NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Science
NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Science - NCERT plays an important role in the preparation of Class 10 board exams. Most of the questions asked on the Board exams are based on the NCERT books for Class 10. It is very important for students to solve the questions given in the NCERT. Here we are providing the NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Science for the ease of the students. These NCERT Solutions for Class 10 are prepared by the subject matter experts. NCERT Science Class 10 solutions are based on the latest NCERT syllabus. These NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Science will help the students in understanding the concepts and give an insight into the answer writing techniques.
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NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Science
Chapters mentioned in the NCERT books of Class 10 Science include Life, Evolution, Generations, Metals, Chemicals, Environments etc. The Class 10 Science NCERT solutions are strictly based on these textbooks. Class 10 Science NCERT textbooks can be divided into four subjects.
NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Science All Chapters
The chapter page links for the NCERT class 10 science solutions pdf are given below.
About NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Science
Chapter 1 Chemical Reactions and Equations: In this chapter, you will learn about chemical reactions with some experimental examples, how to write the chemical equations, how to balance the chemical equations, an indicator of the chemical reactions, symbolic representation of chemical reactions, the law of conservation of mass, physical state and conditions for chemical reactions, etc. You can find NCERT solutions class 10 science Chapter 1 Chemical Reactions and Equations by clicking on the link given in the table above.
- NCERT exemplar solution for class 10 Science Chapter 1 Chemical Reactions and Equations
- CBSE Class 10 Science Chapter 1 Notes
Chapter 2 Solutions Acids Bases and Salts: We come across many substance changes like milk to curd, grapes get fermented, food gets digested, dissolving of salt in the water, ice to water in our everyday life. In the above, there are two types of changes in the nature of substance, some are physical changes while some are chemical changes as we have learnt in the previous classes. When a substance changes its chemical properties, we say chemical reactions have taken place.
In this NCERT Class 10 Science chapter of, you will study the reactions of acids and bases, strong and weak acids, strong and weak base, acid-base reaction known as neutralising reaction and formation of salt, how acids and bases cancel out each other’s effects, acid and base reactions with metal oxides and metal carbonate, and many more interesting things that we use and see in our day-to-day life.
- 300+Hours of Concept wise Video Lectures, Mock Tests, Practice Questions, Adaptive Time-Table
- For Class 9 and 10 Medical Aspirants
NCERT Solutions for Class 10 provides give questions related to what is pH, pH scale and its range. Also, chemical salts like bleaching powder, baking powder, washing soda, plaster of Paris, etc formation, use and properties are explained in this chapter. The NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Science Chapter 2 Solutions Acids Bases and Salts are given in the table above. Students can check the solutions and practice the same for better preparations.
- NCERT exemplar solutions for Class 10 Science Chapter 2 Acids, Bases and Salts
- Class 10 Science Chapter 2 Acids, Bases and Salts Notes
Chapter 3 Metals and Non-Metals: In NCERT Class 9 we have already learnt about elements. Metals and non-metals can be classified on the basis of their properties. This NCERT Class 10 Science chapter starts with physical properties of metals and non-metals like melting point, physical properties at room temperature, tensile strength, appearance.
Class 10 Science also covers all chemical properties of metals and non-metals, reactions of metals and non-metals with oxygen gas, water, other metal salts, and acids. The NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Science Chapter 3 Metals and Non-metals make this chapter easy to understand.
- NCERT exemplar solution for Class 10 Science Chapter 3 Metals and Non-metals
- NCERT notes Class 10 Science Chapter 3 Metals and Non-metals
Chapter 4 Carbon and Its Compounds: Carbon is a very important element in organic and inorganic chemistry. Organic chemistry is the study of properties, structure, and reaction of carbon-containing compounds. In this NCERT Class 10 Science chapter 4, we will study about some carbon-containing compounds and it's properties, bonding in carbon, versatile nature of carbon, saturated and unsaturated carbon compound, homologous series, noman culture of carbon compound, chemical properties like combustion, oxidation, addition reaction, substitution reaction, and some important compound and it's properties etc.
NCERT solutions for Class 10 Science will also teach you about the nomenclature used in science which is very important for further studies. Also, you will be learning about carbon, an element which is of immense significance to us in both its elemental and in the combined form.
- NCERT exemplar solution for Class 10 Science Chapter 4 Carbon and Its Compounds
- NCERT notes Class 10 Science Chapter 4 - Carbon and Its Compounds
Chapter 5 Periodic Classification of Elements: The matter around us is present in the form of elements, compound or mixture. There are 118 elements found till today and all these elements have different properties. Classification makes it easier to learn about them and our focus in this chapter should be to understand how the classification works. The classification is very important to study the physical and chemical properties of all elements. So, scientists have arranged all elements in certain rows and columns based on their properties and created the periodic table.
This Class 10 Science NCERT chapter will cover the history of the periodic table starting from Dobereiner's Triads to the modern periodic table, properties, and trend of elements in the modern periodic table. Students must check the NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Science Chapter 5 Periodic Classification of Elements as it is very useful in class 11th and 12th.
students can refer to,
- NCERT exemplar solution for Class 10 Science Chapter 5 Periodic Classification of Elements
- NCERT notes Class 10 Science Chapter 5 - Periodic Classification of Elements
Chapter 6 Life Processes: How do we differentiate if someone is alive or not? Generally by the visible movements like running, shouting, or breathing. However, some animals breathe in such a manner that it is not visible to the naked eye. Then how we can identify who is alive? In this chapter, you will get answers to all these questions and more.
The invisible molecular movement is necessary for life. Life process involves various activities by the digestive system, respiratory system, and circulation system performed by the living organisms to sustain their living. NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Science Chapter 6 Life Processes gives you the answers to various questions like how organisms obtain their nutrition to stay alive, what is life and its processes, what is nutrition for human beings and plants and how it works.
NCERT Class 10 Science Chapter Life Process Related Materials
Chapter 7 Control and Coordination: In the previous Class 10 Science chapter you have learnt about the life process and how molecular movement is necessary to stay alive. But we make these movement responses to the environment in a controlled manner. All living organisms have a control and coordination system. In multicellular organisms, specialized tissues are used to control and coordinate. Here, you will study this control and coordination system, nervous system, the human brain, coordination in the plant, hormones in animals, etc.
NCERT Class 10 Science Chapter Control and Coordination Related Materials
- NCERT exemplar solution for Class 10 Science Chapter 7 Control and Coordination
- Class 10 Science Chapter 7 Notes
Chapter 8 How do Organisms Reproduce: Reproduction is a biological process by which new individual organisms are born from their parents. It involves creating a new DNA copy and other cellular apparatus. Reproduction is not an essential process for sustaining the life of an individual. Each individual organism exists because of reproduction. It is a fundamental feature of all known life.
In this NCERT Science Class 10 chapter, you will study reproduction, how it takes place, why it is necessary for the living organisms, and what are the different modes of reproduction in single organisms, sexual reproduction in flowering plants, sexual reproduction in human beings, etc. Terms like fission, fragmentation, regeneration, budding, vegetative propagation and spore formation are also explained with examples. By clicking on the above link provided in the table you will get NCERT solutions for Class 10 Science of this chapter.
- NCERT Exemplar Solutions For Class 10 Science Chapter 8 How do Organisms Reproduce
- CBSE Class 10 Notes for How do Organisms Reproduce?
Chapter 9 Heredity and Evolution: In the previous NCERT Science Class 10 chapter you have learnt that the reproduction process gives a new individual organism that is similar to the parent organism. Here, you will be studying the mechanism by which variations are created and inherited, the long-term consequences of the accumulation of variations, inherited traits, sex determination, acquired and inherited traits, speciation, tracing evolutionary relationship, fossils, stages of evolution, human evolution, etc. Check the NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Science Chapter 9 Heredity and Evolution to prepare well for this chapter.
NCERT Class 10 Science Chapter Heredity and Evolution Related Materials
- NCERT exemplar solution for Class 10 Science Chapter 9 Heredity and Evolution
- Heredity and Evolution Class 10 Science Notes
Chapter 10 Light Reflection and Refraction: We see a variety of objects around us in everyday life. We are able to see objects in the presence of light but we can't see them in the dark. What makes the object visible? When reflected light from an object is received by our eyes we are able to see the object. In this chapter, you will study the phenomena of reflection and refraction of light using the straight-line propagation method. These basic concepts will help you in the study of some of the optical phenomena in nature.
Class 10 Science chapter 10 covers reflection of light by spherical mirrors (concave and convex mirror), the image formed by the concave and convex mirrors, uses of mirrors, refraction of light through rectangle glass slab, refractive index, refraction by spherical lenses, image formation by lenses, lens formula, and power of lenses.
Class 10 Science Chapter Light Reflection and Refraction Related Materials
- NCERT exemplar solution for Class 10 Science Chapter 10 Light Reflection and Refraction
- Light Reflection and Refraction Notes
Chapter 11 The Human Eye and The Colorful World: In the previous chapter of Class 10 NCERT you have studied about reflection and refraction of light from mirrors and lenses. The human eye has a lens in its structure, it uses light and we are able to see the object. In this chapter, you will learn about human eyes, defects of vision and how to correct them. Also, you will study the refraction of light through a prism, dispersion of white light by a glass prism, some optical phenomena of nature like atmospheric refraction scattering of light, Tynd all effect, the colour of the sky, colour of sunrise and sunset, twinkling of stars, advance sunrise, and delayed sunset.
