Traditional homeschooling is a structured school-at-home approach to education that uses textbooks, workbooks, and other traditional teaching materials. The curriculum often follows the same syllabus or course of study that is taught in the public school system and generally incorporates core subjects such as math, science, language arts, and social studies.
Most parents start homeschooling their children with a school-at-home approach because they are most comfortable with it. Traditional homeschooling usually requires more structure than other styles. This style tends to focus on learning content through books, worksheets, and online programs rather than exploring education in other ways.
When you follow a traditional school-at-home homeschooling model, you are trying to replicate the public school system within your home. You may follow the public school calendar and timelines your local school district has set forth. Additionally, each school day would look very similar to the school system’s schedule.
Traditional Homeschooling: School-at-Home Model Example Schedule
Your daily schedule may look something like this.
- 6:30 a.m. Kids get up
- 7:00 a.m. Breakfast
- 7:30 a.m. Brush teeth & get dressed
- 8:00 a.m. Start School
- 8:15 a.m. Spelling
- 8:45 a.m. Math
- 9:30 a.m. Recess
- 9:45 a.m. Language Arts
- 10:30 a.m. Music
- 11:00 Lunch
- You get the picture…
The School-at-Home Method Can Be Exhausting
Does the thought of following this regimented schedule exhaust you? While this is how many homeschooling parents begin their homeschool journey, not many finish this way.
It can be difficult for homeschooling parents to follow a traditional school-at-home model.
Why?
Because as a homeschooling parent, you don’t have the same environment as a school. In addition, you are juggling your children’s education with other household responsibilities.
As a homeschooling parent, you don’t have a cafeteria preparing your child’s lunch, and there isn’t someone else giving you a break while your child is at recess or going to music.
It’s also likely that you are homeschooling more than one child. As a result, a school-at-home model isn’t a practical methodology for homeschooling parents with children of multiple ages. Trying to follow a school-at-home model of homeschooling is one of the quickest ways to homeschool parent burn-out.
Traditional Homeschooling: School-at-Home Model Might Not Be Successful
You can educate your child from home in many ways, and following a school-at-home education model is generally unnecessary. Not only is it unnecessary, but it might be ineffective.
Why would the school-at-home education model be ineffective?
- This model is largely ineffective in school and will likely be unsuccessful in your home.
- A teacher-led education model unnecessarily strains the relationship between you and your child.
While your children are learning from home, it is unnecessary to recreate a school environment for them to be educated. There are far more effective ways to ensure your children have a well-rounded education than following the school-at-home model. People have been learning long before the school system was created and will continue to learn long after this model has run its course.
Since following the school-at-home model has been quite ineffective for many homeschool families, there are a variety of other styles that parents use to help educate their children. In reality, most families are eclectic homeschoolers. They pick and choose what works best for their kids and situation.
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2018-2024+. HomeSchool ThinkTank, LLC. All Rights Reserved.