Once we decided that we were going to homeschool, we had to decide how we wanted to accomplish this goal.
I am not new to the idea of homeschooling. I have a lot of family members that have chosen to homeschool. Their children are all shining examples of why homeschooling can be just as good —and in some cases better—than a public or private school education!
Don’t take that the wrong way! I am not saying everyone should homeschool! I am just saying that when someone starts trashing homeschoolers I always use my family as an example of how it can work. My cousin just graduated from MEDICAL SCHOOL. He was homeschooled from Kindergarten all the way through to 12th grade and went to college on partial scholarships. Now he is married, has two adorable little boys and serves his country in the military as a doctor. What better example of successful homeschooling can you get than that?
What I did not realize was that there are LOTS of different types of homeschooling.
There is traditional homeschooling where you buy a curriculum, several different curriculums, or even make up your own and teach your children at home.
There is “un-schooling” where life is your classroom. Wikipedia says that “Unschooling is a range of educational philosophies and practices centered on allowing children to learn through their natural life experiences, including play, game play, household responsibilities, work experience, and social interaction, rather than through a more traditional school curriculum. There are some who find it controversial. Unschooling encourages exploration of activities, often initiated by the children themselves, facilitated by the adults. Unschooling differs from conventional schooling principally in the thesis that standard curricula and conventional grading methods, as well as other features of traditional schooling, are counterproductive to the goal of maximizing the education of each child.” I personally had to check that one out a lot. The idea made sense, but I just wanted to make sure I understood the concept.
The latest variation of homeschooling seems to be the online school. There are so many different variations of online school. There are private schools offering their curriculum online. There are companies offering curriculums that have no attachment to a specific school. There are companies that are contracting with various states and school districts to offer at home public and charter school curriculums online. That means you are still technically part of the public school system.
How do you pick the right one for your child? What are the pros and cons? Well that answer is endless, but I will share a few of my thoughts on the matter. Here is a list of some things to consider when deciding what type of homeschooler you want to be:
- How old are your children? Are you starting with Pre-K or Kindergarten or are you like me and starting half way through their academic career?
- Are you financially ready to spend the money to buy a curriculum? Depending on what curriculum you choose, whether it is a traditional curriculum that you order or pick up in an education store, you can easily drop a few hundred and even over a $1,000 on a curriculum.
- Do you feel like you are ready to be your child’s educator? Do you have the support of your immediate family? I ask this question because having the support of your spouse or significant other makes a huge difference.
- Are you motivated to do be on a basic schedule and reach the goals needed to make sure your child is receiving the education he or she deserves.
- What topics do you want covered or don’t want covered in the curriculum? Example: some people want to add a religious aspect, others want no religious influence and some homeschoolers I have met want to make sure that this nothing related to sexual education in their curriculum.
- Are you willing and able to take the extra steps to find and attend extracurricular activities to cover music, art, P.E., foreign languages and sports? Some curriculums have some of this built in and some don’t. Most of the time, you will need to research and find out what activities are available to homeschoolers. I can tell you there are literally HUNDREDS of groups, co-ops, classes, activities and events in the Metro OKC area for homeschoolers!
Those are just a few things to think about.
Next time I will tell you all about the type of homeschooling we choose for our son and why. I will also share some of the pros and cons we have discovered since making our choice.