Students should refer to the NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Science Chapter 11 The Human Eye and The Colorful World to check the questions answers with solutions of this chapter.
Class 10 Science Chapter The Human Eye and The Colorful World Related Materials
- NCERT exemplar solution for Class 10 Science Chapter 11 Human Eye and Colourful World
- The Human Eye and The Colorful World Notes
Chapter 12 Electricity: In our modern society electricity is very important as it is a controllable and convenient form of energy. What constitutes electricity? How does it flow through an electric circuit? How to control and regulate it in an electric circuit? In NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Science, you will get answers to all these questions.
You will also study the electric current and circuit, electric potential and potential difference, circuit diagram, Ohm's law, the resistance of the conductor, factor on which resistance of the conductor depends, the resistance of system of the resistor, heating effect of electric current and its applications, electric power. Check the NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Science Chapter 12 Electricity to know more about this chapter.
NCERT Class 10 Science Chapter 12 Electricity Related Materials
- NCERT exemplar solution for Class 10 Science Chapter 12 Electricity
- Electricity Class 10 Science Chapter Notes
Chapter 13 Magnetic Effects of Electric Current: When we put a charge near the current-carrying wire, it doesn't apply any force on the charge but when the charge is moving near the current-carrying wire, the charge is deflected from its path. This means electric current has an effect on a moving charge which is called the magnetic effect of current.
In this Class 10 Science chapter, you will study about the magnetic field and field lines, magnetic field due to current carrying conductor, solenoid, the force on current-carrying conductor due to the magnetic field, electric motor, electro-magnetic induction, electric generator, and domestic electric circuit. Also in this chapter, you will learn important topics like Fleming's right-hand rule and left-hand rule.
NCERT Class 10 Science Chapter 13 Magnetic Effects of Electric Current Related Materials
- NCERT exemplar solution for Class 10 Science Chapter 13 Magnetic Effects of Electric Current
- Magnetic Effect of Electric current Class 10 Science Notes
Chapter 14 Sources of Energy: In previous classes, we have learnt that energy neither can be created nor destroyed. It can be converted from one form to another. This chapter will tell you about the different sources of energy like conventional and non-conventional.
Fossil fuels, thermal power plant, hydropower plant, Bio-mass, wind energy are examples of conventional sources of energy. Solar energy, tidal energy, wave energy, ocean thermal energy, geothermal energy, nuclear energy are examples of non-conventional sources of energy. You will also get to know the environmental consequences of energy. Students can also check the NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Science to check the complete solutions of the questions asked in this chapter.
NCERT Class 10 Science Chapter 12 Sources of Energy Related Materials
- NCERT exemplar solution for Class 10 Science Chapter 14 Sources of Energy
- Sources of Energy Class 10 Science Chapter 14 Notes
Chapter 15 Our Environment: The change in the environment affects us, our activity changes the environment around us, as we are an integral part of the environment. This has two parts, first is the ecosystem and its components like food chains and webs and second how our activity affects the environment. In this chapter, you will also learn about the ozone layer and how it is getting depleted. Managing the garbage that we produce, how we impact the environment are other topics we will learn here.
Class 10 Science Chapter 15 Related Materials
- NCERT exemplar solution for Class 10 Science Chapter 15 Our Environment
- Our Environment Class 10 Science Chapter 15 Notes
Chapter 16 Sustainable Management of Natural Resources: You must have heard the famous phrase in Sanskrit ‘Vasudhaiv kutumbakam’ which means “the entire earth is one family”. The phrase is found in ‘Maha Upanishad’, an ancient Indian text in Atharva Veda. Living in harmony with nature is in our culture, tradition, and philosophy.
In CBSE NCERT class 9 science you have learnt about natural resources like soil, air, and water while in the previous chapter, you have learnt about these resources that have been polluted. In t his chapter, you will learn how you ought to use these natural resources and sustain them for our future. Natural resources like forests, wildlife, water, coal, and petroleum and other issues at stake in deciding the management of these resources through sustainable development will also be taught here.
Class 10 Science Chapter 16 Related Materials
- NCERT exemplar solution for Class 10 Science Chapter 16 Management of Natural Resources
- NCERT Class 10 Science Chapter 16 Notes
How To Download Careers360 NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Science?
Check the table provided above.
Click on the respective chapter’s link.
Click the PDF download button save the webpage to check the solutions offline.
How To Use NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Science
Before solving the NCERT solutions, students must read the chapter carefully. Understand all the concepts given in the chapter
Firstly, try to solve all the questions on your own then check the NCERT solutions for class 10 Science.
The questions asked in the board exams are generally based on the questions given in the NCERT books. So, it is important to questions and correct solutions to it.
Solve previous years paper of CBSE board Class 10 science to understand questions that are asked commonly in the exam.
Benefits of NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Science
NCERT solutions Class 10 Science are prepared by experts who know how best to answer the questions in the board exam.
These NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Science are to the point which makes it quite easy to understand.
Students can take help from the Class 10 Science NCERT solutions to write better answers in the Class 10 exams.
NCERT solutions for Class 10 science pdf download will also be made available soon.
Also, check - NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Maths
Frequently Asked Question (FAQs) - NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Science
Question: Which chapters are coming under the Physics part of NCERT Class 10 Science book?
Light Reflection and Refraction, The Human Eye and The Colorful World, Electricity, Magnetic Effects of Electric Current are the chapters coming under Physics part of Class 10 NCERT syllabus.
Question: What are the chapters coming under Chemistry part of NCERT Class 10 Science book?
Chemical Reactions and Equations, Acids Bases and Salts, Metals and Non-metals, Carbon and Its Compounds and Periodic Classification of Elements comes under Chemistry part of Class 10 NCERT science book. Students can also get practice questions from NCERT Exemplar for Class 10 Science.
Question: Whether the NCERT for class 10 are helpful in higher studies?
Yes, the NCERT class 10 Science chapters are helpful in Class 11 and 12 Science stream. As Class 11 and 12 discuss Class 10 topics in detail with lot of other topics.
Question: Which chapters from Biology and Environmental Science are included in NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Science
The following Biology chapters are given in the NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Science
- Life Processes
- Control and Coordination
- How do Organisms Reproduce
- Heredity and Evolution
The following chapters are catogarized under Environmental Science
- Sources of Energy
- Our Environment
- Sustainable Management of Natural Resources
Question: What is the importance of Class 10 Science NCERT solutions
The NCERT Solutions For Class 10 Science contains the answers to the exercise questions of NCERT Class 10 Science book. Preparing using NCERT book is crucial for the CBSE board exam. So to get high score in the CBSE board exam Class 10 Science NCERT solutions are helpful.
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Chapter 5. Student Practices and Their Impact on Learning Spaces
University of British Columbia
Students will spend much of their academic lives in classrooms, laboratories, and libraries—the places where education happens. Such learning spaces impart a feeling of the campus culture to students. But is the culture they sense one of a previous era or one that meshes with their habits? This alignment is important because well-designed learning spaces and enabling technologies encourage students to spend more time on campus, increasing engagement and improving retention.
Understanding the traits and habits of students (and potential students) should shape the discussion of learning spaces. A quick scan of any campus will reveal students hanging out alone or in small groups while reading, taking notes, writing, chatting, or simply enjoying campus life. There may be another layer of activity beyond the obvious, however, enabled by cell phones, iPods, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and laptops. Both student habits and their technologies raise questions. For example, if students carry laptops to class, does this affect how we equip the rooms? Will the generation that has grown up with video games, camera phones, and home theater systems be satisfied with what we can offer in classrooms? What spaces will give students the most educational value?
Today's college students have been described as preferring learning experiences that are digital, connected, experiential, immediate, and social. Constantly connected, they seem to have no fear of technology or interacting with people they have not met face-to-face. Although they communicate a great deal online, they still want direct interaction with others. They appear to prefer learning-by-doing rather than learning-by-listening and often choose to study in groups. Much to the consternation of adults acculturated to lectures, they become impatient in situations where they don't feel engaged.
While many student attributes may be important to educators, five characteristics seem particularly applicable for learning spaces:
Many students under 20 years of age are adept with technology, according to faculty and staff standards. They have adopted practices that are quickly becoming the norm, such as instant messaging, text messaging, Googling, and social networking. Students' comfort with the Internet means it isn't "technology" to them—it may be a way of life.
Students are used to entertainment environments with rich images and high-fidelity sound. Most students have played video games since childhood; almost all have been exposed to them. In addition to sophisticated story lines and opportunities for collaborative play, games employ stunning visual and sound effects along with complicated story lines. Students may have technically advanced home entertainment systems featuring large, high-resolution displays and elaborate sound systems. Video-game consoles can generate complex graphical data rendered in close to real time. Home theater systems rival movie complexes.
While students have access to more networked technology than their predecessors, many are not technophiles—or even good with technology. Comfort with technology does not guarantee proficiency. Students recognize that technology often provides the fastest and best way to get something done, so they have developed social structures to solicit answers from friends and acquaintances. As a result of these social networks, new technologies and practices are adopted and discarded quickly.
Aided by devices like laptops and iPods, students bring their preferred environments to campus with them. Most students carry at least one connected device, and most have MP3 players on which they will have spent significant amounts of money and effort to ensure that they have the perfect song collection at all times. In addition, student use of cell phones is almost ubiquitous. Many have had cell phones for more than half their lives. Although functional and effective, cell phones may have joined cars as status symbols—owners customize models with personalized ringtones and colorful add-ons.
