How often have you been asked this question? "What program do you use to teach your kids?" I never really thought much about the way I teach the kids. It is just the way I always did it. But, recently I talked to a group of homeschooling moms that I did not know and it seemed to be the favorite ice breaker question.
I found that most of the mothers I talked to that day use a form of internet schooling. The ones that did not use an online school has their children enrolled in a distance learning program for the most part. In each of these options, you are sent the materials needed to complete the class including lesson plans and so on. There is a teacher available to discuss problems or questions. You can usually reach the teacher at their designated times to answer calls.
Usually, the online schools are in essence a public school via the internet, so it is without cost to you. They usually even supply the computer. There is a catch, though. The kids are now public school taught. That may be okay. It may do exactly what you are hoping to do. It may be the perfect blend for you and your children and meet the needs that needed met when you decided to homeschool. But, if you were homeschooling for academic reasons, if you want the choice in topic and subjects, if you want to tailor the programs and skill level to reach the specific needs of your child, well, this is not going to do that (usually). There may be programs that do allow the parents to tailor the curriculum to choose the subject matter according to the views you want presented to your children at the time that you feel is appropriate, if there is such a program, I am not aware of it, though. But, if the concerns that you have about public, "brick and mortar" schools have more to do with the social aspects that you are hoping to avoid, well, this may be a good alternative for your family.
One of the other ways to teach at home is a distance program of sorts. You enroll your child in the program, you are sent the supplies needed, usually including nearly anything you would need, but sometimes it is only the main items and you are responsible for the general supplies. This is in essence a private school education at home. It can get pretty costly. There is a lesson plan included and you are usually given timelines of when certain items need to be returned to the school for grading and credit and such. Each program runs differently. There are some that are rather strict and then there are others that allow a little wiggle room. Often, your child is placed in a level as determined by testing done at the enrollment. Sometimes a child may be very advanced in one subject, yet struggling in the next. Many of these schools allow a tailoring of some sort in that you can have them take classes at the grade level that they test for in those areas. Then, after that, you basically supervise. You make sure that they are getting the work completed, you can help with problems along the way, assist with issues they may have. But, the teaching is often done for you in a way with the supplies given. You are given the tools and information you would need to teach the class in the way that the distance school has set.
Another way to teach your children is to select the resources yourself. You hand pick the various items that you are wanting to use as your teaching resources. Sometimes you will find resources where the lesson plans are included (often for an additional charge) and sometimes you will need to go through the items yourself and break them down into bite sized pieces to be covered over the school year(s) that you intend to use it. This is the method that I have always used. I never really thought about it before. It just seemed natural to me to do it this way. The school that I attended growing up did not have books that matched all across the various subjects. The math book was from one publisher and the history another. The science books may be 1 year old and the english may be 10 years old. Or, there may not even be a textbook assigned! When we decided to homeschool, I did not have a lot of advanced time to plan out the method or way in which I would teach the kids, but being in an elementary level, I was confident that I could easily teach them what they needed to be taught and at a level that met their needs. I quickly ran to get a few basic items at the local book store to help me make a spine to my teaching. I have followed this method more or less over the past five years. The only difference is that now I have all the time I need to research and find sources.
I am not sure what you even call this method. I suppose it would fall under 'eclectic'. We have used television series', there are computerized subjects for sale, there is the method of basically reading, reading, reading anything and everything in a variety of subject matter, there are lapbooks, unit studies, outside activities and short classes...the list goes on. I just never felt that one textbook in one subject without variance was a good way to teach anything. Reading an assigned amount of pages only to answer a set of questions, just did not seem to be a good way to get facts and ideas to stick. So, I guess this answers the question of what I use to teach my kids. I think it is a good one, but for others, it is the farthest thing from comfortable that they can imagine.
There are other methods as well. Please, don't think that I am avoiding them because I don't validate them. These are just the ones that came up in our recent conversation among mom's. I heard one mother say that her son will absolutely shut down if you put a math worksheet in front of him. So, while the weather was nice she would head outside with him loaded with the problems and a piece of chalk and she would write them on things in the yard. She used the rocks lining her gardens one day and he happily went along and worked the math problems with his stick of chalk on those rocks! It was the same questions. It was just copied down on the items found in his yard. It works. It may be unconventional, but it works.
I find this way of teaching to be more suited to my way of thinking. I like some level of control. I like knowing what the kids are learning and doing. I have used programs in the past where they work very independently through the resources and while they technically completed the work, they rarely retained the information and I constantly felt lost to what they are learning. We will do some classes together and then some separately. We may do history as a combined class then they will complete their math assignments separately from one another at their different levels. Either way, we sit together at the table and work through them. I may not always be teaching at a blackboard, but I am actively involved when they need it.
So, this is 'what I use'. This is what works for me. What do you do? Are you happy with it? If not, consider one of these other options or research the many many other ways to teach your child. The list is virtually endless!
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