Choosing the Best Home Schooling Curriculum
How to Sift Through all of the Home School Resources Available
Aug 14, 2009
Many parents who decide to home-school for the first time construct a rigid program of bookwork, panicked by the idea that they may not be keeping up with what is required to keep up with grade level requirements.
Homeschooling – Questions to Ask
- What subjects does the child enjoy and in which way does he or she enjoy learning?
- Does the parent feel more comfortable teaching by means of a formal, structured curriculum?
- Work out goals that fit in with the family's value system. Parents need to analyze why exactly they want their children home-schooled. Is it to provide a better, more holistic education for the child, or is it because they can't bear waking up early or dealing with issues at school?
- What are the laws and regulations regarding education in the area or country of residence?
Homes Schooling Curriculum Information
Not every subject needs a curriculum. Children love learning the natural way, reading discussing and especially going field trips where they can gain hands on experience.
For a parent homeschooling for the first time, it may be wise to choose a curriculum where the lesson plans are set out day by day. This will ease a parent into the process and eliminate the need to spend hours on preparation.
Cost may be a factor for some. Think about the expense of buying separate curricula for children of different ages. Find out if the course-ware can be reused or if the materials are consumable. If they are consumable, it may be an idea for the older child to work in a workbook instead of writing in the books so that younger children can eventually use the home schooling materials.
Does the curriculum encourage children to do their own research and projects with minimal help from parents? Skills of independence are taught in this way.
Get support: Homeschooling is a constant process of learning for both parent and child. Without homeschooling support, a parent can feel isolated and confused.
Remember that a parent does not need to be a savant to teach his or her child. Learning together can be a lot of fun and teaches children how to do research to find answers.
Internet Home Schooling
The Internet is a powerful tool in accessing free resources, lesson plans, virtual tutors, virtual schools, online home school curriculum and websites. A parent or child never needs to feel at a loss in finding appropriate help, expert advice or resources necessary to homeschool a child.
As long as parents are committed and responsible, there is really not much to fear when it comes to homeschooling. According to Paula Rothermel, a lecturer in learning in early childhood at the University of Durham ,England, who spent three years conducting a comparative survey "Children taught at home significantly outperform their contemporaries who go to school. Home-educated children do better in conventional terms and in every other way too".
Source:
"Children taught at home learn more", by Amelia Hill, The Observer. Aug. 13, 2000.
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