Choosing a curriculum
One of the first things that you will look at once you decide to homeschool is the curriculum that you will teach your child. This is basically the content and the process by which your child will learn and thus also what and how you will teach.
Curriculum has a Latin root which means 'racecourse' and historically was used to describe subjects taught during the classical period of Greek civilisation. Its 'verb' definition is 'to run a course' which is close to what we understand it today.
Technicalities aside, there are a few things you have to consider when choosing a curriculum for your child and this include:
1. Your motivation for homeschooling your child
People homeschool for many reasons. This ranges from religious beliefs, lack of good schools to a personal desire to mould their children according to a particular belief system. Thus if your motivation if religious, you will then choose a curriculum that imbibes or put your faith at the centre of your curriculum. If this is the case, you can either choose a curriculum available in the market that shares your belief or you can choose to centre your education around your faith in how you teach your children and include a faith-based/belief angle to what you are teaching.
2. Your personal philosophy of education
By philosophy I mean how you believe children develop and learn best. There are some of us who despite being adventurous homeschoolers in an academic achievement crazy society who are 'traditional' in practice and still practice a 'school-like' environment at home with set time-tables and sit-down sessions because we believe that children learn well in a structured manner. Then there are some of us who believes children should learn out in nature and let our kids trudge around the gardern or park nearby to learn about nature and its secrets. So, some soul-searching (or if you have no idea what you believe about child development- research)is needed before you embark on deciding what you want to choose for your child.
3. Your lifestyle
When I started out with Montessori, I was so determined to follow step-by-step what the books said I should do. It was however tiring to do so with a baby, a toddler and a precocious kindergartner. I was lucky that my first child loved to learn despite his mother's inexperience (Allah was watching over us)and I think, it is only till recently that I have learned to be more flexible (you can see how difficult it is to break out of who you have become). I believe that with the many options available for homeschoolers, even working parents now can homeschool. You should look into the hours you have available not only to teach, but also include time needed to prepare and review your lessons. If you are working try to time your work such that you are able to commit the hours you have planned to be with your children or if not, schedule school around your working hours.
4. Your child's learning style
I believe there are so many books out there you can read about learning styles. After the few years of homeschooling, I think the best way is to have a varied methodology in teaching and learning. This ensures that you cover the different needs that each child have while not driving yourself to up the wall trying to come up with individual lesson plans. You can however approach each child differently according to his learning style. However, if your child has to take a state exam, ensure that he is still prepared for this even if his learning still goes against the sit-down exam approach. It's tough but thankfully they don't have to take exams too often.
5. Your resources
Montessori has all these beautiful resources and the beauty and secrets that lied behind those materials just appealed to me. Unfortunately it did not appeal to my bank balance and as my husband was the sole breadwinner when we started out, it made it even harder to have all the materials that I wished for my children. I even felt that I was shortchanging my children by not having them.
Never think like I did- there are many alternatives that lead to the same path. You can where possible make your own materials, buy second-hand or take the central ideas behind these materials and adapt them to your own teaching. Your children have the most precious learning resource they can ever have-YOU!
There are other areas you can look into besides those above such as your home environment, your state requirements and your future education plans for your child as he or she moves into high school and college. After you've gone through all these (there's no need to go into too much detail or you'll take years before your children can be homeschooled) then you can start your search for the curriculum that appeals to you or maybe, you are one of those capable of coming up with your own.
People homeschool for many reasons. This ranges from religious beliefs, lack of good schools to a personal desire to mould their children according to a particular belief system. Thus if your motivation if religious, you will then choose a curriculum that imbibes or put your faith at the centre of your curriculum. If this is the case, you can either choose a curriculum available in the market that shares your belief or you can choose to centre your education around your faith in how you teach your children and include a faith-based/belief angle to what you are teaching.
2. Your personal philosophy of education
By philosophy I mean how you believe children develop and learn best. There are some of us who despite being adventurous homeschoolers in an academic achievement crazy society who are 'traditional' in practice and still practice a 'school-like' environment at home with set time-tables and sit-down sessions because we believe that children learn well in a structured manner. Then there are some of us who believes children should learn out in nature and let our kids trudge around the gardern or park nearby to learn about nature and its secrets. So, some soul-searching (or if you have no idea what you believe about child development- research)is needed before you embark on deciding what you want to choose for your child.
3. Your lifestyle
When I started out with Montessori, I was so determined to follow step-by-step what the books said I should do. It was however tiring to do so with a baby, a toddler and a precocious kindergartner. I was lucky that my first child loved to learn despite his mother's inexperience (Allah was watching over us)and I think, it is only till recently that I have learned to be more flexible (you can see how difficult it is to break out of who you have become). I believe that with the many options available for homeschoolers, even working parents now can homeschool. You should look into the hours you have available not only to teach, but also include time needed to prepare and review your lessons. If you are working try to time your work such that you are able to commit the hours you have planned to be with your children or if not, schedule school around your working hours.
4. Your child's learning style
I believe there are so many books out there you can read about learning styles. After the few years of homeschooling, I think the best way is to have a varied methodology in teaching and learning. This ensures that you cover the different needs that each child have while not driving yourself to up the wall trying to come up with individual lesson plans. You can however approach each child differently according to his learning style. However, if your child has to take a state exam, ensure that he is still prepared for this even if his learning still goes against the sit-down exam approach. It's tough but thankfully they don't have to take exams too often.
5. Your resources
Montessori has all these beautiful resources and the beauty and secrets that lied behind those materials just appealed to me. Unfortunately it did not appeal to my bank balance and as my husband was the sole breadwinner when we started out, it made it even harder to have all the materials that I wished for my children. I even felt that I was shortchanging my children by not having them.
Never think like I did- there are many alternatives that lead to the same path. You can where possible make your own materials, buy second-hand or take the central ideas behind these materials and adapt them to your own teaching. Your children have the most precious learning resource they can ever have-YOU!
There are other areas you can look into besides those above such as your home environment, your state requirements and your future education plans for your child as he or she moves into high school and college. After you've gone through all these (there's no need to go into too much detail or you'll take years before your children can be homeschooled) then you can start your search for the curriculum that appeals to you or maybe, you are one of those capable of coming up with your own.
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