Homeschooling, Un-Schooling, and Alternative Education Options

Education is one of the most important aspects of any child’s life and future success. Of course, we all know about the more traditional options of both private schools as well as public schools, but if you are looking for a more hands-on approach, perhaps homeschooling or other methods of alternative education can offer you and your kids more. There are so many factors to consider when looking into homeschooling options; there are a lot of options out there to sift through. Luckily for us, we heard from an array of homeschooling parents in this week’s episode of the Making Bank Podcast. We heard about traditional homeschooling, un-schooling, virtual schooling, and how one entrepreneur created an entire business around giving their children the education they felt was needed to succeed in a modern world. If you are interested in learning about the different options with homeschooling and other methods of alternative education, then this week’s episode is a great place to start. We have a lot to cover, so let’s get into this week’s episode on homeschooling and raising kids. 

Simplified Schooling With Flexible Curriculum Options 

Our first guest this week was Justin Brooks; he gave us great insights into the different options homeschooling offers and why it works for his children. Justin brought up the pertinent fact when you are in charge of your child’s education, you can really choose the curriculum for them and have control over what type of information is being inputted into their mind, a great point and one to consider when creating a curriculum or lesson plan. Justin went on to break down different avenues of homeschooling and alternative education options. There is virtual schooling, which is essentially public school uploaded to the cloud and gives you the freedom of not having to be the teacher, there is a teacher the student can contact via call or text when needed, there are also field trips, and you can work in tandem with local schools, so it is a more blended experience of homeschooling and a typical public school setting. Justin then went on to talk about different types curricula available for purchase from specific schools, so you are still very involved but your role as a parent is more of an assistant teacher at home and making sure the kids are staying on track. This can be a popular option if your child had been in a more traditional school setting and you are testing the waters of homeschooling as it can be a more gentle transition. Justin also made the very poignant statement by explaining that life itself can be school, and he gave examples of everyday activities that teach valuable lessons. The examples included a single trip to the grocery store being both a math lesson as well as a health lesson. He expanded by stating that asking your child to tally up the total of the grocery bill is a math lesson, and that analyzing the nutrition facts on the groceries is a health lesson. He took an everyday activity and created two lessons by simply fitting the curriculum to the day. This really brought to light that lessons could be learned in many different ways through simply applying them to everyday life. 


Creating Your Own Teaching Methods to Meet Your Education Standards 

The second guest on this week’s episode was Laura Sandefer, who went above and beyond and co-created an entirely new learning method. Laura and her husband were facing the challenges of choosing an education method with their own kids and felt like nothing they looked into was quite the right fit. They thought the options they were presented with were outdated and didn’t feel like any of these options would adequately prepare their boys in a way they were comfortable with. They had key points that needed to be part of the education: they wanted the boys to feel like they were on an adventure while also gaining the skillset to be highly competent adults in order to succeed in a modern world. They felt like they were in a major dilemma, so they came up with their teaching methods to ensure their boys got the schooling they needed. Laura and her husband co-founded the Anton Academy so they could shape their children’s education in a way that felt authentic to their values, and by doing this they also made education their business. Now, there are over 130 locations of the Anton Academy around the world, and they celebrated being in business for over 10 years in 2019. So, in an attempt to provide their boys with the education they wanted them to receive, they also created a business out of the solution they found for their education problem. This goes back to being more in control of the curriculum when you take education into your own hands as the parent. A true win-win! 

The Breakdown 

We got so much great information from all seven of our guests on this week’s episode. They gave us wonderful insight into the many options available to parents on homeschooling and other alternative methods of educating your kids. Whether you are interested in general homeschooling, or a more integrated approach such as purchasing a curriculum, or even virtual school from the local public schools, there is a lot of information to consider when choosing the path of education for your children – not only for the education itself but also what the time commitments will look like from your end. Make sure your schedule and the education pathway aligns to create the best homeschool experience for both you and your kids. So if any of these options we covered in this week’s episode piqued your interest, take a deeper look into what is available to you when it comes to education. The decisions that are made around a child’s education will greatly affect their lives as well as yours, so really take the time to thoroughly research your options to make your own educated decision. Homeschooling can be fun, educational, and a great bonding experience when done in a way that fits your family structure.  

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