Helping Your Children To

Succeed

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Home School Curriculum

Home schooling allows the parent and child to pick from three different approaches to teaching. Most home schooled children are exposed to all three approaches at some point. In a public or private school, teachers always plan the curriculum with textbooks. They usually follow the textbook chapter by chapter, sometimes skipping around. Home school students are taught three ways: textbook driven instruction, theme driven instruction, and interest driven instruction.

Textbook driven instruction follows each subject chapter by chapter. It is very structured and organized, which makes this approach the easiest for parents new to home schooling. With families of several children in different grades, this type of teaching is more difficult because it is more time consuming. There is not much flexibility in learning topics or variety; it is more like traditional teaching. This type of teaching focuses on drills and rote memory, instead of understanding. If your child enjoys following a workbook and memorizing details and facts or is task oriented and has a long attention span, this is the approach for him/her.

On the other hand, if your child has an inquisitive nature about the world around him/her and asks a lot of “why” questions with plenty of imagination and creativity maybe an interest driven approach will suit him/her better. This approach is for those students that despise structure and routine and prefer variety and spontaneity. Although this approach requires little to no academic planning, it is difficult to document. The child learns naturally and immediately and chooses what they want to learn in a curious way. The child literally becomes an expert in the topics they prefer by incorporating their entire environment as a learning experience.

The theme driven approach focuses on topics and how subjects affect people and life. Planning a curriculum can take more time and requires creativity. This approach is the easiest with a group of children of varying ages. Subjects are integrated in a real life way. For instance, if you are learning about China, the older students can learn the language and history of the country while the younger students can learn the culture, music, and geography.

All three approaches to teaching are often incorporated when home schooling. A child’s individuality and curiosity for learning often takes over and parents can adjust their curriculum. The main concern that a parent should have is not whether or not the child is

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on task with other children his/her age, but if the child is learning and understanding new subjects everyday.

Home Schooling and Socialization

When parents talk about home schooling their children, the most common concern is regarding socialization. Parents are concerned that their children will not learn how to adapt to social situations. Unless the home schooling parent decides to isolate their children completely from the outside world, this is impossible. In fact, children who are home schooled have more interaction with people of all ages, not just their age group. The average home schooled child attends more educational field trips during the year than the non home schooled child. In addition, home schooled children have more opportunities for after school activities, such as music lessons, sports, and hobbies.

Children who home school feel equally comfortable with younger children, peers, and adults of all ages. Children who home school have daily social interactions with the family, neighborhood and the community. Because of this, studies have shown that children who home school have higher self esteem. Children who attend school do not experience real world situations, while home schoolers are definitely more prepared for the real world.

The type of socialization that is experienced in schools is often negative. Large school settings harbor conformity, teasing, bullying, defiant behavior, popularity contests, and competition. No wonder home schooled children have higher self esteem; children at home are learning kindness, patience, sharing, respect, and understanding. These home schooled children are not exposed to peer influences which foster peer dependency. Peer dependant children show diminished positive socialization, such as self-worth, confidence, reverence for their parents, and trust in peers. Although home school children may play with other children in the neighborhood and experience this peer dependence, strong morals and values are being taught at home that override these negative experiences.

Home schooled children learn to listen to their own instincts and let that guide them to make their own decisions. Conforming to a peer social group that does not value individuality does not foster independent thinking, which is necessary for a successful life.

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Home Schooling Nine to Twelve Year Olds

When home schooling a child between nine and twelve years old, there is a lot of pressure for peer pressure. Keep in mind that not all children undergo this pressure to be with and like their peers, while distancing themselves from their parents. These preteens still need plenty of attention, eye contact, positive reinforcement and praise, personal communication, and good interaction with their parents. Believe it or not, children at this age do still enjoy being read to. Keep having positive attitudes toward learning; focus on making learning interesting and engaging. Make sure you use positive constructive criticism with the least amount of academic pressure possible. Focus on providing a safe, secure learning environment that encourages love, acceptance and reassurance. This will, in time, raise their feelings of self worth and help them understand where their values lie.

