How Much Teaching Do Parents Really Have to Do?

Two of the questions parents ask me most often when they are thinking about homeschooling is: “But how am I going to teach them everything?” and How much teaching do we parents really have to do?

The answer is — you probably aren’t.

Homeschooling does not mean recreating a classroom at the kitchen table, with a parent standing at the front explaining every lesson. Nor does it mean handing a child a pile of worksheets on Monday morning and hoping for the best.

There is a much more comfortable place somewhere in between.

As parents, you don't really need to know everything to teach it

Parents sometimes assume that before their child can learn something, they need to understand it themselves.

They don’t.

If this week’s science is about electrical circuits, you do not need to spend Sunday evening secretly learning all about electricity. If geography involves reading an Ordnance Survey map, you do not need to become an expert map reader before breakfast.

Good homeschool material should give a child enough information and direction to begin discovering things for themselves.

Sometimes you will know the answer.

Sometimes you will say, “I haven't got a clue — let's find out.”

Both are useful.

In fact, letting children see adults look something up, read instructions, make a mistake and try again teaches something rather important about learning.

What does a parent actually need to do?

For younger children, you will naturally be more involved. You may read instructions together, listen to them read, help them gather what they need and talk about what they have discovered.

As children get older, that should gradually change.

Instead of teaching every lesson, your role becomes more about keeping things moving.

• Have you done your maths?

• Tell me what you discovered in science.

• Do you need anything for tomorrow?

• Show me what you've made.

• Have you actually read the question?

And, occasionally: "Nice try. Go back and do it properly!"

That is still involvement. It just isn't classroom teaching.

Talking counts for far more than parents realise

Some of the best learning at home happens when nobody is sitting at a desk.

• A child studying food miles might start looking at labels while you are shopping.

• A history question might turn into a conversation with a grandparent.

• Percentages suddenly become much more interesting when there is 30% off something they want to buy.

• Science appears while cooking dinner, fixing a bicycle, growing tomatoes or wondering why there is condensation on the bathroom window.

You don't necessarily need to teach those moments.

You need to notice them, talk about them and let your child ask questions.

Children should become more independent, not less

This is an important part of the Orchard approach. A seven-year-old and a fifteen-year-old should not need the same amount of help. As children grow, we should gradually be able to step further away. That does not mean abandoning them to get on with it. It means helping them learn how to manage themselves.

• Can they read the instructions before asking for help?

• Can they find the equipment they need?

• Can they use a book, website or other reliable source to find something out?

• Can they recognise when they are stuck?

• Can they ask for help appropriately?

• Can they finish something without somebody sitting beside them?

Those skills matter far beyond homeschooling.

So, how much teaching do you really have to do?

Probably less than you imagine. However, you do need to be interested. You need to know roughly what your child is learning. You need to talk to them about it. Younger children will need practical help and company, while older children need increasing responsibility — with an adult still keeping an eye on what is actually happening.

And there will absolutely be days when a child needs you to sit beside them and help them through something difficult.

That is homeschooling.

You don't have to know all the answers.

You don't have to become a teacher.

You just need to help create a home where learning is expected, questions are welcome and gradually your child learns to say: “I don't know yet — but I know how to find out.”