Choosing the right homeschool style for my family was something that took up a lot of time in the beginning, so I knew that I wanted this to be one of the first things I discussed. Hopefully this blog will give you the insight you need – all in one happy, tidy, space.
Homeschooling styles are a very debatable topic for homeschoolers. Some parents like to announce loudly and aggressively that they have the very best homeschool style, and if you don’t do it their way then your child will join a caveman society and hit rocks together for the rest of their life…
I’m not going to do that.
Instead, I’m going to say something scandalous: your homeschool style is totally dependent on your child’s learning style. Even worse, I’m going to hit you with another one that gets ignored a lot…It equally depends on your comfort and lifestyle.
BUM BUMMM BUMMMMMM.
If only we were nicer as a society, but once again, I digress… What follows is a in-depth look at each of the 8 most common homeschool styles.
Classical Homeschool Style
Overview
This is a structured approach to learning, which spirals upward through the stages of your child’s natural maturing brain development. This method revolves around what is known as the Trivium model, which follows 3 developmental stages of your child: Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric.
Let’s take a look at the structure a bit further.
Philosophy
Classical homeschool’s intended outcome is teaching your child how to think logically and persuasively for themselves, while giving them a lifelong love of learning. It uses the Trivium model to accomplish that. The Trivium model proposes that learning of certain topics and techniques should take place at a certain age range, and seeks to match a child’s age to the appropriate type of learning in accordance to their development. Here is a brief outline:
- Grammar Stage – For the early years, around elementary age. The focus here is on creating a strong foundation of knowledge to build upon later. This is done through introducing all the basic subjects (Math, Language, History, and Science) through memorization, repetition, songs, and interactive activities.
- Logic Stage – For the middle school years (around 10-14). At this age, kids are believed to be better at critical thinking and to have better reasoning skills, so the focus of this stage is the “how?”. This is when they begin to question the things they have learned in the former stage. This stage is filled with debates, discussions, syllogisms, and deductions.
- Rhetoric Stage – This last stage is normally in the high school years, and the focus becomes persuasive communication. This is where students learn to express the things they have learned in conversation and in the written form. There is a lot of public speaking, debates, essays, and generally polishing their ability to express themselves eloquently.
Benefits
This style of learning is taught in chronological order, making learning more linear and often easier to follow. Avid readers will enjoy this style’s heavy emphasis on the “great books” – the most influential books on our society. (a.k.a. the “classics”)
Classical homeschooling is a very popular option and can be traced all the way back to the Greeks and Romans! I mean, what worked in Rome… works at home?…sorry. Because of its popularity, the choices are numerous for the curriculum.
Challenges
This style, although flexible in its content, is also rigid in its foundation, which may not be suitable to every child. Parents must take a heavy role in teaching and discussions, making this style more parent-intensive and may leave limited time for spontaneous learning.
Since the classical homeschooling style tends to have a heavy focus on the past, it is easy to miss more contemporary works.
Classical Homeschool Style Resources
BONUS FREE OPTION: Project Gutenburg
Montessori Homeschool Style
Overview
The Montessori homeschool style revolves around hands-on learning. In this style, parents prepare a space designed around their children’s age intended to promote exploration, discovery, and self-directed free learning. Parents will spend a lot of time learning their children through observing and adjusting the space around their children’s individual needs.
Philosophy
Montessori follows the natural progression of a child’s development and nurtures cognitive, as well as social and emotional growth, independence, and natural development. Parents are considered “facilitators” who set up, guide, and support their child’s educational journey while children take the more active role. The idea behind this approach is for children to become self-correcting problem solvers with good critical thinking skills. Parents who choose this style usually value a child-centered approach to learning.
Benefits
This homeschool style is great for free-spirited children. It gives them freedom of choice as they can choose the activities they would like to engage in with the materials and activities provided. This allows them to follow their own interests and work at their own speed.
Montessori is very adaptable and will often be merged with other homeschooling styles.
For me, this adaptability allows for one of my favorite things: “Funday Fridays”. (If you want to know more about Funday Fridays, I explained them in my first blog post).You will be amazed at what you can gather about your child’s learning styles and they’re a great substitute for traditional “tests”. Most Fridays I walk away with an exact idea of how much my children have grasped, and what needs attention, all while having a great time! Not to mention that it can really cement any ideas worked on during the week, WIN!
This style is also an amazing way to step into your homeschool journey, even if you prefer a more rigid homeschool style. This not only allows your child to get out of the brick and mortar school mindset but allows you to learn where and how your child needs to be met!
