Depending on your State’s home schooling law, the following rules may apply:
- Children in the elementary level are to be taught the following subjects: English, which includes reading, spelling and writing; math, geography, science, civics, history, physiology and health, music, physical education and art.
- Children in the high school level should be taught the following: English, which includes speech, language, literature and composition, science which will include chemistry and biology; social studies, geography, economics, history of the U.S.A, world history, mathematics which will include algebra, geometry and statistics; music, art, physiology and health, physical and safety education.
- School officials can inquire about the parents’ qualifications to instruct or teach their child; however instructing parents do not necessarily need to have a particular educational qualification. A high school graduate or less can instruct the child, provided that she has the capability and a sound mind.
- School officials can inquire regarding subjects that the child should study, demand the length of homeschool year, and allocate instruction hours for every subject.
While they can determine instruction hours for every subject, they should not control the method in which these subjects are to be taught.
This means that homeshooling parents can determine and evaluate instruction hours based on their method of homeschool, not necessarily to be able to imitate the public school, rather equal and match it according to efficiency and systematic approach.
In homeschooling, it is up to the parent to determine the child’s intellectual needs. Subjects to be taught do not require specific hours of teaching, although each subject needs an allotted time, in order for the child to absorb fully what is taught.
Moreover, schedule keeping is not a significant factor in homeschooling where usage and understanding of time are so much different.
- School officials can recognize and classify instructional materials, only for the reason of determining the subject and the child’s grade or level. They should not utilize this right to demand the way or style of teaching, with which subjects are to be taught.
When the child is having difficulty in a certain subject, for instance in reading, then the parent should allow longer hours for reading allowing the child enough time to learn that particular subject.
On the subject that the child willingly and easily learns and grasps, the parent may shorten the time spent on that subject and allocate the extra hours for subjects which the child finds hard to comprehend, to subjects that the child poorly progresses on.
At homeschooling, the child can take the time to learn and explore each subject at his/her own speed, in his or her own capacity. And the parent can find creative ways to make learning and teaching fun.
A few efficient and helpful teaching materials that are not tangible, such as community service, travel, visits to parks and museums, etc., will definitely grant significant learning skills and knowledge aside from those learned from books.
- Parents and school officials must reach an agreement on a system of evaluation or assessment for the child; either standardized testing, periodic reports on the child’s progress or dated samples of work.
Joshua Poyoh is the creator of homeschoolingreportdotcom/ . He writes and researches into the area of the homeschooling curriculum information