Inside: With the current pandemic, you may be educating at home. But don’t let this experience turn you off. Homeschooling is much different than quarantine / crisis schooling.
During this post, I don’t plan on saying the “c” word. We all know what it is. And because of it, we have a lot of moms who are new to this site, searching for resources to aid in educating their littles.
First, I just want to say if you’re new to this: welcome!
But I hope and pray that this experience doesn’t taint your idea of homeschooling. For some moms, this time spent at home with their kids is a dream that’s drawing them toward home education even after stay-at-home orders are lifted.
Others may be going stir-crazy and finding it hard to imagine being homeschool moms, even if they may have considered it before all this craziness.
But what’s happening right now isn’t much like homeschooling.
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HomeSchooling Vs. Quarantine Schooling
I made this helpful graphic to sum up all the main differences between a homeschooling experience that’s chosen and one that’s mandated during a time of crisis.
What Typical Homeschooling Looks Like
Homeschooling is a beautiful thing in that it truly is whatever the family wants to make it. Maybe you’re interested in traveling a lot and world-schooling. Maybe unschooling with child-led learning is more your jam. Maybe gameschooling and learning through play is what it’s all about for your family. Or maybe you’re more interested in a more structured set-up.
It’s completely up to you because you — the parent — are in charge.
Depending on your state, there may be general guidelines to follow, but the fact remains that you are the administrator.
That means you get to choose:
- where your kids learn
- what times of day they learn
- what materials you use
- how structured or loose the learning will be
- how they’ll “socialize” (co-op or other group of homeschooling families, sports, church, clubs, etc.)
- and pretty much anything else regarding the set-up and day-to-day flow of your homeschool
For other info regarding homeschooling, be sure to check out some of these posts:
And head over to our Youtube channel where I share about our experiences!
What Quarantine or Crisis Schooling May look Like
For nearly everything that homeschooling is, quarantine schooling is the opposite.
You don’t get to choose where your kids learn because we’re all at home. There is no socialization because social distancing is important to keep everyone safe. It’s incredibly isolating. But please don’t associate those feelings of isolation with homeschooling. If you choose to homeschool, you can have your childrenout in the world as much as you’d like (unless there’s a pandemic).
You don’t get to choose the materials because in most cases, they’re being provided to you by your children’s teachers. From what I’ve seen, it’s been a lot of worksheets that may or may not fit your child’s learning style and often result in power struggles. But this again, is nothing like homeschooling where your child’s education is tailored to them.
And when it comes down to it, the biggest difference is that you’re not the administrator. You’re not really the one who’s in control, so you’re left feeling the burden that someone else is putting on you because of their expectations for your child.
An Exception to the Rule
Maybe you live in an area where there are little to no stipulations set up by the school or local government concerning this time in quarantine. If your children’s school district isn’t sending home worksheets or having online class, great! I say, use this time to educate your children in the way you see fit.
- Read interesting literature together
- Let them set up science experiments
- Play math games
- Just let them play in general
- and Enjoy every moment
If there’s one thing that’s been given to us during this pandemic, it’s the time to focus on what’s truly important and connect with our families more deeply.
Let’s not squander it.
And if there’s anything I can do to help you out during this time, I’d love to! Shoot me an email and we can chat.
Until next time,
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