The HomeSchool Group

Let’s be honest: When people here the term “homeschooling”, one of the first images that pops into their mind is a backwards, old-fashioned, inadequate form of education. However, it is true that for centuries, children have been taught at home by their parents. This practice is in no way a new phenomenon and has helped produce many of history’s greatest movers and shakers! In contemporary American society, homeschooling has received a reputation for being a poor way to educate children. This reputation, which is limited in perspective, is neither fair nor accurate.

The education that homeschoolers receive is often more dimensional and diverse than the standard means of education received in a typical classroom. One of the greatest aspects of a homeschool curriculum is its flexibility. Learning a lesson about the Impressionist Art period? Pack a lunch in a bag and the family in the car, and head to the museum to see actual work by the artists you are learning about. Learning about the wonder of birds in your science lesson? Grab a pair of binoculars and head outside. These are both incredibly valuable experiences.

In addition, there are many great homeschooling resources that exist for parents interested in taking charge of their children’s education. Many of these programs are developed by professional educators and are accredited programs that are recognized as valid education curriculums. Students are encouraged to think for themselves and take ownership of their learning experience.

Some people might say that this information sounds good in theory and on paper, but when it comes down to it, how do homeschool students perform compared to students from the public school? The answer to this question would surprise many! “A 1997 study by Dr. Brian Ray of the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI) found that home educated students excelled on nationally-normed standardized achievement exams. On average, homeschoolers outperformed their public school peers by 30 to 37 percentile points across all subjects.”

Finding a program with high standards and that fits the needs of you and your child is important, but as you can see, choosing to homeschool your children would in no way impair them for a bright future.

Parents who choose to homeschool their children do so for a variety of reasons. Some of the reasons may be religious, or parents may not like specific topics taught in public or private schools; others may object to the methodology in public or private schools, and still others simply believe that they can provide a better education than public school can themselves. However, one point of view is common among all parents of homeschooled children, and that is that the public or private school systems do a poor job of educating children.
Contrary to what is often a common belief, homeschooling is not new. In fact, it’s older than the public and private school systems that first began to be compulsory in the late 19th century. Prior to this time, almost all children were educated at home; many children, however, did not receive any formal instruction at all. This was the reason education began to be compulsory, so that at least a basic literacy level was established in the country.
Beginning in the early 20th century, public education, as well as some emphasis on private and parochial education, became the norm among schoolchildren. Typically, public schools still use the authoritarian Prussian model of the 1800s.
Beginning about the middle of the 1960s, this trend began to be challenged. Many experts and well-known authors, such as John Holt, began to advocate that parents withdraw their children from the public education system. Some of these people were libertarians, eager to be free of state control as much as possible. Others chose to go back to the older tradition of classical liberal training, which comes from both the Roman Catholic Church and its emphasis on Jesuit training, and the Enlightenment ideals popular first in Europe, with their origins in the 18th century.
Whatever the reasons, some ideas became dominant in homeschooling. One central idea is that every individual is a natural learner who does not need to be forced to do so. Aristotle was an early proponent of this idea, saying, “All men possess by nature the desire to know.” This has been a main tenet of the modern homeschooling movement since its inception.
Homeschooling proponents believe that learners need to be given the proper environment and resources, but other than that, they do not have to be forced into learning. Rather, learning is actively sought out by a child who is eager to explore the world around her.
Besides this central focus, homeschooling “schools” of thought diverge on what should then take place. One that embraces “unschooling” believes that no curriculum or direction should be given by the central “teacher,” the parent or tutor. Rather, it believes that if one provides children with books and other tools, they will learn whatever best suits them based on their natural interests.
Other homeschooling techniques focus on a more formal structure. In fact, some even teach the same topics with the same materials as are taught in the public and private schools of the area. In this case, the parent simply steps in for the state and assumes the role of teacher.
The Montessori schools fall somewhere in the middle of these two extremes. Montessori allows children to develop at their own pace; at the same time, they provide materials and guidance. A primary focus is on sensory and motor development, followed by language learning. The teacher focuses on the child, rather than its opposite. This allows imagination to develop and stimulate learning. The child is encouraged to self-correct, rather than having external correction as the focus.
Regardless of the exact structure or lack thereof used in the homeschooling program, what is consistent in homeschooling itself is that the child is the focus. Each child’s proper development is the goal. Homeschoolers say that this can be best done outside of the public school system, which cannot provide the same level of quality instruction and personal attention as these parents or tutors can.

Today education is one of the best parts of our life to live a wealthy life. In order to online homeschooling is also a wonderful option for many parents as well as all their children especially for those parents who afraid about the security of their child. Infact Online homeschooling can make the process more interesting as well as funny for your child and also offer a solid support system to them. Online is one of the best resources for homeschooling including course of study, curriculum, educational games, online tests, online tutorial and occupational training. A large number of institutions are taking advantage of the wide array of online homeschool programs that are being offered. Online learning allows the children and families access to specialized teachers and materials and greater flexibility in scheduling.

Basically, homeschooling is an approach that takes the advantage of today?s technology. It has gained much popularity over the last decade. And many parents choose homeschool program for their kids because of convenience and flexibility it offers. Online homeschooling takes the pride in giving thousands of graduates around the world. It is totally web based and there is no software in this program to install, it gives your child freedom to learn anywhere if there is an internet connected computer available.

Indeed Online homeschooling can provide a complete learning solution for almost all the subjects that your child choose. It is a convenient educational program that teaches your child with fun. It is useful especially for those children too who are disabled or otherwise limited in their ability to travel as well as an ideal option for those parents who don?t have time to spend with their children and they will get the benefits of online homeschooling but still become a teacher to work with them.