Montessori’s approach does a great job of facilitating larger families, since it allows for multi-age groupings. This encourages collaboration, peer learning, respect, and courtesy, with the watchful guidance of parents.
Challenges
The Montessori style can become costly depending on what kind of items are bought (and the restraint of the parent… *cough*) because it may require not only a designated place, but the materials to facilitate the learning environment. This may necessitate bargain hunting at Dollar Tree or budget friendly options like Teachers Pay Teachers.
On top of the cost, there is a large time investment for planning. Parent prep is a big part of this style of homeschooling, not only in preparing a space, but in learning and grasping the Montessori principles and methods.
This style is not recognized by all states. Depending on your state’s homeschooling laws, it may not receive accreditation, making future transition to traditional school or college admission challenging. Be sure to visit the HSLDA website if you need to find your state’s homeschool laws.
Montessori Homeschool Style Resources
Here are some Montessori resources for anyone interested, but keep in mind that some are age-specific, so don’t be discouraged if you don’t see your child’s age – they are out there!
BONUS FREE OPTION: Montessori for Everyone
Helpful Books:
- “Montessori at Home!” by John Bowman
- “How to Raise an Amazing Child the Montessori Way” by Tim Seldin
Traditional Homeschool Style
Overview
This style is your traditional “school-at-home” style. This style looks a lot like a traditional classroom, where parents use textbooks, workbooks, and lesson plans that cover all your standard subjects like Math, Science, Language Arts, and History. The traditional homeschool style often focuses on hitting academic milestones. It is all about structure and subject-specific lessons taught independently from each other. This is a parent-driven approach and in standard practice includes assessments, testing, and grade level progression. There is usually a structured schedule established and a classroom-like environment including desks, chairs, and materials. There is a heavy emphasis on academics and often prep for standardized testing in the forefront.
Philosophy
Traditional homeschoolers believe that children thrive within structure. The structure of tradtitional homeschooling produces the idea of a well rounded education with a mastery in all core subjects that will prepare children for future studies, good testing scores, and produce a well structured adult.
Benefits
This may be an easy style to begin with, especially if you were brought up in a brick and mortar school. There’s a lot of similarity to conventional education and that may make for a more comfortable transition to homeschool for both parents and children.
The traditional style is also great for preparing for standardized testing, if that is something you are interested in for college admissions, tracking progress, re-entry to brick-and-mortar schooling, or are required to do in your state. (As always, the HLSDA website is a good place to check your state’s requirements)
Traditional homeschooling provides full coverage of all the core subjects, which can give parents peace-of-mind, especially if new to homeschooling!
Challenges
Because of its limited curriculum flexibility, and a heavy burden on the parent-child relationship, the traditional style can lead to burnout. There isn’t a whole lot of room for customization and exploration is limited with a very one-size-fits-all approach to curriculum.
The style places heavy emphasis on testing and usually provides a narrow window in which to learn. This can lead to limited time for social interaction, which is often something that new homeschoolers worry about (but can be figured out if just harder to accomplish with this style).
This style is often a bit taboo in homeschool social circles. In choosing this style, you may find yourself playing defense from time to time. However, with everything else homeschooling, it really depends on what works best for you and your child.
Traditional Homeschool Style Resources
BONUS FREE OPTION: Khan Academy
Charlotte Mason Method
Overview
The Charlotte Mason homeschool style is based on the arts (creative, literary, musical, etc.) and emphasizes literature and nature study. It employs the “living books” (a.k.a. “classics”), as well as self narration, short lessons, and an importance on outdoor experiences. Parents are considered “facilitators” in the learning process rather than teachers, meaning they take more of a support role in their children’s educational journey. Lessons are usually kept short, with the goal of keeping attention and eliminating boredom. Free exploration is encouraged, as well as group activities for discussions, studies, and play.
Philosophy
Charlotte Mason seeks to develop self-discipline, responsibility, courtesy, and an overall good moral character.
Books are a primary learning method and chosen to inspire and create a personable learning experience. Children are asked for narration on what they have read in order to build comprehension, and memory, while given the ability to correctly express what they mean. The style prefers this as an alternative to rote memorization.
Nature studies are also very important in this style, which encourages as much time outdoors as possible. This feeds a child’s curiosity and promotes learning through play.
Classical music is encouraged in this style in order to feed creativity.
Foreign language is also popular in the Charlotte Mason homeschool style, which is believed to be easier to retain and learn through exposure vs. formal instruction.
