When people talk about homeschooling, an automatic assumption is made that mom or dad is the primary teacher, they are responsible for building the curriculum for each student at their appropriate grade level and they will perform all the instruction in every area. Knowing enough information about all subject areas to be able to adequately teach kids the concepts is a challenging task especially when you get into the high school grades. For families who want the benefits of homeschooling but cannot model this approach, there are other options where parents can have different responsibilities.
Kindergarteners and elementary students are the most common group to with parents operating as the full-time instructors but when connected to a top online homeschool program, everything else is setup for them. Curriculum, lesson planner, record keeping and grading are all handled and supported by the school so the parent can focus completely on teaching and interacting with their child. As the students move into elementary and middle school, part-time parent instruction is another option that these programs offer.
Families find this option satisfactory because it allows them be involved in their child’s education but includes the experts in the subjects where the concepts may be harder or more difficult to teach at this age and grade level. It’s important to find the best online homeschool curriculum connected with the program because, as a teacher, parents need to be able to understand the information and how to convey that to the students. Excellent curriculum makes this job easier especially when combined with a lesson planner which keeps everyone on task.
Parents can also choose to have their children fully taught through the online portal and the school’s teachers so they have no role as instructor. This can be for a couple of reasons including work responsibilities and comfortability with the information and is often utilized starting in middle school and into high school. In this situation, parents take on more of a supportive and accountability role for their children and the online portal makes it simple to keep track of grades and progress.
This approach is becoming more popular as households have both parents who work or a single parent who has to work but wants their child to have the benefits of homeschooling. When you find the best online homeschool curriculum, the advantage is that the student can work through the information with little to no support once the basic concept has been taught and either a certified teacher or a parent can work with material provided.
Families are unique entities and education should be flexible enough to meet the needs and provide students with a positive learning experience with quality results. Parents can wear many hats in this process as teacher, encourager, financier, tutor and more and with the right homeschool program, they can make adjustments as they need over the years. Take time to research the homeschooling options available and how parents can be involved to determine which solution works best for your family.