At this tender age of hormones, mixed emotions, changing feelings, group planning in curriculum is suggested. Preteens prefer learning skills that have a reason or purpose in real life. For instance, instead of offering busy work in language arts, ask your child to write a letter to a manufacturing company in regards to a defective household product for you. Not only would this make the child feel important but the learning task would be a skill much needed in real life. When learning math, use real life examples with money and budgeting, perhaps even balancing a checkbook. Use graphs and charts to set goals with earned money and savings. Reading about science from a textbook is one way to learn the subject, but performing experiments or identifying specimens in nature is much more engaging. Daily and weekly chores are necessary to learn responsibility and accountability as an integral part of the family.

Remember to always model what you want to teach. Learn new topics together. Dissect a grasshopper for science, work on the family budget together, etc. Home schooling allows parents to design a curriculum that benefits their children. Find out where your preteen has strengths and weaknesses and plan your curriculum around that.

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Home Schooling Six to Eight Year Olds

Whether a child has been to an institutionalized school or has been home schooled forever, many six to eight year olds enjoy learning. As a parent, understanding how your child learns, which temperament is their strongest, and what type of intelligence they excel in will greatly assist in the teaching/learning process. Six to eight year olds learn best when they are having fun. Reading to the child is essential to their learning experience. Read about a variety of subjects, such as animals, mystery, history, fantasy, classics, and adventures. Visit the library often and see what they offer. Some offer reading and art classes or other activities. Purchasing a phonics book will dramatically help your child to understand how words are phonetically read out loud.

Another lesson for this age group is writing skills. Although the child may have difficulty writing, they certainly can talk up a storm. Scribing for your child as they tell a story is a great way for them to see it written down. Have them draw pictures by the words that you have written for them. Narration is also a great tool to learning language skills. Read to your child and have them repeat in their own words what the story was about. Remember to keep all these lessons fun and stress free. Children learn at their own pace as long as there is daily practice there is nothing to worry about.

When working with arithmetic, try to incorporate a lot of real life situations, such as cooking, or trips to the grocery store, etc. Science is another subject that is learned best in its natural setting. Read about snakes and then go to a zoo to see some. Name all the animals at the zoo and then write about it later. See how many different birds are outside your home and try to name them. The hands on approach is often the easiest way to learn. Walk on the beach and name all the animals, hike in the mountains and notice the different landscapes, collect specimens, notice changing seasons, the world is a learning experience.

In addition, parents want to teach their children responsibility and accountability with household chores. This is an excellent way for child to learn that they are capable and that they are needed in the family.

Overall, children in this age group enjoy combining research with creative projects, such as crafts, costumes, foods, reports, place setting, home decorations, music, and imagination play. With every

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activity, each subject can be incorporated easily. A purchased curriculum is not necessary, learning is inevitable.

Home schooling Teenagers: Curriculum

When designing a curriculum for home schooled teenagers, parents cooperate with their teens and plan the school year together. Some parents prefer the traditional, text book driven curriculum, especially during the high school years because it opens up options for diplomas and college preparatory courses. A structured curriculum is not the only way to earn a diploma when home schooling. Other parents and teenagers prefer the interest driven curriculum, where teenagers are motivated to learn interesting subjects and apply it to the curriculum.

For college admissions, there are core courses that should be taken. English, math, science, and social studies should be worked on each year. Health, language, and fine arts are another batch of classes that should be included each academic year. This ensures a well rounded individual who has learned the essentials for the age level.

Parents should not be discouraged to pursue the interest driven approach while still completing the same college preparatory high school curriculum. Reading and writing is an essential part to communication, which is vital in society. Most homeschoolers read plenty of books and visit the library often; on average, home school students read many more books than the institutionalized student. After each book, the student writes an essay, and spelling lists are derived from misspelled words.

