| As you know, school house teachers prepare for | | | | will probably mean cuts being made in others. One |
| their career path through many hours of course | | | | of the biggest challenges schoolteachers face with |
| work, methodology classes, and student teaching | | | | the larger class sizes is finding teaching pace that |
| before they begin teaching school. So how in the | | | | will not out run the slower student yet deliver to |
| world could a parent without such training and | | | | the higher learners subject matter that challenges |
| preparations expect to be able to successfully | | | | them as well. Unfortunately, the answer is usually |
| home school their children? | | | | a compromise that neither works for the slower |
| As someone who has accomplished both, I can | | | | or the faster students. |
| tell you that home schooling is quite a different | | | | As a homeschooling parent you don't have to |
| job than classroom teaching. For instance, a | | | | work within the time constraints or the class |
| classroom teacher is tasked with the rather | | | | sizes. And you certainly won't get called into the |
| prodigious challenge of conveying specific skills to | | | | office because you spent too much time on one |
| a large group of kids with many different learning | | | | subject either because your child really took to it |
| abilities and learning styles and certainly they | | | | and you wanted to dig deeper, or your child |
| come from different backgrounds. I can tell you, | | | | struggled to understand some of the concepts |
| as a teacher, the temperament toward learning in | | | | and you wanted to review, test and teach some |
| which the child is exposed to at home is a huge | | | | more before you moved on. As a whole the |
| influencing factor when it comes to the child's | | | | homeschooling parent can work with and help |
| performance at school. Whether a child comes | | | | their children fully learn something without having |
| from a home environment that embraces and | | | | to worry about any myriad of issues that |
| nurtures learning or not makes teaching a large | | | | schoolteachers face. |
| group of students an even more challenging task. | | | | It's been documented that one on one instruction |
| Then there are those discipline issues that | | | | facilitates learning at a much greater pace than |
| inevitably come. When this occurs, the | | | | can be done in a one to many environment. The |
| schoolteacher is bound to follow rules, regulations, | | | | homeschooling parent has the flexibility to adjust |
| and policies. And may or may not have the | | | | the schedule as learning dictates. You'll find that |
| support of the parents in correcting the behavior. | | | | because this teaching model is so much more |
| Disciplinary action is a whole different arena when | | | | efficient than classroom learning, that you'll be able |
| you are a homeschooling parent. This is a natural | | | | to dig deeper and stay longer within subjects and |
| duty for you as a parent and as such you can | | | | still have plenty of time on your homeschool |
| incorporate the rules and policies that not only | | | | yearly calendar. |
| work best for your homeschool but for your | | | | Preparation is always a good thing and with |
| family as well. | | | | today's technologies it's much easier. Get out |
| As a homeschooling parent, you are in control of | | | | there and read books, find some good online |
| the home environment of student(s)! And | | | | homeschooling forums that you like and jump in. |
| homeschoolers certainly don't have to teach, | | | | You'll soon get a feel for how those ahead of you |
| motivate, and reach out to an entire room full of | | | | on the path have approached the very same |
| children at one time. We only have to motivate | | | | questions that you have. Be prepared for some |
| and manage one (or several) children, and even | | | | sanding and buffing of your schedule and your |
| then (if you're creative with your scheduling and | | | | plans until you find what works best for you, your |
| planning) it doesn't have to be all at the same | | | | child(ren) and your family. |
| time. As parents, homeschoolers are driven by | | | | Do you have educational training and pedigrees |
| the highest of motivators... the love for their | | | | that schoolteachers have? Probably not; but as |
| children and the desire for them to be successful. | | | | you now know, in the case of homeschooling you |
| When it comes to the curriculum, schoolteachers | | | | don't need many of them. |
| are largely bound by a prescribed program and | | | | So, homeschooling... can you really do this? I think |
| schedule. In the traditional classroom, because of | | | | you'll find that with the availability of so many |
| scheduling and time constraints (along with | | | | resources today, combined with your enthusiasm |
| everything else) a teacher must instruct as | | | | for your child's success and the love of being their |
| efficiently as possible. Too much time on one unit | | | | parent that... yes you can do this. |