Students take advantage of the ability to communicate with one another, connect to the Internet, and access information at all times through laptops and cell phones. Short message service (SMS) and instant messaging let them maintain constant contact with one another. Students share information about their current locations, activities, and companions on an almost constant basis, not just with text but by sharing pictures, movies, and audio.
Handheld devices have impressive displays. All but the most basic cell-phone models include full-color screens capable of displaying pictures and video. Cell-phone carriers are exploring agreements with media providers and other partners to use the capabilities of their devices for playing podcasts and MP3s, for example. Phones able to create and share podcasts were recently announced, and GPS and mapping software are being integrated into handheld devices.
The Internet has given rise to a new set of competencies. Individuals surf the Internet to uncover facts, chase down links of interest, and then aggregate and synthesize information. This self-reliance reveals that many of today's students are self-directed, internally motivated, and inquisitive. They choose when to pay attention—and what to attend to.
Students will spend hundreds of hours in class. While they might not have much choice where they spend their class time, they do control how they behave in these spaces. Given their facility with cell phones, iPods, laptops, and other mobile devices, new in-class practices are evolving.
Once freed from the classroom, students gravitate to the spaces most appealing to them. Comfortable and customizable spaces quickly become candidates for frequent use between classes. The informal learning that takes place outside classes occurs in libraries, information commons, coffee shops, and any other locations where students can gather.
Using video cameras or similar devices and aided by MySpace-type environments, students can capture and share experiences with friends and strangers alike. This social side of students manifests when they share knowledge of new technologies; most learn new things when their friends show them how.
Students are quite comfortable with group work and interactions. One of the traits of the Net Generation is the ease with which they can form and re-form working groups.
Many students will have spent time in highly social, engaging online game environments. Unlike the physical space students typically inhabit, these spaces can be configured to match students' preferences.
An interesting emerging practice that fits with students' social inclinations is the Nokia Lifeblog, an Internet community that allows owners of Nokia mobile phones to document and share every aspect of their lives in real time. The phones allow users to capture photographs, sounds, and other artifacts, then instantly share them with family, friends, and the general public. Content could be breaking news or the discovery of the latest food hotspot. And because Lifeblog is an Internet community, a lurker can quickly become a colleague by contributing comments and sharing experiences.
While the Nokia Lifeblog community represents a small subgroup of Nokia owners, the practices they employ are not unique. The Internet enables social software, open sharing, and serendipitous discovery of small groups of people with common interests, often in very specific and esoteric subjects.
"Open source" is not just a way of developing software; it is a mindset about participation. Bloggers embody the do-it-yourself (DIY) spirit. Lack of easy-to-use tools required bloggers to find their own solutions; many of the early bloggers got their start using blogging software they created. The DIY attitude extends to their creation and consumption of content on the Internet. Reputation, as well as recommendations and referrals, are of paramount importance. Curiosity, debate, and consensus are all valued traits in the blogging world. Many of today's students possess these traits.
Many technologies used by students have a low barrier to participation and a fun contribution process. For example, Digg.com makes it easy to share opinions and rank the top stories of the week. Flickr makes it easy to share photos with friends, family, and the rest of the world. When users explore the Flickr Web site, they are encouraged to upload their favorite photographs. But Flickr goes beyond just photo sharing; options include geotagging photos. A photo can include tags that pinpoint its exact latitude and longitude. Integration with an application such as Google Maps allows users to populate locations with their own tags and documentation; tagging permits the sharing of a personal history associated with any space.
Classrooms and Formal Spaces
Classes are the most visible components of campus life. Lectures typically involve a single "expert" delivering content to students through a combination of diagrams, text, and narration. Classrooms have relatively straightforward requirements: line of sight, good acoustics, and a focal point at the front of the room. Even in formal learning spaces, however, instructors can take advantage of emerging student practices in a variety of ways.
Students are constantly connected, yet classrooms may seem disconnected. Classrooms need not be isolated from the rest of the world—ubiquitous access brings additional capabilities. A class can "travel" to any location in the world through the Internet, have experts "visit" them, or browse available resources. Remote instrumentation and laboratories make it possible for students and faculty to run experiments or control a device without leaving the room.1 Used effectively and thoughtfully, technology in the hands of the instructors can bring new dimensions to the class.
Many instructors find that interspersing interactivity, discussion, and group work in lecture engages learners. Physical constraints, however, such as the ability of students to turn around in their seats, can limit the success of these techniques. Some lecturers assign students to groups, producing seating maps of their lectures to help facilitate group forming and save time. In other cases, the room is designed for student collaboration. Seats are arranged in paired rows with specially design chairs that allow students to face each other for collaboration. (For example, see chapter 22 on LeBaron Hall, a large lecture hall at Iowa State University.) Other spaces are outfitted with movable tables, chairs, and whiteboards so that seating can be reconfigured to suit the activity.
Technology can greatly enhance interactivity in the classroom. For example, student response systems solicit and track student progress throughout a class by enabling anonymous polling. Many expect to see cell phones used as student response systems in the next few years. Another option is to allow students to "take control" of the computer and present during class. Facilities that have wireless keyboards and mice make it easy for students to present from where they sit. Space and pedagogical models, such as SCALE-UP (see chapter 29) are designed around interactivity. The round tables, student teams, and the ability to see others create a highly interactive, participatory environment.
Mobile technologies can also be used to engage students in learning. Using laptops or Tablet PCs combined with a wireless network, students can search for additional information on the Web, engage in collaborative editing, or use learning objects to illustrate specific points. Lectures or discussions can be captured and the podcasts replayed later.
Students spend a large proportion of their time outside class. Students and faculty value the time spent with peers discussing academic work or other topics. Spaces that catalyze social interaction, serendipitous meetings, and impromptu conversations contribute to personal and professional growth. Many different types of communication devices, including laptops, enhanced cell phones, and PDAs, when equipped with ubiquitous wireless access, allow almost any space to become a gathering space that students can use for studying, collaborating, and socializing. These informal spaces, often combining food services and wireless access, are ideal for casual activities including searching the Internet, catching up on e-mail, or chatting with friends. Students are no longer confined to computer terminals; indoor and outdoor spaces can become study areas or a social space as long as the Internet and power are available.
MIT's Steam Café, for example, encourages serendipitous connections among students and faculty through the space design, the use of technology, and food services (see chapter 27). The University of Dayton has integrated informal learning spaces with classrooms and a residence hall to enable frequent contact and interaction among students and faculty (see chapter 3).
The emergence of learning commons provides another example of how out-of-class time is being enriched with learning opportunities (see chapter 7). The Information Commons at Northwestern University (see chapter 30), the USITE/Crerar Computing Center and Cybercafé at the University of Chicago (see chapter 40), and Emory's Cox Hall Computing Center (see chapter 8) exemplify the integration of space and services based on an understanding of how students work and live.
Creating spaces for spontaneous meetings is particularly important. "Think stops" are places for individuals to stop, relax, and meet others. Often marked by a chalkboard or whiteboard, these locations encourage impromptu meetings and conversations. The ES Corridor Project at IUPUI illustrates how valuable these spaces can be, even if they were created with limited funds (see chapter 21). And, given the ability for Internet-savvy individuals to self-organize, think stops in the future may no longer need distinctive physical attributes—they may be virtual instead.
With applications like Flickr and Google Maps, students can tag their campuses with personal histories, giving them novel ways to make campus spaces—new or old—their own. A recent posting on a University of British Columbia (UBC) student portal prompted a discussion about the best places on campus to sleep. In the future, will technology-enabled geographic locators aid discussions like these?
What Colleges Can Do
Based on student habits, colleges and universities should consider several learning space principles that mix space, technology, and services.
Today's students often learn better by doing rather than by listening. As a result, classroom, laboratory, and studio designs that provide students with ample opportunities to participate will become more common. Whether the form of participation is discussion or construction, designs should enable interaction, transparency (seeing others engaged in work), and group work. Participation may be physical (such as constructing a model) or virtual (videoconferencing). When considering the technologies to support, remember that students no longer just consume information, they construct it—in multiple media formats.
Learning is a social process. Often the most memorable college experiences involve connections with others, whether students or faculty. All indications point to the importance of learning spaces that facilitate connections. Those connections are not just verbal or spatial—they are visual, enabling people to see others and feel as though they are part of something bigger (see chapter 10), such as observing a class at work in a laboratory. In other cases visual connections enable one-on-one conversations, such as a student seeing a faculty member in the café and stopping to chat. Connections can be virtual as well, where students work with others who are not physically colocated (through videoconferencing, for example) or who are separated by time (through asynchronous communication).
Connections may be from the campus to the outside world (a view of a natural landscape, for instance) or by allowing the outside world to view the campus.
Connections can also be made with information. Displays can highlight departmental activities or provide a glimpse of world news, stock prices, or environmental conditions. For example, Hamilton College's Science Center (see chapter 20) highlights many green features of the center. External and internal environmental conditions can be monitored along with operating the geothermal and heat-recovery systems.
Because of the importance of student-faculty interaction, faculty offices are being located close to student spaces. Multiple departments are housed together to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration. Some campuses are establishing subcampus environments that bring specific departments together. Interaction, collaboration, and engagement can be stimulated by placing people in proximity to each other. Placing student study areas in close proximity to classrooms can be helpful as well.
