Homeschooling: What are your options?

I am dusting off this blog to write an in depth post on the options of homeschooling.  Several friends, including my cousin's wife are thinking of this possible option for educating their kids.  For those that don't know us, our boys are 20, 18 and 14. (they are now 22, 21 and 17) All have been educated at home.  We started 14 years ago (now 18) and it was by far the best decision we made.

Many that are new to the option of homeschooling may not know what their options are and what it involves, so I will go over those options for you and help you shed some light on it. There are many different educational models that you can look into.  Here are some of the options:

1.  Texbooks
2.  Living Learning books (Charlotte Mason etc)
3.  Classical
4.  Hodge podge

Also you will find that your child may NOT fit into a typical model or it may not be a "one size fits all" model.  Some children learn differently.  An INVALUABLE book that I read many years ago was "The Way They Learn" by Cynthia Tobias. You may not know this, but ONLY 25% of children and adults learn by Textbook method.  What about the other 75%?  Oh those are usually labeled "special needs" or people with "learning disabilities".  I always thought I was SO dumb & stupid..........I HATED school but I have LOVED teaching our boys.  Why?  Because they love it. I have watched them thrive.  Love learning.  Because we were able to custom build their education FOR WHO THEY ARE, instead of turning them into a "cookie cutter model" like everyone else.  Once I figured out what my learning styles were, I realized why I didn't do well in school & realized it was NOT my fault.......

Here are some of the ways that people/children learn:

1.  Hands on
2.  Auditory
3.  Visual
4.  Texbook

OR a combo of either one of those

I realized that I am a hands on/Visual learner.......NOT a texbook learner.........so yeah.....there you have it.

There are MANY options when it comes to school choice for homeschooling: 

1.  School at home option.  There are MANY options within this one:
     A. Pick & choose:  this is where you can pick and choose their curriculum and they do everything at home.
     B.  Video school:  You can pick and choose all or some of the subjects, but some or all of the classes are watched through a video and they do the rest of their classwork at home
      C.  One Size fits all: This is where you just buy all of your curriculum from one company and do all of what they suggest.  Many people start this way.......

2.  Co-op (classrooms)
     
A.  Pick and choose:  There's not many of these around but basically you pick and choose 1 to all of your classes.  You know what curriculum they are using and they kids are taught by someone else usually 1-2 days a week and they do the rest of their work at home.  Different co-ops offer different things.  Ours offers all of the aspects of a public/private school when it comes to fellowships, dances, extracurricular, social stuff, etc.
     
B.  Classical:  This is usually done according to the classical model and is usually under the names Veritas or Classical Conversations.  The kids go to school one day a week and do the work that week for their class.

All of this maybe overwhelming to you but I am trying to help you guys out here.  There are many options for you and to help you out.  If you have any questions, just comment here and I will try to help you out.

See ya!