When it comes to math, home schoolers use real life math problems, such as consumer math, statistics, gaming and probability, recreational math, mental math, math history, and especially bookkeeping. Some students use math programs on the computer or Internet. With math, the repetitive practicing of problems is the only way to learn.

Science can be found anywhere, without a formal lab. Home schoolers visit hospitals, rivers, volcanoes (if they are lucky!), and any work place. Many attend camps and field trips and learn biology, botany and astronomy. When home schooling, students are open to so many more fields of interest such as: meteorology, paleontology, nutrition, health, equine science, herpetology, nature studies, engineering, physiology, and even psychology. This is why

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most home schooled students do not stick to a boring, limited textbook curriculum.

Home Schooling Teenagers: Preparing For College

Most of the high school years are spent preparing for college and discovering passions for future careers. This is a time when most home schoolers do not follow a textbook driven curriculum. Most home schoolers learn by interest driven curriculum and some students even become experts in their field.

There are diploma programs for home schoolers, which are equivalent to an institutionalized curriculum. But that is not the only option to provide learning. Many home schooled teens use selected correspondence courses in specific areas of interest, or take classes at community colleges, or use community education programs, home school cooperatives, or online classes on the Internet. Students have the opportunity to pursue what they enjoy, which usually involves extra training with a mentor or tutor, or special courses. There are advance placement courses online or by mail, county immediate school district programs, or private classes, the learning options are endless.

Teenagers should really focus their energies on schoolwork, excellent grades (and grade point average) and the direction they wish to take for a career. If a student is interested in pursuing a college degree, he/she should practice and prepare to take PSAT, SAT, and ACT. Some home schooled students get college credits for taking CLEP (College Level Examination Program) courses. Colleges are seeking students who are well rounded, who have a desire to learn and be a part of the community, and who excel in textbook studies.

Parents who home school their teenagers cannot teach them everything they are interested in learning. For instance, a student who is passionate about flying and aviation probably doesn’t have parents who are experts in this field. Mentorships, apprenticeships, and on the job training are necessary to better learn a skill or trade that is not found only in a textbook. Experience is more valuable than textbook memorization of subjects.

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Home Schooling Teenagers: What to expect

Home schooling a teenager is much different than home schooling a younger child. Teenagers usually know what they enjoy learning about and have a goal in mind about what they would like to do as a career. Home school is a great way to enhance and explore specific areas of expertise. Teenagers usually plan out their own curriculum and document their own record keeping, which teaches accountability. Most teens are capable of self study and self monitoring; they usually know where their strengths and weaknesses lie.

Teenagers should be making decisions on what they plan to do after school. They may plan on going to college, military, community college, or maybe something else. College is just one option. Interest, passions, hobbies, past times can all be turned into a career. A parent should research career options with your teenager by their gut feelings and instincts and nothing else. Do not let anything else get in the way of an intense passion that your child holds. Even if it is something you think will not make enough income, it is a passion. When someone does what they love, money comes.

This is a time during home school years that a parent may wonder if they can keep their children at home. Parents need to find out about diploma options. Some home schooled teenagers receive a GED, which stands for general education development, and is equivalent to a high school diploma. Parents may also research about college preparatory curriculums and classes that may supplement their home studies.

During these teenage years, it is crucial to include the student in as many extracurricular activities as possible. Some activities may include: sports, working in a family business, self-employment, tutoring, community memberships, local arts productions, etc. Keep good documentation of awards, essays, interviews, and recommendations for future college requirements.

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Home Schooling Three to Five Year Olds

Parents who decide to home school their pre-school children have researched the value of teaching your own children at home. Beginning home school at the pre-school age is an excellent way to get the parent and the child used to the idea of learning at home. This is also a great way to ease into learning how to teach and organize the home school schedule. The child is not used to attending a school; therefore there is no adjustment period. Also, pre-school children are incredibly easy to teach because it is mostly in playing that they learn.

