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Why Homeschooling Works Pt. 5: Environment
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How many of us remember our first day of school each year? We spent time carefully choosing the right outfit to wear. We wondered which teacher we would have. Would we get along with our new teacher, or would he or she be too hard or too strict? Would we know anyone in our class, or would we have to meet all new friends?
And then once the school year began, we had to maneuver the social nuances that affected the school day. Would we become the butt of a class joke or face embarrassment in P.E. class? Would we become the object of the class bully’s terror? Would we thrive or sink in the face of the academic and social pressure?
Those were our issues. We lived them and perhaps, barring extreme cases, they made us stronger… or so we thought. But consider: Did any of this add to your education? Did forcing you to endure the taunting of a bully really prepare you for life, and even if you did learn a valuable lesson from it, was it necessary? Did you need that experience to become a productive, intelligent person? Probably not.
Did you need the noise and distractions that came with a class of 20-30 students, all with different interests, opinions, learning styles, communication styles and abilities, to learn? Was that really the best way for you to learn? Not necessarily.
And guess what? Schools are getting harder. More and more children are coming forward to confirm that they are struggling under the pressures of standardized tests, social nuances, peer expectations, and more.
And for the critic who would say that we shouldn’t shelter our children from the “real world,” I say, “Why not?” I can safely say that because at one time, I was one of those critics. No, I didn’t want to throw my children to the lions, but I did want them to learn how to maneuver challenging situations. But then I stopped to really think about how I live today. If I meet someone who doesn’t share my values, do I continue to interact with them? No. Then why should I expect my children to do any different? Are their social experiences any less impacting because they are under the age of 18? Of course not.
Creating a safe, nurturing environment is not the absence of teaching social grace. It is teaching in an atmosphere that encourages reasoning, character building and life skills. It is helping children see, from a young age, what is and is not acceptable. It is helping them know how to handle the unacceptable. Through their parents’ examples, children can learn what is normal. When challenges arise with friends or other encounters (and yes, homeschoolers do and should have many social opportunities), parents can provide the direction needed for their children to comprehend and deal with the situation. This isn’t the absence of education; it is, in fact, the benefit of it.
Our homes have been places of learning for the years leading up to school age. It is only logical that they would continue to be places of learning once formal training begins. It is in that safe and nurturing environment that they have thrived for several years, and it is in that safe and nurturing environment that they can continue to thrive.
Photo: After School Special by iboy_daniel
Why Homeschooling Works Pt. 4: Tailored Curriculum
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No two children are the same. Even in the same family, children can vary greatly. And it’s not simply their gender. It’s their likes, their dislikes, their strengths, their weakness, even the way they assimilate information. Understanding this allows parents to choose curriculum that helps their children learn in effective ways.
Learning at home doesn’t have to be a one-size-fits-all approach, something that is typically found in traditional schools. Parents are able to look at their child’s learning style to determine what kind of curriculum works. Does their child learn best with hands-on activities or from visual material? Does their child thrive on social interaction, or does he prefer solitary pursuits? These kinds of questions are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to homeschooling.
Choosing curriculum can get even more specialized. One parent I know has a child who loves airplanes. His entire room is papered with pictures of jets and aircrafts, and he dreams of one day becoming a pilot. This allows his mother to work her child’s passion into his education. He’s able to study about the history and science of flight. In a traditional school, he might learn the dates when flight became possible, but in a homeschool setting learning can come alive with biographies and documentaries about the Wright brothers or Amelia Earhart. This not only impacts his knowledge of history, but it also allows him to improve his reading and writing skills. In time, he can explore the physics of flight and the math needed to achieve it. The possibilities are endless.
There’s also the added benefit of working engaging subjects into your child’s repertoire. A parent whose child has a penchant for music can add music into the child’s regular schedule. The same goes for art, dance, drama or sports. No longer must these pursuits be tagged on as after-school activities. Instead, parents can work them into their core curriculum along with reading, writing and arithmetic.
Every child can benefit from this individualized pursuit. Younger children may need to defer these kinds of decisions to their parents, but older children can join the discussion to decide how to best integrate their interests into their education. Not only does this help build upon the God-given talents that exist in every child, but it creates a passion for learning.
Homeschooling gives parents the opportunities to look beyond merely filling their child’s mind with a list of facts. It’s more than teaching their child how to write a passable sentence, succeed at a standardized test or even gain entrance to a certain university. Instead, homeschooling allows parents to create in their children a love of learning that lasts far beyond graduation day.
Tailoring curriculum empowers parents to do just that. Yes, their children will learn how to read, write and compute, but more than that, it helps unlock their learning and prepares them for life by allowing them to develop the talents that they naturally have.
Don’t miss the Part 5 of Why Homeschooling Works when I’ll discuss the benefits of learning in a Nurturing and Safe Environment.
Why Homeschooling Works Pt. 3: Individualized Pacing
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Sitting at my kitchen table, I listened to my friend share about the challenges her son was having with his fifth-grade math class. The school had opted for a new curriculum the previous year and Brandon* had struggled to learn his assignments. The school had obviously already noticed a problem because they were returning to a traditional math curriculum in subsequent years, but until then, Brandon was on his own.
