Before you even start homeschooling – or researching homeschooling, for that matter – there are some questions you need to ask yourself and possibly your children:

What do you want your child to know?

What are your children interested in? Understanding and nurturing their interests is a key part of homeschooling. It shows that you care about their individuality and it can make the learning process more engaging and enjoyable for them.

What will your scheduling look like?
What will a day of homeschool look like?
How often will you schedule?
Are you stationed homeschooling or traveling?
Do you also have to work?

​You need to have a basic idea of what you want out of this experience for your child and for yourself. Asking these questions will help you start without too many hiccups. Remember to consider how long your school day will be and how many days a week you will homeschool—this will depend on your own responsibilities and the needs of your child.

The Hurdles of Homeschool

Most parents find homeschooling overwhelming right from the start. There are a lot of curriculums available online, and who knows what we can or can’t trust. Some companies make claims, and after purchase, you are left feeling ‘jibbed’ for lack of a better word. This is no good – and this isn’t even half the confusion; there’s countless styles of education and ‘doctrines’ that people follow. BUT! Remember, homeschooling is not just about academics, it’s about personal growth and development. We want our children to have a love of learning. There are so many ways to homeschool, each offering a unique approach and a chance for personal growth.

From learning through play exclusively, to unschooling and child-led learning, from a strictly classical education to a more child focused experience like Montessori, Waldorf and Steiner or Charlotte Mason. Each and every style has its pluses and minuses. For the most part these styles become dogmatic and a forceful doctrine and religion if you will. People believe so much in a process of educating that they get lost in the rules and regulations of it rather than focusing on what truly matters.

Styles and Curriculum

John Taylor Gatto said “There isn’t a right way to become educated; there are as many ways as there are fingerprints.” With that in mind I want to go through the different styles most predominantly used, so you can see what each is about, where it came from and how it effects a child. Then we’ll discuss what I recommend over at Educational Heart, the first online social and academy platform for specifically for home educating families.

Waldorf and Steiner: founded by Australian Rudolf Steiner, philosopher, and teacher, in the late 1800’s, his method takes a holistic approach, developing a child’s mind, character, compassion, and creativity. Art and storytelling are woven into every subject, including science and mathematics. This approach has children playing with mainly open-ended toys made of natural materials. It doesn’t have children learn their alphabet and reading until they’re seven years of age. The practices and facilities that facilitate Waldorf and Steiner practices have a cult feel, like stepping back in time and being on some kind of compound. Though there are some good ideas in the style there is a lack of innovation.

The Charlotte Mason method is from the late 1800’s in Britain. While it is literature-based, it excludes textbooks believing that ‘children familiar with great thought take naturally to thinking for themselves as the well-nourished body takes to growing; and we must bear in mind that growth — physical, intellectual, moral, spiritual — is the sole end of education,” she says in her book The Original Homeschooling Series. The exclusion of textbooks makes sense when the text books are heavily engineered not for free thinking and a love of learning but for social engineering however, in our world today we have so much more on offer to learn from that excluding other media like video courses, podcasts and or audiobooks seems like a wasted opportunity to learn more and understand more from other perspectives and angles. Reading about something is very different from watching someone do it or doing it yourself. I believe there should be a firm opportunity for reading great books or at the very least an opportunity to hear them as audio books many classics contain timeless themes that transcend generations and allow for great conversation and connection.

Classical: This is based on the trivium, which has three distinct stages of learning. Young children: grammar stage – memorizing of facts and figures. Fifth grade: logic stage – learning about relationships, cause, and effect. Teen years: final stage/Rhetoric stage – focuses on expressing their original thoughts through speech and writing about their studies. Though this approach sounds logical and as if it has come from reason there is a lot left to be desired and a missed opportunity to see a child excel, exposing their talents, and passions. Classical curriculums tend to be ridged and lack the true philosophical approach from which the style was derived. I am talking about the one room classrooms that once existed, where children of all ages mixed together. A full class, was made up of however many children could fit within four walls. The teaching was conducted by several adults talking with the children at length over ethics and ideas. Though there were some more strict and formal lessons, the formality wasn’t that strong of a component except for in the cases of the privately tutored individuals.

Modern Schooling also seen as Traditional though its implementation started in the late 1800s: this method involves standardization, textbooks, workbooks, sheets, and tests in the classroom or at home. The style primarily focuses on memorization and regurgitation rather than real applicable learning, understanding or comprehension, moving children away from critical thinking and innovation. The system stems from the industrial era and focuses on creating workers for industry rather than entrepreneurs and inventors for a more diverse economy.

Leadership Education Method or Thomas Jefferson Education: This method leads students through three distinct phases of learning: Core (until age 8), Love of Learning (until age 12), and Scholar. Classic books, mentors, and inspiration from the parent-teacher also play key roles in the curriculum. In a sense this follows a classical approach at the beginning, a mixed approach in the middle and back to classical at the end.

Unit Study Method: This method focuses on a particular topic or subject. For example, a child who eats, sleeps, and breathes trains would read books about trains, delve into their history, and use miniature trains as manipulatives when learning math concepts. Arts and crafts and handwriting assignments can also be integrated into the unit’s topic.

Montessori Method: Maria Montessori developed this method in the early 1900s. The method focuses on hands-on experience, freedom and choices for the student, and order within the learning environment. Montessori parent-teacher observes what the child is developmentally ready to learn and then provides gentle guidance and direction. According to Montessori, “The instructions of the teacher consist then merely in a hint, a touch — enough to give a start to the child. The rest develops of itself.”