Furthermore, advantages of online homeschooling are unlimited but the most important is the avoidance of constantly having to buy new textbooks indeed your children learn by watching videos, participate in interactive exercises and have opportunities to express their creativity. This strategy gets your children involved themselves in the educational experience and let them become no longer a passive consumer but an active participant.

Online homeschooling brings the elements of external interaction and time bound study into a homeschool environment and it also provides a more varied learning experience than a parent can provide at home. Your child can attend the class sessions live or review those sessions immediately using audio and video on demand technology.

Therefore, online homeschooling is an innovative way to educate your child as it allows you and your child access to specialized teachers and materials and greater flexibility in scheduling.

There is an endless number of approaches to designing a homeschool program for your child. They vary from extremely structured courses to completely unstructured. The past few decades have seen many different teaching styles emerge and have acquires some common names. Three of these, school-at-home, unit studies and classical homeschool are three of the more popular types of homeschooling.
School-at-Home
School-at-home is a general term for the approach that many parents will attempt at first. Because they do not really know what to do, they will turn to experts to design the curricula and supply the materials. Basically, everything that is done in public school classrooms is done in the home. This approach has study schedules, textbooks and recordkeeping.
While this is not a bad first step, this approach to learning has two drawbacks. First, parents will often burn themselves out because of the massive amount of effort that is required to carry on all of the tasks. They soon discover that teaching is not as easy as it may have initially seemed. Eventually, they slack off, become impatient and lose the passion which inhibits the child’s motivation. They are unsure of how to proceed and become frustrated when the progress is slow. Both parent and child suffer and the whole goal of homeschooling begins to unravel.
Second, the soon realize that the materials are usually a good reason why their child was not doing well in public school. There are many hard working public school teachers who truly love to teach, but they are encumbered with materials that are difficult or even substandard. However, parents often do not know what materials would be any better. This is frustrating and again the child’s progress is slowed or even halted. It is often at this point that parents seek an alternative to homeschool or just give up altogether and send their children on to public school anyway.
Unit Studies
The fundamental concept of the unit studies method of learning is that it uses the child’s natural interests as a starting point. This is based on the basic observation that people are interested in certain things and are bored with other activities. This is often displayed very early in life. Some people enjoy drawing; others prefer working math problems or studying science. Some people enjoy being outside running or exploring nature while another prefers the indoors, reading or working on the computer. These value preferences surface at around age two or even younger. By utilizing these preferences instead of fighting them, parents can tailor a homeschool education that is perfect for the child and embraces the fundamental idea of unit studies.
This I also one approach that public schools are never able to achieve because of their one size fits all mentality.
Classical Homeschooling
This method is much like school-at-home in that it is very structured, but the materials and approach far exceed it in quality. The reason that this method is superior is because it is based on a superior foundation. The classical method emulates the individual education that was provided in monasteries during the Middle Ages. However, it may also be conducted without any religious overtones. Its primary focus is on developing the child’s mind.
The goal of classical homeschooling is to teach students how to think and learn for themselves.
Classical learning programs can be rather dull with many memorization exercises, but it is made interesting by allowing the child to learn in an orderly manner. This provides a foundation on which the child can build while developing confidence as well.
A popular book that explores the subject is “The Well Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home” by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer. It explains the classical homeschooling method in great detail. It is a wealth of information for parents who are interested in using this approach.
Many parents will go through periods of uncertainty at first, many will stumble. They will go through a time of trial and error as they explore and learn the method that is best for them and for their child. As long as they are seeking a method that works best with the personality of their individual child, they will succeed.

Children often say they don’t like school, but you might not ever hear your children make that statement if you homeschool. Homeschooling has many benefits over sending your child to public school. Besides being able to attend school in your pajamas, your child will have much more freedom to learn than their public school counterparts will have.
One of the things that can make homeschooling fun for children is the ability to take multiple field trips throughout the year. Whereas most public school students are lucky to take one field trip a year, if they even get to take that, homeschool students have the freedom to go on as many as their parent or support group can plan.
Field trip possibilities are endless, limited only to by the imagination of the planner, and funds you’re willing to see leave your wallet. Some common field trips are museums, zoos, and botanical gardens. Did you know you can also make a field trip out of a trip to a Krispy Kreme Donut store? Yep, you sure can. You can also visit police departments, fire departments, and local newspapers. In fact, if you can find someone willing to allow it, you can make a field trip out of almost any business you can think of.
Besides taking several field trips a year, another thing that makes homeschooling fun for kids is the ability to learn what interests them and in a way that suits their learning style. While they will still have to learn the basics of reading, writing, and mathematics, they may choose to concentrate on robots, dinosaurs, or some composer or artist. And one of the benefits of homeschooling is that you can combine coursework into Unit Studies that enable the student to cover the basics all while concentrating on that one subject.
It seems that art and music are all but missing from public schools as educational budgets are slashed each year. If you homeschool, and your child likes either art or music, you can spend as much time on those subjects as you’d like. In fact, you can combine art and music appreciation with many other subjects. Allow your child to try something they’ve never done before. You have that option if you homeschool, and you don’t have to get permission from the principal to do so.
Many children learn best by handling items, whether math manipulatives, building blocks, or cooking utensils. If you homeschool, you can allow your child to use those manipulatives if doing so will help them to learn. In public schools, children’s learning styles often aren’t taken into consideration since teachers have to teach to a whole group and can’t address students individually. By allowing your child to learn in the way that is easiest for them, homeschooling will be much more fun for them.
While it’s unlikely that your homeschooled children will say they “love” school, there are things that you can do to help them enjoy it more. By allowing them to learn to their strengths, concentrating on subjects that interest them, and taking them on field trips, your child will enjoy going to “school” much better.