If you haven’t determined by now you soon will that when it comes to homeschooling your child there are a number of ‘methods’ and teaching approaches that you will come across.

In an effort to give you at least a high level understanding of some of the homeschooling teaching approaches here are some of the more usually defined in no particular order of preference or popularity.

Unit Studies:

The idea behind using a Unit Study approach to teaching or homeschooling is that you make best use of your child’s natural interests. Say for instance that your child has a natural interest about planets and space. You would use this interest through most all of the subject matters that you could.

For instance, your reading skill building would include stories that involved space travel or the planets and solar system. Your math would associate distance, relative size and such around the planets and objects in space.

Of course, your history would include that of space travel and so on. The advantage of this type of homeschool approach is obviously you are capitalizing on natural interests of your child. The cautionary note is for parents to become to enthusiastic and not explore any new interest and even burn the child out on their initial interest in something.

Relaxed or Eclectic Homeschooling:

Probably the method used most by homeschoolers (I’ve got my hand up here). Because most homeschoolers have a strong sense of independence and they enjoy the flexibility that a homeschool schedule provides, this method fits the bill for many. The relaxed more eclectic approach to homeschool is one more pragmatic in nature. Experimenting with various techniques, buffing and polishing them until they get produce the best results for them.

Unschooling:

Unschooling is known as the natural, interest led approach to homeschooling. Parents that Unschool teach from everyday life experiences and do not use any type of formal lessons. The children learn by following their natural curiosity guided by answers, explanations, and the teaching of the parents. The disadvantage to Unschooling is that since the kids have followed and researched on their own schedule, they may not do as well on grade-level types of assessments and may find it harder to adapt to a traditional school or educational setting should they have to re-enter.

Classical Homeschooling:

Classical teaching methods have their roots from the Middle Ages. This approach is responsible for educating some of the greatest minds in history. The classical approach is teaching people how to learn for themselves. The five tools of learning (the Trivium) are reason, record, research, relate, and rhetoric. Young children begin with preparation, where they learn basic reading skills, writing, and arithmetic. Then comes grammar with sentence structure and composition. All heading toward the dialiectic stage, where serious reading, study, and intense research begins and continues.

Charlotte Mason Method:

At its core this homeschool teaching approach believes that children learn best from real life situations. According to Charlotte, children should be given time to play, create, and be involved in real-life situations. Parents who subscribe to this methodology take nature walks, visit museums, and engage in other learning activities from “living books”. Children demonstrate their knowledge and progress not through testing, but rather narration and discussion.

These are few of the homeschool teaching approaches that you may discover as you begin your research and journey. Certainly not all of the methods available, but I hope this gives you a bit of a boost.