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Beyond Learning level tiers. Yes You Can Do This From Home! The Future of Learning is Finally Here! With or Without a Computer!
These days, the homeschooling movement is on the rise, with more and more people accepting it as a viable option for educating their children. If you are researching how to homeschool or receive extra help from home, here is the information you need to get started. There are 6 main areas that I’d consider important to examine as you start the journey:
1) Know the Reasons
2) Understand the Rules
3) Find Support
4) Choose Curriculum
5) Have a Plan
6) Never Stop Learning
Let’s explore them together.
Step One: Know Your Reasons Why.
Every homeschooler has a story about why they chose this journey. Not everyone has the same journey or reasons for starting to homeschooling, but it’s important to know what your personal reasons are. Write them down, make sure they are visible, and then use them to feel confident in your decision.
Why is this the very first step?
Because you will have days where people question you and make you doubt. Or your child and you fight and you wonder if you should keep going. Or life feels overwhelming and you don’t know if you can do this anymore. Having that clear why means that you can remind yourself of your reasons and can keep pushing through rough days or doubt with clarity.
Step Two: Understand the Rules.
Although homeschooling anywhere is completely legal, each province and territory has their own set of regulations and expectations surrounding homeschool. It is important that you familiarize yourself with what your province/territory requires. The last thing you want is to have a conflict that could cause big troubles for your family and your intent to educate at home.
Step Three: Get Support
Another very important key to homeschooling success is to build yourself a support system. But why, and how, should you find support?
In today’s technological world, support groups aren’t just limited to the homeschoolers in your local community. We are able to connect with homeschooling families from around the world through online groups – opening up a whole new set of support networks that didn’t exist not that long ago. We’re able to find people from all walks of life who are experiencing the same day-to-day struggles, successes, and questions we have.
A homeschool support group traditionally consists of several homeschool families that get together in person for various meetings or events, with the purpose of providing opportunities for kids to interact with other homeschooled kids, parents to connect socially, and to get access to things like field trips or classes. Having real-life, in-person friends that you can meet with can mean the difference between success and burn out for homeschooling parents. It’s important to have that support system in place to have your back
Step Four: Choose Curriculum.
Now comes the part that most new (and many experienced) homeschoolers find overwhelming: Choosing curriculum.
Before you dive headfirst into the (potentially bottomless) world of homeschooling books and resources, I recommend that you start by researching two things: your child’s learning style and the various homeschooling methods. Choosing to consider these two areas first will help you narrow down your curriculum search and make it more personalized to your child’s needs and your teaching preferences.
Learning Styles are typically divided into 3 main options: visual, auditory, and kinetic. This is really simplifying it as learning styles can be very complex, but this is generally a good place to start.
- Visual = seeing.
- Auditory = hearing.
- Kinetic = moving/doing.
You will find you are better able to narrow down how your child best learns as your journey progresses, but for now – it’s a bit of a chance to use your observation skills and see how your child understands the world around them.
Now, it’s time to take what you’ve learnt about your child and combine it with your own teaching style and preference. There are many different ways to homeschool. Here are some of the main ones:
• School at Home (or Traditional) – Basically the public school system brought into your home, this method involves textbooks and notebooks – just like your child would at school.
• Classical – Dividing childhood up into three segments based on their natural abilities, this language-centred method involves a lot of rote fact learning in the early years when children love memorization, followed by application of logic in the middle years and rhetoric in more advanced grades.
• Brian Kim – Following the teachings of Brian Kim, who believed that children should love to learn and as teachers we should facilitate that. This method uses living books – typically fiction books that bring people and events to life.
• Unschooling – Also referred to as child-led or delight-directed learning, unschooling allows a child’s interest, passions, and life experiences be the driving force behind their education, instead of a curriculum plan.
• Unit Studies – Focusing on one topic at a time and connecting other subjects such as science, history, language, etc together based on that one subject.
• Online or Video Schooling – Technologically based, this method uses either a website or video that leads the kids through instructions and lessons, with various different activities and reviews.
• Montessori – Based on the research of Dr. Maria Montessori, this method involves creating an environment that fosters and stimulates children to learn through self-discovery and exploration.
• Eclectic – Combining the parts of any of the above methods, or using their own style, this method involves a mix and match approach to learning, personalizing everything to the child’s learning.
If you are pulling your child out of the school system, you might hear the word “deschooling” mentioned by veteran homeschoolers. Deschooling is when you take a period of time off from the mindset and structured life that happens with public schooling. It means dropping all formal education and letting your kid be free to do whatever they want for a while – allow them to be aimless, be OK with them doing nothing all day, leave them to play, explore, and pursue their own interests without the pressure of school. The challenging part of this experience is your own personal preconceived expectations of education and learning. It’s hard to let go – even for a little while. Spend the time with your child and get to know them better before getting into the plans of homeschooling.
To date, there are no specific curricula available to just pick up and use out of the box. Most homeschoolers choose to either use and adapt an American curriculum or mix and match to piece together their own. There are a LOT of options to choose from and it’s very easy to get overwhelmed. This is why it’s really important to get to know your child and your teaching style before you start looking for options.
A simple search engine search for homeschool curriculum will yield you a wide collection of options – which will probably lead you to run away screaming. Reading reviews of products is a great way to get feedback on what works and what doesn’t for different homeschooling families. Read the testimonials on the company website, search for homeschooling blog reviews, see if there are any YouTube videos of people using the product. If you can go to a homeschool conference, take the opportunity to meet the vendors, check out the materials, and chat with other homeschoolers about what they like and don’t like.
Step Five: Have a Plan
Although different provincial regulations and teaching methods require different amounts of detail for plans, actually having some sort of plan is definitely essential to every homeschool. [Yes, even unschoolers!] This could be as structured as knowing exactly what you are going to every day, or it could be a more loose plan of general themes, topics, or a daily schedule. Once you find a planning method that works for you, stick with it. It will make this homeschool journey much easier for both you, your kids, and any record keeping you need or want to do.
Homeschool Planning: The Ultimate Guide To Planning Your Homeschool Year by Global Writing Networks
When you first start homeschooling, you need to have a plan about where in your home your child is going to “do school.” Many people just use their kitchen or dining room table, especially at first. When you start feeling more comfortable in your learning – you will probably find that homeschooling happens all over the house (or even not in the house at all!) Avoid the temptation of sinking large amounts of money on a designated homeschool room, expensive furniture, and piles of supplies off the start – wait until you settle into your homeschooling styles and routine to see what would work best for your family. The only furniture you may want to consider is a bookshelf – this will be very handy!
Step Six: Never Stop Learning
This section is called “Never Stop Learning” because, honestly, that’s the base of it all: Learning. And I’m not talking about the kids. I’m talking about us. The teacher. We have so much we need to learn as we walk this journey. Homeschooling offers us so many opportunities to develop ourselves in our areas of weakness – whether that be skills in patience, communication, or even math! As parents and teachers, we need to role model a spirit of learning and curiosity so our children will follow suit.
How To Homeschool: Conclusion
In general, homeschooling is pretty easy. Hopefully, these 6 steps will help you feel more confident in your search for more information about how to homeschool. If you need more information from here, I recommend you email us at awardessays@gmail.com