Effective Teaching Strategies for Homeschool

When most people think of homeschool, they become intimidated the the different options that are available. Not only is it difficult to find a homeschool curriculum that works for their child, it is difficult to determine the teaching types that will be used in their homeschool.

What teaching strategy do you use? Does your child respond well to it? If not, you may want to consider approaching with a different homeschool teaching strategy.

“Homeschool teaching strategies” refers to the different methods of approaching teaching. Since there is more freedom in a homeschool, you can choose from a number of teaching methods. By choosing the right strategy, you will have more success in developing thinking skills, motivation, and learning retention in your child.

Unfortunately, there is very little research surrounding the various teaching strategies used in homeschool, but you can complete your own study by experimenting with different strategies to see what is best for your child's learning experience.

Homeschooling Themes

Once you decide to homeschool, you need to determine a homeschooling strategy. You may find benefits in each type and theme of homeschooling. In this section, we will cover a number of homeschooling themes that you can choose from and resources for you to learn more about each one. While there has been little research into how beneficial they are in homeschooling, they have all been proven effective in a public school setting.

Theme 1: Active Teaching

This theme requires you to use particular behaviors while you are teaching your child. It involves planning and determination. You should:

• Plan your lessons and your verbal instructions very carefully.
• Choose a teaching strategy that works well with your planning and instructional method.
• Ensure that your child is active in the teaching strategy, as well as in the process of their own learning.
• Parents should monitor their child's learning progress and present them with regular evaluations.

Theme 2: Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP)

The parent who is in charge of homeschooling should thoroughly understand a number of things about their child, including:

• Their child's developmental, emotional, and learning age in comparison to these levels in other children.
• Factors in the area the child lives in, including family, social, and cultural.
• All of these need to be taken into account as the child is taught to ensure their education is relevant to their life.

Theme 3: Teaching Strategies Theory

Researchers and public school staff have presented statistical data proving that using a single teaching strategy alone does not work for all subjects. You must understand the needs of your child, and approach each subject using the learning strategy that works best for your child in that subject. The strategies must be combined according to the needs of your child, and may be different for each of your children.

Theme 4: One-to-One Teaching

It is a general theory that children who are taught one-on-one thrive in difficult subjects, like math. It not only improves their academic scores, it also increases their attitude on the subject.

Homeschooling Teaching Strategies

Homeschool students whose parents have an understanding of different teaching themes and strategies are perform better in academic situations than students who have public school Not only are they above standard academically, they are also above standard emotionally and socially. It is also show that these students  grow up to have better social and emotional skills as an adult.

There are a few research studies that were directly aimed at the teaching strategies that are used in homeschool education. However, there is still a lot of research left to do when it comes to these strategies. Since many parents choose to use their own homeschool lessons, and their own written materials, it is difficult to gain a clear perspective on what allows homeschool children to be more successful academically.

It has also been found that parents use a mixture of the themes mentioned above, and mix the teaching strategies to provide their children with the best opportunity to learn. This makes studying the exact effects of each strategy extremely difficult.

Teaching Strategies for Homeschooling

These teaching strategies can be used individually, or they can be approached in a combination method. As you read through them, think about your child's personal learning style, and how they approach learning.

You may notice that several of these teaching strategies fit into your child's learning style. If this is the case, combine the two and find a middle ground with them. You will notice an improvement in your child's academic performance.

Classical

This teaching strategy involves teaching the standard public school education curriculum in a home-based setting.

Lifestyle Learning

The Lifestyle Learning Technique is focused on an organic based part of living. The educational lessons are seamlessly worked into daily life, the geographical location you live in, your community, and the faith of the local area.

Schooling at Home

This teaching technique is similar to what children would learn if they were attending a public school. Strict structure is maintained and the parent provides a clear-cut expectation of academic performance. Subjects are kept separate and are taught independently.

Structured/Mastered/Learning

This teaching technique involves using a lot of worksheets and workbooks. It can also utilize computer programs to conserve consumable materials. Children follow lessons in a sequential order and they are provided feedback on one lesson before they move on to the next. The parent acts like an active teacher, moderator, and administrator.

Unit Studies

Unit teaching strategy focuses on learning concepts and that all of the information is interrelated. According to people who have used it, those who have used it claim their children remember the information longer if they are presented the information together, rather than when it is separated.

All studies are centered around a common theme for the week.

Unschooling

The unschooling teaching strategy, coined by John Holt's Growing Without Schooling, focuses on children having the freedom to explore different types of work, and how the world works. Once the child has determined what career they want, they will focus their studies on reaching the criteria for that career.

World View

The World View teaching strategy focuses on the concept that any form of education is valuable. Most of the education is driven by belief. They also believe that no form of education can be driven without belief. All of the learning materials integrate belief into the studies, and so do the activities.

In Conclusion

Now that you know what teaching strategies are popular in homeschool and the themes that go with them, you can experiment with them to determine what works best for you and your child. Once you have your theme and strategy in place, you can learn what the most effective teaching strategies are for your homeschool.