There are a lot of factors that contribute to success in any school setting.  Statistically speaking, students in homeschool score better than public school counterparts. That doesn’t mean that every homeschooler scores better than every public school kid. It can mean that they score better while homeschooling than they would score if they were in public school, though. They score better regardless of parental income, gender, or ethnicity. Homeschooling has a proven success rate.

Part of the reason for success is the mastery approach adopted by many homeschooling parents. Parents really want their kids to learn – and are motivated to get them to learn. After all, if we don’t succeed, we could be supporting our children forever! We want our kids to grow up, live on their own, and support themselves – so we are very motivated for their success. Part of homeschooling success means teaching a concept until they understand it before moving on. That may have something to do with why many kids don’t do well in a regular classroom setting but do well at home.

Parents can also ensure success by keeping the curriculum challenging, but not overwhelming. While it may be tempting to put their kids into the “next” level of science, math, or social studies, that may not actually help the situation. Instead, put your children at their ability level where they can learn, not into a situation where they will fail because they can’t do the work.

For some reason, when homeschool parents reach the high school years many feel that they must completely change the way they homeschool. I have seen remarkably successful homeschoolers who have unschooled through the first 15 years of life, suddenly decide that for high school, they must begin a classical curriculum. The results are what you might expect. Their children, who were wonderfully delight directed in their learning, resisted the movement into a more structured curriculum. This is SO unnecessary! Whatever has worked in your homeschool can continue to work in high school. You don’t have to change just because some “authority” told you there was a “right way” to do high school. You are the parent and you know how your student learns best. My midwife’s advice when my eldest was born was “know your baby and trust yourself.” Never was this advice more important than when we began homeschooling high school.

Homeschooling can succeed if you keep these three principles in mind: Focus on mastery, keep school challenging, but not overwhelming and do what works. If you keep moving forward in these three areas, you CAN homeschool your child successfully.

Lee Binz is a veteran homeschooling mom of two and the owner of The HomeScholar, “Helping parents homeschool through high school.” She has a new free minicourse called “The 5 Biggest Mistakes Parents Make When Homeschooling High School”. You can sign up for her free email homeschool newsletter, The HomeScholar Record and get your daily dose of wisdom via e-mail from her homeschool blog, The HomeScholar Helper.