Hi N.,
I used to home school both my 11 and 5 year old and it was the best thing we ever did! My daughter was behind on Math, but advanced in all other aspects of her education and felt that school was incredibly dull most of the time, and then to difficult for her when it came to Math. she had self esteem issues and was truly not on the right track, so I pulled her and began to home school...
She adored homeschooling for the two years we did it, and we used much of what Sonlight had to offer as well as some other material we got from the HER Store (Home Educators Resource) they have both used and new materials for your usage so its a great place to shop if you are on a budget.
The biggest challenge for us was social interaction, most cities have home schooling co-ops or play groups so its not to difficult, but it really is quite a bit different for the children whom are used to having other students in a similar age range to socialize with daily.
There are a few things I would do before I moved straight into the homeschooling world again, number one would be to join a few of the websites out there offering support to homeschooling parents (NTHEN is a great one) and talk to other homeschooling moms who deal with similar things daily. Many of us will tell you homeschooling is not for everyone.
Before sending your letter of intent, I found it was important to have my lesson plans for the next month prepared, and understand what core subjects I was required by the state to teach, implementing them was a blast and the kids loved our creativity in all that we where able to do.
One of the things I also did before homeschooling was to check with the Universities, to see what their requirements where for a home schooled child to attend. Texas is considered quite lose on their laws when it comes to homeschooling, so ensuring that your child has a wide variety of colleges they can attend is always a good idea. There have been studies put out showing that homeschooled children are just as likely, if not more so to exceed then privately, or publically educated children and normally have better work habits to boot.
I am truly excited for you that you are able to take this huge but very wonderful step in your children’s education. I wish you luck and offer as much help as you might need in getting started!