Ways to homeschool | Northwest Georgia Homeschoolers

Ways to homeschool

Just some of the well known ways to homeschool. You may use any combination of these and/or add in other ways as long as you're covering the basic five study courses.

Unit Studies Method-

Unit studies focus on one subject or interest at a time while incorporating all core subjects. Your child will choose something that interest them and you'll build a unit around the interest including age-appropriate books, projects, worksheets, experiments, and any other activities fitting the interest. Unit studies can take anywhere from a week to month to cover.

Charlotte Mason Method-

The Charlotte Mason homeschool is a holistic approach that emphasizes child-directed learning. It focuses on the role of living books, character training, individual expression and making good use of the outside resources such as museums, libraries and nature. Rather than organized by grade level, Charlotte Mason is arranged by developmental stages.

School-at-Home Method-

The school-at-home method is essentially exactly how it sounds, school at home but with a twist. Parents take on the teacher role and fill days with lessons, projects and activities, typically spotlighting one subject for an hour or two and then moving on to the next subject. Parents will also break up the week with certain days being dedicated to math and reading, for example and other days for science, socials and language arts. Much of this sounds like the traditional school setting however the twist is a more relaxed daily school schedule and the liberty to take the lesson on the go in the form of an educational field trip, more often than the traditional school setting. You can choose all in one open and go type curriculum or piece your curriculum together by using a combination of different curriculums.

Homeschool Co-op Method-

A homeschool co-op is a group of homeschooled families, may be as little as four families to fifty or more families, that meet up on a weekly bases, typically 1-2 times, for one common goal. The common goal doesn't have to be educational, some meet for social time or crafts. However, for educational goals, the group will have a parent or tutor come in to teach all the co-op students the lesson for the week. The parents then take the lesson/homework and work on it at homes with the child until the next co-op meeting. These meetings can take place anywhere from homes, churches, community centers, etc. Co-ops can be used in addition to any of the above methods.

Unschool Method-

Unschooling rejects the traditional educational blueprints. There is no defined curriculum or strict schooling schedules, and it heavily emphasizes the child's need for freedom in their education. The parent will act more as a facilitator rather than an instructor, meaning the child is leading the lessons. You let your child decide what they want to learn and how they want to learn it.

Waldorf Method-

Waldorf focuses on developmental education through the arts and rhythm. Think music, drama, painting, movement, modeling and speech. Reading and stories form your lessons. Read about it then have your child act it out, paint/draw it, and/or retell it in their own words. Get outside and sight see then come home and form a lesson by recreating what you've seen by building a model.

Classical Method-

The Classical method is somewhat a rigorous method as it focuses heavily on the development of reading, writing and speaking skills. It's designed to encourage your child to have engaging and thoughtful dialogue as it concentrates on broad topics to allow for critical thinking and debate. This method is not ideal if you have a hands-on learner; however, if your child has a love for reading, it great fit.