When creating a tailored preschool curriculum, parents provide a safe environment with interactive toys. Believe it or not, the parent is the child’s first teacher. Children at this age imitate everything their parents do by observation, playing, helping, talking, and listening. Reading to children at this age is one of the best ways to develop avid readers. At this age, a standardized curriculum isn’t necessary. Children learn from coloring, cutting, pasting, counting, singing, rhymes, games, playing with clay, playing in the playground, and learning to get along with others. It is important to include some of these activities daily in an unstressed, relaxed manner. Children at this age need your love and attention more than they need academics and structure.

The key to learning at this age is to provide a lot of hands on projects, particularly with arts and crafts. Many children in this age group have play dates where they meet with other children and go to parks, farms, even shopping trips. Pre-schoolers love to be included in everything you do, whether it be emptying the dishwasher, or sorting mail, and especially baking. Even though it may seem that their short attention span doesn’t allow for intense learning, they are learning real life experiences.

Legal Requirements

Parents who home school do not have to have an advanced degree. There are a few qualifications of successful home school parents: love for their children, understanding of their children, desire to keep learning and growing, desire to spend time with their children. Although it may seem awkward at first, especially if your child has been in a public or private school, teaching will eventually become second hand. Parents need to learn flexibility and also organization at the same time. Open communication and a strong bond between parent and child is key to successful home schooling.

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Home schooling is legal in every state in the United States. Each state has its own guidelines for home schooling. There are also plenty of support groups for parents who home school. Some private schools offer home school support and/or curriculum. After school group activities, such as sports, or science are also offered by several different programs. Friends and family can also help with home education. Sometimes there are co-op home school groups, where one person teaches math and another parent teaches history.

There are also support groups for parents of home schoolers who feel burned out or frustrated. There is guidance on teaching and teaching classes parents can take. Continued education helps a parent feel confident in their teaching skills. But keep in mind that every parent in a teacher at some point, it is unavoidable when you are a parent.

Parents document the progress of their home schooled children with testing, some are annual, and some are alternative assessments. Keeping records of your child’s daily activities and learning is essential to monitoring the child’s progress. When parents find it difficult to teach a certain subject, they turn to private tutors, online classes, CD tutorials or community college classes to supplement their studies.

Teaching Your Child

Each child has a unique way of learning. The three learning modalities are the sensory channels we use to obtain and process information. Visual learners process information best with pictures and diagrams; these children learn best seeing things. Auditory learners learn best by listening and discussing things. Kinesthetic learners learn best with a hands on approach. Most children learn through all three learning modalities.

Temperament theory states that all people differ in their interests, attitudes, judgments, and perceptions. This greatly affects how we want to learn, what we want to learn, and the way we learn. When a parent learns what their child temperament style is, they can plan out how to effectively teach their child. There are four temperament styles: where the attention is focused, how information is acquired, how decisions are made, and work habits and lifestyle. The child is either extroverted or introverted, which means either focusing on outside objects, people events or inner

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world of ideas. The child is either sensing, which means the child acquires information from the senses (concrete and present) or intuition, which focuses on insight, inspiration, future, and possibility. The child either makes decisions based on logical analysis and cause and effect (thinking) or on personal values and the affect on the self (feeling). Lastly, the child prefers their life to be orderly and structured (judging) or spontaneous and flexible (perceiving).

Howard Gardner, originator of multiple intelligences, defines seven kinds of intelligence. Most children have strengths in two or three of them and need work on the rest. One kind of intelligence is verbal/linguistic, which is speaking and reading. Another type of intelligence is logical/mathematical, which is concepts and abstract patterns. Another kind of intelligence is visual/special which is thinking in images, pictures, shapes, and colors. Another kind of intelligence is musical, such as rhythm, pitch, melody and harmony. Another type of intelligence is bodily/kinesthetic, which is touch, making, and doing. And yet another type of intelligence is interpersonal, which is relating and cooperating with people. Last but not least is intrapersonal, which is independence and self-motivation.

