Gel Pen Learning

One of the biggest misunderstandings I see most commonly among people who observe homeschooling from outside of it is what teaching a child actually looks like. For a lot of people, if you aren’t standing in front of your child, pointing to a whiteboard while they observe from the opposite side of the room in their desk, you aren’t teaching. I don’t have a dedicated school room anymore, so my kids and I do school wherever we happen to be at the time. I have a well-meaning family member who just popped in during the middle of the school day to see how things were going and was really upset to see me sitting next to my child during her math lessons. She says, “Oh, so you just do the work for her.”

I’m sure you are not shocked when I say that I don’t answer the door during the school day anymore. Plus, it’s rude to just show up at someone’s house unannounced, unless you have that relationship.

If you walk into my house at this point in the journey and didn’t know what we were doing, you would assume that we don’t do school at all because it doesn’t look like a regular school day. I will circle back to this point later.

But what this family member was witnessing is a documented, researched, and legitimate educational technique called scaffolding.

What is Scaffolding?

Scaffolding is simple.

While your child is learning something new, you support them. That’s what a scaffold does. It lends support until permanent structures are secured (or temporarily to complete a task). As your child grows more capable in the task, you remove the supports until they can do it on their own.

In the beginning of a new lesson or unit, your child may need explanations, and examples as well as help getting started. 

Then it becomes reminders, check-ins, and occasional corrections.

Eventually, they just do it themselves.

The ultimate goal through this process, and education as a whole, is for them to be independent. Having a teacher walk you through things is not the endpoint, but a bridge to higher learning.

What it Looks Like in Practice

Let’s talk about writing for this example.

At the beginning of the writing sequence (think 3rd-5th grade), I might provide my kids with writing prompts, help them organize their thoughts by teaching them how to outline, and give them a starting structure. That’s not writing it for them. I’m showing them how to think through a new process.

Over time (think 5th grade-7th grade), I provide fewer prompts, less involvement, which gives them more ownership of their process.

By the time my kids are in high school, writing a paper is the vehicle for information. I still grade the paper on the mechanics and format, but the weight is less because they know how to write papers, and the point of the paper is the ideas that are expressed within. In high school, I’m not getting paper format questions anymore, but more research-specific topics.

Where People Get it Wrong

There are two common mistakes in scaffolding.

Doing too much and doing too little.

Doing too much for your child is stepping in too quickly, over-explaining, and never stepping back. This leads away from independence and into dependency quickly.

Doing too little means that you are handing them work and walking away, expecting independence before they have the skills to even fumble through it, and confusing “self-directed” learning with being stuck.

The Goal is to Scaffold, not Script

The other part of a good scaffold is understanding the difference between scaffolding and scripting. The script says, “do this, that’s the way,” but a scaffold creates the support for the child to figure out methods that work for them. There are literally multiple ways to do everything. There’s no reason to be a teacher who says “do it this way.” In 10 years of homeschooling, I’ve stayed fascinated with how differently my children think compared to me, even when they are the spitting image.

Scaffolding adapts and moves with your child. You’re not trying to control every step, but build the ability for your child to step alone. 

The Independence Phase

Earlier I said that if you were to randomly pop into my house, you would question if we homeschool at all. This is the independence phase. I have one child who still needs scaffolding in some of her subjects: primarily the language arts subjects. My son, who is graduating this year, does his school independently with a weekly check-in. As he goes about his subjects, he keeps a running list of sections he wasn’t sure about, and together we go through them. He’s attempted them on his own prior to coming to me, and whether he was right or wrong, we go over it. My middle-school daughter is 75/25. She is mostly independent, but she still needs scaffolding for math and writing.

Because my older kids are in the independent phase where they can complete the work on their own, but occasionally need some further instruction, they work on their school at their own pace and schedule. I have a standing appointment with my kids when I get done with work, which is also teaching them to be responsible for showing up, ready to work.

Scaffolding is the bridge between curiosity and competence. It respects your child’s independence while ensuring that they have the support they need to cross it. It’s the quiet, intentional work that transforms “I can’t” into “I did it myself.”

Let’s Chat

If you take a closer look at your homeschool, where is your child frustrated? Where are you tempted to step-in and do it for them? That’s your starting point. Identify one area where you can build a scaffold instead of a crutch and just test it out. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment.