There is no one way to do it. One family may begin with opening ceremonies to signal the start of the daily routine and follow a scheduled curriculum. Another family may opt for child-led learning, where parents provide help as the child expresses interest in a topic. Usually parents provide supervision and help, but most children assume increasing responsibility for choosing and carrying out projects as they mature. Most families involved in home schooling organize activities with other families.
Some children spend part of their time at a local public or private school, or a nearby college.
Schooling at home was a necessity in an age when there were a limited number of schools. After schools became universally available, some traditional groups, including the Seventh Day Adventists and Mormons, still elected to keep their younger school-aged children at home. The Amish kept their older children out of public schools, preferring to train them through life in the community. In the 1970s, other families opted for home schooling, despite easy access to schools. In the early stages of this contemporary movement, most were pursuing a philosophy of child-led learning, as articulated by writers and educators such as John Holt.