Deschooling, Unschooling, and Homeschooling- What do they mean, and why should we consider them? Part THREE. Homeschoolig- the 3 most popular types.

 

Deschooling- Click here

Unschooling- Click here

Homeschooling- You’re already here!

 

I wanted to talk about the 3 types of ‘schooling’ found in home education. Some of you may be familiar with them, while some of these concepts may be extremely new! I am going to discuss what they are, and why you should consider each of them in your home education. This third post is all about homeschooling. As I make the other posts, they will be linked above and at the bottom of this post.

 

3 Types of Homeschooling

Now, this isn’t an exhaustive list, because people are coming up with new things all the time! BUT these are the types that happen most often, and that I am most familiar with.

1- Traditional Homeschooling. A brief example of this is, more school than home. A high priority on education (not a bad thing), using a lot of government standards to guide your schooling.

2- Public School at Home. Generally using a public school curriculum like K12, schooling the same days or weeks as public school, school lasts most of the “school day”, more rigid schedules.

3- Eclectic Homeschooling. More home than school, homeschooling is generally 1-2 hours with plenty of time for free play, “unschooling” type learning, and independent activities.

 

We follow the Eclectic Homeschooling method most, but I have experienced both of the other ones.

 

 

1- Traditional Homeschooling

Traditional homeschooling is what most people who come from a public school background think homeschooling is. Surely it’s school… just at home, right?

Now, let me start in saying, this is not the WRONG way to go about it. You may find out it isn’t RIGHT for your family, and you may feel a freeing sensation when you realize what is out there. But you may also be happy with the structure, the tradition, and that is OKAY.

Most people will begin by creating a schedule similar to what you will find in a public school classroom.

Choose curriculum that is approved by the state, or recommended by the state. You can actually go here to find state standards: http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/1/

You may choose to do distance learning as well, which is 1-2 days in a classroom, and the other days at home.

Have you had experience with this? Let me know what you think.

 

2- Public School at Home.

This escalated a lot during the pandemic. More people than ever were learning/schooling (not the same thing) from their home, and it was called homeschooling. There is nothing wrong with public schooling at home, nothing at all if that is what works for your family. But public schooling at home is to homeschooling, as working from home is to owning your own business. They both generally take place in the same place, but they are very different.

If you are interested in public schooling at home, you may be interested in the following options. There is little to no prep work from the parent, the teacher is still actually teaching, you stick with the public school schedule, and breaks.

K12: https://www.k12.com/

Khan Academy: https://www.khanacademy.org/

 

 

3- Eclectic Homeschooling

Eclectic Homeschooling is more HOME than SCHOOL. Most of the things that are focused on are life skills, teamwork, household chores, and things like taxes, small business, and cooking. Structured educating is a part of it, but it is a small part of it.

Our day with Eclectic homeschooling looks like this:

Mom: Wake 5:30. Read, Plan, Work.

The kids (ages 1, 6 and 8) wake between 6:30 and 7.

We have breakfast, and then we do our morning chores! Chores upstairs are done while we jam out to music.

Next we have free time until 9, when it is time for school. We chose 9 because my husband has a work break at 8:45 and we talk for 15 minutes.

School lasts for an hour, or so. We actually did a fun September School DITL on Instagram! I will link it below if you want to watch it.

After school is more free time OR errands if we need to run any. Wednesdays at 10 we will go to the library.

Then from 11-1 is Nap time, Quiet time, and Work time.

After that is tons more free time, chores as needed, independent play and exploration, any other errands, friend time, and dinner prep.

Dad comes home, we have dinner, dinner cleanup, and relax time.

Before bed, we read a devotional, a chapter or two of a book, and then the older 2 listen to their Yoto players in their rooms while I put the toddler to bed!

Then they go to bed!

A happy, full, but chill day.

 

Eclectic: Deriving ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources

 

https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17940277121179031/

 

 

So what about you? Which one do you take part in?