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Writer's pictureYvonne Strachan

Traditional Approach to Homeschooling

Traditional Homeschool Approach

Traditional Approach to Homeschooling: Utilizing Parent-led textbooks and workbooks as a tool to work with your child. 


Textbooks are meant to provide a framework to refer to and help guide you when teaching your child.  The textbooks are typically heavily researched, tested, and revised over many years.  Some companies may have a smaller staff, yet others may have a large staff of 500 to 1000 people working on constant research, updates, artwork, design, and printing.  Many curriculum publishers produce clear, concise, organized information striving to provide the best educational material possible that also meets the requirements needed to comply with the strictest homeschool state laws.  Curriculum publishers also strive to meet most of the known learning styles and needs as possible. 


Adaptations

Parents adapt curriculum to best fit the learning needs of their child, selecting and utilizing parts of each lesson that will best help their children learn given that some learn best by seeing, while others may learn best by hearing or doing.  Printed tests can be given as pretests to help the parent assess what a child may already know before going through each chapter.  What a parent knows about their child along with the pretest assessments will help the parent make decisions in adapting the curriculum to meet the needs of their child.  Lessons can be combined or skipped throughout the year depending on what a child may know.  Parents can select what assignments work best to help their child understand.  Parents also choose how much of the work they would like their child to complete after each lesson to build their child’s understanding.  


Traditional online or DVD option

If a parent is working with multiple children and/or grade levels, is not comfortable teaching a more advanced class, works from home, doesn’t feel well, or is having a rough day, their child can utilize technology by inserting a DVD or log-in online to watch prerecorded teacher instruction.  The parent can then select all or parts of suggested assignments they would like their child to complete to help their child understand what they have learned.  Different publishers use different approaches to teaching videos.  Some teach in a classroom setting while others talk more directly to the student and incorporate field trips, experiments, puppets, cartoons, and skits.


More about the traditional approach to homeschooling

If a child uses a traditional approach, they will likely be assessed for understanding and knowledge helping parents pinpoint areas in which they are weak or areas they are strong.  Testing will also help prepare children for life because we are assessed throughout life when we apply and test for jobs or promotions, test for the military, test for college admission or during college, and possibly take regulated national testing if your state requires it. 


Some parents find it more easily manageable and freeing to come up with their own ways to teach a child in the early years utilizing mainly workbooks, referring to teacher’s manuals occasionally.  Others prefer to view options and ideas on how to teach their children a concept referring to teacher’s manuals on a regular basis.  Still others prefer to watch prerecorded videos with their children and walk alongside their child when they learn. 


As a child matures and studies more advanced concepts, they may become more independent learners and utilize more distance-learning-type courses.  This option will also prepare them for online college courses and development of independent study encouraging lifetime learning.


What are some reasons a parent might choose a traditional approach to homeschool?

  • Using textbooks can give one confidence that children are learning important or essential topics.

  • Using textbooks for some subjects may free the home-schooling parent up to be more creative with other subjects.

  • Using textbooks can save a homeschool parent time in lesson preparation.

  • Workbooks can be a useful tool to supplement curriculum and focus on specific issues a child may be experiencing with a concept or subject.


If you like the traditional approach to homeschooling, try Abeka, Alpha Omega, Apologia, BJU Press Homeschool, Christian Liberty Press, Generations, and more.



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This content on approaches to homeschooling or listing resources that provide products related to these approaches to homeschooling is for informational purposes only and does not imply endorsement by Inspirational Homeschooling.


Inspirational Homeschooling is truly grateful to have guest writers share their resources and wisdom to help homeschooling families. To inquire about submitting guest content, please contact us at InspirationalHomeschooling@gmail.com



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