Methods and Approaches to Homeschooling
There are many benefits to homeschooling, including the ability to tailor the program to fit the needs of your family. This can include outdoor explorations, reading books, or even working on individualized education programs at a table. It’s great to have a homeschooling style that works well with your family’s lifestyle.
There are some disadvantages to homeschool styles. There is so much information available on homeschooling that it can be overwhelming, especially when you first start. At first, many of us think that homeschool will look just like school, but at home. Nothing could be further than the truth, but it might take time to get that image out of your head.
Having a loose manual for homeschooling can be very beneficial – like when you become a new parent and you want a parenting manual to guide you through parenthood.
How do you determine the direction of your homeschool? The overall tone of your homeschool might be that it is a caring and nurturing environment where children can learn at their own pace. The ideal is to provide a well-rounded education, incorporating both academic and life skills. What do you want it to look like? Some things to consider when homeschooling are what style or approach you and your family prefer.
It is not necessary for homeschooling to involve duplicating the school experience within the home. You don’t have to match the way the school system teaches kids. There are various ways to educate your children and you don’t have to make it look like school at home.
When you have a plan or style for your homeschool, it makes the planning and preparation process go more smoothly. When you have a clear plan for how you will teach each subject, it makes it easier to plan your days. Knowing how you will tackle each day makes it easier to stay on track. Homeschooling allows you to tailor your child’s education to what is most important to you and your family, while also staying true to your own educational philosophy.
Eclectic Homeschooling
The most common homeschooling style is known as eclectic homeschooling, which is a more relaxed approach.
In this style of schooling, there are no set times for any subjects. The children spend mornings tackling the ‘more demanding’ subjects, and in the afternoon they can choose whatever activity they want to do.
A typical day would involve spending the morning learning math and the afternoon doing hobbies and other extracurricular activities, like playing soccer. When the child is more relaxed, they will tackle subjects that are not too demanding.
The parent establishes the objectives for the period and collaborates with the children to achieve them without putting too much stress on the learning process.
Classical Homeschooling
With the classical homeschooling method, there are five different tools and stages of learning. These include Reason, Record, Research, Relate, and Rhetoric.
A child must go through each stage of development in order, before they can reach the final stage where the focus is on communication. Classical homeschooling has been around for centuries, dating back to the Middle Ages.
Classical education refers to the style of education that was popular in the ancient Roman and Greek eras. Creating an analytical approach to learning involves teaching kids how to critically evaluate something instead of blindly accepting it.
Montessori Homeschooling
In Montessori homeschooling, children are not taught that there are no mistakes.
Teachers are the ones who direct the learning process – under the parent’s supervision.
Montessori homeschooling parents provide their children with a supportive environment in which they can explore, discover, and engage independently.
The style of the program is designed to help kids learn problem-solving, socialization, teamwork, self-discipline, and creative skills. This homeschooling method was started in Italy in the early 1900s by educator Maria Montessori. She was a famous physician and educator.
This program focuses on the specific needs of every child. The role of a parent is to provide an environment that is conducive to learning, as well as the resources that will be necessary for success in this lifelong process. The key aim of the scheme is to provide an environment in which autonomy, empathy, and self-control can prosper.
Socialization is an important part of the Montessori homeschooling style. Children are taught basic life skills from a young age.
Unschooling
Unschooling is a type of homeschooling that is very flexible and free-style.
It involves tailoring learning around your child’s interests.
There is no set time for learning, no set lessons, and no set schedule. The kids are allowed to explore their interests and talents as much as they want. This type of homeschooling believes that learning happens more effectively when it is not forced.
Many parents believe that their children are capable of learning on their own, based on their interests. As opposed to following a fixed learning regime.
This style of learning leads to kids becoming better researchers, as they learn from their mistakes. There may be in issue if the student is not used to taking tests. My kids both wanted to go to college and decided they should got to high school for a couple of years to make sure they were accustomed to turning in assignments and taking tests on schedule. They realized quickly that they had absolutely no problem in that area, but it helps to know how your kids will react.
Traditional Homeschooling
The traditional homeschooling method is not as flexible as some newer methods, but it does provide structure that some students need in order to succeed.
The traditional homeschooling style doesn’t allow for much variation from set standards, norms, and modes of teaching. Although you may be independently setting up your lesson plans and finding your own study resources, you need to make sure that you are still following the curriculum requirements.
This product is ideal for parents who are unsure of how to set up a learning routine, or for parents who have less time available to them.
A professional evaluator will usually grade assessments and evaluate reports and transcripts when using this homeschooling style. We had a great time map testing for homeschoolers.