Benefits
This homeschool style is a more gentle and nurturing option to education, and is respectful to a child’s natural attention span. This can stop a lot of “behavior problems” associated with burnout. Its emphasis on group learning makes it great for larger families.
This is also a great option for those who love to read and feel natural in a reading environment.
Challenges
This style can be very time consuming and costly for parents. Choosing the right books and activities requires careful planning and budgeting.
Charlotte Mason may be a difficult style to start with, since it takes time to familiarize yourself with the approach and methodology.
There is a certain lack of structure which can be a challenge for parents or children who need it. Formal assessments and standardized testing are often left out of this approach, which may be a problem for those who value or need them depending on their state laws. It also lacks some formal instruction in science and math, since it seeks to address these subjects through experience.
Many parents find this style to be hard to implement at a high school level, especially for those whose children would like to seek college prep courses.
Charlotte Mason Method Resources
BONUS FREE OPTION: AmblesideOnline
Unschooling
Overview
The unschooling homeschool style is a child-led, self-directed approach and prefers no curriculum. It is based on creating a free environment where children are allowed to follow their own interests, while getting all their learning from real-world experience. Parents are there solely to encourage and facilitate their children’s learning. Unschooling also branches into “radical unschooling,” which leaves children completely free, including allowing them to make all the decisions. This may entail no chores, rules, or schedules for things like bedtimes or mealtimes.
Philosophy
The idea behind this approach is that children do not need testing, schedules, or curriculum to learn. This style is rooted in the belief that children have all the passion-fueled curiosity they need to direct their own education. Unschooling parents believe that if their children are allowed the freedom to pursue their own interests, they will be more likely to learn and retain what they learn.
Unschooling promotes independence, decision making, and accountability. It respects that each child is unique, so that they can learn the way they feel is best. This style blurs the line between learning and life so that it becomes one in the same, with the idea of creating a lifelong comfort with learning and personal growth.
Benefits
Because of its hands-off nature, this is the most laid back and flexible approach to learning. It can work with most lifestyles. This style can create a stress-free teaching and learning environment. It gets rid of the pressures that standardized testing, schedules, and curriculum can create for everyone involved.
This style allows for a deeper and personalized educational experience because of the unlimited time allowed to explore each topic. It places emphasis on real-life learning, which promotes practical skills like critical thinking, life, and problem solving.
Challenges
This a highly scrutinized style. It often receives a similar level of backlash as the traditional style. This is likely due to the fact that the two styles each represent the extremes of the “structure” scale. It can often create conflict with relatives, friends, and society, causing a lot of social pressure on both the child and the parent.
Some unschooled children may struggle with motivation and may need someone to step in as a guide more than originally planned.
Depending on the child’s interests and resources, there is the potential for gaps in their education, especially in the subjects they may not naturally lean towards. This can make it challenging to transition back into traditional schooling or college.
Unschooling also may not fit inside your state’s guidelines. If you are unsure of your state’s requirements, be sure to visit the HLSDA website.
Unschooling Resources
- “The Unschooling Handbook: How to use the Whole World as Your Child’s Classroom” by Mary Griffieth
- “Free to Learn” by Peter Gray
Eclectic Homeschool Style
Overview
The eclectic homeschool style is a mixture of elements from various homeschooling styles. This style borrows what works best for each child and parent from each style. It is a very personalized and flexible approach and allows families to tailor their homeschool experience to fit their lives and learning/teaching styles.
Philosophy
Eclectic homeschooling embraces the idea that there is no perfect box for education. It takes into account that each parent is responsible for finding what works best for their dynamic and can create the best schooling experience for their child. Parents using this style build enriching experiences that address both the strengths and weaknesses of each child.
Most importantly, eclectic homeschooling proposes that by remaining open to new ideas and styles, learning needs and teaching preferences can both be met.
Benefits
Because of its flexibility, this style allows you to fully meet your child’s learning needs, pace, and schedule with the style that fits them and you best. This flexibility also allows instruction to adhere to a child’s interests and skills, so there is a lower chance of burnout. If burnout does occur, you can switch it up.
It is a well-rounded style and learning experience that can expose children to the benefits of all other styles. This diversity also means the resource selection is nearly endless.
Challenges
Although having a large selection of resources can be a good thing, it can also be very overwhelming to find the right curriculum or materials. This can lead to feelings of uncertainty and decision fatigue.
A diverse mix of styles also means heavy parental planning to make sure the styles mesh without leaving a lack of structure or educational gaps. It also means a lot of time picking curriculum, customizing, gathering resources, and planning the structure of the day to day.
