Homeschooling is Different from Classroom Teaching

This is Chapter 5 of the book “The Basics of Learning and Homeschooling” and the course by the same name, which includes videos and more.

Homeschooling is Different from Classroom Teaching

Homeschooling is different from classroom schooling in a variety of ways.

Unlike teaching in an institutional school setting, you may choose the way you want to do everything in your homeschool. It is up to you to decide how you want to teach, what to teach, when to teach, where you want to teach and what kind of atmosphere you want to create in your homeschool.

No tests or grades or grade levels are necessary.

You may choose to use them or not. You could just identify areas that are not mastered or learned well enough yet and work on learning them better. In the early years, many people are very comfortable with letting their children learn in a more natural way at their own pace. You can get a general outline or list of skills that are taught in a cumulative way, meaning they build on each other, and use that to go by. Or you can use books at a certain grade level that corresponds more or less with the age of your child and teach the topics that are covered in that book. There are many ways to determine what you should teach your child when. Some people feel that giving grades is a way of rewarding externally when children should really learn because they want to know something or they have internal motivation to accomplish goals and master skills.

In homeschooling, students do less comparing themselves to other students.

Kids can build up confidence in their abilities. They aren’t constantly compared to other kids. If a brother or sister is better at something, the teacher (mother) can explain, “They’re older than you are” or “You’re really good at this other thing”. There isn’t that feeling of being not as smart or being in competition with others but just doing the best that you can. You just do your personal best.

Individualized Education

Each student is valued as an individual and is instructed in a manner that lines up with his skills and interests.

You don’t need a big chalkboard or even whiteboard usually. Most things can just be written on a regular sheet of paper and explained one on one.

It’s more like a tutoring situation than a group situation. It’s easy for the teacher to give a lot more focused attention to each student.

More Efficient Use of Time

Far less time is wasted on bathroom and hall passes and class management, discipline, negative interaction between students, distraction, excessive noise and talking than at school. Since we don’t have any in homeschool. (Or at least we shouldn’t have many of these things!)

Kids don’t get frustrated by having to learn things they are not interested in.

They don’t have to wait for others in the class to finish before they can move on. Each student can move at their own pace.

We have no arbitrary or artificial time constraints as homeschoolers.

Your school time does not have to look ANYTHING like public school or any other classroom arrangement.

Make it Your Own

So throw away your ideas of what school should look like and figure out what works best for you and your family. There are lots of books to read about different styles and philosophies and methods to use in homeschooling. You should read and compare them and see what appeals to you the most and feels like the best fit.

Action steps:

1. Consider the way you think about education. Read some books about different philosophies and approaches to homeschooling. Check your library to see if they have some. If not, check homeschool cataogs. They will have books that cover Charlotte Mason, scheduling, curriculum, and basic how-to-homeschool topics.

2. Really think about how you learn. Consider your learning style and the learning styles of your kids. Consider the way that you feel most comfortable teaching. Do you want to lecture at a white board? Do you want to sit right next to your child and work with them side by side? Do you want them to be more independent as soon as possible? Do you want everything in a teacher’s manual spelled out for you to do and say each day? Or would you prefer to put together books from the library to cover a subject through stories that tell about a particular subject, place, time or event in history, or person that you want your child to learn about?