One downside to this style of learning is that it can be too rigid for some students who may prefer a more traditional approach.
Waldorf Homeschooling
The homeschooling style that follows the work of Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian philosopher who died in 1925, is called Waldorf homeschooling.
According to Rudolf, education only occurred if the body, mind, and spirit were working together. The Waldorf concept is designed around this philosophy.
Kids are encouraged to be more self-aware and expressive. The style of teaching doesn’t involve using textbooks, and the amount of time spent on screens is also limited. The focus of the learning process is on encouraging children to use their imagination and explore things on their own, without being too reliant on technology and other forms of media.
Unit Studies Homeschool Approach
The students are taught together using a theme, which could be related to a current event or topic, like the American Revolution, or a characteristic, like integrity. Many unit studies are usually based on topics, books, or literature. This novel is similar to other novels that tell the story of a family living in a time long ago.
Families can choose to spend the whole school year on one big unit study, or divide their time up into lots of smaller unit studies throughout the year.
Almost all topics are learned through unit studies by completing a number of activities. Some of the topics that will be studied in this unit include reading, spelling, writing, science, history, geography, math, vocabulary, and fine arts. And Bible. And whatever other subjects you want to include.
For instance, in a unit study about the New World Explorers, you could:
- do geography by tracing the different voyages of each explorer,
- write a paper about all the explorers,
- learn exploration vocabulary (like navigation, magnetic, compass, caravel, etc.),
- read a book about one of the explorers like Leif the Lucky by Ingri and Edgar Parin D’Aulaire,
- learn the history of the explorers and why it’s important today,
- do a craft about what each explorer is famous for,
- calculate the different miles of each explorer, total miles they traveled, and how long it took different ones to travel in their voyages
2. Charlotte Mason Homeschool Approach
The Charlotte Mason method is a homeschooling method founded by Charlotte Mason in 1892 when homeschooling wasn’t a popular option for education. She thought that every child deserved to go to school no matter what their social class was. In several of her books, she outlines her philosophy and principles. These books explain the methods in detail and the language is easy to understand.
This method of education is based on Charlotte Mason’s 20 Principles. These principles guide educators in how they should teach.
A Charlotte Mason education heavily focuses on literature books, specifically living books. This method does not use a textbook, but instead uses stories about events that create a sensory experience for the child.
Instead of learning about Vikings from a textbook, Charlotte Masoners read living books like Leif the Lucky, which tells the story of Viking explorers, including Leif Erikkson, who discovered North America before Christopher Columbus.
Young children don’t read these living books, however. A parent reads a book to their children in short increments and the children will repeat back what they heard. Mason believes that children will learn more effectively if they are exposed to a small amount of information on a daily basis, rather than a larger amount of information over the same timeframe. All lessons are therefore 10 minutes long.
(Or Curriculum-In-A-Box) Homeschool Method
You’ll need to learn some things about homeschooling if you’re new to it. While school-at-home may be the most familiar method of distance learning, it definitely demands a lot of time, especially when you have multiple children.
In the school-at-home method, each subject is often covered using a textbook and/or workbook. Children spend the school year sitting and working through a textbook until they finish it. The homeschool mirrors the public school’s way of education.
School-At-Home is also called curriculum-in-a-box, or school-in-a-box, because the curriculum for the school is usually provided by one company. The company curriculum often includes textbooks, workbooks and school supplies. Many lessons also have an online component for further learning practice.
Multiple Intelligence Homeschooling
The idea behind multiple intelligence homeschooling is that a person can learn better and faster if they focus on their strengths, rather than their weaknesses. Gardner’s work with Harvard University helped him develop this style.
People are considered intelligent if they are able to understand different concepts in their own way. One child may be better at learning concepts in a one-on-one setting, while another child may understand the same concept better by experimenting or watching videos or listening to audio lessons.
You should consider your child’s strengths when choosing a homeschooling style. Make time for your kids to explore and be creative. If your child is a visual learner, provide them with resources that will help them to understand the world around them better.
Our Homeschool Style
As you can see there are many homeschooling styles. To decide which activity is best for your family, consider your child’s interests, time commitments, and other family engagements.
The primary objective should be to influence the kids’ understanding and all these approaches do so, to some extent. Find a system that works for you and your family and stick with it.
Most of us find that our homeschooling approach has shifted over the years; when we first started, we were part of a Waldorf co-op, but when we moved to a new city, Charlotte Mason was more popular among our homeschool group. We generally followed a more eclectic style, with long bouts of unschooling while we traveled as a family.
You don’t need to stick with one homeschooling style, and it will probably change over time.
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