Ultimate Beginner’s Guide of Homeschooling Styles for Christian Families

Overview – What is a Homeschool Style?

A homeschool style easily put, is how you naturally teach and approach homeschool.

Every state has different requirements for subjects to teach, but the method of how you teach is entirely up to you.

There are so many different ways to educate your children and there is no one size fits all. The method you use to educate your child is your homeschool style.

Homeschool styles can change over time and they often do. What may have worked in the first years of your homeschool may change over time. Though this post is created for beginner homeschoolers, it is wise even for veterans to review what they are doing and check how it is working for them. If something is not right, it may help to change your style.

Homeschooling is so much more than teaching academics. Home education is a lifestyle; it’s living life with your children and teaching them along the way. At Raising Disciples Mom, my life mantra is to Teach, Live, Love – teaching your children biblical and godly wisdom in everything, living out what you are teaching them (aka be a good example) and loving your children, cherishing them and building strong relationships with them.

And he shall turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers

Malachi 4:6

We want to win the hearts of our children, and being with our children 24/7 (home education) gives us the opportunity to do that.

Basically what I’m saying is that the homeschool style you choose does not make or break your homeschool. It is just one of the tools you use in your homeschool. If you are building a cabinet, your hammer is not the one making the cabinet. The builder is. The hammer is just the tool.

In your homeschool, you are the builder. Your style and curriculum are just your tools. Don’t become enslaved to your style. Adapt it to work for you and your family.

However, knowing your style may help you teach better. It also helps you narrow down your choices. There are a gazillion curriculum choices, but if you know your style, it will help you narrow those down.

When thinking of what style you would like to use, start with your goal in education. So, what is your goal in education?

Is your goal to be like public schools who essentially take a lot of information and try to fill a child’s head with as much as possible? Or is it to ignite a passion for learning?

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.

William Butler Yeats

If you light a fire for them, you don’t have to worry about missing out on something. They will be like wildfire, and there will be no stopping them learning everything about the subject they are passionate about. The teaching styles are the tools to help you light those fires.

As christians homeschoolers, we want to be seeking and teaching God’s wisdom in everything we do.

For the Lord gives wisdom;

    from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;

Proverbs 2:6

So we want to be seeking the Lord’s wisdom, knowledge and understanding and seek to teach that to our children. There is not one style that is better than the other in doing this. You can apply a biblical worldview to any of the methods.

Factors in Choosing a Homeschool Style

• Your preferences and personality – If you are new to homeschooling, I would recommend making this a priority in choosing your style. It will be easier to keep going if you do something that fits more with your personality. You can always change things up and stretch out of your comfort zone when you become more familiar with homeschooling, but to begin with you want to start with something that is easier for you and feel more comfortable using.
• Child’s learning style – This is how your child learns best and most easily. Basic types of learning style include visual, auditory, hands on and writing/reading.
• Child’s preferences and personality – Besides learning style, your child may have a preference to the style they like to learn. For example you may want to unschool and let your child lead their own learning, but they may prefer structure and schedule, or vice versa.
• What you want to do vs. what you can do – what season of life are you in right now? You may have all these ideas of what you want your homeschool to look like for your family, but what can you realistically do right now? For example, if you’ve just had a newborn baby or if you have a toddler running around the house, you may not be able to do something that requires hours of teacher prep. You will go through different seasons in life and be able to do different things at different times.

When considering teaching style don’t go crazy in researching dozens of homeschooling methods. Read about the ones below and then try one or two out that sounds interesting to you. It will take trial and error and time to see if they work for you and your family.

So don’t get stuck in research and learning mode. Learn a little bit, and then apply it to your homeschool to see if its a good fit.

Main Homeschool Styles:

• Traditional
• Online
• Charlotte Mason
• Classical
• Unity Study
• Relaxed/Eclectic
• Unschooling

Traditional

Traditional teaching is what it sounds like. You are taking a traditional approach of school and bringing it to your home. Parents who use traditional style don’t have an issue with the structure of school, but they may just wish to change the content. That’s the beauty of homeschool, if you like the structure of traditional school, you can choose to keep that, but change the content to a biblical worldview.

Traditional homeschool often uses desks or kitchen table to do their work, and involve using workbooks, textbooks and may use a full or boxed curriculum. They have a schedule and don’t deter from it. Parents have a plan of what they want child to learn that year and are committed to it. Children tend to take tests, have grades, set curriculum and set hours. More often, the parent is teaching to the child.

This tends to be the route that many new homeschoolers take because it is familiar to them, especially if they attended public school. It also feels secure, knowing you have a plan for what you will teach your child and having objectives of what you want them to learn. As you gain experience in homeschooling, you may gain the confidence to try out other homeschool styles.

I grew up in public school and so this is what I started off with as a new homeschool mom. Slowly I ventured into other teaching styles and now have more of an eclectic style, using several different types. We still use traditional school for some of our core subjects like math, English, penmanship and spelling.

