Of all the traps you can fall into as a new homeschooler, there is one that stands out above all the rest as potentially the most destructive and the most joy-draining mistake you can make.
Before I get into what that is, don’t lose heart if you discover you’ve been doing this all along. I think most of us are guilty of having done this to some extent in our homeschools- I know I have.
Ready for the big disclosure? Okay. The biggest no-no you can run into as a new homeschooler is…
Boxing yourself into a school model.
Confused? Let me explain.
If you’re new to this homeschooling thing, chances are you’ll do exactly what I did- draw on your own school experiences to help you to structure your homeschool. That’s perfectly understandable. As a society, we’ve been conditioned to believe that the school model is the only way to learn.
What if I told you that’s just not true? What if I told you that your kids don’t have to raise their hands to ask questions? That you don’t have to start your day by taking attendance and saying the Pledge of Allegiance? That chewing gum is perfectly acceptable? That drawing on school work isn’t against the rules?
What if I told you that you are in control- not the school down the street?
Did that grab your attention? Let’s get started.
10 Common Ways We Let the School Model Control Our Homeschool
- Schedules
Just because schools divide their days into 7 or 8 periods of 45-55 minutes each doesn’t mean a homeschool must be run that way. What if I were to tell you that the whole routine of bells signaling the need to stop everything and move onto a new subject was instituted into the school system as a way to condition students to get used to working in factories?
Doesn’t seem so great now, does it?
As the facilitator of your homeschool, how much time your children spend on any one subject is entirely up to you. Many homeschoolers, myself included, prefer to use routines to schedules because they are less restrictive and offer more flexibility. Whereas schedules offer specific starting and ending times for each individual subject, routines tend to focus mo