I’d love to see a Homeschooling Open House in every town of every state this summer! So many people want to homeschool, but don’t because they “don’t think they can do it”, “wouldn’t know where to begin”, “couldn’t possibly do as well as the public school”, “wouldn’t want their children to miss out socially”. You know all the excuses.
A non-threatening open house where people can come to find out more about homeschooling and get their questions answered by veteran homeschoolers may be just the thing to send those excuses flying out the window and bring new children home to school.
What would an open house include? Well, I’ll tell you what our little community of homeschoolers is going to do in July. Feel free to add more ideas in the comments!
We’re borrowing the community room of our local library for an hour and a half one evening in the middle of July – when people are thinking about the upcoming school year. (Around here, public school starts the first week of August.) About two weeks before, we'll advertise the meeting in the newspaper and with flyers around town.
On the night of the meeting, after welcoming everyone, we plan to show an excellent dvd put out by HSLDA. Then, we’ll have a question & answer time. (Probably with a very small panel of veteran homeschoolers, as too many people would make for too many answers. Too many answers lead to very confused potential homeschoolers!) Finally, we’ll offer cookies and punch while our guests browse a few information tables and talk with us one on one.
We plan to set up three tables. One with whatever homeschooling catalogs we can get our hands on between now and then. One with a packet for them to take home including HSLDA info, state support group info, local support group info and some helpful websites. The third table will include some varied curriculum for them to look at so they can get an idea of the wonderful choices available.
It won’t be hard. I hope you’ll consider organizing an open house in your area.
Cindy West (On Our Journey Westward) is a homeschooling mom to three who enjoys encouraging and inspiring other homeschoolers.
Related Tags: homeschool, open house
