If you hate the idea of being a teacher, can you still homeschool your kids? Absolutely. I have three children and they teach themselves. We’re seven years into this adventure now, and I’m grateful I decided to go the teacherless route. I had plenty of reasons for wanting to homeschool. I wanted my kids to have freedom in their education to:
- Go as fast or as slow as they needed to
- Have ample time to study things that were interesting to them
- Grow in a positive environment
The problem was that a traditional homeschool, one where I was the teacher who taught each subject each day, was unworkable for our family back in 2013. I was impatient and perfectionistic. I had a 7-year-old who was stubborn and independent, and my attempts to educate him had put us at odds with each other. I had a 4-year-old and a 1-year-old who also needed my attention. On top of all that, I was working from home as a full-time software tester. Something had to give if I wanted to continue to homeschool and keep my sanity.
I started researching self-teaching. My own experience, in the year and a half I spent as a homeschool student during my sophomore and junior year1, had been that self-teaching and self-pacing were the most enjoyable ways to learn. I doubted this would work for young kids, but I figured that if it could, it would be the best solution for our family. I would have the best of both worlds: my kids could homeschool and become independent learners and thinkers, and I could earn the income my family needed at the time.
I heard about the Ron Paul Curriculum, which interested me because it was self-paced and self-taught, but it was still being developed at the time. The website directed people to check out the Robinson Curriculum instead, which was similar and already well established. After reading everything I could find about it, I bought it. It cost $289.85 for the entire 12-year curriculum, a bargain compared to the other ones I’d considered.2 The only thing I needed to teach my kids before they started on their own in the curriculum was how to read.
Even though the curriculum was created by Dr. Art Robinson, a Caltech educated biochemist, I was nervous. The curriculum seemed almost too easy. There’s a basic template for each day:
- 1 lesson of Saxon Math3
- 1 page of writing on whatever topic the student chooses
- Vocabulary study (we do 30 minutes)
- Reading
It was tempting to add other subjects in, but I decided to keep it simple. I figured that if at any point I believed my kids were falling behind, I could change it. It’s been 7 years now, and we’re still doing this simple mode of homeschool. I am beyond satisfied with their academic progress.
My son Ezra, now almost 14, just completed calculus and has begun his study of physics. My 11-year-old daughter Elizabeth is in Algebra 1, while my almost 8-year-old Elijah is progressing through Saxon 5/4. The older two are voracious readers, and all three love to write. The real advantage I’ve seen with this approach is that independent learning in academics spreads to all other areas of life. Ezra has been teaching himself the piano and computer programming. Lately, he’s been learning better techniques for lawn care after starting his own landscaping business. Elizabeth is writing books and drawing cartoons. They’re cultivating a mindset that says, “If I want to learn how to do something, I can.” They can learn by reading a book, watching Youtube videos, or going through tutorials online. They have seen you can learn almost anything you want to learn, usually for free, just by googling it.
My chief concern when it comes to my children’s education is: will they be able to go out into the world and succeed? My oldest son still has several years before he needs to leave the nest. With each day that passes, I become more confident that this style of education is preparing him for the realities of our current economy. He has learned how to learn. The real world is changing rapidly. Skills that are considered necessary one minute become obsolete overnight. The ability to teach himself to adapt to his ever-changing reality, whatever it is, will be paramount.
If you want to homeschool your kids, but you need to work, or you just like the idea of creating independent individuals, try letting them teach themselves. There are plenty of excellent options out there. Just google it.
Footnotes
1. I ended up enrolling in college a year and a half earlier than what I would have, had I continued to attend public school.
2. This cost excludes the Saxon Math books, all of which I’ve bought used as the years have gone by. The price included the optional G.A. Henty books collection. These days the price of the basic curriculum is only $195.
3. Students begin with the Saxon Math 5/4 and work their way up through Saxon calculus. Students then move to a college-level physics textbook called The Mechanical Universe, then Beyond The Mechanical Universe, then through chemistry and other hard sciences.
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