Starting homeschooling can come with a lot of questions. What do you need to do first? Do you need a curriculum? How many hours should you homeschool each day? What does your child actually need to learn? And, if you’re homeschooling in Arizona, what are the legal requirements?
The good news is that you don’t have to figure out your entire homeschool before you begin.
Homeschooling gives families the freedom to create an education that works for their children rather than trying to recreate a traditional classroom at home. For some families, that means following a curriculum and maintaining a regular schedule. Others use an eclectic approach, combining different curricula and resources. Some families embrace unschooling or interest-led learning, allowing a child’s curiosity and interests to play a much larger role in determining what and how they learn.
There isn’t one homeschool method that works for every family—or even necessarily one method that will work for the same family forever.
If you’re just getting started, focus first on the basics: understand the homeschool requirements where you live, explore the different ways homeschooling can work, and begin figuring out what fits your child and your family.
How to Start Homeschooling
Before buying curriculum or creating lesson plans, learn what you actually need to do to begin homeschooling.
If your child is currently enrolled in school, your first steps may be different from those of a family beginning to homeschool from the start. You’ll also want to understand the legal requirements that apply to your family.
Explore our guides for getting started with homeschooling →
Homeschooling in Arizona
Arizona families should become familiar with the state’s current homeschool requirements before getting started.
For additional guidance on getting started, HSLDA’s Homeschooling Resources provide information on homeschool laws, curriculum, planning, and other common questions for new homeschool families.
Because homeschool laws and requirements can change, use our Arizona homeschool resources as a starting point and verify important legal information with current official sources.
Learn about homeschooling in Arizona →
Find Your Homeschooling Approach
One of your first big decisions doesn’t have to be, “Which curriculum should I buy?”
A better question may be:
How does my child learn best?
Homeschooling can be structured, relaxed, curriculum-based, eclectic, project-based, child-led, interest-led, unschooling—or a combination that changes as your child grows.
Learning about different homeschool methods can help you identify approaches you’d like to try without feeling as though you have to choose one permanent homeschooling philosophy.
Explore homeschool methods and approaches →
Build a Homeschool Plan That Works for Your Family
A homeschool plan can provide direction without controlling every hour of your day.
Some families thrive with schedules. Others prefer routines. Some work from weekly goals, while interest-led families may allow much more room for spontaneous learning and rabbit holes.
Your plan only needs to provide as much structure as your family actually needs.
Planning Your Homeschool
Consider what you’d like your child to experience and learn rather than trying to plan every lesson for the entire year.
You can establish broad goals while leaving room for new interests, unexpected opportunities, difficult days, field trips, projects, and subjects your child suddenly wants to explore.
Homeschool plans can—and should—change when they’re no longer serving your family.
Explore homeschool planning ideas →
Schedules, Routines—or Neither
Your homeschool day doesn’t have to resemble a traditional school day.
Some children benefit from knowing exactly what happens next. Others work better with a loose rhythm or a simple list of things they’d like to accomplish.
You might homeschool primarily in the morning, spread learning throughout the day, use a four-day week, follow an interest until your child is ready to move on, or discover an entirely different rhythm.
The goal isn’t to create the perfect homeschool schedule. It’s to find a rhythm that works in your home.
Explore homeschool schedules and routines →
Creating a Place to Learn
You don’t need a dedicated homeschool classroom.
Learning might happen at the kitchen table, on the couch, outside, in the garden, at the library, in the car, on a computer, or while you’re making dinner.
Having an organized place to store frequently used books and supplies can certainly make homeschooling easier, but your entire home—and the world outside it—can become your learning environment.
Explore homeschool organization and learning-space ideas →
Choose Curriculum, Supplies & Learning Resources
Walking into homeschooling can make it seem as though you suddenly need to buy an entire education.
You don’t.
Start with what you actually need and add resources as you discover what works for your child.
Choosing Homeschool Curriculum
Curriculum can be extremely useful, but it doesn’t have to dictate your entire homeschool.
Some families use a complete curriculum covering most subjects. Others choose separate resources for math, reading, science, and other subjects. Eclectic and interest-led homeschoolers may combine curriculum with books, documentaries, experiments, educational games, projects, field trips, online resources, and real-world experiences.
It’s also okay to stop using something that isn’t working.
Explore homeschool curriculum and resources →
Homeschool Supplies
You probably need less than you think.
Basic writing and art supplies, books, access to information, and a few resources appropriate to your child’s current interests can be enough to begin.
As you homeschool, you’ll discover which materials are genuinely useful to your family and which ones aren’t.
Explore homeschool supplies and educational resources →
Learning Doesn’t Only Happen During “School”
One of the biggest shifts that can happen when you begin homeschooling is recognizing just how much learning occurs outside formal lessons.
Cooking involves math, reading, chemistry, planning, and life skills. Gardening can lead to biology, ecology, weather, insects, and nutrition. Video games can spark interests in coding, design, storytelling, mathematics, geography, or history. A question asked in the car can turn into an afternoon-long research rabbit hole.
Homeschooling gives you the opportunity to notice those moments and follow them.
Explore everyday learning ideas →
Where Should You Go Next?
You don’t need to have your child’s entire education planned before you begin.
Start with what you need today. Learn what works. Change what doesn’t. Pay attention to what sparks your child’s curiosity and allow your homeschool to evolve along with them.
Unschooling
Learn about child-led and interest-led approaches to education.
Learning Ideas
Find hands-on activities, everyday learning opportunities, and our 100 Days of Discovery.
Curriculum & Resources
Explore curriculum, educational materials, and resources for different subjects.
Explore Curriculum & Resources →
Technology & Gaming
Discover ways technology, games, digital creativity, and other modern tools can become part of learning.
Arizona Homeschool
Find Arizona-specific homeschool information, including requirements and ESA resources.
For Parents
Find practical support for the questions, uncertainty, changing plans, and real-life challenges that come with homeschooling.