How to Convince Your Parents to Homeschool You

“How to convince your parents to homeschool you?” A lot of kids, just like you, want to know how to convince their parents to homeschool them. I homeschooled my kids, and it was fantastic for all of us, so I’m here to help you to convince your parents to let you stay home and be homeschooled.

A few weeks ago, I was using a keyword planning tool to research possible future blog posts. It gives us bloggers an idea of what people are searching for and how many other people are writing posts on those topics. A few phrases kept coming up over and over again. “How to Get Homeschooled”, “How to Become Homeschooled”, “I want to be Homeschooled”, “How to tell your parents I want to be homeschooled.” It is really, really common for school kids to search this term. I wonder how many convince their parents that homeschooling is a good idea. I suspect it’s rare.

It seems there are a lot of kids out there who really want to join us in the alternative or progressive education world.

It’s not just online that I’ve seen this. Almost every time we stay with, or hang out with, a regular schooling family the kids ask the same thing  “Please can I be Homeschooled Mum?”

Sorry.

Sorry for putting ideas into children’s heads and sorry that they will now nag you for a few weeks or months to get them out of school.

Sorry also to all the kids out there who hate school so much that they desperately want to leave. It’s tragic if you think about it too much. Some enjoy school, but for many, school is just horrible. I hated school, but I got used to just putting up with it. I did well, but it was torture. School life set me up for a miserable few years after school too, I thought we just had to put up with jobs and be miserable too. It took me 20 years to shake that school mentality off.

A lot of kids will just like the idea of being homeschooled and will be Googling on a whim but for some, it’s a massively big deal. Bullying and the general stress of school is, well, you know what happens.

So kids, if you found this post through Google, let me tell you a few things about being homeschooled.

How to Convince Parents to Homeschool You

First up, your mum or dad will have to stay home with you full-time. If both of your parents earn money, you’ll lose what one of them earns.

This will mean that you will have less money spent on YOU. Less expensive toys, fewer computer games, no fancy clothes, and cheaper holidays. It may just be financially impossible for you to be homeschooled.

No, you don’t have to be rich to homeschool, but it’s a lot easier to be homeschooled if one parent earns enough money to support your family, or if one (or both) parents work from home. I do know single parents who homeschool their kids, it is possible, but it’s unlikely to be easy.

Your Christmas and birthday presents will be science kits, microscopes, and worthy literature, we call these items “homeschool resources“. If you’re OK with that, we can move along.

Maybe the parent or guardian responsible for your home education could work from home or make an online income in future? This is what I do. I make more money working from home than I ever did when I had “a job.”

I’m a homeschooling mum, I learned to make money by starting a homeschooling blog, sharing posts on various homeschooling topics and using advertising and affiliate sales.

You could do this too. Earning money isn’t just for adults.

It would actually be a pretty cool homeschool project, to set out to make a living online. See if your parents like that idea! You’d have to learn a lot of new skills, but you can learn them all from Googling and watching YouTube videos. That’s how I learned. Computers weren’t even around when I was in school, so it’s very possible to educate yourself sufficiently to start an online business. You don’t need school to be educated and self-education is extremely powerful.

If homeschooling is a non-starter with your parents, maybe you could convince your parents to send you to an online school? There’s a paragraph about that, my kids are in an online school right now, they’re older, they were fully homeschooled to 15 and 16 years old. I don’t consider online schooling to be homeschooling, but you can stay home, so that might be all you need.

What Will You Do When You Start Homeschooling?

It may look to you that homeschooled kids just stay home playing Minecraft all day. Some do, I’m sure, but generally, homeschoolers, worldschoolers, and unschoolers, do have to get an education or their parents will be in strife with the police.

Realise that YOU will have to take responsibility at least in part, for your education. We talk a lot about self-guided learning in homeschooling and unschooling circles, this means you will turn your interests into your education and it’s more than playing computer games all day.

You will learn computer languages and coding and create your own computer games. Any maths or other skills needed, you will acquire. You’ll figure out what you need to learn and how to get that knowledge.

You’ll have to write or type and depending on where you live, submit work samples to a government body. Yes, you may still have to write some essays and of course, read a load of really good books.

Do you get on well with your mum? I hope so. You do what she tells you, right? So when she tells you to write a four page essay by the end of the day because it has to be submitted or she’ll be in trouble you’ll just get on with it quietly?

Mum (or Dad, or guardian) will still have cooking, cleaning, bill paying, gardening, and laundry to do so they won’t be sitting holding your hand all day. You’ll need to be self-motivated and knuckle down. Oh, and you’ll have to help them with all those chores too, that’s part of homeschooling, learning to be an adult in an adult world. Some of it is pretty boring.

Do you enjoy taking a break from lessons with your friends in the playground? Well, that won’t happen anymore. Sure you’ll take breaks, lots of them, but you’re unlikely to have kids not in your family to hang out with during the day.

But you really get on with your parent or guardian so that’s cool. It’s up to them how often they’ll take you to the playground, to the beach, on “field trips,” to homeschool groups and to get-togethers with other kids and families.

Check Local Laws and Homeschool Regulations

If you still want to be homeschooled you need to take to Google right now and check the homeschooling laws and regulations in your state or country.

I think to make a great case it would be an excellent idea to make notes and present your case with all the relevant facts so that mum or dad can look them over easily.

Maybe a PowerPoint presentation? The more effort you put in now, the higher your chances of convincing mum or dad to homeschool. Show your responsible parent that you are capable of high-quality independent learning.

So off you go, start Googling. If you’re in the USA State Regulations are here.

You could also try making mum or dad a big present, cooking dinner and cleaning your room, even the whole house.

Develop a really cool hobby or deep interest in a certain topic or activity, a lot of serious musicians, young performers, writers, science geeks, artists, and sportspeople are homeschooled so that they can spend more time on their passion.

How to Convince Parents To Send You To An Online School?

I don’t consider online schooling to be homeschooling. It’s still school.

There are qualified teachers and a standard curriculum. There are exams to pass. That isn’t homeschooling, but it can be done, at home.

Online schools are another option if you or your responsible adult doesn’t want to homeschool fully.

My son just sat his exams this way, and passed with flying colours. He sat GCSEs online.

He’s done 2 almost full years in an online school and is now taking his A levels. He did very well in his exams.

This is after no formal schooling previously. He just dived in to year 10 half-way through. He was fine. If your parents still need more convincing, tell them about this.

The major drawback with online schools is that they are expensive. It’s private schooling. Also, your parent may still have to stay home with you, but they will have more time to spend on their own work.

If you’d like to know more, use the comments section.

What Will You Do After Homeschooling?

Think about possible careers, is there a job or income stream you could start working towards now as a young entrepreneur?

Find out how kids in your area can get into university or college after homeschooling if they want to. It’s not always compulsory, nor necessarily desirable. It’s very possible, your family will want to know all about that straight away if they have high ambitions for your educational career. Add this information to your power-point.

I wish you well, homeschooling is an excellent choice for many young people but it can be hard on an unready family. Tell your mom or dad I helped you convince her that homeschooling would be good for you, she can talk to me if she likes.

Good luck!