The Ultimate Guide To Homeschooling
Lockdown left our children with no other option other than remote education. Now that schools have opened again, many households are reluctant to go back to the way that things were. At-home education is here to stay. We’re going to take you through a look at how homeschooling works, the pros and cons, and how children develop differently. There are also handy lifehacks and parenting tips for homeschoolers coming up.
Contents:
- What is homeschooling?
- Pros and cons of homeschooling
- Reasons to/not to homeschool
- How to homeschool your child: tips and life hacks for parents
What is homeschooling?
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There are many ways to understand homeschooling and many applicable schools of thought. Here’s a breakdown of homeschooling’s basic definition, where and when it originated, and how homeschooling works. We’ll also be highlighting curriculums, core methods and exploring all the benefits and drawbacks.
Basic definition
Homeschooling is both the act of educating your child at home and a movement for educational reform intended as an alternative to formal education. Each child’s tuition is designed according to their unique needs and affinities, letting them learn at their own pace. Independent homeschooling utilizes a range of different learning methods and philosophies. There are more curriculums available now than ever, thanks to the online learning boom.
History and facts
Up until the 1830s, homeschooling was the primary form of education. By the early 19th century, formal classrooms overtook informal, at-home education. American Calvinist philosopher Rousas John Rushdoony first began to purport learning at home as an alternative to secular public schools. However, in 1976, educator John Caldwell Holt published “Instead of Education, Ways to Help People Do Things Better”, advocating that children leave compulsory schooling and instead participate in homeschooling.
Ever since Holt has been heralded as the father of homeschooling. Early pioneers like John Holt with the ongoing newsletter “Growing Without Schooling” and his associate, educational theorist Raymond Moore paved the way for the modern movement we know today. Parent Michael Farris used his legal expertise as an attorney to found The Home School Legal Defense Association in 1983. It has since become the nexus of homeschooling in America and a bold, influential example to the rest of the world.
How does homeschooling work?
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Homeschooling involves one-on-one learning leaning on a variety of resources. Each State and locality will have its own regulations that cover acceptable homeschooling programs and curriculums. Choosing a curriculum will determine the focus of education and the number of pre-existing resources like worksheets, videos, and tests available. Parents combine traditional intellectual development exercises for studying at home with outside lessons, private tutors, excursions, and technological solutions like apps and online classes.
Read more How to choose a good tutor for a child?
Homeschooling curriculums
There are many different ways to approach homeschooling and several proven, reliable curriculums to pick from. The best fit for your child will be a curriculum that you have created based on their individual development, but pre-existing solutions simplify setting out subjects, lessons, and time-frames. Each curriculum available is a product that’s been formulated and sold by a company specializing in a particular educational method or learning philosophy. Explore all of your options to construct or pick the one that’s best for your child.
Homeschooling models
The number of successful, proven approaches to at-home education is growing steadily. Here are a breakdown and overview of the eight basic, accepted homeschooling models.
Classical
The classical method is a three-step approach built upon a foundation of knowledge dating back to the Old Testament. Notable works classified under the “Great Books” are studied under the framework of the “Applied Trivium”. Subjects are studied in chronological order. This develops a historical understanding of the flow and formation of ideas throughout time.
The three components of classical homeschool are together called the “Trivium”. At an elementary level, memory is trained by learning facts using repetition. From this basis, analytical thinking is developed by feeding the inquisitive nature of a growing mind. Finally, rhetoric follows, whereby students express knowledge and logic learned using reports, projects, papers, other writing, and verbal communication exercises.
Charlotte Mason
Based on the Christian principles taught by educator and reformer Charlotte Maria Shaw Mason, this homeschooling method is built around short study periods. Each session ranges between 15 and 45 minutes, depending on the level of education. Reading is core to the Charlotte Mason method, featuring many prominent classics, biographies, and impactful moral and socio-economic tales. Nature walks and journaling replace lectures and quizzes, accompanying most lessons.
The Charlotte Mason method is ideal for families looking for a reliable form of biblical training. It installs a Christian-conscious basis of education and is highly suited to low-budget educators and non-professional teachers. Elementary and middle school learning is the strongest, with family orientated workbooks common.
Montessori
The renowned Italian educator, Dr. Maria Montessori, founded the acclaimed Montessori Method with a focus on an adaptive, humanistic approach to education in the early 1900s. Her methodology that shuns grades and testing is built on two basic principles – developing the psyche by interacting with the environment and channeling the latent, inherent untapped path of development found in young children.
The Montessori Method utilizes a range of tactile, interactive objects to aid education. Study periods are divided into time segments as large as three hours. Instead of following a lesson plan, unstructured learning occurs during fixed periods based on the student’s interests.
Unschooling
Unschooling, also known as natural learning or experiential learning, is a system and philosophy for home education created by the homeschooling pioneer John Holt. Learners lead their own education, learning through living at their own pace. Parents facilitate education by providing information relevant to their child’s interests. Parents nurture the optimal environment and resources to explore affinities intelligibly.
There are many different branches of unschooling available. More popular systems include Worldschooling, which educates students by allowing them to experience the culture and society of foreign places. Another top choice is project-based unschooling involving real-world problem-solving. The popularity and rich history of unschooling grant parents a vast range of information to learn from.
School-at-Home
School-at-Home replicates the teacher-led experience of formal education. Boxed curriculum sets with textbooks and workbooks are typically provided to facilitate distance education or correspondence learning. Online schools often use this familiar approach. Families who value simplicity and the time-saving benefits of a whole grade school of learning resources in a single package will love this method of homeschooling.
Various boxed homeschool curricula are expensive when compared to alternate education options. Packages containing an entire curriculum for the student’s subject choice are provided for the year and arrive at a substantial cost. Curriculums closely mimic the format of formal school.
Waldorf Education
The Waldorf Education method has been established as an independent school movement since 1919 and has been in the U.S. since roughly 1928. Learners are guided through a learning strategy that includes a diverse curriculum spanning the arts, music, physical education, and academics. Within Waldorf Education, childhood is divided into three distinct stages. Each seven-year period marks a time whereby the child learns differently.
Early childhood spans birth to age seven. Children develop through doing rich sensory environments and ample play-based tasks. Between seven and 14 during middle childhood, children develop using the imagination relying on storytelling, music, and movement. The final segment of learning, adolescence, between 14 and 21, marks a period where kids are given far more control over what they are learning and how.
Unit Studies
Unit Studies involve studying one specific topic, analyzing it from multiple angles encompassing all academic subjects. Families focused on the unit study approach have many curriculum options at their disposal. Once familiar with the approach, custom unit studies are available as a primary learning style for either individual subjects or all education.
A series of learning activities and experiences are formulated that all relate back to a singular topic that’s being studied. Topics are explored in as much detail as possible, including practical exercises, experiments, excursions, observation, and academics.
Eclectic Education
Eclectic homeschooling offers a midway point between the fixed structure of a traditional curriculum and the flexible, free unschooling approach. Eclectic education is a method of homeschooling that uses resources and learning styles from multiple education methods. It’s the most personalized of all approaches, focusing on finding the right techniques and learning aids to suit the student instead of putting the child in charge of what they want to learn.
Developing the learning method that works best for each child is the primary goal of eclectic education. Traditional subjects and those customarily seen as electives and optional are viewed with equal importance. Subject choice is made according to each child’s pers