Pros – Can give you a peace of mind knowing exactly what to teach and having children follow a plan. If you are only taking a year off public or private school, it may be wise to continue with the appropriate grade level so they can transition into school again. Textbooks tend to have great visual and colorful pictures so can be great for visual learners. You could also read textbooks aloud for auditory learner and there are usually hands-on activities included in a textbook. Everything is laid out in textbook to show you what’s important. Teacher’s manual comes in handy to show you objectives and show you exactly what to cover. Not as much teacher prep because the curriculum has done it for you, could just open and go. May have additional worksheet and resources you can purchase for more practice. Textbooks are durable and can be passed on to several children.

Cons– Lose flexibility of homeschool, learning not as engaging and fun – can be dry and boring, can be expensive, but doesn’t have to be. Could get burnt out more easily because not as fun, more one size fits all, more workload.

Curriculum Choices We Have Used –

• A Reason for Handwriting – We have used this one for years and love it! Children are writing scriptures and can give out their final pieces as ways to share the gospel. One of my children’s favorites!
• Spelling U See – From Demme Learning, we have also used this one for many years. Instead of memorizing long spelling lists, children read passages, find groupings or chunks of words, copy passages and then have dictation. It is a much more effective way to learn how to spell than just trying to memorize words.
• Math U See – Also from Demme Learning, K-12 math program that teaches specific skills as the student progresses with a step-by-step process of introducing, reviewing, practicing and mastering concepts.

Other Popular Curriculum Choices

• Abeka
• BJU
• Alpha Omega – Lifepacs combine text and workbooks

Computer/ Online

Computer or online homeschool style is similar to a traditional style in that you are bringing the structure of school to your home, except that everything is online or with a purchased CD-Rom curriculum.

Children may enjoy doing their work on the computer better than through a textbook or workbook, so online style may work better for some families.

We also use some online classes for our elective classes. Typing, Spanish, geography and music are all done through computer or sometimes screened onto the TV. It’s great that children get practice using a computer, learn how to type and navigate basic computer skills, something that is useful and practical in our technology- driven world.

Our kids enjoy it too. They think it’s fun to get on the computer and many programs have visuals in their teaching or games to engage students and make it fun.

Pros – easy to start off with a plan and full curriculum, following a traditional approach but online, children may enjoy using computer more to do their school work. Can be more visual for visual learners and engaging and fun for children. May need some parent help but children tend to be more independent

Cons – less flexibility with learning whatever you want, may be more expensive, more screen time for kids, more one size fits all

What we use online

• Typing.com – free program teaching kids to type. They have typing games too.
• Rosetta Stone – we purchased the lifetime access when it was on sale, so we have unlimited and lifetime access to all of their offered languages. Children also really enjoy doing this one and have improved so much on their Spanish!
• Geography – Music in our homeschool – created by a homeschool mom, the geography lessons are fun and engaging and take the kids on a trip around the world with history, videos, books, quizzes and extra printables and activities
• Music – Music in our Homeschool – check out her freebie lessons, we have been going through them to get a sample of her music classes and have had fun learning about jazz, hymns and patriotic music.

Other Popular Online Curriculum

• Switched on Schoolhouse
• Liberty Online Academy

Eclectic/Relaxed

The elcectic approach takes bits and pieces of different styles and uses them to create your own unique mix that works best for your family. Parents don’t have one set method, but prefer a variety of styles and use them how they want. Many homeschoolers evolve into an eclectic approach and over time this is what our homeschool style has turned into.

Like I said above, we use some traditional teaching for core classes and our elective-type classes are online. We also do unit studies once/week and incorporate bits and pieces of charlotte mason with nature walks/ studies and read aloud “living” books.

To me, there are just so many good options in homeschool and I want to take the pieces that I love about different styles and apply them to our children’s education.

Relaxed

Relaxed homeschoolers are not set to a strict schedule. There is however, an element of structure. They fall in between traditional and unschool methods.

For example they may have a routine, that is parent-directed, but also allows children time to venture into their own interests. Its categorized with eclectic because they don’t use one particular curriculum or method but may explore many different ways of learning.

Relaxed homeschoolers are also intentional about keeping lessons short. It’s not very relaxed to be doing lessons for hours! This gives plenty of time for children to explore, invent and pursue what excites them.

One example of relaxed homeschoolers, is teaching the foundational subjects – the 3 R’s – reading, writing and arithmetic, and leaving open time for children to explore, pursue hobbies and learn throughout the day. It’s combining leisurely learning with some structured lessons.

I personally have found this to be the best method for our family. I have joy knowing we are providing opportunities to light the fire and let kids have freedom and choices in their passions and interest. At the same time, the relaxed style still provides a solid foundation in the basics like reading, writing and arithmetic and still gives our days structure that I feel my children and I need.

Pros: allows for flexibility and customizes homeschool specifically for your family, flexibility and time for children to explore their own interests and hobbies, still provides structure and a good foundation for person who desires routine, teaches topics they might not otherwise be exposed, parents who have a need for some sort of plan (that’s me!)

Cons – Depends on what end of style you are! For unschoolers, relaxed might use some textbooks and typically unschoolers wouldn’t use textbooks (unless the child wants to as a way to learn about a particular topic) their desire is trusting complete child-led education. For traditional schoolers, this may be too laxed for their schedule.

