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[–] 25044069? ago 

Easy to say, but... Once you eliminate the parents who are fully competent to homeschool (at least half are)¹ and another 15% or so that can afford private school, there will still be left about a third of the students for which the solution is not at all easy.

¹ the biggest failure in home schooling has very little to do with being smart enough. If you can read at high school level you are smart enough. The biggest reason for failure is sloth; not keeping up with a schedule of learning. It also helps to like your kids.

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[–] 25044319? ago 

You don't have to be scheduled.

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[–] 25044974? ago  (edited ago)

I knew someone would complain.... Okay I will give you the long version that I was trying to avoid getting bogged down in....

Yes, I am familiar with unschooling. I've been able to do that in history and some science with great results. Writing needs purpose and intention if one is going to become skilled in it. I found unschooling for math impractical after what corresponds to the second grade level. But that kind of "loosely scheduled" schooling was not what I meant.

Rather, I meant moving forward consistently. Not being a slacker. Not succumbing to the sin of sloth. And then, at least in this state, not being unprepared for the annual evaluation. A homeschool that does only the Charlotte Mason "Living Books" thing and always lets the child choose what to read at his pleasure will probably end up unbalanced. And that is why I specified "a schedule of learning" as opposed to "a schedule."

We don't really do "grade levels" but as a pragmatic thing, they do provide a scope and sequence. (See, I was trying to avoid using terms like "scope and sequence" because I didn't want to scare off any newbies.) In parent-directed homeschooling, it is not uncommon for a child to be at a higher grade level (further along the sequence) in subjects where his natural God-given talents lie, and simultaneously at a lower grade level in other subjects. So my 7 yo was doing a second-grade writing course (no keyboard allowed), third-grade level math, and reading seventh-grade literature in the same semester. The idea is to "work to mastery" and keep advancing. This is a schedule of learning. You do not hold back a child in history simply because he is struggling with long division. BUT this means keeping up with a schedule of learning.

The alternative is to buy a programmed curriculum and just check off the assignments, but that is really boring.