Too much jumping between resources can cause inconsistency and confusion for little learners and must be monitored closely by parents, as it can be easier to miss than most think.
Because this style is all about meeting your child where they are, you may find that purchases no longer meet those needs, especially if your children learn new concepts quickly. This can make eclectic homeschooling costly as you try to meet the demands of your child.
Eclectic Homeschool Style Resources
Keep in mind that because of the nature of eclectic homeschooling, resources can come from everywhere. This includes local libraries, YouTube, documentaries, ect., but below are some basic options to start. They may not be strictly eclectic, but can be used to mix into your style.
BONUS FREE OPTION: Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool
Unit Studies
Overview
The unit studies homeschool style is based on centering all learning subjects around a common topic like “medieval times” or “dinosaurs.” For example if the unit is “dinosaurs,” for math you may make up a story with dinosaur counters where division and multiplication is needed to advance your story. For reading you could read a story about dinosaurs. Writing would include a written synopsis of the day’s story. Science could include building a volcano, and in social studies you could talk about what the early English believed about dinosaurs.
Philosophy
This style promotes a natural learning of each subject by making connections across them. The idea is that learning is more effective when connected. It promotes rich and in-depth studies helping children develop a better understanding of how learning can apply to their everyday life. Deeper exploration encourages critical thinking, engagement, long term retention, exploration, and a lifelong love for learning.
Benefits
The style allows for building real-world connections to learning since applying knowledge across different domains makes learning more practical.
Tackling topics in-depth means students can get lost in a single topic, encouraging greater exploration and understanding. This can lead to an engaging learning experience that fosters natural curiosity and enthusiasm for learning.
The style is great for larger families. Children of different ages can come together to learn the same topic, leading to enriched learning, camaraderie, and strong bonds. Older children can get a richer and reinforced learning experience through helping younger siblings. This also makes the style very adaptable, allowing parents to meet their children’s learning styles, abilities, and interests.
Challenges
Making sure all subjects are met, researching topics, gathering materials, planning outings, and working out the schedule to fit it all can be time consuming and costly for parents. All of those materials will also need careful storage solutions for quick accessibility to limit future re-purchasing.
Without careful planning, the unit studies style can lead to an unbalanced learning experience, with more weight and time spent on interests, leaving weaker areas on the outskirts. With careful evaluation this can be avoided, but can easily fall unnoticed amongst the day to day.
Unit Studies Homeschool Style Resources
BONUS FREE OPTION: UnitStudy.com
Waldorf
Overview
Waldorf style is a gentle approach to homeschooling and is all about nurturing children’s creativity, connection to nature, and emotional well being. There is an emphasis on storytelling and creative play, which is encouraged to take place outside. Formal learning is delayed until later years and instead the style focuses on hands-on learning through experimentation and developing social skills. Subjects are often themed for more in-depth study and usually based on the environment, or holidays and seasons. Screen time and textbooks are no-no’s, and focus is instead placed on hands-on learning.
Philosophy
The Waldorf style believes that creativity is important in developing an intellectual and emotional understanding of the world. It proposes that increased time in nature is important for children’s overall well-being and therefore, learning. Theme studies encourage more in-depth learning and connections between subjects help retention. Themes based on the time of year encourage structure and predictability for children.
Benefits
The Waldorf homeschool style places a high importance on where your child is at in development above all else and lets a “kid be a kid,” making it very developmentally respectful.
The flexibility of this style allows you to meet your child where they are in their development, and it trades in the high-pressure structure of hitting milestones for a low pressure focus on creative growth and exploration. Through this exploration and natural creative play is an emphasis on family involvement, which can lead to strong family bonds.
Challenges
Some parents find the planning of activities, projects, and Waldorf-specific lessons to be time-consuming. Keeping up with the emphasis on artistic learning can also become expensive and additional storage may be needed over time.
Families find it difficult to transition back into traditional schooling or college, and this style may not align with your state’s requirements. If you are unsure of your state’s requirements, be sure to check the HLSDA website.
Waldorf Homeschool Style Resources
BONUS FREE OPTION: Waldorf Inspirations
Conclusion
So there you have it, the top 8 homeschool styles. Hopefully these give you somewhere to start your own homeschooling journey.
My best advice is this: don’t get stuck.
Every journey has its beginning and its end, and those don’t have to look the same – in fact the best journeys don’t! Keep your hearts open to your children, yourself, and to new ideas. Lead with kindness for yourself and others, enjoy your days, switch it up when the hard times hit, and as always, give yourself grace. Much love everyone.
Gracefully yours,
