The Decision to Homeschool & Worldschool

Making the decision to homeschool (educating your children yourself at home) is not an easy one. Worldschooling (educating your kids while travelling) can be even more daunting. Fortunately, it isn’t as scary as it seems.

There are many ways to homeschool, choosing the right method all depends on your lifestyle, personal/family values and the reasons you are considering homeschooling in the first place.

We homeschool and worldschool our 9 year old daughter. We decided to take this route because she was diagnosed with dyslexia and traditional public education was just not working for her. Not only was her progress slow but the teaching styles in public school were killing her love of learning and causing depression. It was so hard to watch that excited, exuberant light in her eyes slowly going out. We looked into specialized private schools for dyslexic kids and although the programs were amazing, the tuitions were astronomical! Most schools (in Canada) were $25,000 - $30,000 per year. We reluctantly decided to look into homeschooling to see if that was a viable option for us.

I say reluctantly because homeschooling seemed like such a huge undertaking and, let’s face it, homeschooled kids have a reputation of being odd and somewhat socially awkward. But, the more we researched the more excited we became. There were so many options for how to educate and socialize her! Also, most home-schooled kids that we met were mature, well adjusted and happy.

Here is a brief overview of some types of homeschooling:

Traditional: Using a similar curriculum and grading system to what is used in public schools.

Classical: A three-pronged process of education: the grammar stage (memorization), the logic stage (the “why” stage), and the rhetoric stage (applying the knowledge learned in the previous stages). It focuses on training the mind vs fact memorization.

Unschooling: a child-led learning approach to education. This method lets the child’s current interests dictate what is being studied. It’s also called “natural learning”, “independent learning”, and “experience based learning”.

Charlotte Mason Method: A three pronged approach that is centred around discipline, atmosphere and life teaching. More information on this method can be found on the Charlotte Mason website.

Distributed Learning: an educational model that allows instructors, students, and content to be located in different, non-centralized locations. Instruction and learning can occur independent of time and place. The distributed learning model can be used in combination with traditional classroom-based courses and traditional distance education courses (in which it is also deferred to as blended learning) or it can be used to create entirely virtual classrooms.

Our main concern was taking complete responsibility for her education. We aren’t teachers or child psychologists so we were worried about somehow “messing up” her education. We decided to go with the distributed learning method.

Our province (British Columbia, Canada) has a public school distributed learning program where they are registered virtually in the school and assigned a teacher to help oversee and guide her education. We get a suggested outline of subjects being studied in her grade that year, free access to many resources catered to her learning styles and challenges, virtual classes, virtual student socialization, and continued support from her teachers. We decide how to deliver the subjects to her and we have the option of changing the subjects we are studying depending on her interests. We send in her work for feedback and grading. Any educational outings or activities count towards school credit. It was the perfect fit for us. It gave us the freedom to educate her in the ways that work for her, around our schedule, while having lots of support and accountability.

We also both work from home so once we tried it successfully for a semester we thought why not take it on the road! Imagine the opportunity to not just learn about art, culture and history from books but to experience it first hand!

There are a few things to consider before deciding if homeschooling and world schooling is for you:

Commitment: On average homeschooling your child takes at least 4 hours per day. Does this work with your job, schedule or other commitments?

Finances: Homeschooling does come with costs. Educational supplies, resources, and program fees are all costs to consider. Homeschooling may also require one parent to work less to accommodate the time commitment required. One great factor of our distributed learning program is that the school board gives the parents the funding that the government would have provided the school because we as the parent are taking on the responsibilities of their education. It’s always a good idea to research any funding options that may be available to you in your area. (See Roaming Ronin’s “study” resources page for educational resources).

Mentality: Homeschooling requires a lot of patience, creativity, discipline and initiative. If you have a lot of trouble in these areas you may want to consider seeking help in the form of a tutor or teacher’s aide.

Child’s Disposition: No two children are the same so while some children will thrive in a homeschool environment, some may find it lonely and demotivating (in that case you may want to either consider other education options or put extra emphasis on socializing and group activities). Also, some children find it hard to transition to having their parents being their teachers if they are coming from a traditional school environment so some extra patience may be needed during the first few months.

There are definitely some challenges but we have found that homeschooling and worldschooling has been a wonderful, enriching experience for both us and our daughter. It’s brought us all closer together and has given our child confidence and a chance to thrive in an educational environment catered to her needs and personality.

With the problems that underfunding in public schools create and the high cost of private schools, homeschooling is a wonderful and viable option for many families.

#education #parenting #homeschool #worldschooling #locationindependence #distributedlearning #dyslexia #specialneeds