Feel Overwhelmed by Home Schooling Your Child?

If you are considering home schooling, you may feel overwhelmed at the thought that you are responsible to teach your child all that he needs to know by the time he's eighteen. Can you do it?

Or, maybe you are already teaching your kids, and with more children coming along you are feeling the burden of not having time to spend with each of them one-on-one. You are committed to home education. Doesn't that mean you're the one supposed to teach your child?

Actually, however, home schooling doesn't mean limiting your options to you being the only teacher. Really, it opens up many possibilities! There are a variety of other options that are worth considering. If you feel you just can't do everything, think about having someone else teach your child.

Who Else Could Help Home School Your Child?

• A family member. This could of course be mom or dad, but it could also be a grandparent or older sibling.

• An outside tutor. This is a very effective option for subjects like music, foreign languages, writing, or science-related subjects. Who better to teach your child a love of music (science, writing, art, etc.) than someone who loves that subject? With a good teacher, your child will learn far more than just the actual facts and techniques; they will learn the joy and pleasure of learning that subject. These mentors or tutors could be found as ...
  • private teachers (private music lessons),
  • teachers of group lessons (sports coaches),
  • another homeschooling parent (at a co-op or privately),
  • teachers at a local community college,
  • researchers or students at a local university or institute,
  • tutors via the Internet.

  For instance, our whole family has loved the Brave Writer home schooling writing classes that we have taken. It is so encouraging to have another pair of eyes see things in my children's writing that I don't see at first.

  Another wonderful time was having a local science researcher come and help our kids learn how to do a science experiment. You don't have to live by a university, though. Even a local high schooler who loves science could be a great resource for your younger kids.

• A computer, DVD, or video home school curriculum. With increasingly more sophisticated software, this is becoming a more viable option. Unlike on-line tutors and classes where your child interacts with a real person, with this option your child interacts with the computer or watches a video or DVD to learn the information. An example of this would be Alpha Omega CD-ROM home schooling curriculum .

  Our kids just love having some schoolwork to do on the computer. They sometimes fight over who “gets” to do their schoolwork on the computer during their free time! There certainly is a place for this kind of learning.

• Self-teaching. The old adage that the teacher learns the most of what he or she is teaching is really true. When your child teaches himself, he is not only learning the facts and concepts he needs to know, but he is also gaining the skills to learn other material, as well as the self-confidence to know he can learn on his own.

  I have found for our own three school-aged children that self-teaching really helps them take more ownership of their learning. It has been a joy to see them be excited about what they are learning in their home schooling and be able to share that with others in the family. We have found Robinson Curriculum a helpful curriculum to help us in the journey to self-teaching.

If you feel like you don't have time, patience, or expertise to teach, don't discount home schooling entirely. Consider one of these other options to you being the sole teacher.

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