Homeschooling: Some of the Most Popular Methods

Homeschooling families are a diverse group, and so are their educational approaches. In this post, I will share with you some of the many options available to homeschoolers (this list is by no means comprehensive, but just some of the most popular methods). One of the biggest benefits of homeschooling is the flexibility for a family to choose what works for them at any given time as well as the ability to adapt as their children grow and their needs change.

School-at-home: This type of homeschooling is most familiar to those of us who have attended school. These homeschoolers usually have a set time every day when they do their school work and may have a room dedicated to schooling. Typically, there are workbooks, assignments and tests, as well as hands-on activities. Homeschoolers who do school-at-home can choose from many packaged curriculums that cover each subject at a particular grade level or can put together their own curricula by purchasing, say, math from one company and language arts from another.

There are many, many choices for packaged curriculums and it can be overwhelming to choose one so it’s a good idea to read reviews and know your own children – just because something worked for one family, doesn’t mean it will work for you. The benefits to doing school-at home-using a box curriculum are that parents may be more confident the basics are being covered and the course-work is all laid out for the teaching parent. This is also familiar to most parents, as well as children who’ve been in school, and family and friends, so it can feel comfortable.

Unit studies: In this approach, math, reading, science and social studies are all learned in relation to a particular topic. This method offers a lot of flexibility and can be adapted to different learning styles. It also works well for families with children of multiple ages – the children are all learning together, but individual assignments can be more challenging for children with more ability.

Educator Philosophies: Influential educators such as Maria Montessori, Charlotte Mason and Rudolf Steiner (who developed the Waldorf method) have inspired both private schools and homeschoolers. While these vary in content and focus, many of them stress nature, literacy, art, music and experiential learning. There are books as well as a lot of information online that detail each of these types of homeschooling in more detail.

Unschooling or child-led learning: Unschoolers don’t differentiate between learning and living. In this approach, parents expose their children to the world, and the child is encouraged to follow his/her passions and interests. Although unschoolers can and do use workbooks if it feels appropriate, more often learning happens naturally through projects and activities. For example, math may be learned through baking, building raised beds, and keeping score of games. I think the main thing is there is no agenda – the parents don’t require their children to learn certain things in a certain way at a certain time. This philosophy really requires a deep trust in children’s desire to learn, and the parent sees his or her role more as a facilitator than a teacher.  

Eclectic: Eclectic homeschoolers chose a variety of ways to learn. They pick and chose from all of the above approaches, and others I haven’t discussed, to create an education for their children. Some families use one approach for one subject, and another for a different subject. In some families, one child learns one way and another one learns a different way, based on their learning styles and needs. A major benefit of eclectic homeschooling is that you can really personalize your child’s education; you use what works and leave the rest.

Over the years, we’ve used a variety of these methods. That’s one of the great things about homeschooling – the flexibility to do one thing while it works, and switch when it doesn’t. These days I consider myself a relaxed homeschooler with an eclectic approach. Now that Davis is approaching high school, I want her to acquire the skills and classes necessary to go to college, if she chooses. I expect her to do math, writing, reading, history and science. However, I don’t dictate how those things are done. We work together to chose a curriculum/book/class that suits her learning style, and is interesting and relevant to her. If something isn’t working – we try something else.

With my younger two, I’m less demanding. My six-year-old son is a beginning reader and he reads to me every day. He is also working on handwriting. My 10-year-old, Isa, is a voracious reader and, these days, is reading a lot of mysteries and historical fiction. She also writes in her journal, draws regularly and does math. I read to them both a lot and we play games that include math, spelling or geography concepts. Creative play is also big part of their day.

In addition, they take classes outside the home -- which, over this past year, have covered social studies (Isa learned about China through a play she participated in), science (a marine mammal biology class at our co-op), and technology (through a FIRST LEGO League team), to name a few. This is working well for us now, but who knows how our homeschooling will continue to evolve over the coming years?

For more information on these, and other homeschooling approaches, check out The Homeschool Diner. If you’d like to share the type of homeschooling you do in the comments section, especially if it’s one I missed, please do so!