“It’s not the same method we learned in school,” she said. “He doesn’t understand it; I don’t even understand it. So I can’t help him.”
“What does his book say?” I asked.
“He doesn’t have a book. He has a packet of worksheets that he has to finish throughout the year. He’s supposed to take notes in class, but he doesn’t understand what’s being taught well enough to take good notes.”
Then she said something that saddened me. “It’s affecting his self-esteem,” she said. “He thinks he dumb.”
My friend was facing a situation that can easily be avoided in the homeschool setting. When a homeschooled child struggles with material, the parent has the option of changing curriculum—even mid-year—or taking extra time for her child to learn the material.
In this situation, a whole new approach may be the best choice, but there is the option of taking a slower pace. It’s one of the beauties of homeschooling: You, as the parent, set the pace.
Math is a great example of a subject that may require extra practice. How many students are under the impression that they are “bad at math” when, in fact, they may simply have missed learning the steps needed for more difficult computations? Instead, they received a passing grade and moved on to the next grade or lesson while barely understanding the previous material. Before long their work became riddled with mistakes, convincing them that they just didn’t get it. The homeschool student can avoid this because they can take the time to master the material at each stage.
By the same token, the sky’s the limit with a student who excels at a subject. A child who grasps a subject’s concepts quickly needn’t be bogged down with repetitive practice. A student who readily masters math concepts can move more quickly through the material, preventing boredom and frustration from setting in.
Traditional schools teach the same curriculum to students in a particular grade level. If a child is a second grader, he will complete second grade curriculum for all subjects. Of course, children have different strengths. Some eight-year-olds indeed work at a second-grade level for all subjects. Others naturally understand one subject and should work at a higher level. Still others need additional time or to work at a lower level.
Reading, for example, sometimes comes to girls more quickly than to boys. Giving your daughter the opportunity to read early and your son the option of reading when he is ready—possibly a year or two after your daughter—encourages confidence in both children. Neither is saddled with a label like “gifted” or “slow.” They are simply working at their own pace.
Allowing students to work at their own pace makes for successful students, satisfied parents and an overall positive educational experience. Next time, I’ll discuss another reason for homeschooling’s success: Tailoring Curriculum. Be sure to stop back by.
*Names have been changed.
Why Homeschooling Works Pt. 2: Parent/Child Relationship
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Billy Graham once said, “Only God Himself fully appreciates the influence of a Christian mother in the molding of character in her children.” For the homeschooling mother (or father), the same can be said of molding a child’s education. And to that molding process, the homeschooling parent brings a distinct advantage: No one knows a child better.
As parents, we understand our child’s personality, moods, likes and dislikes like no one else. We often see ourselves—our reasoning, our personality traits, even our shortcomings—in them. We understand what makes them tick, and we know how to reach them.
The same can’t be said for teachers in an institutional setting. Each year teachers are confronted with 20-30 new faces. Instead of focusing on individuals—something time and logistics simply doesn’t permit—the teacher instead focuses on lesson plans, their own teaching style, classroom management and the score and sequence established by the state or institution.
A homeschooling parent, by contrast, can focus on the individual child. How can I best teach this information to my child? is a question they consider. And the answer to that question changes for each of their children.
A veteran homeschooling mother recently admitted to me that in her quest to teach phonics to her young son, she gathered his most treasured toys, his Star Wars action figures, adopted her best Anakin Skywalker voice and presented the information yet again. With rapt attention, her son, who had before struggled with the concepts, quickly joined the fun and answered all of Anakin’s questions. The mom smiled. “You do what you have to do,” she said simply.
No school, no matter how progressive, would have been able to teach her son in such a creative and fun way. No teacher would have known the key to opening her child’s mind to the information. Why? Because like most parents, she knows her child. Parents know when something isn’t working. They know when their child isn’t giving 100%. They know when their child has hit a wall with a new concept. They know when that child finally has a breakthrough. They know when their child is tired and in need of a break. Why? Because they are parents.
Taking on the education of your child may seem daunting, but the reward of watching her grow, persevere and understand is a treasure. No teacher will appreciate that quite like you because, after all, you are the parent and no one knows your child better.
Next time, I’ll share another reason for homeschooling’s success when I discuss the beauty of Individualized Pacing.
Why Homeschooling Works Pt. 1: Tutorial Relationship
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In a study conducted by the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI), homeschool students outperformed their public school counterparts by an average of more than 30% on standardized tests. Those living in the homeschooling world see the viability and success of this form of education each day, but thankfully, that statistic may silence critics. With such strong showings, it simply can’t be denied that homeschooling is a viable educational choice in the 21st century. But what makes it so successful? The answer has to begin with the simplicity of the environment and the low teacher to student ratio, a.k.a the Tutorial Relationship.
Think back to your own educational experience. If you were like most of us, you attended a public or private school with one teacher and 20-30 students. That ratio of 1 to 20 or 30 is limiting. Such an environment doesn’t allow for lots of hands-on learning or out-of-the-box activities. It doesn’t allow the teacher to step into the world of each student with the goal of reaching that student in a way that speaks to the individual.