Students blend the physical and virtual worlds, moving seamlessly between living and learning environments. When they express themselves, they are increasingly likely to mix audio or images with text. When they have a problem to solve or assignment to complete, the steps are integrated rather than sequential. Colleges and universities can model spaces after students' integrative behavior.
Whether on residential or commuter campuses, students mix classes, study, group work, eating, and sleeping. Increasingly institutions are designing spaces that allow students to work, socialize, and sometimes sleep. Information commons and computing labs such as Emory's Cox Hall Computing Center provide multiuse spaces. Others repurpose between-building space for student use, such as Michigan Technical University's Center for Integrated Learning and Information Technology (see chapter 25).
As seen in information commons, multipurpose spaces integrate services. Students need not move from location to location to complete research or assignments; tools and support personnel are brought together to serve their needs.
Integration also occurs between the physical and virtual worlds. Online tools for team collaboration can be integrated with physical space design, such as Stanford's GroupSpaces (see chapter 35). Within the virtual environment, students integrate multiple media forms. No longer confined to text, students integrate images, video, and audio into assignments; institutions must expand the available technologies to accommodate learners' needs and habits.
Students, like faculty, prefer to control their environment. The ability to rearrange seats or adjust the lighting makes it possible for the same space to be used in many ways, by different groups, throughout the day. A computer lab or classroom may become the site of a jazz concert or a game competition at night. This flexibility also allows customization, enhancing not only space utilization but also convenience.
Flexibility also fosters different teaching and learning styles. Not all faculty can—or should—use the same instructional style. Pedagogies should be tailored to the subject, the learners, and the intended outcomes. Student needs and learning preferences vary as well. Spaces that are flexible, accommodating different approaches and uses, improve the odds for effective learning. Many institutions are finding that students will assume responsibility for self-scheduling and self-policing, so flexibility is not necessarily synonymous with irresponsibility.
For students whose world is digital, connected, immediate, social, and participatory, access to a wireless network is becoming mandatory. The students' world is not just the physical one in which they find themselves; it is also the virtual one in which they chat with friends, meet people, share photographs, and explore new ideas. Neither learning nor socializing is one-dimensional; the physical complements the virtual, and vice versa. Since learning can occur any place and at any time, there are few—if any—locations where wireless is not valuable.
Because students consume information in multiple formats—text, audio, photographs, and video—and interact with information by modifying it or sharing it, this activity places additional demands on the network. During peak periods, student use may saturate the wireless network, making it important to have wired connections available as well as wireless.
Most students own a variety of technologies—laptops, MP3 players, cell phones, and more. As technology becomes more ubiquitous and affordable, institutions will find opportunities to deliver information and services in multiple formats and to multiple devices. Convenience is a priority for students, so ensuring that any space can be a learning space—bus, residence hall, sidewalk, or café—by delivering information to personal, handheld devices is important. In the future, some students may choose to carry a USB device (or thumb drive) with their files and applications rather than carrying a laptop (see chapter 9). Student mobility means that students, not just the institution, define the learning space.
Regardless of the technology students use in learning spaces, they will need power—all laptops and MP3 players have a limited battery life. Space planners must take this requirement into account.
Although students have little fear of technology, they are not necessarily proficient with technology, information retrieval, or cognitive skills—what many call information fluency. It is not just technology or information resource assistance students need; sometimes that assistance involves writing, student services, and so on. Locating support desks and help systems where students (and faculty) are, rather than just where the unit's home base is found, encourages use. Some IT units locate technical support staff in classroom buildings. Learning commons create one-stop centers, incorporating services from the library, IT, and the writing center. Although they may look different or have a new name, help desks are probably here to stay.
Student use of spaces and technology can easily be misunderstood when viewed from a nonstudent perspective. For example, faculty or administrators might consider lounge seating in a library to be distracting, while students find it the best way to study. Students will likely spend more time in campus learning spaces than anyone else. Learners have a legitimate perspective on what works—and what doesn't. Finding meaningful ways to involve students in planning and evaluating space design is an effective way to ensure that space catalyzes learning.
Students are changing, technologies are changing, and learning spaces are changing. Students will use the spaces that best suit their needs. By examining students' habits and use patterns and then creating spaces that meet their needs, we have an opportunity to make our institutions more student-centered and appealing. At UBC, the motto is Tuum est, which in Latin means "It's yours." By creating the spaces that our students will use, we can give students the opportunity to make the university their own.
- EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative, "7 Things You Should Know About Remote Instrumentation" (Boulder, Colo.: EDUCAUSE, 2006), <http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7013.pdf>.
About the Authors
Cyprien Lomas is the director of the Learning Centre in the faculty of Land and Food Systems at the University of British Columbia. He oversees the integration of IT, instructional support, and teaching and learning. Lomas is also an EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) Scholar in Residence and studies the fit of emerging technologies and practices in institutional strategies. Current projects include analysis of social software, tagging, and the use of rich media (including digital storytelling and podcasting) in the educational context and within formal, informal, and virtual learning spaces.
Diana G. Oblinger is a vice president at EDUCAUSE and directs the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI). Previously Oblinger served as the vice president for information resources and the chief information officer for the 16-campus University of North Carolina system and as a senior fellow for the EDUCAUSE Center for Analysis and Research (ECAR). Prior to that she was the executive director of higher education for Microsoft Corporation and led the Institute for Academic Technology for IBM. Oblinger was on the faculty at Michigan State University and the University of Missouri–Columbia, where she also served as an academic dean. Oblinger has authored and edited numerous books and publications, including the award-winning What Business Wants from Higher Education and the first EDUCAUSE e-book, Educating the Net Generation, with James L. Oblinger.


In 1953, newlyweds Frank and Drema Riser shared a home with Frank’s parents in a small West Virginia coal town. His father and brothers had been miners, and Frank was expected to join them underground. Instead, he followed his brother-in-law to Cleveland, where he immediately found work at a General Motors auto plant. Drema soon joined him, and they raised their family in Northern Ohio.
Their experience was more typical than they knew: More than a million people fled the overworked hills of Appalachia for Midwestern factory jobs in the two decades after World War II. But the story of Appalachian families as we know them, the “mountain people,” began long before, when their ancestors migrated into the stunning highlands and lush valleys of the oldest mountains in North America.
The history of Appalachia is a mountain of stories: Tales of Cherokees who slipped silently into the woods to avoid the often-fatal Trail of Tears. Revolutionary War veterans who homesteaded steep hillsides. Recently emancipated African-Americans who labored on mountaintop logging crews. European immigrants who descended into pitch-black coal mines to provide for their families. And, of course, folks like the Risers, who left their hills and families behind but keep them in their hearts to this day.
Sit a spell, and we’ll tell you their stories. You’ll learn about mountain life and discover three local sources essential to finding your Appalachian kin.
An Appalachian tale
Technically, Appalachia describes the inland spine of the eastern US, where the mountain range stretches from New Hampshire to Alabama. Cultural Appalachia includes all of West Virginia and parts of 12 surrounding states (see map on next page). It’s a place of misty mountains that John Denver called “almost heaven” and green valleys serenaded in the folk song: “Oh Shenandoah, I long to see you and hear your rolling river.” It’s a place where mountain people have eked out lives in the forested ridges and “hollers” for generations.
In the early 1700s, the would-be “first” settlers found the Appalachian highlands already laced with towns and trails of thousands of native peoples. The Cherokee were the predominant tribe in the Carolinas; Chickasaw, Chocktaw, Shawnee, Creek and others rimmed the region. Over the next century, encroaching settlers gradually displaced native dwellers, often violently. A few Native Americans melted invisibly back into the hills. Many were quietly absorbed into the new population.
The majority of early Appalachian settlers were English or Scots-Irish. The English came as immigrants from northern England or colonists from neighboring regions. Scots-Irish immigrants formed tiny communities in the “backcountry” as early as 1718, after finding no welcome in major colonial ports. Some claim that Scots-Irish independence, resourcefulness, and emphasis on faith and family are the foundation of Appalachian cultural values. (Find a guide to Scots-Irish genealogy in the December 2010 Family Tree Magazine.)
Several roads cut across Appalachia before the Revolutionary War, though settlement remained sparse until after it. The Great Wagon Road led from Philadelphia to Georgia, veering off at several points on roads called by other names. The Valley Pike led from the Shenandoah Valley to Roanoke, Va.; the Carolina Road from Roanoke to cheap land in the Carolina Piedmont. The Wilderness Road, built in the 1770s, opened Kentucky and points west. The latter route proved so popular it was eventually replaced by a national turnpike: the Cumberland Road.
By 1790, about 80,000 people called the Appalachian region home. Most of the area remained unsettled and politically undefined. But as the young nation expanded at the seams, immigrants and adventurers pushed further into the highlands. Thousands of Scots-Irish, Germans and others who had settled central Pennsylvania gradually descended southwest. The region’s population nearly doubled to 150,000 within 10 years. Tillable valley land was claimed first; later arrivals edged up the rugged mountain ridges.
Folks continued to move around and through Appalachia during the antebellum era. An 1830 gold rush brought thousands into Georgia’s Cherokee territory. Land-hungry settlers drove Cherokee and others from the highlands from the 1830s (most famously on the Trail of Tears in 1838). Carolinians and Virginians migrated south and west in the 1830s through 1850s to Georgia, Alabama and Arkansas after repeated crop failures and financial depression. Some settlers stayed only briefly, moving westward as new frontiers opened.
