Structured Semi-structured Informal GOALS Promote self-discipline, good work habits,develop good memory-can’t be creative in a vacuum Integrate education with everyday learning while producing children who are self-directed, self-disciplined and who love learning. Give child joy in learning.Foster creativity.Allow the child to grow from within. CURRICULUM Tends to be textbook oriented Uses textbooks and workbooks Tends … Styles in Homeschooling Read More » The post Styles in Homeschooling appeared first on The Ontario Federation of Teaching Parents ..read more

The term “unschooling” was coined by John C. Holt, known as the “father” of the modern homeschooling movement. It refers to an approach to homeschooling in which children are allowed to continue (or return to) the natural, curiosity-driven, discovery-mediated learning that all children engage in as babies and toddlers. As such, it is child-led learning … Unschooling Ontario Read More » The post Unschooling Ontario appeared first on The Ontario Federation of Teaching Parents ..read more

Structured Semi-structured Informal GOALS Promote self-discipline, good work habits,develop good memory -can't be creative in a vacuum Integrate education with everyday learning while producing children who are self-directed, self-disciplined and who love learning. Give child joy in learning. Foster creativity. Allow the child to grow from within. CURRICULUM Tends to be textbook oriented Uses textbooks and workbooks Tends to be activity oriented, e.g. trial and error learning Purchases a complete curriculum and follows it daily Uses some curriculum but not rigidly adhered to Uses re ..read more

The term "unschooling" was coined by John C. Holt, known as the "father" of the modern homeschooling movement. It refers to an approach to homeschooling in which children are allowed to continue (or return to) the natural, curiosity-driven, discovery-mediated learning that all children engage in as babies and toddlers. As such, it is child-led learning rather than teacher- or parent-imposed lessons, although it is parent-stimulated to varying degrees. The role of unschooling parents is that of facilitators of learning rather than taskmasters. Unschooling is therefore not so much a "teaching me ..read more

There is growing recognition that different people have different learning styles. While teaching methods used in schools are still mostly geared to certain styles of learning and not others, homeschooling parents can custom tailor their approach to the way each child learns best and to what each child might need to develop. To that end, it can be helpful to know how to recognize that a given learning style is at play. What are the different learning styles? How learning styles are categorized and labelled depends on what system you go by — there are a number of such systems and it's important ..read more

There are many different approaches to home education. An exploration of the teaching methods (and non-methods) adopted by other homeschoolers can help you decide what you'd like to try with your own family. Many homeschooling parents change their approach as they go along, adjusting where needed and experimenting until they find what works best (at any given time) for the family's lifestyle and schedule, the parents' own educational goals for their children, and most importantly, their children's individual learning styles, interests and compatibility with the methods they've tried. This kind ..read more

Many parents contemplating homeschooling have questions about curriculum guidelines and materials: What is a curriculum? What are curriculum materials? A curriculum (plural: curricula; from the Latin meaning 'race course') is a course of study designed to result in a specific set of learning outcomes. Conventional curricula, such as those of the school system, are deliberately constructed in terms of curriculum content (what is to be learned), organization into subject matters (in what context it is to be learned), and organization into levels or grades (when or i ..read more

Homeschoolers often refer to "socialization" as the "S" word — it's a common concern among those who are unfamiliar with the realities of life as a homelearner, and thus the question, "But what about socialization?" has become infamous. The question sometimes takes other forms: "Are home educated children adequately socialized?" "Aren't homeschoolers too isolated from their peers to have a normal social development?" "How will home schooled children learn to get along in the 'real world' if they miss out on the socialization of school?" "How will they learn social skills?" "Aren't they lonely ..read more

Are home educated students doing well academically? As a group, they certainly are. The articles below describe the academic successes of some individual homeschoolers and/or provide a comparison, in terms of academic achievement, between the homeschool population and the population of students attending school. In fact, many families choose to homeschool for the very reason that they have concerns about the academic level their children can achieve in a school. For some, the concern is about adequate stimulation of a bright or gifted child, for others it is on the contrary the concern that th ..read more

Need some proof that homeschooling is a perfectly valid form of education and won't ruin your child's chances at a successful future? Here are some examples of the many successes that homeschoolers can attain. (Let us know of any others we've missed in our list!) U.S. Presidents John Adams John Quincy Adams Grover Cleveland James Garfield William Henry Harrison Andrew Jackson Thomas Jefferson Abraham Lincoln James Madison Franklin Delano Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt John Tyler George Washington Woodrow Wilson Statesmen Konrad Adenauer Henry Fountain Ashurst William Jennings Bryan Winston Ch ..read more