Instead, the teacher is forced to teach in a way that reaches as many students as possible in as little time as possible. It’s kind of a shotgun approach to teaching—throw it out there in the best possible way and hit as many targets as you can. This is not a rant on the inadequacies of modern education. It is simply how it must be for such a high ratio. Given the same situation, most of us would likely resort to a similar approach. Even in families with multiple children, the ratio is still only one to two or three or five—much smaller than public or even private schooling.
In a one-on-one homeschooling relationship, the parent is able to present the material in an individualized manner. If the child doesn’t catch it, they can approach the material from another angle, working in tandem with the student until the information is understood.
Homeschool parents also don’t have to rely on traditional testing to reveal whether or not their child has understood the material. Instead, because of the tutorial relationship, the parent can talk to their child about what she understood. There is no “falling through the cracks” for homeschooled students. You likely won’t hear about a homeschooled teenager who is functionally illiterate, a growing concern in America, because his parent has worked so closely with him that any reading or writing problem would have come to light at a very young age.
The tutorial relationship offers any child—no matter how bright or how challenged and regardless of need—the opportunity to learn in an atmosphere that caters to the individual. It is a powerful learning tool and one that makes homeschooling ideal for many children.
Next time we’ll discuss another reason for homeschooling’s success, which is the Parent/Child Dynamic. Quite simply, no one knows your child as well as you do, so be sure to check back.
Photo: AA034961 by arlingtonva
How To Homeschool
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More and more parents are choosing homeschooling as the educational choice for their children. These families are, in fact, growing at rate of 7-12% per year. Some do it to uphold their religious beliefs. Others choose to homeschool for the academic possibilities or to protect their children from potentially harmful atmospheres in public schools, and still others are left little choice because their children have special needs that can’t be addressed in traditional schools. Regardless of the reasons, understanding how to homeschool is a necessary step toward deciding if it is a viable option for you. And while homeschooling is very personal and can be tailored based on needs, learning styles and time constraints, knowing how to homeschool—the basic steps of getting started—is vital. Let’s look at the first steps that every family who wants to know how to homeschool successfully should take.
Step 1 Have a Heart-to-Heart with Yourself (and possibly your child)
Homeschooling is a wonderful opportunity for you, as a parent, to invest in your children, but it is a big responsibility. In addition to the typical responsibilities that come with parenting, you will have the added pressure of educating your children. This requires time and patience. It means that your children will be with you most of the time, leaving you less time to devote to your other obligations or work. And as your child’s primary teacher, you will need to create lesson plans and present material. As rewarding as it is—and yes, it truly is an amazing journey—deciding to homeschool your children should not be made lightly. Accepting that it is a calling, and not merely a vocation, can carry you through many a trying time.
If your child is of a reasonable age, include them in this decision. They have the most to gain from your new relationship as teacher and student. They should be on board with your decision in order to make your homeschooling experience successful.
Step 2 Discover Your Legal Rights
Homeschooling is legal in all 50 states, but each state has its own laws. Some states require you to formally withdraw your child from school or register your child as a homeschooler. Others dictate mandatory testing. Become familiar with your state’s requirements to make your transition easier. The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) offers a state chart on their website to help you.
Step 3 Educate Yourself
Once you decide to make the leap, begin educating yourself on homeschooling. Read books on homeschooling—its philosophy and how to adjust it to best meet your family’s needs. Cathy Duffy’s book 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum is a good place to start for identifying your homeschooling goals and narrowing down the overwhelming amount of curriculum that’s available.
Of course, books are great, but nothing compares to talking to other homeschool parents. Visit a workshop or contact a homeschooling support group in your area. Many offer mentorships for new families. You’ll not only gain insider’s tips but also encouragement that you really can do teach your children.
Step 4 Choose Your Curriculum
After reading the books, visiting a workshop and talking to veteran homeschoolers, you’ll already be narrowing down your curriculum choices or at least the type of curriculum that interests you. To make your final decision, visit a local homeschool curriculum store or conference. Curriculum publishers are on-hand during conferences to educate you about their products. However, it’s a good idea to have a general idea of which curriculum or curriculum style you like before attending as conferences are often large and overwhelming to newbies.
It’s important to point out that not all homeschoolers use a formal curriculum. Many choose, instead, to use the resources of their local libraries to educate their children. While this approach doesn’t require you to purchase curriculum, you’ll still need to develop your education plan based on your resources, educational goals and children’s age.
Step 5 Make Your Lesson Plans
Now that you have your curriculum, begin planning your school year. Be sure to plan for any holidays, breaks or field trips. Remember to keep your expectations realistic. Again, veteran homeschoolers can help keep you grounded in this area. Once you have your plans, curriculum and materials, you’ll be ready to begin the amazing, family-transforming journey called homeschooling. Happy Educating!
<a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0805431381?ie=UTF8&tag=homepassion-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0805431381″>100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum: Choosing the Right Educational Philosophy for Your Child’s Learning Style</a><img src=”http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=homepassion-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0805431381″ width=”1″ height=”1″ border=”0″ alt=”" style=”border:none !important; margin:0px !important;” />