Homeschooling: What (add) to Teach and When
No commentsBy Hong Kirby
Homeschool parents benefit from technology to enhance and complement traditional ways of teaching on school campus. There are several educational software and teaching packages that can help develop a curriculum. The internet is a very useful means that is full of educational resources; online dictionaries, libraries, encyclopedias and museums.
Depending on your State’s homeschooling law, the following may apply:
1. School officials can inquire about the parents’ qualifications to instruct or teach their child; however instructing parents do not necessarily need to have a particular educational qualification. A high school graduate or less can instruct the child, provided that she has the capability and a sound mind.
2. Children in the elementary level should be taught the following: English, which includes reading, spelling and writing; math, geography, science, civics, history, physiology and health, music, physical education and art.
3. Children in the high school level, should be taught the following: English, which includes speech, language, literature and composition, science which will include chemistry and biology; social studies, geography, economics, history of the U.S.A, world history, mathematics which will include algebra, geometry and statistics; music, art, physiology and health, physical and safety education.
4. School officials can inquire regarding subjects that the child should study, demand the length of homeschool year, and allocate instruction hours for every subject.
While they can determine instruction hours for every subject, they should not control the method in which these subjects are to be taught.
This means that homeshooling parents can determine and evaluate instruction hours based on their method of homeschool, not necessarily to be able to imitate the public school, rather equal and match it according to efficiency and systematic approach.
In homeschooling, it is up to the parent to determine the child’s intellectual needs. Subjects to be taught do not require specific hours of teaching, although each subject needs an allotted time, in order for the child to absorb fully what is taught.
Moreover, schedule keeping is not a significant factor in homeschooling where usage and understanding of time are so much different.
5. School officials can recognize and classify instructional materials, only for the reason of determining the subject and the child’s grade or level. They should not utilize this right to demand the way or style of teaching, with which subjects are to be taught.
When the child is having difficulty in a certain subject, for instance in reading, then the parent should allow longer hours for reading allowing the child enough time to learn that particular subject.
On the subject that the child willingly and easily learns and grasps, the parent may shorten the time spent on that subject and allocate the extra hours for subjects which the child finds hard to comprehend, to subjects that the child poorly progresses on.
At homeschooling, the child can take the time to learn and explore each subject at his/her own speed, in his or her own capacity. And the parent can find creative ways to make learning and teaching fun.
A few efficient and helpful teaching materials that are not tangible, such as community service, travel, visits to parks and museums, etc., will definitely grant significant learning skills and knowledge aside from those learned from books.
6. Parents and school officials must reach an agreement on a system of evaluation or assessment for the child; either standardized testing, periodic reports on the child’s progress or dated samples of work.
Determine your child’s learning ability and style so that:
1. You’ll know what approach to use or be well equipped in teaching them. It is a wrong notion that some parents have, to presume that their kids learn the way they do. For example, when parents are visual learners, they also expect their children to be visual learners. Just remember that children are different individuals; usually having distinct learning styles compared to their parents and even their siblings. The sooner that you learn and comprehend each child’s learning style the sooner that you can effectively teach them.
2. You’ll be prepared to decide on a curriculum for homeschooling. If you are not familiar with your child’s learning styles, there is the possibility that you will select a curriculum that can not be an effective tool for your child’s learning.
3. You can better identify and understand your child’s educational needs. When children fail to effectively communicate, they, much like everyone else, get upset and discouraged. However, if you understand your child’s learning styles, you can be able to assist your child to understand themselves better, enabling them to interact and correspond better with their peers.
Understanding their learning styles and their capabilities will enable you to determine how many hours they need for each subject; homeschooling does not require strict hours of teaching your child in any subject. It all depends on how well your child progresses; if he can do his math in less time in regard to the curriculum set for him, then good. If you feel he needs to spend more time in reading, then he should.
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Homeschooling and Reading Skills
By Hong Kirby
The extreme amount of flexibility offered by homeschooling creates many educational benefits. One of them, of course, is that “home” and “school” become one, so that the educational experience doesn’t have to begin and end with the ringing of a bell. By incorporating educational activities into your home life as a whole, you child will gain a more valuable educational experience.
One of the best things about home schooling is you can come up with an educational plan that suits your child’s particular needs. By working one on one with a child, you can create an individual learning system that can be more beneficial then the learning techniques used in a public or private school. When coming up with an individual education plan for your child, make sure you place focus on reading.
Much of the philosophy of homeschooling is about not being subject to the limitations of the public school system, and an area where the public school system commonly falters is in reading. Many public school students perform poorly on standardized reading tests, which is unfortunate as reading skills are crucial to a child’s education.
Reading can’t really be emphasized too much when homeschooling your child. While there should be a good balance of subject areas taught throughout the teaching day, reading should be encouraged during your child’s free time. While it may be difficult to get a child into doing math or science work in his or her free time, reading is a different story.
As soon as your child can read, he or she should always be reading something. As long as you find the subject matter appropriate, allow your child to read whatever he wants in his free time. Develop the habit at a young age of getting your child to always have a book on the go. By finding books that your child enjoys, your child will, from a young age, associate reading with a fun experience, which will do wonders for his further education.
You must also understand how important it is to set your own example. Try and set time aside during the day in which you read, and in the evening hours, when most children would be watching television, sit down with your child and read together. When it gets close to the child’s bedtime, imply that you will be going to be soon as well - because you have a good book to read.
Reading is a fantastic educational opportunity because it is the basis for which your child will learn many other things. When a child is reading a book they are not only bettering their reading skills, they are becoming privy to knowledge contained within the book. It is important that reading begins at a young age because mastering it is a slow process, and you will be doing your child a serious disservice later in life if you choose not to focus on reading early.
Every education should be well rounded of course, but reading is a building block from which other education follows. When homeschooling your child, encourage him or her to read from a young age. If you so do you stand a good chance of instilling a lifelong habit that will benefit your child until the end of his days.
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