. The best place to obtain this information is the Home school Legal Defense Association. Listed here are a few of the pros and cons of homeschooling.

Pro: Individual Attention. This is probably the best benefit of homeschooling. Your child gets the undivided attention that they need to excel, as opposed to competing for attention with 30+ kids in a classroom. This especially benefits boys who tend to have more energy that needs to be channeled. Even when you are homeschooling more than one child, you can still focus on each of them. This is very helpful in determining how your child learns. Even in the same family, what works for one may not work for the other. By spending time with each one of your children, you can see how they learn the best and tailor their curriculum accordingly.

Pro: Set your own schedule. This includes your daily schedule as well as yearly. It's best to give children consistency. A daily start time, break, lunch and end time is beneficial and will prepare them for the working world. But you can start at any time and not have to worry about getting them up super early to catch the bus, driving them yourself, or carpooling.

Your child's daily schedule will not be as long as a traditional school day. You will not have to spend eight hours teaching them, unless you want to. Keep in mind your child is not in a large classroom, there are far less distractions. They don't have the time in between classes to switch from room to room. Usually a day for a younger child will last 3 to 4 hours, with you spending the bulk of the time with them. For older children, their day can be completed within 4 to 6 hours with your involvement of about 1 to 2 hours.

You can follow the traditional school calendar and have the same days off and breaks as well. Some people home school all year round, working for six weeks and then taking 2 weeks off. You determine what works best for you in conjunction with what your state requires for attendance.

One of the best benefits of setting your own schedule is that you can alter your schedule at any given moment. You'll be able to spend time with out-of-town guests. If your spouse's job keeps

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