Are you considering homeschooling your children? Homeschooling provides a flexible and personalized learning environment where children can study all the core subjects from the comfort of their own homes. This doesn’t mean replicating a traditional classroom at home! Homeschooling allows you to tailor the curriculum to your child’s interests and learning style, with a wider range of subjects you can explore together. Research suggests that homeschooled students may even score higher on academic tests compared to their public-schooled peers.

The beauty of homeschooling is the variety of approaches you can take. There are five main types of homeschooling styles, each with its own philosophy and methods. This list is not at all exhaustive and how can it be when every homeschooling parent is free to create their own approach and method? Yes, you heard that right. You can also choose to combine elements from different styles to create a unique homeschooling experience that perfectly suits your family’s needs and goals. More than anything you should remember that no one size fits all so feel free to choose elements that resonate with you and your child.

Let’s explore these five homeschooling styles to help you find the right fit for you and your child’s education.

Charlotte Mason Homeschooling Method

The Charlotte Mason Home Schooling method essentially developed as an educational ideology in the 19th century in Great Britain. As its name implies, this was the work of an English-educating professional known as Charlotte Mason. This method of homeschooling mainly focuses on the concept of utilizing books along with practical experiences in the real world. It also puts more emphasis on child-centric learning. This means that the instructor should focus on the strengths and traits of the individual child and make the educating techniques more flexible for that specific child. Additionally, the concept of charter-based subjects is also found in this home-schooling method. This means that the scope and objectives of a particular subject will be explained to the individual learner beforehand.

There is also an emphasis here on precise and informative learning sessions that focus on the famous books regarding a subject. The focus here is on studies that tackle the individual errors and problems a child exclusively has. In terms of science, the goal is to derive the explanations of nature. Keep in mind that in the Charlotte Mason schooling method, the concept of age-based school grades is not applicable. Rather the focus is on how well a particular concept is being developed in a child’s brain. This means that upon reaching a certain level of understanding, a child can move on to the next stage regardless of their age. In my experience, this method may be one of the most popular within homeschool communities. I encourage you to read a few books about homeschooling from my list here since many are from the Charlotte Mason perspective.

Classic Homeschool Method

The Classical homeschooling method is a more diligent homeschooling method that is different than the Charlotte homeschooling method by its approach. This means that it improvises the use of an academic-based home-schooling method. This essentially means that there is more focus on developing the skills that are utilized during the academic years like writing, reading, critical thinking, and speaking. To be more precise, there is an in-depth focus on developing the reasoning skills in the children. This means that there are more discussion and feedback-based activities in the classical home-schooling method. For instance, this can mean that there is a discussion-based topic about the difference in wages among male and female employees. 

Now, in the classical home-schooling method, this can be tackled by asking the child to write a specific 500-word essay on it or speak about it for 5 minutes. This also means that critical thinking and reading skills are simultaneously developed during this exercise. 

Traditional Home-Schooling

The traditional homeschooling method directly involves the parents educating their children or children. Traditional homeschooling uses the same norms that are being utilized in a normal school. The difference is that it is done at home rather than an actual school. This involves practices like taking exams, monthly tests, regular lectures, etc. This type of schooling method can also include books that are custom-made by the parents to tailor to the needs of their child. Although this is an optional choice. Traditional schooling also incorporates the use of many online resources that are beneficial for understanding a subject topic. Moreover, library-based supporting text materials are also utilized in this traditional home-schooling approach. 

There is also a concept of extra-curricular activities in the traditional home-schooling. This can include guest lectures, sports and recreational activities, and educational trips that are important for adding value to a specific subject. 

The main benefit of traditional home-schooling is that it develops a sense of organization and discipline among the child. This is because of the strict schedule of home-schooling and consistent testing that is a core part of this homeschooling method. 

Unschooling Method

The unschooling method means that we educate a child on the topics that he/she is interested in. This can be as generic as possible. For instance, if a child is interested in sports management, they will be taught about this from a very young age. The benefits of the unschooling homeschooling method are that a child is taught from a very young age about a specific topic and when they reach an age of maturity, it gets fairly easier for them to land a job in that specific area. For example, a child showing potential in specific sports is being coached from a young age so it becomes easier for them to go professional. This method also heavily relies on self-exploration rather than exclusively learning through the direction of a formal educator. This, in my opinion, is one of the more liberal homeschool methods if you’re looking for it.

Unit Study

Unit study-based homeschooling is a type of study approach that revolves around a particular topic. Instead of teaching many subjects individually, a unit study synchronizes all the subjects or topics into a unit-based domain that involves a particular interest or topic. It is seen that most unit study is being done in areas of mathematics, humanities, science, etc. Additionally, this type of method incorporates the use of assignments or projects to further reinforce the topic being explained.

This is the homeschool style that made me the most excited. I found myself searching on Pinterest for new activities and I was in awe of some of the unit studies I found. I will share more with you all in the future but for now, check this survival unit study and this gardening morning basket study.

Wrapping Up

Conclusively, homeschooling gives parents much more control in terms of what they want their children to learn about. The key is that you have to take the time and deeply consider how you want you child to learn and in return you have to hear from your child’s view too.  I can’t wait to hear where you land and what method you try first friends!