Thank you for inquiring about writer’s guidelines for Practical Homeschooling magazine.

We have no writer's guidelines per se. Rather, we ask you to briefly share your article idea with us as well as your background -- e.g., why you feel knowledgeable enough to write it. If we think it's appropriate and we have the space, we'll ask you to submit the article. If we then like the article, we send you our one-page Article Rights agreement for you to sign, which outlines your and our rights, the payment terms, etc.

What We Pay

We don't pay very much -- $50 per article, and that includes any photographs to accompany the article. If you write for us, it's for the opportunity to help others and (perhaps) for a modicum of fame, not for big $$.

What We Are Looking For

Practical articles (with resource lists and, ideally, photos) that explain how to meet some homeschool challenge or how to venture forth in to some new area. Ideally you are an acknowledged expert on the topic.

Examples of Freelance Work We Have Published

• An article on how to make a good first impression on your first day of college, by a community college instructor whose classes include both public schooled and homeschooled students (PHS #62)
• An article about how participating in public-school baseball affected a homeschooled boy, from his perspective as an adult (PHS #61)
• A homeschool grad's impressions of what kind of people now are her real peer group (PHS #61)
• An article on how to attend law school at home, by an HSLDA legal assistant who is doing just that (PHS #61)
• An article about how homeschoolers can get published online through the venue of "fan fiction," from a girl who has been a frequent contributor to fan sites (PHS #60)

As you can see, we tend to run 1 to 3 freelance articles per issue.

What We Don't Want

• Theological articles
• Polemical articles about why everyone should homeschool (we write those ourselves!)
• "Why I Decided to Homeschool" articles
• Generic articles collecting ideas from other people's work (we prefer to hear directly from the original experts)
• Stories about local homescholers -- we suggest the homeschoolers themselves submit these to our "Show & Tell" feature
• Articles on topics already covered by our columnists
• "Curriculum" articles -- e.g., sample unit studies, artist biographies, historical pieces, etc.
• Self-promotional articles designed to tout a book, curriculum, or website. Articles must be of general interest and if resources are mentioned, they should not be yours.

Finally, we are only interested in unique and original work. So please let us know what topics and titles, if any, you have already submitted or had published on other homeschool magazines.

If you're still interested, email us your idea!