How to start homeschooling my son (he's 3)?

It is legal in all 50 states you just have to follow your state laws. Some states don't even require notification. Some states require education plans & attendance logs. Some require testing or evaluations, some don't. Learn your state laws, but you're probably not going to have to register him until he is 5 to 8 years old. As for "official"-- if you mean you want to re-create a school at home, you can do that. Some people buy pre-packaged curricula, salute the flag every day and have a color-coded schedule. Not everyone takes that route. We've been homeschooling 12 years and we never give grades or tests. We do "skills practice" in the morning for 1 to 1 1/2 hours (math, language arts, reading) and in the afternoon the kids do unit studies & independent projects for history & social studies, which may revolve around a heavy research project or something more creative like planning a cultural festival about China for family & friends, or making a documentary. They also take classes at local homeschool co-ops, are involved in a lot of volunteer things like community theater or helping the homeless, and we do a lot of field trips. My oldest started dual enrollment courses at the community college when she was 15, which led to great SAT scores & a full university scholarship. At his age, the absolute best thing you can do with him is a variety of imaginative and hands-on activities. 3 years old don't respond to or need formal lessons as much, they need to make connections through role play and experience. You also might want to start looking into a homeschool support group and co-op in your area. Our co-op has classes & activities for kids 2 and up (art, gymnastics, yoga, story time, learning with games, science class w/ a teacher that brings in all kinds of animals and rocks and what-not to show them and talk about, etc.) At the least you might get involved in play groups or park days. And of course, raid your library's homeschool section to learn about different approaches.

He doesn't need to be officially homeschooled - nor can he be, he is too young. Honestly, you need to back off. I know you have "strong desires" for your son to be amazing and superior and ahead of everyone else in measurable academic areas, but what your son needs is to go play with finger paint and sand, and to learn to trust other adults and to share. He certainly won't learn the last two from you, and given what you consider his achievements to be, probably not the first two, either. You also need a bit of realism. "Very smart" children your son's age can read, write, count infinitely high and do sums. Yours is a bright, interested, normal little boy. Carry on reading with him. Does he recognise any words yet? His own name? Does he show any interest in writing anything? Can he count objects, or is he just chanting the magic rhyme mummy taught him which goes "onetwothreefour..."? If you discuss with him that the next number is "twentyone" does he have any concept that the one after that will be "twentytwo"? If he likes doing any of these things, encourage him, but most important of all keep it fun. He is a toddler, not a schoolchild. At 3 my son could read and add. Couldn't join in with a group at playgroup, though, or pour juice, or jump with two feet together. He needed to learn the skills he was bad at, not those he excelled at. So does yours.

There are many resources you can get from the internet the first thing you want to do is find a curriculum store either online or in your neighbourhood, also look up your local homeschool group and get involved with the community. then they will help you with resources, registering with a school that will help record his progress to the government and stuff like that. I'm sure there will be a list of stuff you could start teaching him. There are even online school courses for homeschoolers when he gets older as well. Congratulations on your decision and have lots of fun :) I myself was homeschooled my whole life it's a great gift.

You are not officially or legally required to educate a 3 year-old. However, most parents do anyway. I really like to use the My Father's World Toddler and Preschool packages. Check them out at www.mfwbooks.com. I also do Before Five-in-a-Row with my little ones. These plans are flexible and well-suited to the natural mother-child interactions.