Homeschooling offers the possibility of reaching for the stars, on your own accord. That's how I see it anyways. Did you know that 14 American Presidents were homeschooled, including Lincoln, Washington, and Jefferson? So was Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Benjamin Franklin, Mozart, Monet, Da Vinci, Mark Twain, Margaret Atwood, Charles Dickens, Hans Christian Anderson, and a barrage of other famous celebrities, scientists, politicians, and inventors. Many of the world's most credited geniuses were homeschooled, or at the very least, self-taught. (You can see a few famous names here!)
Homeschooling means freedom of choice. That's why students and their families get into it. They're tired of the constant bog down from a standard routine and generic government education. Teachers are exhausted with the overflow of classrooms, and student's aren't always getting the time they need to understand what they're learning. Homeschooling is a method of thinking outside the box, and the classroom is a cookie cutter example of "average" production. Some students just don't get the one-on-one learning they need, others are too quick to understand the concept and get easily bored; while others, they just want to stop following the expected "norm" and experiment with the potential that they hold within themselves. For instance, if you don't understand a concept in Math, the whole class won't be moving on without you. If you understand the concept and someone else doesn't, you will now have to play catch up in your studies because the teacher couldn't move on until everyone understood. Homeschooling means that you become the entire class. You decide how you learn, and you decide when and at what pace you are learning at.
In my personal experience, homeschooling has brought out the best in my creativity. It's up to parents though to ensure that the student has the proper resources and supportive foundation in order for the student to flourish in their studies. It requires commitment, and problem-solving. Parents have to make the time to figure out the solution with the child; and help them if they are struggling. Paying attention, co-operation, and working with the student to solve the problem. This is a key reason why I created this website, for the benefit of student's studies, and for overstressed parents and teachers who need quick and easy access to homeschooling resources that will benefit any student, in any grade, with any learning style. Many of my resources of this website are tailored to homeschooling (including the how to's on filling out a Home Education Plan, Parent Summary, and curricular outcomes for every grade and subject). But these resources can be applied to any student Canada wide. Whether you're in public school, private school, catholic school, or any form of homeschooling (teacher or parent directed), all students can benefit from the resources on this website. I have fun activities, and lesson plans for every grade and subject at the click of a button, and I have some great original high school charts available in my "shop" that I encourage all students in high school to have on hand (instant in-depth notes tailored to the Alberta-wide curriculum, and is great for diploma exam prep). Homeschooling is not an "all answered solved" education system. It requires commitment, and motivation; but it is a very real fact that homeschooled students are often graduates of top universities, and go on to become entrepreneurs and experts in their field.
But there is a "science" to my resource research. I encourage students to search the internet for resources relating to the title of your textbook chapter. Search the name, search the concept, and search the reason and meaning behind a subject. You are guaranteed to find what you are looking for. Any of the resources I have provided can be tailored to the curriculum of any Canadian province (some already have been). All you have to do is type in the topic you are searching for, the grade, and the province you are in; and there will instantly be multiple resources available for your desired curriculum. Many local teachers have taken the time to upload videos, lesson plans, and helpful tips for understanding the concepts taught in the province-wide curriculum, and you can usually find a great deal of free (or at least, inexpensive) resources and tutoring.
Once you are able to comfortably start learning from home, you have the proper supplies, and a motivated mindset; you will be able to conquer anything. Homeschooling opens the doors to the opportunities of doing your choice of the education system's curricular outcomes. As long as you meet the criteria of passing, there's no reason why student's can't decide which projects or in-textbook questions appeal to them the most. If a student is given a choice between writing a long essay, or designing a 30 second movie trailer in response to a novel excerpt they just read, let them choose the movie trailer if that's what they prefer! That's the best part! It's up to you what you learn. You have extra time for hobbies, and travel; and students get to have a more relaxed study pace (who doesn't want to work sitting next to their pets). You are also able to make your own schedule, and you are not confined with the requirements of the public education system. If you want to take out an hour to play piano, you can! If you want to do your studies in the evenings you can. Take your studies outside on a hot sunny Summer's day? Absolutely.
Homeschooling also means that you are able to push yourself towards gaining experience towards future education and career goals. If you are a high school student who already has their post-secondary education planned out from start to finish, it will be much easier to accomplish this task when you have the freedom of taking courses related to your field on your spare time, or graduating early. Homeschooling means that you are able to get a more diverse, community based, hands-on learning experience. You have the freedom of choosing your field trips, volunteering, working, and participating in extracurriculars while maintaining a healthy school-life balance.
Homeschooling can also provide students with a greater flexibility on what they are learning. Fundamental concepts that are not a part of a regular public or private curriculum, can be incorporated into a homeschooling schedule. For example, most students graduate high school without knowledge in basic life skills, one of the most important being: financial planning. It is absolutely critical for students to have a basic knowledge in how to handle money as they go forward in life, many pursuing post-secondary education. A key resource that students, teachers, and parents can utilize in order to broaden their understanding and knowledge of basic financial skills is Annuity.org. Annuity provides guidance and resources from the basics of savings and investments, teaching financial literacy, to explaining the fundamentals of managing large scale annuity payments such as a college tuition or a major life purchase. Some of their top resources, which are also included in the "Website Resources For Every Subject (ALL GRADES)" page, include:
In summary, homeschooling offers endless possibilities that can be explored. Students become more open-minded to a more diverse subject matter that is catered towards individual students preferences in line with the standard curriculum. The only thing you have to do is take the leap, and see where this wonderful journey takes you.