3 Approaches To Homeschooling Your Children

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There are almost as many approaches to homeschooling as there are parents undertaking homeschooling but over the years several general approaches have appeared. Here we look at just three of these.

The first approach is known as School-At-Home. This is perhaps the most commonly seen form of homeschooling and is the approach that most parents will try first.

Because the majority of parents have no experience of schooling children at home they turn to the ‘experts’ to design a curriculum for them and to supply them with the necessary teaching materials. The affect of this tends to be to simply transfer teaching from the pubic school classroom into the home.

Although this is not a bad starting point, parents often find that this approach is very hard on them and they struggle to cope with the amount of work it entails. They also find that teaching in this manner is not as easy as they thought it would be and find themselves uncertain of how to move forward so that progress is slow and frustration sets in quite easily.

In addition, where parents have removed their children from the public school system to continue their education at home, they often find that the teaching materials used in the School-At-Home approach are essentially the same as those which may have contributed to their child’s lack of support in public school.

The second approach is known as Unit Studies. The principle here is to focus attention on the natural interests of the children and to build your teaching around these.

From our very earliest years we have a tendency to show an interest in certain things and to express our dislike of, or boredom with, others. We might for example express an interest in mathematics and science and boredom with literature and poetry. Similarly, we might demonstrate a love of nature and of being outdoors and a dislike of organized games and sport.

Unit Studies allows parents to take advantage of a child’s interests and to structure a curriculum centered on these and which also incorporates these into subjects which are of less interest, but which are nonetheless necessary to ensure a rounded education.

The third approach is that of Classical Homeschooling. This is similar in many ways to the School-At-Home approach but makes use of superior teaching materials and is grounded in the classical methods first developed during the Middle Ages in the monasteries of the day. This is not to say however that this method today is centered on religion.

Classical Homeschooling aims to teach children to think, and ultimately to learn, for themselves and contains a great deal of what most parents will probably remembers as very dull rote learning. Nowadays techniques have been developed to remove much of the boredom from rote memorization and this is also helped considerably by allowing a child to learn in an ordered fashion.

Whatever approach you adopt you will almost certainly find yourself struggling a bit at first. However, with a little bit of trial and error you will be surprised how quickly you will find a method which suits both yourself and your child.

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Parenting4Dummies.com provides information on all aspects of parenting from parenting teenagers to homeschooling programs

Different Methods of Homeschooling

If you’re planning on homeschooling your child, you’ll need to learn the many styles of homeschooling that’s available so that you can decide which would work best for your family.

Eclectic Homeschooling - This type of homeschooling works under the philosophy that you should enhance your child’s everyday activities and emotions, using them to insert appropriate lessons to teach them a subject.

Classical Homeschooling - This is a method of learning that goes all the way back to the middle ages. It works on the philosophy that the younger children begin with learning the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic. Once that’s mastered, they move on to the next stage, which consists of grammar. It involves compositions and collections.

Then they move to the dialect stage, where the serious study of reading and writing and arithmetic comes in. Instead of learning grade-appropriate materials that public schools use, the child learns in stages.

The Charlotte-Mason Method - This is one of the most popular methods of homeschooling today. Charlotte-Mason developed this style to enrich a child’s education through nature, literature and real life experiences.

Although a child must still be taught with a regular curriculum according to your state’s laws, they can learn to love learning with nature lessons, poetry understanding and much more. When learning is more enlightening for a child, they’re more apt to absorb the information then when they’re given a bunch of facts to memorize.

Montessori-at-Home - This type of homeschooling allows a child to learn their fundamentals through the use of their environment and by using all of their senses - not by memorizing facts from a textbook.

Montessori is a woman who studied children for many years and developed the philosophy that one should control the environment and not the child when teaching them skills.

The Moore Formula - This method is divided into three separate parts. It’s a way of teaching with studying for a determined amount of time each day based on the child’s needs.

It involves manual work and entrepreneurship, which teaches a child to accept responsibility. Lastly, it involves home or community service, which builds character within the child.

The Reggio Emilia Approach - This method teaches preschool-aged children to learn through exploration and not by having the fundamentals forced on them. It teaches that children have a built-in sense that allows them to learn what they need in this world at their own pace.

The Structured Homeschooling Approach - This is a method of homeschooling that is similar to the curriculum seen in public schools. This approach teaches lessons at a grade level depending on the student’s age and where they are at in their academics.

The Unit Study Approach - This approach to homeschooling allows a child to learn a subject as a whole instead of just reading chapters in a textbook. A child learns a subject through use of reading, science, math and other methods to learn that topic. Children can retain almost 50% more than the traditional study techniques applied in public schools.

