So if you read a few of my previous articles, I’ve stated that during this time what the public schools and private/charters are not truly homeschooling but trying to school at home. Why is this Important? Well because your not following the homeschooling laws but the education of the school your registered. You are attempting to replicate school at home, which as you can see from my articles and your social media is that its really not working well for majority of families. Homeschooling is meant to be fun, relaxing (mostly), flexible. Your child is supposed to grow and learn and become independent. Of course that’s the goals of public schools but unfortunately for many reasons public schools can’t or won’t allow teachers to give kids the one on one attention they truly need (speaking pre COVID here). Anyway I’m going to explain the different styles of education, some are implemented within public schools as well.

Relaxed/ Electic Homeschooling

So this is really the type I use as a homeschooler if we want to go by definition. Basically you use a bit of different approaches for a short period of time in the day then unschool. Many use it because a parent has to work and wants to cover the subjects by state laws or they know their child has interests/classes later and use that time to blossom.

School at home

As I said above its like what the world is going through right now. In NY it’s called home instruction and again that’s public school based. Those official homeschoolers (talking about the ones reporting to the homeschooling office or district as a homeschooler and not from the home instruction) have the highest burnout rate.

Unschooling

I mentioned above in the relaxed that they use mostly this method. The reason being is that our children will strengthen their interest, they research, solve, create and so much more. It teaches them to not only have motivation and drive but to have fun learning. Kids learn all the time, without you realizing it. Let them take the lead and follow, its amazing what you will see in your kids.

Classical Homeschooling

Similar to the school at home, classical is a very scheduled day to cover subjects with the use of subject notebooks. In fact this method has been used since the Middle Ages and tends to be more for the religious families.

Charlotte Mason

Charlotte Mason likes to harness learning through real world situations using play, art, nature and field trips. There are still physical work like worksheets/workbooks but there is always time in the day for the creating.

Waldorf

Based off the Rudolf Steiner, this method focuses on body, mind and spirit as a whole. In this style they don’t usually use workbooks or online but create their own. They are against screen time as well.

Montessori

Montessori also discourages screen time. This method keeps it simple, organized and natural. The method is to help children develop their skills naturally and encourage help on their weaker subjects without pushing. Much is focused on sensory and practical life aspects.

Multiple Intelligences

This method believes everyone is smart in their own way, it focuses on harnessing the child’s strengths. They don’t push age milestones when it comes to education.

Road School

Personally a dream of ours, it’s financially tough but road schooling is traveling by RV/camping and learning on the go.

World school

It is similar to road school, some travel locally and internationally while schooling while other emphasize learning about the various cultures world wide.

Online/Virtual

So this is still controversial on whether its actually homeschooling or not. Because it’s done at home many say it is however as I stated above distant learning is not always best. There are many homeschooling based online curriculums but now (pre COVID) there are more states implementing an online through k12 program, which you may have seen the commercials for.

Project based

So this method title is newer to me but it’s just as it says. The parent creates projects around the theme to allow the child a deeper understanding on the topic.

Radical unschooling

Similar to unschooling, however the parent allows the child to be free and lead their own life/learning to become independent learners.

There is so much more out their on each method, one method may pull you more than another, or you may like aspects of two and may mix it. That’s totally fine. Honestly the most successful homeschoolers naturally use our child’s strengths and learning style (I’ll go over that in another article). I hope this helps some of you new homeschoolers, or those interested in understanding which way you may want to go. Each has pros and cons. One way may work for a while then not. It’s okay. That’s why homeschooling is flexible.