Learning how your child perceives the world around him/her and learns will allow you to maximize their intellectual strengths and teach them effectively.

Home Schooling: Cost Analysis

When parents decide to educate their children at home, it usually costs much less than either a private or a public institution. By home schooling your child, you will save time and gas because there is no commuting involved. There is also less or no expense for day care due to one parent staying home full time. In addition, clothing is inexpensive because there is no pressure to keep up with fashion trends. Home school expenses include books and supplies, which can be very reasonable, especially when you use your local library. Eating meals at home is also cheaper and much healthier than either buying meals at school or making lunches for school. Other expenses include music lessons, sport supplies, and other fees for hobbies. Computer equipment and programs are also an extra expense. Some parents who home school also pay for private tutoring to supplement their teaching.

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Public schools have no tuition and do not charge for books, but parents must pay for supplies. Extracurricular activities also have fees associated with them, same fees as home schooling. Children who attend public school can either ride the bus, which is free, or commute to school, which can be costly with rising gas prices. Sometimes, there is a fee for computer classes in public school, depending on the school. Lunches cost more, especially when parents do not know if their children are throwing the food away or sharing it with other children. Clothing expenses are high because of peer pressure and popularity. Often, parents need day care for their children until they are done with work.

Private schools do charge tuition, which is usually $1000 to $5000 per year, depending on the school. Private school also charges for books, but not usually supplies. Music and art lessons are usually included in tuition. Computer software is an extra fee, along with any sport supplies or after school programs. Private schools do not offer transportation, so that is an extra expense.

Overall, parents who home school spend the least amount of money, while parents who private school spend the most. On the other hand, when a parent decides to home school, a full time job is usually out of the question (or very difficult to include in a daily schedule). This means there is less income in the family. Nevertheless, the choice to home school should be based on your child’s ability to thrive and learn in a home setting or school setting.

Why Home School Your Child

Many parents are nervous about sending their children to school, whether it is public or private. Bringing firearms to school was completely unheard of twenty years ago, but today it is alarmingly probable. Therefore, parents are afraid to send their children to school where there is violence, bullying, teasing, and possible physical abuse taking place. Girls are being raped in school; boys are getting beaten up, and this happens more often than you think. No wonder more children are being educated at home, there is about a 15 percent increase each year.

Another reason parents decide to home school their children is due to religious affiliations. Many parents want to encourage religious beliefs and morals on a daily basis. Other parents want to keep their children from being exposed to inappropriate behaviors, such as kissing, hitting, or even sex. Most parents that home school monitor the types and amount of television and/or movies that their

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children watch. This ensures that the child is being exposed to only positive, valuable lessons in life.

Children who home school bond with their parents and siblings and spend plenty of time together. They build strong relationships that carry on through the rest of their lives. Learning together each day is fun when you home school with your parents. There are no bullies and no one who teases just because a math problem is difficult to understand. There are plenty of real life field trips to the post office, grocery store, or dry cleaners. Life skills are being taught daily through cooking, gardening and possibly balancing checkbooks. Home school children have more time to devote to extra curricular activities because time is saved at home. There is no commute and no waiting for the teacher to answer a question or discipline a misbehaved child. Most parents would agree that home school provides a strong academic foundation that cannot be achieved in a school, where individualization is not possible. At home, parents can address their child’s specific learning needs, abilities, and pace. An interest driven curriculum can be assigned at home, so that the child has a desire to learn what they want. In a structured school setting, all children follow the same textbook curriculum at the same pace, even if some children are behind or ahead of the class. The individualized education children receive from their parents allows them to reach their full learning potential with educational achievement and personal fulfillment.

More information on how to help your children to succeed in all subject areas in school/homeschool:

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