What exactly is the role of a homeschool parent? If you’re new to home education, you might be wondering what exactly you should be doing as the homeschool parent. It boils down to 5 simple roles:
- Learn and follow state laws
- Plan out a well-rounded education
- Plan curriculum
- Be the academic teacher
- Facilitate
Is homeschooling only done by parents?
Moms are generally the primary homeschool teacher. However, in some families the dad is the one who schools the children. In other homes, it might be grandma or another relative. It is also becoming more common to hire tutors, retired teachers, or retired homeschool moms to homeschool children as well. That being said, though, in most homeschooling families I meet, the mom is the primary homeschool teacher.
What is the role of a homeschool parent?
Homeschool Parent Role #1: Learn and follow state laws
One of the biggest and most important roles of a homeschool parent is to research the state laws for your location. Home-schooling is legal in all 50 states, but the legalities vary quite widely from state to state. The good news is that it’s pretty easy to determine your state’s laws with a few Google searches!
Once aware of those laws, it’s the role of the homeschool teacher to make sure you are complying with the homeschool laws so your homeschool is up to snuff.
Homeschool Parent Role #2: Plan out a well-rounded education
“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.”
Aristotle
The ancient philosophers long ago realized that education is a whole lot more than just teaching academics. As a homeschool parent, one of your primary roles is to intentionally plan out how to grow your child academically, of course, but also socially, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Plan to teach to the whole child.
Physical: A homeschool parent needs to consider the physical needs of their child like movement, exercise, nutrition, and participating in sports to help build a healthy body.
Social: Equally important is a child’s social development. Consider where and how your child can interact with other children and adults. How can you help build and foster friends for your kids? How can they learn society’s rules and expectations to become functioning members of society? How will you teach civics and good citizenship?
Emotional: In a public school setting, children have access to a guidance counselor, but in homeschooling, the parent will also need to function as life coach and emotional mentor as well. How will you teach emotional regulation and character?
Spiritual: And most importantly, the role of the homeschool parent is to intentionally plan a child’s spiritual instruction. God has made it exceptionally clear in scripture that teaching our children about him is the primary role of a parent. How will you incorporate scripture into your homeschool? How will you instruct your kids in virtue and holiness?
Homeschool Parent Role #3: Plan the Curriculum
Since planning out a child’s academic path is such an important part of planning education, a vital aspect of that is to map out a child’s curriculum. Some states mandate certain subjects be taught in the homeschool, while others do not. Every kid, however, needs the accepted basics of math, language arts, science, and history. But the world is filled with so much knowledge! It’s the role of the parent to research available curricula and determine which is the best fit for your child and your family. This is a big job, but today we are blessed with so many fabulous curricula designed specifically for homeschools and there are many options from which to choose.
>>> Find out your homeschool style!
Homeschool Parent Role #4: Academic Teacher
Traditionally, then, the most obvious role of the homeschool parent is to act as the academic teacher. This can take up a significant portion of your day!
There’s no doubt that children in pre-K, kindergarten, and 1st grade need their mommas more (assuming mom is the primary homeschool teacher). Until a child can read well independently, a parent will need to read instructions, model what to do, and work alongside the child interactively with many assignments. The good news is that since a child’s attention span is short as this age, most assignments are quick.
Established readers, usually around 2nd grade, become slightly more independent. Now a child can read and follow instructions alone but may still need a lot of assistance or encouragement from a parent to stay on-task and know what to do next.
Somewhere around 3rd or 4th grade, I’ve seen my kids transition to being more independent with their schoolwork. Their assignments become longer and more in-depth, but the child is able to read and follow instructions independently.
Homeschool Parent Role #5: Facilitator
As a child approaches middle school, the homeschool parent facilitates more than teaches. This means you design and set up their coursework, establish expectations, make sure it is completed, check their work, and dialogue with your kids about their learning. But much of their learning is independent! You’ll find that you don’t need to actively teach your child as much as you did when they were younger.
In our home, during these years, we transition to a system where the kids work from a syllabus, similar to college, containing the assignments spelled out explicitly. I check in with them daily to make sure work is completed, but we may alternate which subjects we discuss on various days. While they may not need hand-holding as much, those academic conversations and time spent together in study are just as important as in the lower grades.
Alternately, you may find that if you have been your child’s primary teacher in the lower grades, you may need to branch out to other tutors for some of the tougher homeschool subjects in middle school and high school. In this case, your role as the homeschool parent shifts to being a facilitator. You locate the right teachers and make sure your child has access to exactly what they need to learn from other educators.
How much time does it take to homeschool each child each day?
No matter the age, children need one-on-one face time with their parent as their academic instructor. I generally plan on at least an hour or hour and a half of individual time daily per child. If you have multiple children, you will need to spread yourself out and assign “Teacher Time” with each child to make sure they learn essential information.
A friend of mine homeschools 6 children. She allocates 30 minutes of one-on-one time for each child but strategically chooses curriculum where her kids can work independently during the other school hours, checking in on them as necessary.
You will quickly learn that this one-on-one time becomes cherished moments for your children!
Learn How to Homeschool
If you’ve found this article helpful, check out my book, Heading into Homeschool. It will walk you step-by-step through the whole homeschool process.