During the Civil War, Appalachia became a battleground. Not many slaveholders lived in the region (about 10 percent of the population was African-American at the war’s outset), but of the 100,000 soldiers from Appalachia, a solid majority fought for the South. The Shenandoah Valley and Gettysburg saw the most bloodshed, but guerrilla bands from both sides raided farms and small towns throughout the region.
The war introduced outsiders to Appalachia’s untapped natural wealth. Corporations soon began stripping the mountains on a massive scale, first of timber and then of coal. Laborers poured into the region: The population of the central Appalachian plateau increased sixfold in 40 years, from less than 200,000 in 1880 to more than 1.2 million in 1920. Many newcomers were newly emancipated African-Americans, and large numbers of poor immigrants were recruited into mining and logging fresh off the boats. By 1910, more than 5,000 coal mines in central Appalachia employed a half-million men and boys.
In the early 1900s, well-paying factory jobs began luring Appalachian families to the Midwest. Those who stayed felt the effects of the Great Depression, though old-timers joke they were already so poor they didn’t notice. Miners unionized in 1935, which improved working conditions, and work remained steady in Appalachia through World War II. The Tennessee Valley Authority, founded in 1933, brought electricity and jobs to rural Tennessee and parts of surrounding states, but also displaced thousands of families with dam projects.
In the two decades after World War II, decreasing demand for coal meant fewer workers were needed. The “Great Migration” followed: More than a million mountain folk like the Risers left home for blue-collar work in the Midwest.
That’s not to say Appalachia lost its charm. Children of those migrants (including the Risers’) recall regular weekend trips back into the hollers to visit kinfolk. A 1960s “back to the land” ethic sparked new respect for the hard-working, simple-living ways of Appalachians. Historians and social scientists began capturing their stories in earnest.
The Appalachian Regional Commission, founded in 1965, set official borders for the region and started pushing for economic development in the 13 states. Since 1970, new immigrants from India, Iran, Japan and Spanish-speaking countries have layered their stories on top of those who lived there before.
Family history up a holler
Researching your Appalachian roots is not unlike vacationing there. The often-slow pace makes you appreciate the journey and the folks you meet by the wayside. Large data sets and record collections are like large Appalachian cities: uncommon but, when you find one, uncommonly wonderful. Little local sources are worth the effort it takes to find them.
“It’s really hard to track people [in Appalachia],” admits Dean Williams, a manager in the Special Collections Library at Appalachia State University. “It can take a lot of digging to find them. County records are valuable, but they’re not indexed well. [Local] newspapers go way back, but there’s absolutely no indexing. You may find yourself sitting down and going through reels of microfilm. (It’s still worth checking websites with digitized newspaper collections first — for example, pay site GenealogyBank has some coverage of the region.)
On the upside, Williams says, “There are a lot of very localized sources, if you can get into them.” He describes church minutes, ledger books from general stores, even “Uncle Jake Carpenter’s Anthology of Death,” one man’s record of local births and deaths. “You’ve got to double-query some of the local sources, but you’ve got a good chance at finding someone.”
Start your Appalachian research with the usual records, Williams says: home sources, census records and county records such as wills and deeds, when available. Although you won’t find categories of uniquely Appalachian resources, similar to town records in New England or plantation records in the South, three often-overlooked source types have special application to Appalachia: Be sure to investigate bounty land grants, ethnic records and oral history collections.
Appalachian settlers included veterans who received a chunk of the frontier in exchange for military service. Federal and state governments paid soldiers this way from Colonial times through the time of the Mexican War (1846 to 1848). Land awarded in Appalachia was most frequently paid out by individual states, not the feds, and most (but not all) of it was for Revolutionary War service.
As early as 1646, Virginia granted land surrounding frontier forts to the military men defending them. The colony also awarded bounty land for service in the French and Indian War, though the land wasn’t freed for settlement until after the Revolution. (A young George Washington, who served the Virginia Regiment, chose several riverfront tracts in what’s now West Virginia.)
After the Revolution, Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia all awarded bounty land outside their modern boundaries before eventually ceding claims to that land to the federal government. Virginia assigned acreage in Kentucky and Ohio; North Carolina gave away parts of Tennessee until 1800. Georgia, New York, Pennsylvania and South Carolina awarded plots within their own boundaries, some until the mid-1800s. West Virginia wasn’t a state until after the Civil War, so it didn’t grant bounty lands.
Bounty-land paperwork includes various types of documents and data. Bounties weren’t automatically awarded, but original applications (even rejected ones) were in many cases kept by states. If an application was successful, a warrant was issued in an amount determined by rank and length of service. (Note: Warrants issued at the federal level are also kept there.) Warrants that were redeemed became part of bounty files, as did related paperwork, such as a letter reassigning the warrant to an heir. In these documents, you’ll find the soldier’s vital statistics, military service details and information on any heirs, including widows. Many are available on microfilm or on subscription site Ancestry.com.
The individual states that assigned bounty lands retained the resulting records. Many are available through state repositories, some even online. For example, the Kentucky Land Office offers searchable access to images of nearly 5,000 Revolutionary War warrants. At the Library of Virginia, you can search both Revolutionary War warrants and rejected applications. Check with individual state archives for original records. Consult an 80,000-record index to Revolutionary War pension and bounty land applications at HeritageQuest Online, free to patrons of subscribing librarians. You can also check Revolutionary War Bounty Land Grants by Lloyd deWitt Bockstruck (Genealogical Publishing Co.), a 35,000-name master index to state bounty land records that’s searchable on Ancestry.com.
Mountain melting pot
“People tend to think of people in Appalachia as white — Scots-Irish — but it was a real mix,” Williams says. “There was a large German presence in [Boone, NC] in the late 1800s. [Companies] also brought in large numbers of Italians and Poles and people from Central Europe. They needed people with experience in deep mines. There was a Hungarian colony in north Georgia. In pockets, there were sizable black populations. And of course there were Native Americans.”
Appalachia wasn’t quite a happy melting pot. Ethnic groups that arrived together tended to stay together. Segregated neighborhoods formed near mines, populated by Greeks, Czechs, Yugoslavians, Austrians, Italians, Welsh or Russians. Isolated in the highlands and valleys, these tiny groups attended their own churches when possible and were even buried separately. The upside of segregation is that ethnic identities remained strong: You may have luck tracking your forebears (or their communities) through ethnic sources.
Original records relating to ethnicity in Appalachia are most frequently found in the form of church records. Before the early 1800s, if your ancestors were Scots-Irish, look for Presbyterian records, and for Germans, look for Lutheran, Catholic or Jewish records. Eventually, Baptist and Methodist sects drew Appalachians of many ethnicities; learn which faith your ancestor may have followed in Appalachian Mountain Religion: A History by Deborah Vansau McCauley (University of Illinois), available for preview on Google Books (find it in our Google Library). Appalachian church records have been collected by the Family History Library, the Archives of Appalachia, Southern Appalachian Archives and many state and regional historical repositories. Published histories can be valuable sources of ethnic information, too; check WorldCat for titles such as:
- Welsh Founders of Pennsylvania by Thomas Allen Glenn (Clearfield Co.)
- Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia (1745-1800) by Lyman Chalkley (Genealogical Publishing Co.)
- Profiles of African Americans in Tennessee by Bobby L. Lovett and Linda T. Wynn (Annual Local Conference on Afro American Culture and History)
- History of the German Settlements and of the Lutheran Church in North and South Carolina by Gotthardt Dellman Bernhelm (Nabu Press)
- Coalfield Jews: An Appalachian History by Deborah Weiner (University of Illinois Press)
You’ll also want to consult the Images of America local history series by Arcadia Publishing. Search the website by keyword or ZIP code to track down titles such as African Americans of Jefferson County (West Virginia), Louisville’s Germantown and Schnitzelburg (Kentucky) and Jewish West Virginia.
Not all Appalachian ethnic groups remained separate. In fact, two distinct cultural groups grew from multiracial origins. The Melungeons of Tennessee and elsewhere are thought to have originated from whites, blacks, American Indians and Mediterraneans. (Cyndi’s List has a directory of Melungeon sources here.) The Pennsylvania Dutch, some of whom migrated south from the Keystone State, are thought to descend from Germans, Swiss and French Huguenots. (Start tracing those roots at http://www.kutztown.edu/community/pgchc/library.)
Until the 20th century, history was generally told rather than written in Appalachia. “As a general rule, mountain families didn’t keep journals or write letters up to a certain point,” Williams says, likely around the time of the Great Migration. “A lot of people didn’t leave any written evidence.”
Today, one of the best sources of Appalachian history is still storytelling. Since about the 1930s, interviewers have captured thousands of conversations on life in the hills and hollers, coal and logging camps, textile mills, railway yards and homes in Appalachia. Some of these memories — such as slave narratives — reach back into the 19th century. Others tell of daily life during the Great Depression, the Great Migration and the Civil Rights era.
Chances are, admittedly, not high that your own ancestor was interviewed. But Williams says tracking down stories is worth the effort if you can find an oral history from your family’s area. “You’d be surprised at what does get mentioned in these oral histories. People talk about their neighbors. You get into a little gossip — who married whom or who should have married whom.” You learn how people spoke, what they ate and what their working conditions were like.
Many oral history projects are available only through archives, via tapes or transcripts. The Eastern Kentucky Library Oral History Collection contains more than 3,000 interviews; find an index here. More than 500 interviews from the Appalachian Oral History Project are on file at Appalachian State University; see a description and index here. At the Southern Appalachian Archives, you’ll find several different collections, among them 151 interviews about life along the Kentucky River with memories dating to the late 1880s.
