There are as many ways to homeschool as there are homeschooling families, and there is no “one right way.” We recognize, though, that our members generally follow one of four different approaches.
Traditional School at Home: This approach is the one that most closely resembles traditional or institutional schooling. The parents, taking the role of “teachers,” use a curriculum similar or identical to that of a public or private school. Families using this approach often purchase a complete curriculum and follow a formal, school-like schedule.
This approach is usually regarded as the most challenging for parents, since they typically make all decisions on what will be taught and how it will be taught, and do the actual teaching of each subject in a “school-like” manner.
Unit Study or Project Method: Families homeschooling in this way use an in-depth exploration of one topic or theme for an extended period of time - a week, a month, or even longer. The topic or theme may be anything from a book to a holiday, an animal, an event, or anything else that the parents or children wish to learn more about. In some families, the children are involved in selecting the unit study topic and the activities that will be used to study it, such as experiments, museum visits, library research, and so forth.
The unit study method tends to require less intense parental involvement than the school-at-home technique. Parents engaged in unit study can help their children learn by drawing on many resources not regularly available in a school-like setting. Examples would include extensive field trips, documentary films, friends or neighbors with knowledge of the topic being studied, and the other resources mentioned above.
Interest-Led Learning or “Unschooling”: This approach to homeschooling always proves difficult to define, perhaps because it is so unlike traditional schooling. Its underlying premise is that we all learn most effectively by pursuing the subjects we care most deeply about. Interest-led learners are encouraged to pursue their interests in great depth for hours on end. That isn’t allowed in institutional schools. Author and educator John Holt, a founder of the modern homeschooling movement, coined the term “unschooling” for this method, which is “not school” as we know it.
Parents of interest-led learners have two basic obligations. First, they must engage their children fully in the world. This ensures that each child will have a fair opportunity to form interests that reflect the broad spectrum of human experience. Children exposed to only a limited worldview will necessarily find their interests limited as well.
Second, parents must facilitate the learning process. They may need to look outside the home for resources tailored to their children’s evolving interests. This could mean a special class, a mentor, or anything else leading to a deeper understanding of a subject. Many unschooling parents prefer to say they “help” their children learn, rather than “teach” them.
Interest-led learning puts children in charge of a large part of their education, reducing the parental “teaching” load. However, parental time is still required to open children to the larger community of people and ideas, and to facilitate the pursuit of the interests they develop.
Eclectic: This approach uses a combination of the above three methods. Eclectic homeschoolers may handle certain subjects with a traditional school-at-home method, while learning others through unit study. A family may also set aside a significant amount of time in which the children are encouraged to pursue their own interests.