Home School Curriculum for Your Child - What You Need to Know Before Choosing One

The Benefits of Home Schooling Programs

Ever since the first formal homeschooling programs appeared, parents have emphasized the great progress that their children made compared with those enrolled in public schools. Perhaps the main advantage of a home school curriculum is that there are far less distractions which could disturb the learning process. Most children can concentrate much more easily in a friendly, familiar environment, without having to cope with the discomfort of a noisy classroom.

By learning at home, children can follow a program that is specifically adapted not only to their personality and temper, but also to the social and religious background of their family. Because of this aspect, home education used to be preferred by many people in the past; even though public schooling appeared in the 17th century, it took more than 100 years before public schools have become the preferred choice.

Today there are more and more options for those who would choose a homeschooling curriculum. With the help of the Internet, parents are much more informed concerning the education of their children. They can choose among a wide variety of methods and education philosophies, including Charlotte Mason education, the Montessori method or Waldorf education. These and many other methodologies are available online at the touch of a button, and are designed to meet all the home schooling requirements.

Adapting to the Child's Needs

Before trying to choose between various types of school systems, it is a good idea to first consider the personality traits that children may have. They would respond much better to a home school curriculum that would be fit for their existing qualities. Psychologists may argue that the environment where children grow up largely determines the type of traits that the child will later develop. However, reality has proven to be quite different. In theory, parents can try to mold the personality of their child to what they think would be the best option but this hardly ever works out well.

The best practical approach of choosing a good homeschooling curriculum is to consider the aptitudes and social traits of the children. Some of them might be very outgoing for example, in which case home education would just make them feel trapped or controlled.

A good home school curriculum has to take into account a very broad view of the child's abilities, needs and wants. These can be very specific; for example, some children may be more attracted to analytical thinking patterns, in which case their education should focus more on subjects like math, science or geography.

Other children have much more complex traits that do not focus on any specific type of thinking pattern. In this case, the best teaching method would be the unit study approach. This method focuses on a specific theme, combining a number of different useful subjects that are geared to help the child learn all the aspects of that particular theme. An example of this can be the study of the industrial revolution of the 18th century, combining subjects such as history, geography, science and social studies.

Choosing the best home school curriculum is a very important and complex issue that should not be taken lightly. All children have their own unique set of personality traits and with the proper guidance each child has the potential to exceed all expectations.