You don’t have to look further than a good local library to read first-person accounts of Appalachia, though. Search Amazon.com or WorldCat on oral history Appalachia to find books on the subject, such as:
- Southern Appalachia: 1885-1915 by Roy Edwin Thomas (McFarland & Co.)
- Hard Times Cotton Mill Girls by Victoria Byerly (Cornell University Press)
- Our Appalachia: An Oral History edited by Laurel Shackelford and Bill Weinberg (University Press of Kentucky)
- Coal Hollow by Melanie and Ken Light (University of California Press)
Additionally, the Library of Congress has posted images of slave narratives collected during the 1930s. About 290 Appalachian residents are among those interviewed; find them here. For those who prefer to watch oral history rather than read it, Appalachia: A History of Mountains and People is an excellent PBS video documentary.
It may take a while to learn all you want to know about your Appalachian ancestors. For the most part, they lived modest lives and created only modest records.
But certainly the search for local sources is a fantastic excuse for a road trip through some of the most beautiful country in the United States. You may soon find yourself winding through hills and hollers, learning firsthand the powerful pull of the highlands and wondering how anyone could bear to leave them.
Tip: The Draper Manuscripts, a collection focused on the trans-Allegheny West from the 1740s to 1810s, is a good resource for early Appalachian ancestors. Many libraries have papers related to local areas on microfilm; see http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/military/draper for information.
Many Appalachian families have Cherokee heritage, but it often wasn’t talked about. Cherokee who remained in Appalachia after 1838 had done so by hiding. Fear of removal and then lingering social stigma led many families to keep their heritage quiet or invisible well into the 1900s.
Today you can trace your Cherokee blood through several sources. Cherokee who remained in Appalachia (“eastern”) and those who were exiled (“western”) are listed in various censuses and rolls taken from 1819 to 1924. Find indexes to these in Cherokee Roots, volumes 1 and 2, by Bob Blankenship (Cherokee Roots).
Researchers can visit Oklahoma’s Cherokee Heritage Center in person or hire a genealogist. The federal government created a wealth of records related to American Indians — learn where to find them at the National Archives and Records Administration.
Repositories Road Trip
Explore your family’s Appalachian past on this 600-mile road trip to your roots — or learn about these stellar collections online.
- Morgantown, WV: The West Virginia University Library Appalachian Collection has an outstanding collection on the 13-state Appalachian region, and much of it is indexed and annotated in the Appalachian Bibliography, published by the university. The collection has more than 9,000 volumes on topics ranging from coal miners to Cherokee Indians, as well as publications such as Appalachian Journal, Appalachian Heritage and the Journal of Appalachian Studies.
- Morehead, Ky.: The Center for Virtual Appalachia is a terrific resource for learning more about modern Appalachia “as a distinct and unique region of the United States.” Data on education, poverty, employment and population changes speak to current issues.
- Richmond, Ky: The Eastern Kentucky University Special Collections & Archives boasts a fantastic oral history collection (more than 3,000 interviews and recordings) as well as regional genealogical records, Appalachian studies resources, photographs, films, electronic records, maps and memorabilia relating to Kentucky history and literature.
- Berea, Ky.: Berea College’s Southern Appalachian Archives contains manuscripts, oral histories, photographs, records, tapes and films relating to the history of Appalachia and the surrounding community.
- Johnson City, Tenn.: The Center for Appalachian Studies and Services at East Tennessee State University includes the Archives of Appalachia. Look here for multimedia materials documenting the political, economic, social and cultural history of southern Appalachia. The Archive houses nearly 18 million manuscripts, 75,000 sound recordings and 250,000 photos and film clips.
- Boone, NC: The W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection at Appalachian State University’s Center for Appalachian Studies houses 37,000 books and more than 200 periodicals related to southern Appalachia. The extensive genealogical collection includes records on Native and African populations, censuses from 1790 to 1920 for all of Appalachia, a large regional newspaper clipping file, photographs, maps, and family and local histories.
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Welcome to our introductory series on Homeschooling where we are taking a look at the different types of homeschooling methods.
In the second part of our 3-part articles, we summarise the various methods of homeschooling which are currently out there to help you understand the different types of curricula out there that may be of use to you when 'curriculum shopping'.
There are lots of ways to teach your children at home- and you don’t have to do it the way a school would. Homeschoolers have lots of flexibility in the way they teach their children, and there are lots of different methods and approaches.
Below is a list of many homeschooling types and their methods, please click on the corresponding buttons to skip to the section you wish to view or scroll down to view each type of homeschooling
#1 The Classical Homeschooling Method
The “Classical” homeschool approach has existed since the Middle Ages and the goal of this technique is to teach people how to learn for themselves.
The five tools of learning are Reason, Record, Research, Relate and Rhetoric, and younger children begin preparing for this when they start to learn the three R’s.
Classical homeschoolers focus more on reading and writing and have a unique way of creating “History Notebooks”. They accomplish this way of learning through written and spoken works rather than TV, videos, and pictures. The amount of reading is also one of the advantages of this method for people who love books.
This type of homeschool has three stages:
The Grammar Stage
The Logic Stage
The Rhetoric Stage
Children focus on the tools of learning. They learn how to write, and how to use grammar properly. They may do things repetitively to cement the ideas they’ve learned.
Children deepen their knowledge and add layers to the elementary teaching they were taught in the Grammar stage. This is a good time to educators to introduce debating, as debate makes children think about and synthesise the things they’ve learned. There are also many other benefits of debating
Children are ‘becoming independent, forming their own opinions and starting to separate from their families’. Now is a good time for educators to teach children about persuasive and love ways to confer their opinions- again this is done in many ways including teaching more advanced debating techniques.
Typical “Classical” Homeschools Schedule (for children under age 10)
|5:00 - 6:30am||Parents and children rise, showers, dressing, early morning chores.|
|7:00am||Breakfast, morning family meeting/ worship.|
|8:00am||Daily chores from pre-determined list.|
|8:30 - 9:30am||General lessons where children: |
Recite memory work Practice reading Practice oral narration
|9:30-10:15am||Mother reads aloud to all the children (child’s choice)|
|10:15-11:130am||Phonics Instruction: |
Copy work (the student will copy verbatim a written piece, like the Constitution, that is at their level) History notebook and time-line (For the time-line the children will keep a running time-line where they can note names of people and events that they are currently studying.
The history notebook is laid out by date and children add information from their copy work, photos from their field trip to the Civil War re-enactment, or their entry into the National History Day Competition.
|11:30am||Prepare lunch and straighten house.|
|12:00pm||Lunch and mid-day chores.|
|1:00pm||Naps and quiet time.|
|2:00-2:45pm||Mother reads aloud (Children may do arts & crafts at the same time). Children finish their oral narrations|
|2:45-4:30pm||Finish up academic work from the morning, play time, walks, field trips, library and volunteering.|
|4:40-5:00pm||Prepare supper, straighten house.|
|5:00pm||Dinner and evening chores.|
|6:30pm||Evening family worship (optional).|
|7:45 - 8:30pm||Family activities (like games).|
|8:30 - 9:00pm||Prepare for bed.|
If you want to know more about the Classical method, A Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home has been a very popular book amongst parents.
#2 The Charlotte Mason Homeschooling Method
This approach was founded by the British educator Charlotte Mason, a homeschooler herself. Mason believed educators should teach basic reading, writing and arithmetic skills to everyone. Charlotte Mason homeschooling is also a delightful way of teaching children as it takes the good parts of Classical Education and makes them work in a less rigid and arduous way for students.
For example, short lessons, nature walks and field trips.
The core belief with Charlotte Mason’s homeschooling method is that children are not mete containers waiting to be filled with knowledge, but persons in their own right deserving of respect. She believes children should be given the time to play, create, and be involved in real-life situations from which they can learn. Students also show what they know, not by taking tests, but via narration and discussion with art, dancing, or writing.
Using the Charlotte Mason homeschool teaching style, homeschoolers strive to keep variety in their schedules. They generally do academics in the morning and try to “rest the child’s mind” by switching between easy and difficult talks and between active and passive tasks.
Typical Charlotte Mason Schedule
|9:00 - 9:20am||Math|
|9:20 - 9:40am|| |
|9:40 - 10:00am||History|
|10:00 - 11:00am|| |
Read aloud literature
|12:20 - 12:40pm||Science|
|12:40 - 1:00pm||Grammar|
|1:00 - 1:20pm|| |
Latin, music, poetry, P.E or art appreciation
Map Work and read aloud work by children
Spent outdoors enjoying nature.
If you would like to know more about Charlotte Mason’s homeschooling, you can read her 5 part series called Home Education (The Home Education Series) (Volume 1,2,3,4 & 5).
#3 Relaxed / Eclectic Home Education
This is the method that is used most often by homeschoolers and takes ideas from different homeschooling methods to form its own style of education.
Eclectic homeschoolers use workbooks for math, reading, and spelling, but also take an unschooling approach for other subjects. It can also include attending school part-time and doing distance learning.
Typical Eclectic Home Education Schedule
Read one chapter a day from a book the child has chosen. The parent will also often read challenging books to the children at night, like Jane Eyre, Phantom of the Opera, The Three Musketeers, and other classical children’s book.
Eclectic families usually centre their writing around journals, essays, letters to friends and the occasional report. Some families also participate in a “young writers” club, available through their support group.
