Homeschooling offers an incredible amount of flexibility and freedom. As homeschool parents, we get to tailor education to our children’s individual needs, interests, and abilities in ways that traditional schooling usually can’t. For many families, this freedom is one of the key reasons for choosing to homeschool. But with this freedom comes an important responsibility: making conscious decisions about how—or even if—you’ll follow state or national academic standards.
In the secular homeschooling community, some homeschoolers pride themselves on creating academically rigorous environments, often going above and beyond state standards. Other families prefer to move away from academic benchmarks, opting for child-led learning or focusing mostly on subjects that spark their children’s interest. Goals and objectives can vary widely, and it might be helpful to reflect on these when planning your year.
While it’s entirely reasonable—and often necessary—to adapt learning to your child’s needs and interests, it’s crucial to make informed, conscious decisions about what you’re including or excluding in your homeschool. For those choosing to forgo certain academic standards, that decision needs to be intentional and well thought out. Making conscious choices ensures your child’s education stays aligned with their unique needs and future goals.
Understanding the Role of Standards
State and federal academic standards are far from perfect, but they do serve an important purpose: they help ensure that students across the country have a baseline level of knowledge and skills. When homeschooling, it’s easy to ignore these standards altogether, especially if your child is struggling with certain subjects. However, standards can be a useful tool to guide your planning and help you evaluate whether your child’s education is progressing somewhat similarly to their peer group’s.
This isn’t to say that you need to match public school peers exactly—one of the greatest benefits of homeschooling is that you don’t have to! But if you find that your child is significantly behind in a subject, it’s important to ask yourself why. Is it because they genuinely struggle with the material, and you need to make adjustments to support their learning? Or is it because they don’t like a subject, so it’s easier to avoid it?
Making Conscious, Informed Decisions
Let’s take essay writing as an example. It’s a skill that many children (and adults) don’t always enjoy, but it’s an essential part of education. In public school, students are taught to write essays because it’s a critical thinking exercise that helps them articulate their ideas clearly and persuasively—skills they will need in college, their career, and daily life. If your child says, “I hate writing,” and you decide to skip it year after year, the long-term result could be that they fall far behind their peers in a skill that’s crucial to their future.
The key idea here is that if your child falls behind in essay writing (or math, science, etc.), it should be the result of a conscious decision, not an accidental one. For example, if your child has a specific learning disability that makes writing difficult, you may decide to prioritize other forms of communication while offering appropriate support in writing. That’s a conscious, informed decision that makes total sense for the child. On the other hand, simply skipping writing because the student finds it unpleasant could do your child a disservice, making it harder for them to catch up later on.
When Is It OK to Set Standards Aside?
There are absolutely times when setting standards aside is the right choice. For example, my family made a conscious decision not to do animal dissections in science. My children were grossed out by the idea, and none of them were planning to go into healthcare or scientific fields where dissection would be important. We weighed the pros and cons and decided it wasn’t a necessary part of their education. Nowadays, my older son happily dissects electoral maps, not cow hearts. However, we were aware that if one of my children wanted to pursue a career in medicine, that decision would have had to change. The key is, we made an intentional choice, knowing the potential consequences.
Balancing Flexibility and Responsibility
Homeschooling is a wonderful opportunity to offer your child the kind of education that truly works for them. But it’s also a good idea to consider how your decisions today might affect their options in the future. If your child is falling significantly behind state standards, there is no need to panic—but there is an opportunity to reflect. Is this gap something that’s acceptable, given the student’s needs, abilities, challenges, and future goals? Or is it something that, with some extra support, you should address?
Every family is different, and there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. But by making conscious decisions about whether to meet, exceed, or set aside academic standards, you can ensure that your child’s education is intentional, thoughtful, and fully aligned with their future goals.
Takeaway: Own Your Choices
The flexibility of homeschooling is a gift, but it also requires us to be mindful and proactive about our choices. Skipping certain standards or falling behind doesn’t automatically mean failure—as long as it’s part of a conscious decision that takes your child’s unique needs into account. But those decisions should be made thoughtfully, with an understanding of the potential consequences, so your child doesn’t unintentionally fall too far behind in areas they’ll need later on.
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