Sometimes the idea of homeschooling can be frightening simply because we don’t know what to do. I mean – teachers get trained and paid to do this, and we are just supposed to jump in and make it happen?

For all of my kids? Everyday?

There are lots of reasons people choose to homeschool. Sometimes it may have very little to do with the content our kids are learning in public schools. Your child may be an actor or have a talent that requires a lot of time out of the day for training. You may be in an emergency situation where getting to school is not working. There could be some policy that concerns you (Covid-19 rings a bell). If you are happy with the content your kids are learning but need a different location, then school-at-home may be worth considering. The name gives away the idea here – you are basically taking the same instruction as the public school and using it at home.

Advantages of School-at-Home

There are several ways to do this. Many companies offer all-in-one curriculum packages covering every subject. Just order your grade level, open up the box, and you’re ready to go. And because there are so many options (including public school) there is a lot of competition, resulting in some quality products. Popular Christian options include Sonlight and Abeka. Houghton Mifflin provides a secular option.

If you want school-like curriculum but are willing to shop around and find specifics for each subject, there are plenty to choose from. Saxon Math and Institute for Excellence in Writing are a few well-known sources.

Another route is online and tuition-free public school like k12.com or Connections Academy. This is an online school that closely matches the public school curriculum, and your child can work fairly independently through the courses. A few benefits include instruction by certified teachers and built-in record keeping for high school transcripts and diplomas.

There are some other low cost or free options that are a bit more customizable, including Time4Learning and Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool. In online courses, students are automatically guided through their lessons and you get feedback on their progress.

Why this may work for you

School-at-home may be for you if:

• Meeting state-set grade level standards is important to you
• You are happy with the content taught in public schools
• You plan to return your child to public school within a few years
• You do not feel ready to make your own lesson plans or choose curriculum

If you have one or two children who are motivated to complete the learning each day, this may work well for you. In fact, depending on your personalities and learning style, you may feel it frees you to do the things you want to do without having to spend time planning your lessons.

Disadvantages of School-at-Home

However, many of the boxed set curricula can be expensive. If you have multiple children you will be buying multiple sets – and as a result you will be teaching every subject at every grade level. It takes several teachers in your child’s school to do that so that’s a lot of extra hats for you to wear! (And costly too!) In most other methods, parents usually group multiple ages together for subjects like history and science, so you can teach them all at the same time.

This method leaves little room for exploring personal interests more deeply, or dwelling on a topic that your kids find interesting. There is a lot of core material to cover and it can take more time out of your day than other methods. Remember, this is school at home, so you can expect the type of coursework and the time it takes to finish to be very similar.

Perhaps more than the other homeschooling methods, school at home can lead to parent and child burnout because of the workload and inflexibility. This will be magnified if you have multiple children. If your child isn’t very self-motivated, getting them to finish coursework can become quite a burden – especially since you are at the mercy of someone else’s schedule.

Is this method for you?

Are you happy with the public school education your child is getting, but just want to offer that at home? Then school at home can work for you. If you are just starting homeschooling and are really terrified about choosing what your child should study, this could be a place to start.

Want to check out other homeschooling methods? Read about them here. Does school at home appeal to you? Let me know why or why not!