A few days ago I wrote this post, A Booklist for New Homeschool Moms. I curated that list to give new moms a clearer idea of what homeschooling is vs. doing school at home.
Just to be clear … what ya’ll did last spring when the school district sent you home with computers and assignments was not homeschooling. That was a noble and heroic effort by schools and educators with very little preparation, to try to keep kids educated, connected, and engaged during the pandemic. For many parents sheltering in place for work with their kids trying to get school done, this was very difficult.
So how is homeschooling different? One big difference. YOU!
- You are in charge in your home.
- You make the assignments.
- You set the schedule.
- You make the lesson plans.
- You change things if it’s not working.
- You are not accountable to another teacher, principal, or school board. In fact, after complying with the laws of your state, you are only accountable to yourself.
That may sound daunting, but in many ways it is a lot more freedom!
OK, so if you’ve looked over the booklist, and you are really super interested in homeschooling, what do you do next?
A good next step is figuring out what kind of homeschool you want to run BEFORE you buy curriculum. Here’s a list:
1. Traditional Style
This is the one you are probably most familiar with because it’s the way most of us who went to school were educated. It may be the most comfortable for you as you start out. If you like textbooks, workbooks, a schedule, lesson plans that are all spelled out for you, tests and quizzes, then this style might be for you.
2. Unit Studies.
Think of Unit Studies as Themed Studies. Maybe you have a lot of kids under the age of eight who are totally and completely into dinosaurs! Then you’re going to study dinosaurs with lots of library books, videos and movies as your science! Your young writers will do reports on dinosaurs. Maybe you will do dinosaur related art projects and dinosaur themed parties! The sky is the limit! This takes more imagination on the teaching parent’s part, but it really is a lot of fun and adults will learn as much as the kids!
One year we did a middle ages themed unit study and I remember we ended with a feast based on a Medieval Feast complete with costumes. The kids still remember that.
3. Classical Style
The classical style of education is based on the trivium. It consists of three stages that train the student how to think. These stages are:
The Grammar Stage
The Dialectic Stage
The Rhetoric Stage
Language, grammar and Latin are key parts of the Classical Style of homeschooling.
4. Charlotte Mason Style.
Charlotte Mason was a 19th century English Educator (1842-1923). A key feature of her approach was having living books in the home! These are books that are beautiful and engaging. The great classics would fit this bill, as would new modern favorites. She also believed in a lot of copy work – learning to write by copying the works of others which is a very effective way to learn how to write and spell. She did not believe in busy work – doing something just to keep kids occupied. I think I’ve absorbed a bit of that belief in my own homeschool.
For the Charlotte Mason method, the atmosphere of the home and also getting outside to observe and draw nature are very important.
5. Eclectic Style.
Can’t decide on a method? Pick and choose what works best! This is TOTALLY me. I could never be nailed down to one complete curriculum. My little boys were out making forts and motes, my middle kids sat with me to read the great books, and now my teenage daughter wants all of her assignments so that she complete them alone in her room that she has turned into her own personal haven!
In the meantime, I’m downstairs going all Charlotte Mason on my granddaughter!
6. Distance Learning.
Maybe one of the things you loved during the pandemic was having your kiddos learn from their computer or t.v. screen. Distance learning is very available to homeschoolers, usually for a fee or subscription. Many traditional homeschool curriculum suppliers also have an online option too!
7. Free!
OK, this isn’t really a style, but for a lot of folks, money is an issue and they want to educate their kids without breaking the bank. Luckily there are a number of FREE options on the internet or available from the library.
8. Unschooling.
Unschooling is the total opposite of Traditional School. It is child lead. There are no assigned books or lesson plans. This sounds lazy, but effective unschoolers really pour a lot of themselves into their kids because their kids learn by hanging around and engaging with the parents.
One of my favorite unschooling stories was from a mom who had a son that was just not interested in doing school at all. But he was interested in rehabbing a house. From rehabbing a house he learned to measure, to figure out how much wood, carpet and paint he would need and then how much to sell the house for. That kid never did get the type of education he would have gotten in a regular high school, but now he owns many properties and is almost a millionaire at 30.
So it works – it just doesn’t work in a way we’re used to seeing it work.
Do you want to see what your style is? Check these out!
HomeschoolON has a nifty little quiz to give you an idea. Take it here.
Raising Global Kids has a quiz for you to take.