Traditional homeschooling works for me. Check out what I love about taking the traditional route to educating my kids at home.
Familiarity
I don’t like reinventing the wheel. I grew up learning in the traditional classroom. Teaching my kids from the familiarity of traditional education feels natural for me and requires less effort than other approaches. Less effort each day gives me more energy for the long haul.
Consistency
Sometimes I feel jealous when I hear other moms talk about how they are trying this new curriculum and how beautiful it is and how much the kids love it. Sure enough, the next year they are talking about yet another program they are testing out. I want my homeschooling to be as consistent as possible. Changing up curriculums and styles of teaching is confusing. Reading textbooks and filling up workbooks may look dull and not as full of wonder as someone else’s homeschooling but it keeps my homeschooling consistent. Guess what? Consistency over time cements what a child is learning. For a student to learn a subject thoroughly there needs to be a building process. A lack of consistency does not allow for building, instead progress is stalled.
Thoroughness
Traditional homeschooling is a step -by- step approach to cover what you need for each year. I love how thorough our curriculum is as it gradually builds on a foundation of knowledge from kindergarten on up. When reports are due to our school district, I don’t have to drum up what to write or lie on my forms. We have covered all of our requirements by the end of the year.
Independent Learning
I love to see my second grader sit down and get started on his work while I am sitting down to start on my morning coffee. He knows just what he wants to do and can organize his books in the order he would like to work on his assignments. How does a second grader do that? He uses the same books every week and I give him the same amount of work each week to cover. Independent learning is key to running a smooth homeschool day. The child is happy learning on his own for a portion of the day and the parent is free to help others or drink a cup of coffee peacefully for a few minutes. Priceless.
Straight Forward
My kids can work independently because our homeschooling is straight forward. We save Science experiments, Art projects, and group activities for our co-op groups. Keeping our routine schoolwork simple and to the point makes our day less frustrating. The kids know what to expect and are settled into the flow of learning. I am not scrambling around trying to figure out what to do next. We stick to our straight forward plan and that’s that.
I’m thankful that I get to choose what style of homeschooling to implement in my kids’ education. There is no guilt for doing what works for me as a parent. Afterall, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. It’s no surprise that the traditional route works for my kids too.
Looking for a traditional homeschool curriculum? Check out https://www.bjupress.com or https://globalstudentnetwork.com
Sarah Brutovski is a homeschool mom of three children. She grew up just down the street from where she and her husband are raising their family now in rural Upstate New York. When she is not teaching her kids, grocery shopping, or drinking coffee you might find her training for a half marathon, escaping for a morning at the beach, or chatting on the phone with one of her four siblings. Sarah loves writing on her blog sarahswritingcafe.blogspot.com and currently teaches creative writing at her kids’ weekly co-op.
