Homeschooling is the choice of many parents today who find that what they are looking for in education has become very difficult if not impossible to find in government schools.
In homeschool, their children’s education can be once more directed according to the family’s desires and values.
All too often education in government schools is more about teachers and their security than it is about properly training young minds and motivating the intellect of the next generation.
Indeed, unlike most non-government careers, mere time can lock in a bad government schoolteacher for a lifetime.
And experience has shown that the best way to sour young minds on education is to force incompetent teachers on them.
At best, both the content and the quality of the teaching methods used in the government schools, in terms of what we value as important, are severely outdated.
Needs and Resources
Children’s basic needs haven’t changed. A broad background in what has been called “cultural literacy” is essential to becoming mature, responsible, productive adults, who contribute solutions to ongoing social and individual problems.
The foundations of early social, physical, and mental needs are laid in the first seven years — and a well-designed homeschool curriculum provides the structure and the content to help children develop most.
A good lesson plan is important, and the Internet can provide many curriculum suggestions. A search of “homeschool curricula” will point you to many excellent resources.
Additionally, the software that puts the power of your computer to work is now available, automating and integrating many of the latest innovations in education.
They have proven traditional methods, saving you, the parent, much time, and providing your students with accelerated learning tools that will serve them for a lifetime, helping them learn faster, remember longer, and actually enjoy the learning experience.
A search for “learning systems” or “accelerated learning systems” will point to some excellent and inexpensive resources.
Successes
Set up successes for your children by assessing where they are, meeting them there, and then proceeding at a pace that is comfortable but challenging for each child.
Homeschooling produces great success for many students, but it works best when the parents understand that they too are learners and that learning is a family occupation.
As with any human activity, learning is an ongoing process. Research has consistently shown that those engaged in some form of lifelong learning are happier, live longer, and are more engaged in life.
To meet the competitive imperatives of speed, global communications, and the need to innovate constantly, lifelong learning will be critical, and the well-planned homeschool can best prepare today’s generation for these challenges.
Learning is true “the gift that gives for a lifetime.”