Interest-led Learning, also called Unschooling: John Holt, an experienced schoolteacher, started the movement in the 1970’s. In his book How Children Fail, Holt wrote, “Children do not need to be made to learn to be better, told what to do or shown how. If they are given access to enough of the world, they will see clearly enough what things are truly important to themselves and to others, and they will make for themselves a better path into that world than anyone else could make for them.” His concern in his words “is not to improve ‘education’ but to do away with it, to end the ugly and anti-human business of people-shaping and allow and help people to shape themselves.” (from 1976 book Instead of Education: Ways to Help People Do Things Better) unschooling is described as a child-led, self-directed approach to education. It rejects formal curricula and standardization like the modern schooling structure, and instead encourages the natural curiosity and interest of the individual, giving the child free rein to do as they wish with some leadership from the parent to provide resources, connections and guidance without dictating what or when to learn.This is similar to the method of education at Educational Heart however we also incorporate other ideas into our system.

We advise a mixed approach to learning. We believe a completely unique approach to your family and each child is necessary to cultivate a love of learning and ensure everyone enjoys their education including you, the parent. You want to enjoy the experience alongside your children, feeling the joy and relief when they grasp a concept they have been struggling with.

We focus on three core areas of learning: World Exploring, Skill Building, Character Development

In each area a child’s interests are taken under advisement of the parent and each offers the child opportunity to grow and dive further into points of interest.

World Exploring is exactly what it sounds like. It is exploring different topics, ideas and areas of study, people and places. World exploring essentially covers all subjects, all times in history and every person who ever lived. You can use YouTube videos, online courses on places like EDH Social, our courses and community hub or places like, study.com, Udemy, and Skillshare. You can also view articles, blog posts and podcasts, we provide extensive lists inside our courses because we know how powerful it can be for kids to watch listen and see more of what they’re studying and interested in. The main aspect to World Exploring is to ask your child what they want to learn about, do they have a question they want answered? Are they curious about something? This is discussed first. Then, we advise that you have a list of prepared topics or areas to research or questions to answer for your child to learn about. You can research your child’s question first or the topic you had planned, mixing up the order can bring spontaneity and excitement. The reason for this, topic-based approach is simple: How is a child to know what they want to learn and do, if they have not first been exposed to a lot of different ideas? The truth is a lot of the learning styles miss the mark with understanding that while a child’s interests are important, so is their exposure to different subjects outside of what they initially are interested in. The classical curriculum leaves little to no room for a child to explore their interests or new things outside of the context of worksheets and set readings.

The schooling system is focused on standardization and testing. Children are to do worksheets and take notes during class lecture there is no room for true creative expression or critical thinking. World Exploring allows a child to explore outside of their interests while also making sure they know the importance of their interests and their voice within the learning experience.

Then there’s skill building, this is where children learn about critical thinking, public speaking, entrepreneurship and financial literacy. Real world skills they’re going to need. They’ll learn how to fill out tax forms and they’ll learn to see through the marketing and PR campaigns made by politicians and corporations. We also advise that you encourage and help your child take on building projects, woodworking, metal work, try pottery or glassblowing. Some of these things may be one off experience and some might be too pricy but the ones your family can do, will be very beneficial to your child and their overall learning experience, resilience and confidence.

Last and certainly not least is character development. A child must know what character traits are in order to mindfully possess them. Character development is about teaching children character traits through story, old, new, fact and fiction. It’s about giving children real world opportunities like volunteering and rubbish collection to act out the traits they’re learning about. You might also have your children write a play and perform it in person or with puppets or Lego. Sometimes an opportunity to grow is as simple as your child calling up a grandparent and listening to their stories. This development and practice should be bolstered with a study and understanding of the brain and how humans act.

Of course, there are other ways to learn and guide your children but we believe that this is the best way forward in the changing world we are in. If you have younger children then added to the skill building should be reading writing and arithmetic. Science fits into world exploring. Reading, writing and speaking should be taught as the great skills they are not as just another topic or milestone to overcome. Mathematics we believe should be taught as a part of financial literacy at a young age. Linking numbers to tangible uses from the beginning.

Once you have chosen a style, then it’s time to find yourself a curriculum – there are many around, so this can prove difficult.

You can go:

With an organization like Classical Conversations.
Search teachers and pay them for specific resources like on TPT
Find small, dedicated teams of curriculum designers like Gather Round or Educational Heart.

​There is a lot to explore out there, but once you know your method, it’ll make it easier to find the right curriculum material for your family.

Homeschool issues to think about when considering curriculum

Money: how much does the curriculum costs and how often do you have to pay out for it?

Accessibility: is it online or via textbook, are you on the road with access to Wi-Fi or are you stationary at home?

Usability: is this something you can use for each child or something you have to pay out for again?

Extra resources: what extra resources will you need to purchase on-top of the curriculum?

Final Thoughts

Getting started on homeschooling can be overwhelming but it’s made easier by following those who came before you. Research for yourself and decide how you would like to begin and know that if something doesn’t work, you can change and pivot. I know many homeschoolers who try all different types of styles and some even use different styles for different children. You’re not locked into using only one.

I cover so much more about homeschooling and planning in the ‘Unschool Your Mind’ Course over at Educational Heart. Head over their now to get access >