Charlotte Mason

The Charlotte Mason style is heavily literature based, using “living books” aka real books, instead of textbooks. Children narrating what they learned instead of answering or filling out worksheets and workbooks.

Charlotte Mason was a british educator in late 1800s, early 1900s, who believed that each child is a person and should be educated as a whole person, not just their mind. This approach works with the way children naturally learn and offers studies in nature, art, music, handicrafts as well as typical academic subjects. The lessons tend to be short, interesting and nurture a love for learning.

We love to include Charlotte Mason style by reading living books together out loud and also independently. We read biographies, autobiographies and missionary stories for history, literature and science.

A great example of using living books is for history. Think about it – do you learn more about the topic of american history through a textbook, or by reading real books and biographies about Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and John Adams?

The textbook might get you a lot of information in a shorter period of time, but you probably won’t remember it a week from now. The latter approach, although it takes more time, ignites a passion for learning and your children will be telling you interesting facts about what they learned for weeks!

We also incorporate the Charlotte Mason style through nature hikes and sketching what we see or making observations in a nature notebook. We also rotate studying art and music.

Living Books We Love

• YWAM Christian Heroes Then & Now book series
• Who Was biography book series
• Beautiful Feet Books
• Sonlight literature books

Popular Charlotte Mason Style Curriculum

• My Father’s World
• Heart of Dakota

Classical

Classical education is based on three stages of learning: the grammar stage, logic stage and rhetoric stage. These three parts are based on the way a child learns and develops at different stages and using that to the advantage to educate them.

The grammar stage, when the child is young, involves learning facts, memorizing and gaining knowledge. The logic stage is when reasoning begins applying to the knowledge. The rhetoric stage is when the student applies wisdom and judgement and completes the trivium of classical schooling.

Some great resources for Classical Homeschooling is:

• Classical Conversations
• Memoria Press
• Veritas Press

Unschooling

If you put homeschool styles on a spectrum, unschooling would be at the opposite end of the traditional method. Unschooling is all child-led learning and parents are the facilitators in learning.The parent follows the child’s lead.

One of the keys to unschooling is having educational things around your house to entice your children. Many parents may think if they allow their children to choose what they want to do, they will choose tv or video games. So an important component is having fun books, educational things around your house that will light their fires.

An example of unschooling is seeing your child is interested in baking. You go out and buy your child an apron, mixing bowl, measuring cup, ask them what they want to bake and allow them to go for it. You facilitate and follow their lead. Instead of drilling multiplication facts, they are measuring ingredients and making pumpkin bread for the family.

Many parents might incorrectly assume that unschooling has less parental involvement, but in many ways it has more. In traditional method of homeschooling, it can be easy, especially once your children are more independent learners, to tell them to go do their school worksheets.

But with unschooling, you want to be ready to take action anytime your child is ready. If they are outside playing with butterflies and are curious about them, it is your role as facilitator to get books from the library about butterflies, and you might decide to buy a butterfly garden for your child.

Pros – lighting a fire for learning in your children, children are naturally curious and will learn more about things they are interested in, have variety in homeschool – every day is different, great for free spirits, fun and engaging.

Cons – for those who like structure, not knowing what your day is going to look can be challenging, for children who have had more traditional approaches to homeschool or have just been taken out of school it may be hard to adjust to unschooling, it may take time to requench a love for learning. May feel like child won’t learn certain subjects or have a well-rounded education. Can take a lot of time to follow your child’s lead at any given moment. Child or parent may thrive more on routine and structure.

Unit Studies

Unit studies involve the learning and subjects to be centered around a certain topic or idea. For example, if you want to do a unit study on volcanoes, all the learning and subjects would revolve around volcanoes.

The history part could be learning about the catastrophic Pompeii volcanic eruption, science could be learning about earth’s layers and how magma is formed.

For math and hands on activities, you could measure baking soda and other ingredients to make your own volcano. For reading, you could get some living books about volcanoes and read them together or have your children read them.

All your learning and subjects are revolved around this central idea or topic. I love using unit studies as they are so fun and engaging and my children learn so much from them.

We do unit studies once-a-week for science and history, and it is often their favorite school day of the week. I also love to use unit studies on holidays and these have created some of my fondest memories of homeschool for our family.

Pros – flexibility, hands on, lots of discovery, great for multiple ages (children can each do different things – an older child can write paper about topic, while younger children can narrate what they learned).

Cons – Depending on topic, but can be hard to include math and language arts, teacher dependent, can take more prep and time (but doesn’t have to – can make it as simple or elaborate as you like.)

Popular Unit Study Curriculum

• Konos
• Weaver
• Once a Week Unit Studies

The homeschool styles covered in this post are traditional, online/computer, Charlotte Mason, classical, unit study, eclectic/relaxed and unschooling. For those who are beginners, what style(s) are you leaning more towards? For those more experienced homeschool moms, is there anything you want to change or try differently? After writing this post, I realized I want to give my children more opportunities and time to pursue their passions and interests, and am praying about how to practically do this. Comment below and let me know!