Homeschool curriculum allows parents more flexibility and control over children’s education

November 23 05:15 2021

Parents who send their children to regular school sometimes feel frustrated they don’t have more control over what their children learn. Some parents are upset when their children learn things that do not line up with family beliefs. And so many people turn to home education because parents have greater control over homeschool curriculum.

Although not all moms find this, Antoinette Hesford said homeschool was less stressful than a school for many reasons.

Antoinette, who homeschooled her three children, felt relieved as she no longer needed to fight heavy school traffic during morning and afternoon school pickup.

Homeschooling was more relaxing, said Antoinette, because their family could take school holidays in non-school-holiday periods.

Antoinette also said homeschooling was less stressful as “the kids just homeschooled themselves after a while.”

“As soon as a child can read, they can follow instructions in their workbooks and do it themselves. This meant I only needed to ‘crack the whip’ occasionally, and the work got done.”

“I loved that homeschooling provided me with education for the individual. We didn’t have to conform to the zeitgeist.”

Homeschool Curriculum Comes in Many Forms

Over the last decade, hundreds of homeschool curriculum packages have sprung up. Everything from:

–  online and offline mailable programs
–  secular and Christian homeschool curriculum packages 
–  expensive, cheap, and even free homeschool programs.

This means home educators can get a program that suits their family instead of making their family suit the curriculum they get in school.

Because the homeschool program parents choose often suits children better, formal schoolwork is completed faster at home compared to regular schools.


Figure 1: There are many unique homeschool curriculum choices available today. This means a parent has more flexibility and control over their children’s education.

Homeschool Takes Only a Couple of Hours

Regular schools can spend many hours doing curriculum work. But, most homeschool parents report they spend an average of 2-3 homeschool hours on their work.

This leaves homeschoolers with more time to study extra-curricular activities. Consequently, by the time homeschoolers graduate, they have a better set of practical skills than many of their school peers.

Suit the Homeschool Curriculum to Any Family (Not Vice Versa)

Unlike school, parents can choose a teaching method that suits their family. For example, for parents who want something:

–  similar to school curriculum, they can choose a traditional homeschool curriculum package,
–  nature-based with lots of fun books and reading, they can go for a Charlotte Mason curriculum, 
–  rigorous with Latin content, and something that teaches debating and logic skills, they can look at a Classical curriculum:

Unlike school, if a curriculum doesn’t fit the family dynamic or is too intense or too easy, parents can change providers to fix these problems. This also makes home education much more flexible than school education.

Curriculum Can Be Supplemented or Skipped

If a curriculum is lacking material the parents deem necessary or desirable, the program can be supplemented with other subjects or material that will fill the hole.

Conversely, if parents feel the program is unnecessarily re-hashing old content, they can direct their children to skip the content and move on to new material. 

Homeschool Dad, Bill, Says He Likes Many Things about Homeschooling

For many homeschooling parents, curriculum flexibility and freedom are big draw-cards. When asked what his favorite thing about homeschooling was, Bill Hesford said:

“Freedom was my favorite thing – and the right to be able to choose what my children would study. While I think it’s probably advisable to do certain subjects (for example maths and English), the parent can make the choice. The State doesn’t get to choose that for you. You (as the parent) get to. You also get to structure the days, the weeks, and the months.”

“And because you know your own children so much more than the teachers at school, you get to tailor the teaching method. You pick up what motivates your own children more and you have the freedom to target the method of teaching.”

While Bill wasn’t sure if his children would succeed academically when they grew up, he still proceeded to homeschool. His oldest son became a successful architect before retraining to be a pastor. His daughter completed a science degree and started a medical degree before stopping that to become a stay-at-home mom. His youngest son became a lawyer and now runs his own successful business. Bill feels homeschooling was a success.


Figure 2: Bill and Antoinette homeschooled their three children. They liked the flexibility homeschool curriculum offered them.

Conclusion

Homeschooling lets parents have more freedom over their child’s education. Parents can teach their children concepts that align with the parent’s way of thinking. They can choose a customized program that can be completed in a fraction of the time it takes school children to complete their work. And homeschooled children can learn more practical skills in all their spare time.

Find out more about how to homeschool at the How Do I Homeschool website.

Media Contact
Company Name: How Do I Homeschool
Contact Person: Rebecca Devitt
Email: Send Email
Country: Australia
Website: https://howdoihomeschool.com