Unschooling - This is a more laid back form of educating your child. Basically, your son or daughter will lead you in their educational needs. You’ll discover what to teach them based on their own interests and goals, not by abiding by a strict curriculum.

Waldorf Homeschooling - This method works on the philosophy of teaching through use of spirit, soul and body. The method teaches that the child will best learn by exploring their environment.

By analyzing your child’s learning abilities and your comfort-level with each type of instruction, you’ll be able to find a method of homeschooling that fulfills both you and your child during the educational journey the two of you take together.

Article by:
Tiffany Washko is the editor of Nature Moms, where she maintains a homeschooling guide. After working several years in corporate healthcare marketing and public relations, she took time away to be a mother. This new pursuit lead her to a new passion, natural family living and writing about environmental and political issues. She currently works as a freelance writer and newspaper journalist.

Homeschool Family Dynamics and Their Impact on Your Home Education Environment

This is Part 1 of a series by guest blogger, Deb Gallardo from The Story Ideas Virtuoso.

Since families decide to home educate their children for nearly as many reasons as there are homeschooling families, it’s not always easy to write a one-size-fits-all article on any topic. When it comes to family dynamics, it’s even more of a challenge.

In this series we will focus on building your child’s character and enhancing his/her learning from a unique perspective — the combination of: your particular family dynamics, how you structure your school days, what type of curriculum you use, your commitment to helping your child/ren reach maximum potential.

If you have a young family and your children have never been to school, pre-school or day-care, about the only time you may have encountered time pressure is when the household routine changes. Sunday morning preparation for church is an example. Holiday gatherings or house guests is another.

But many families that decide to home educate have at least one child who previously attended school. These households are familiar with the morning mayhem associated with getting everyone up, washed, clothed, fed, and out the door, armed with lunches, homework, library books and gym clothes. Avoiding such morning stress may have been a determining factor in your decision to homeschool your child/ren. So now what?

Firstly, take a look at how your family functions, based on personality and learning styles, age and maturity of child/ren, health issues (mental, emotional or physical), parental obligations and schedules, family priorities, curriculum choice, expectations, and motivation for choosing to homeschool. The list at the end of this article will help you assess these criteria.

Why do you need such an assessment of your family members?

One of many important decisions you must make is “when will the school day begin?” Everything else will revolve around that, just the same as the family breadwinner’s day job determines what time s/he gets up, when to leave for work, etc.

While this decision may seem at first glance to be a no-brainer, it’s not all that easy. If you, as the home instructor, are an orderly, disciplined morning person, your preference will likely be to begin school early, at the same time each day, with a highly-structured schedule.

If you are a free-spirited artistic-type who likes to awaken without an alarm and feels boxed in by deadlines and schedules, then you will likely prefer school to begin “whenever,” depending on how everyone feels any particular day, and your curriculum will likely reflect this as well.

Highly successful homeschooling situations can come out of both scenarios. But this is only half the equation. Enter: the children.

If you and your child/ren have similar personality traits, your life will be a lot easier than if your personalities differ. Imagine, though, that you are like the first type I mentioned and your child is more like the second.

The reverse is less of a problem. If your child is orderly and disciplined, be grateful, even if s/he is a total mystery to you. Just trust me on this one.

Typically the most difficult scenario is multiple children with contrasting personalities, and you and your spouse at opposite ends of the spectrum as well. What do you do?

Evaluate how you already interact as a family. Each of us has strengths and weaknesses. It’s important to know what these are for every member of your family, and that each member plays to his/her strengths.

Use this printable chart to help you think through who and what and how you each function within your household. When you’ve completed that assessment, you’ll be ready to decide how best to structure your days, the subject of the next article in this series.

Note: Be careful about personality labels. Nothing is meant to be a pigeon hole for life. For more help with this, a Google search or Amazon book query for Meyers-Briggs will give you more information. Their 16 personality types are fascinating and it’s almost eerie how such accurate profiles are produced by answering certain questions. A number of similar tests online are free.

Deb Gallardo is a published author for adults and children, an educator, and former home instructor for her daughter (now in college). She hosts a blog, “The Story Ideas Virtuoso,” where she helps fiction writers find story ideas, and offers creative writing tips, advice and inspiration. In her spare time, Deb performs in semi-professional musical theatre productions and dinner theatre venues in and around Central Ohio. You can tweet with her too.

To learn more, check out the Mom’s Talk Guide to Raising Happy & Healthy Kids - Tips and resources address nutrition, exercise, sleep, routines, and much more.

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