Each child will have the math material that best suit their learning style. One child may use math software, one child may use math manipulative like rods, shapes, and counters, another child may use a math textbook. The parent then evaluates the child’s retention by periodically making up a sheet of problems that review all the math concepts the student has learned.
The emphasis is on hands-on experiments which the family does at home or through community science (like those put on by MadScience.com).
|History / Geography|| |
The family will use workbooks, software, educational games, and historical fiction.
Some families also make up time-lines and history notebooks like those used in the Classical and Charlotte Mason approaches.
|Special Interests|| |
Afternoons are generally spent doing special projects, pursuing hobbies, and participating in community classes and teams like football, gymnastics, Boy Scouts and many more.
As seen from above there is no set timetable for learning, however the child is expected to meet certain educational goals. Mornings are often used for more formal, “have to” work, and afternoons are used for hobbies and other special projects.
The advantage of the Eclectic method is that the parent feels that the “important” subjects are being covered thoroughly. Families also have the choice to choose textbooks, field trips and classes that fit their needs and interests.
Another type of relaxed/eclectic homeschooling is the Natural Learning method. The Natural Learning approach encourages children to follow their curiosity and learn from their environment.
Consequently, many people use this approach in conjunction with the relaxed/eclectic homeschooling method.
#4 Montessori Homeschooling Method
“The Montessori Method of education is an approach to learning which emphasises active learning, independence, cooperation, and learning in harmony with each child’d unique pace of development.”
There are several principles for the Montessori method that fulfil the foundation to a typical Montessori education:
- Respect for the child
- The sensitive periods
- The absorbent mind
- Mixed-age groupings
- The prepared environment
- The curriculum areas
- Montessori materials
- The role of the teacher
This approach allows children to learn at their own pace and in this way it develops their full potential. Wooden tools are preferred over plastic tools and learning materials are kept very organised and ready to use. The Montessori method also discourages televisions and computers, especially for younger children.
According to Montessori homeschool philosophy, children should be allowed as much unscheduled time as possible in order for them to learn to manage their own time. Children are also encouraged to select their own learning materials and to learn at their own pace, believing that children will be drawn to what they need.
Typical Montessori Homeschooling Schedule
|A "Practical life" area|| |
Which promotes activities such as pouring, spooning, and food preparation, and includes child-sized buckets, brooms, and mops for cleaning up.
|A "Sensorial" area|| |
Which includes such items such as wooden blocks (that teach size comparison), different scents for smelling, and coloured tablets for learning about colours.
|A Math area|| |
Which includes hands-on materials like number rods, sand-paper numbers, and coloured beads for counting.
|A Language area|| |
Which includes sand-paper numbers, a moveable alphabet, books and phonics materials.
|A "Cultural" area|| |
For history and geography, which includes globes, map puzzles, times-lines, books and pictures and different cultures, and Montessori “Peace Curriculum” (a course on conflict resolution for children).
|A Music area|| |
Which includes bells. And a variety of rhythm and other instruments.
|A Art area|| |
Which includes drawing materials, prints from a variety of different artists (including the Masters), and craft and sewing supplies.
Maria Montessori believed children learn best when the environment they learn in supports their natural desire to learn and acquire skills. A hands-on approach is also especially great for younger homeschoolers, who aren’t quite ready for heavy formal study.
#5 Multiple Intelligences Homeschooling
The Multiple Intelligences Homeschooling Method is an idea developed by Howard Gardner and Harvard University’s “Project Zero”. This theory says that everybody differs in intelligence in different ways according to the different intelligences they possess.
- Interpersonal MI (“people smart”)
- Intrapersonal MI (“self smart”)
- Bodily-Kinesthetic MI (“body smart”)
- Naturalistic MI (“nature smart”)
- Musical MI (“music smart”)
- Visual-Spatial MI (“picture smart”)
- Logical-Mathematical MI (number/reasoning smart”)
- Verbal-Linguistic MI (“word smart”)
Learning can be changed according to our intelligences area, but that doesn’t mean we should exclude trying to learn using other intelligences.
For example, a lot of schools use a linguistic and logical-mathematical approach when teaching, but not every child learns that way. Some children (the bodily-kinesthetic learners) learn best by touching and not by listening or reading and other learners who are active and hands-on, may prefer to listen to audio version of classical children’s books while drawing or building things.
Successful homeschoolers naturally emphasise their children’s strengths and automatically tailor their teaching to match the child’s learning style. They also adjust their learning environment and schedule so that it brings out the best in their children.
This said, Multiple Intelligences homeschooling is not really a homeschooling method that we should base all our learning on. It should be noted that it may be used in conjunction with another home education approach.
Typical Multiple Intelligences Homeschooling Schedule
One child may begin reading at age five, another child may not be ready until age seven. One child may learn best by being read to or by listening to audio tapes, another child may carry a book around all day.
One child may like to write with a pen or a pencil, one child may prefer typing their work on a computer, and another child may feel frustrated by the writing process and prefer to give oral reports of what they’ve learnt.
Some child learn well from workbooks, other children prefer using hands-on manipulative like beads or fraction rods. Still others, do math quickly and easily in their head and feel frustrated when forced to answer problems on paper.
Almost all children learn science best by having plenty of hands-on experiences.
|History / Geography|| |
Children learn best by “doing”, so families plan activities where they child can experience for themselves the clothing, food, and music of a particular era or culture.
|Music / Sports / Arts|| |
Families expose children to a variety of experiences, watch to see which activities spark their children’s passion, and then support their children in that activity.
#6 The Steiner or Waldorf Homeschooling Method
Waldorf education is based on the work of Rudolf Steiner and stresses the importance of educating the whole child- body, mind, and spirit. It has some great elements to it, such as advocacy for hands-on, creative play and it’s use of a monthly learning theme called the Main Lesson.
Some elements of the Waldorf/Steiner approach:
- It’s avoidance of technology early in children’s lives
- The deliberate mentoring relationship teachers form with their students
- Using natural materials for play
- Doing tasks as a team
- How teachers encourage students to learn hands-on skills they’ll use in life
Typical Steiner / Waldorf Homeschooling Schedule
|Circle||The day starts with a 15 minute circle. (Circle time takes place in a special spot in the house. The family lights a candle and says the morning verse. They then since a Movement Verse, which usually involves finger play, a Closing Verse or song, and then blow out the candle).|
|Main Lesson||The family spends 45 minutes of focused time on reading and writing. (The family obtains these lessons from a Waldorf curriculum supplier|
|Free Time||During this time, the parent attends to their normal responsibilities, like household management or perhaps even running a home business, and the child watched and eventually imitates the parent’s actions. In addition, parents provide opportunities for creative play (like puppets, or any, or building projects).|
|Lunch||Children help with preparation and clean-up.|
|Afternoon Lesson||Science is done twice a week and math is done three times a week. Science lessons involve frequent outings. Reading lessons are also done during this time, reading from a Waldorf Reader for approximately 15 minutes a day. This afternoon session lasts around one hour.|
|Free Play||Crafts, imitation activities, and creative play occupy the child until dinner time.|
|Dinner||Children help with preparation and clean-up.|
|Bedtime Ritual||This usually takes one hour. The parent either reads aloud or tells their own bedtime story.|
Rhythm and consistency are very important to Waldorf homeschoolers, so the daily schedule is designed to flow easily and give the homeschooling parent plant of time for their many responsibilities.
Younger children focus on:
- Music and singing
- Imaginative play
- Natural materials
- Learning by example
- Artistic work like drawing, painting, and modelling
- Practical tasks like cleaning, cooking, and gardening
Older children focus on:
- Language arts
- Mineralogy (scientific studies- chemistry, crystal structure, and physical properties of minerals and mineralised artefacts)
- Self awareness
Secondary aged children focus on:
- All of the above, but learn to debate, question, observe, analyse and form conclusions from his/her own experience.
- More artistic subjects (such as music, art and craft) are still heavily encourages
- It aims to foster ethical ideas to develop higher levels of thinking
This type of homeschooling method also discourages the use of technology (TVs, computers, phones, iPads) as they believe that computers are bad for the child’s health and creativity.
#7 The Unschooling or Deschooling Method
The term ‘unschooling’ was created by John Holt in 1977, a school teacher who became so frustrated with the rigidity of the school system. As a result, Hold said unschooling should allow children as much freedom as the parents can bare so they can learn unfettered by unnecessary rules, procedures, and busywork.
It is also known as natural, interest-led, and child-led learning. Unschooling teaches education through daily experiences. If a child expresses an interest in learning something, parents can unobtrusively facilitate that learning through life.
For example, they could go shopping and learn about:
- Geography- as they learn to use the bus timetable and figure out a map
- Mathematics- as they learn to add the cost of products with the amount of money they have
- Business- what’s a good deal in life and what’s not
- English/Literacy- learning letters and numbers from recognising them on food/item packaging
With the unschooling method of education, learning happens as a part of life- it is not a separate area of life where ‘now we’re learning’ or ‘now we’re playing’.
Typical Unschooling / Deschooling Schedule
Children wake up when they are rested and decide for themselves what they would like to do that day. Some unschooling parents give their children a list of chores to do and suggestions for different activities for the day. Many unschooled children establish goals for themselves and work with their parents to set up a schedule that will help them achieve that goal.
