Types of Homeschooling
Traditional (School@Home) | Eclectic | Unschooling
Afterschooling | Summer-schooling

 

Traditional (School@Home)

Traditional homeschooling is basically "school at home."

Parents recreate the school environment in their home. Some even purchase school desks, chalk board, and set aside a room in their house.

See also: Prepackaged Curriculum (Host and Umbrella Schools), and Parent Developed Curriculum

 

Eclectic

Eclectic homeschooling is the mixture of both homeschooling models (traditional and unschooling).

Eclectic homeschoolers use traditional education models for subjects like math and English/reading Arabic and Islamic studies, and unschooling for science and social studies.

Eclectic Homeschooling is what most Muslim homeschoolers do or evolve into doing.

See also: Prepackaged Curriculum (Host and Umbrella Schools), and Parent Developed Curriculum

Eclectic Homeschool Online (C)

 

Afterschooling

Afterschooling is the practices of supplementing or giving additional education (whether it be academics or Islamic and Arabic studies) after a full school day in an institution (public or private school)

It seeks to find gaps in education and cover those gaps immediately and provide additional information and skill/thinking building exercises that may not have been covered in the school day.

Danger: Afterschooling can deprive a child of decompression time and "kid time," the time all children need to be a kid. If you choose to afterschool homeschool try to make sure activities are fun as well as educational. If not done correctly children will become uninvolved and uncaring, "turned off" learners.

Math Explorer for middle and high school (good for after school and summer camp programs too)
Recommendations

 

Summer-schooling

Summer School Homeschool maintains the learning environment all year round. The benefits are that children are less likely to forgot information learned during the school year.The first six weeks of a new school year are spent getting children to remember all the learned the year before. Keeping the mind of your child "learning fresh" puts them ahead when the new school begins. The danger is that if not done correctly children will become uninvolved and uncaring, "turned off" learners.

Summer school should just involve a few hours of the day, normally 2 -4 hours with the rest encouraged for play, rest and relaxation. Chores should also reflect this. A whole summer should not just be given to education and chores. (You are only young once). A half hour of Summer Reading should be part of your summer school homeschool plan.

Parents/families who choose to summer school should also develop critical thinking and problem solving skills in their children. With public school teachers having to prepare kids for the various state tests, thinking and problem solving skills have given way to learning how to answer multiple choice questions (not by thinking but by the process of elimination). Parents need to give back to children what schools and teachers no longer have time to do.

Math Explorer for middle and high school (good for after school and summer camp programs too)
Recommendations for prek to 8
Summer Reading

IDEA: Consider "making" a "summer club house." Some of the summer school homeschool time can be spent doing school work in the club house, which can make the whole summer even more fun. You can easily make a club house out of a four man dome tent. Dome tents can be purchased at Kmart, Walmart, Target, REI, Eastern Moutain Sports, Cabella, SMU Outdoor Supply, and Dick's Sporting Goods. If you put a card table inside the tent (for children can do their school work on and have a picnic lunch on) place 2 inch x 2 inch squares under the table feet to prevent holes being dug in the tent floor. Also purchase a tent whose fabric and rain tarp (rain fly) fabric are light in color to allow more natural light to fill the tent.