Three Approaches to Home-schooling

Three Approaches to Home-schooling

There are a dozen popular approaches to how to design a homeschool program for a child. They range from highly structured courses, to no structure at all. Over the past few decades, the many different styles have come to acquire some common names. Here are just three of the possibilities...

School-At-Home

School-At-Home is the normal approach most parents will try first. Not knowing what else to do, they look to experts to design the curricula and supply the materials. In essence, it just transfers public school classrooms teaching methods into the home. This approach comes complete with study schedules, text-books and record keeping.

Though not bad as a first step, the approach has two drawbacks. Parents often find themselves feeling burned out by the amount of effort required. They discover teaching is not as easy as it looked at first. As a result, they often slack off. They feel uncertain at how to proceed and grow frustrated at the slow progress. Both parent and child suffer and the goal of homeschooling recedes.

Also, they find that the materials are often part of the reason their child wasn't doing so well in public school. There are many well-meaning, hard working public school teachers, but they are burdened with using required materials. Most parents may not know what other materials would be any better. Again, they feel frustrated.

In either case, this slows or halts the child's academic progress. At this stage, parents often seek a homeschool alternative, or they give up and opt for public school after all.

Unit Studies

The basic concept of the Unit Studies method is it uses the child's natural interests as a starting point. One of the most obvious observations one can make about an adult is their tendency to show interest in some things and boredom or dislike of other activities. That tendency starts very early in life.

Some individuals prefer to draw, others enjoy mathematics or science. One person will like to be outside, running or exploring nature. Another seeks out books or stays on the computer all day. Those value orientations begin at around age two (younger for some). Taking advantage of, rather than fighting against, those preferences to tailor a homeschool educational program is the fundamental idea of Unit Studies.

A concept Public schools 'one-size-must-fit-all' approach, typically geared to the lowest common denominator, can never achieve.

Classical Homeschooling

This method is like School-At-Home, very structured but the approach and materials are far superior. Because it is based on a superior foundation, the Classical method emulates the individual education system provided during the Middle Ages in monasteries. Still, it can be utilized entirely without religious overtones, and it focuses on developing the mind.

The goal of the Classical method is to teach students how to think and learn for themselves.

Classical learning programs can be dull, full of rote memorization. However, that practice is made interesting by allowing the child to learn in an orderly way. This provides a base that the child can build on, building confidence along the way.

One popular book on the subject, The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer explains the method in detail. It provides a great deal of useful information for parents interested in this approach.


Many parents will stumble at first. They go through a period of trial and error as they seek out and learn the method that serves them and their child best. However, most will discover in short order an approach that accommodates their goals and the personality of their individual child.