Each day will be different. One day the child may be hungry to learn new spellings words, so they will do spelling first thing in the morning. Another day, the child may be excited to set up a special science experiment and may run to the kitchen first thing to begin their project. Unschooling parents have a tendency to leave educational materials out for their children to “discover”- they may leave the microscope out on the kitchen table, a new book on the coffee table, or a new cookbook in the kitchen. They direct their children’s learning by stimulating the child’s interests in a particular project or subject.
Many unschoolers spend their afternoons out in the community; volunteering at the library, working a part-time job (for older children), or taking private lessons. Unschoolers have a tendency to pursue their interests passionately and in-depth for a time and then move on to their next interest. They also more likely to stay up late, engrossed in a good book.
Unschooled children have the time and research abilities to become experts in their areas of interest.
unschoolers do not follow the typical school schedule, that may not do as well on grade level assessments and may have a difficult emir if they ever want to re-enter the school system.
Another type of Unschooling is the Radical Unschooling Style. This is when children are encouraged to follow their interests completely and whole-heartedly. Parents give their children complete freedom to learn what they like. The children make all the decisions, including: no rules, no chores, no bedtime, no meal times and no exams. Parents also do not tell their children what to eat, when to go to bed or how much TV or video games they can watch/play.
Some believe radical unschooling is unparenting. In the words of Lorraine Devon Wilke, it seems to ‘abdicate their role of parents’.
Radical Unschooling is about as ‘free’ as ‘education’ gets, if you can call it education!
#8 Traditional (School at Home) Homeschooling Method
The Traditional Homeschooling method is the one people automatically think about when someone is homeschooling. It is one of the reasons many people start homeschooling, as they are able to replicate the educational method used in schools. This is also one of the most expensive types of homeschooling methods with the highest burnout rate because of its potentially strict manner.
This said, some parents find it easier to use a relaxed traditional homeschooling method in the formative years. They find it easy to purchase boxed curriculum that comes with textbooks, study schedules, grades and record keeping, and start with a method that is familiar to their school upbringing.
Families know exactly what to teach and when to teach it. This can be a comfort when first starting out and inexperienced. They can also send assignments into the exam board for grading and evaluation.
Requires much more work on the part of the parent/teacher and the lessons are not as much for children. It is also comes at a higher cost.
Typical Traditional Homeschooling Schedule
|8:00 - 9:00am|| |
Children change clothes, tidy house and have breakfast.
|9:00 - 10:00am|| |
Reading (using spelling books, writing assignments, and free reading)
|10:00 - 10:30am|| |
Math (using a text book and work book)
|10:30 - 11:00am|| |
History on Monday/Wednesday (using a text book), Science on Tuesday (using a text book that includes occasional experiments), and Geography on Thursday (using a work book)
Electives (usually a foreign language audio program, and art course, or another elective that was included in the curriculum)
#9 Flexi-schooling Method
Flexi-Schooling is where a child attends school for part of the week, and learns at home for the rest of it. This is an ideal compromise for some families and has become increasingly popular.
Reasons why parents may choose the Flexi-schooling path:
- Children who have been excluded from school
- Children who have an illness
- Having a phobia of school
- Returning to school gradually after a period of absence
- So parents can home educate their children whilst making use of school resources
Even though Flexi-schooling is legal in the UK, it isn’t an automatic right like full-time home education. It is entirely at the discretion of the school’s head teacher and you will need their permission before you can go ahead. You’ll need to prove to the head teacher that Flexi-schooling is in the best interests of your child, and you can do this by writing a proposal explaining the benefits for your child and how the arrangement will work between the school and you. A discussion will then be held to talk through your proposal, which will also be passed to other members of staff, school governors and possibly the local authority before a final decision is made.
How Flexi-schooling works:
- Your child will be marked absent in the register for the days they do not attend.
- Your child will be required to follow the national curriculum whilst at school, but doesn’t have to be followed whist at home.
- Sometimes the school might out conditions on the Flexi-schooling arrangement, for example, your child must attend school for a minimum of three days a week.
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One example of how a 4-day Flexi-time school is run, offering a maximum of 18 hours of learning for children aged 10-14. They base their school on Creative, Soul and Democratic learning through yoga, meditation and democratic choice, creativity and self-direction.
Example of a Flexi-schooling Schedule
|9:00 - 9:30am|| |
Yoga & Meditation
Yoga & Meditation
Yoga & Meditation
|9:30 - 11:00am|| |
English & Creative Writing
|11:00 - 11:15am|| |
|11:15 - 12:45pm|| |
|12:45 - 1:00pm|| |
Reflection and Tidy up
Reflection and Tidy up
Reflection and Tidy up
|9:00 - 9:45am||Yoga & Meditation|
|9:45 - 11:15am||Topic: Science|
|11:15 - 11:30am||Break|
|11:30 -12:15pm||Democratic Meeting|
|12:15 - 1:15pm||Lunch|
|1:15 - 2:00pm||Creative Writing/ Topic: Art|
|2:00 - 3:00pm||Topic: Humanities / Topic: Art|
#10 Worldschooling / Roadschooling Method
Parents who decide to choose this method of homeschooling recognise that a child can receive no greater education than by experiencing and interacting with the world around them. This often involves travelling together and using the journeys to enhance their child/ren’s education.
Worldschoolers share some of the same sentiments when choosing this method:
- A desire to travel
- A wish to introduce children to the wider world around them
- A holistic approach to learning
- A preference for experiential learning to solidify knowledge
- A need for flexibility in exploring children’s talents that traditional schooling cannot provide
- A desire to understand and become sensitive to other world-views
- The ability to integrate travel with the subjects and themes they are learning about
- A desire to help children make connections between educational material and the world around them.
This hands-on approach appeals to many families as their child/ren are able to use the landmarks and attractions they encounter as a means for educational enhancement and exploration. They could spend one day focusing on the history behind the Egyptians pyramids and tombs while visiting Giza, Cairo and the next day learning how about Hieroglyphics. These are just some of the benefits of world/roadschooling.
Choosing the Curriculum
How can you afford to Worldschool?
Not every programme/ timetable is ideal for learning on the go. Here are some considerations other world schoolers have taken into account when deciding on the curricula they include:
Obviously it is going to cost a bit more than someone who decides a different homeschooling method due to the travelling costs.
#11 Project-based Homeschooling
Lori McWilliam Pickert came up with this idea of homeschooling to allow children to learn about what interests them, by helping them do it in a meaningful, rigorous way.
Project-based homeschooling combines your child’s genuine interests with long-term, deep, complex learning. Rather than teaching or providing a curriculum, you mentor your child to help him or her learn how to direct and manage his or her own learning. This type of homeschooling works equally well as one element of a more traditional curriculum. Even for children who aren’t homeschooled, it’s a way to help them become self-motivated learners, thinkers, makers and doers.
Project-based homeschooling is also like putting together a puzzle. It doesn’t matter which piece you start with, but as you lay them all on the table, you’ll start to see how they fit together to make the whole picture.
This hands-on approach appeals to many families as their child/ren are able to use the landmarks and attractions they encounter as a means for educational enhancement and exploration. They could spend one day focusing on the history behind the Egyptians pyramids and tombs while visiting Giza, Cairo and the next day learning how about Hieroglyphics.
These are just some of the benefits of world/roadschooling.
What Project-based Homeschooling may look like:
Remember this is a slow process, build it up, create the environment and earn how to mentor over time. Let your child take control slowly as they grow.
#12 Religious Homeschooling
As there are so many religions around the world it can alter and differentiate based on that particular family.
There is no right or wrong way to homeschool your child through a religious-based method, it is what you want it to be and how you want to incorporate it into your homeschooling.
Some of the methods that do and can incorporate it into its method:
#13 Computer-based / Digital Homeschooling
Computer based homeschool is really just another version to the textbook method. Instead of using paper books, the child’s curriculum is either through an online company or a home-based program that is purchased on a CD-ROM/ app.
It is a popular option for those who want a solid, traditional education with limited planning, instruction and record keeping on the part of the parent. Students can take a single subject or an entire course of study. Through this way, children can interact with other students and receive feedback from live teachers, or a software program that is graded by the computer.
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#14 Unit Studies
Those who choose to homeschool through the unit studies methods can be hands-on, literature-based, and even gear towards the Charlotte Mason method. Unit studies typically learn all of the academic subjects through the study of one topic which can be taught to different ages with multiple levels. This is popular with homeschoolers who want to keep all of their children on similar topics at the same time.
The child learns by actually experiencing or discovering through different methods and activities, rather than just reading a chapter from a textbook. A unit study takes a topic and “lives” with it for a period of time, for example: the theme of water (H2O)- most people think this is study in science, but it is also art (beautiful waterfall), history (the Red Sea), economics (water bill), R.E (baptism), geography (the location of bodies of water), etc. In this way, children are able to cover a vast amount of subjects through one topic.
Unit studies also work well for children with different learning styles as most unit studies give several options to learn about a topic. It has been seen to work especially well for homeschoolers on the autism spectrum who have intense interests in specific subjects. Many homeschool families who have adopted this method well believe it not only allows students to study subjects more in-depth, but also because the variety of activities keeps them engaged.
Example of one type of unit study: Animals
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Click here to find out more about Unit Studies
Although there may be many more different types of Homeschooling and Curricula currently in practice in the UK and beyond, we put this list together to inform you of the most popular types that we are aware of and those which have many resources and support available to you should you decide to proceed with any one of these.
We must also stress that even though deciding to homeschool your child is a big decision, it’s not an irreversible one.
There is lots of help out there from other homeschoolers to help you make this decision.