Self-Paced or Virtual
Coming to our last, but not least, category: Self-Paced and Virtual.
Self-Paced
So, there are several Self-paced curriculum that have come along to meet the needs of homeschoolers over the years. Generally, this is small booklets (perhaps 10-12 in a whole course unit).
The intention is for the books (especially 3rd grade and higher) to be at the level where the student can go through them with minimal teaching.
Some private schools employ these same books so that a classroom full of students, with various grade level ranges, can be watched over by one teacher who only gets involved for occasional questions that arise or testing.
Clearly, there is a great advantage to this method. Especially for the busy parent where there is not a full time teacher/parent at home.
The main disadvantage is that because they are intended for the student to be able to go through them without the constant aide of a teacher, the material could be considered, less than rigorous.
An example would be that the way something is worded on a end- of-the-chapter checkup, is the exact way it is worded on the end-of-book test.
This may seem like no big deal, but not learning how to analyze questions leads to slack deductive reason skills.
Virtual
Well, it is kind of self-explanatory. Virtual school is all online. No actual textbooks, just online assignments and tests.
The clear advantage is, well, no textbooks. You can log in anywhere there is internet and do your work.
The disadvantage is that there are no textbooks...
If you have no internet, you have no way to do school.
Aside from those two things, most virtual curriculum also falls under the self-paced heading. Even though there may be built in deadlines for when you should have an assignment complete, there are usually no controls on working ahead.
The material, as in self-paced, is generally intended for the student to work through it mostly on their own with minimal teacher/parent involvement.
Again, like self-paced, the material may be less than rigorous.
But there is a clear advantage for busy parents or families with unique careers or schedules.
In Summary:
Positives:
- Usually easy for the parent and child to go through the material.
- Meant for a flexible schedule.
- Can be worked ahead in for faster completion.
- For virtual, there are no textbooks to lug around.
Negatives:
- May be a little too easy, and create learning gaps that have to be addressed later.
- For virtual, no internet means no school. Do not use if you have lots of power outages!