As I’ve mentioned before, Kevin and I are highly considering homeschooling our children.  The public schools in our district are not too good and the private schools are far too expensive for us.  With Little Jack (our first son) almost here, we don’t think it’s too early to start learning what all homeschooling involves!  So, for the past year or so I’ve been studying up on different methods and manners of teaching children at home.  I’ve always wanted to be an early childhood teacher (kindergarten to 2nd grade) and even went back to college last fall to start my teaching degree - before I learned I was pregnant.  I’ve also worked in an early childhood setting before and studied teaching unofficially for years - therefore I know a lot when it comes to “classroom” teaching techniques.  But homeschooling is so much more different than the public school setting, it’s wasted administrative time, it’s degrading morals and ethics, and other things we no longer agree in (such as how they teach evolution as “fact”).  It’s amazing at how much the homeschooling movement has spread since the 1970s - and even more amazing is the vast amount of “theories” and methods employed in teaching children.

Here are just a few of the methods that I’ve focused the most energy in learning about so far.  There are other methods, such as the Whole-Heart method, but I don’t remember much about them right now.

CHARLOTTE MASON

The very first method I learned about was Charlotte Mason.  Ms. Mason, who lived in the late 1800 and early 1900s, I believe, is considered one of the Queens of the alternative educational movements.  In her view, children shouldn’t be formally schooled until after 5 years of age or beyond.  The world was their playground and they learned more by just naturally exploring.  She also believed that when formal schooling was undertaken, lessons should be kept short (15-20 minutes) so that children could end “school” by noon - and therefore be free to follow other individual pursuits in the afternoon.  Her most prolific contribution to homeschooling theory was that the best books to learn from was “living books” (not dry text books).  Living books are regular books, especially wonderful classic children’s literature, on any wide range of topics.  Narration, copywork, and dictation are also necessary tenets if you follow her educational beliefs.  Thanks to Ambleside Online and Project Gutenburg, there are entire curriculum choices based on Charlotte Mason’s methods available for free on the internet!

CLASSICAL METHOD

The classical method evokes the midieval style of learning that focuses on the Trivium.  This method focuses on teaching children according to ages and their mental stages - building upon one another as the child reaches adulthood.  The first stage is “Grammar”, which says that children up to age 12 need to learn and memorize many base facts (such as arithmetics, dates, etc).  It also encourages the teaching of classic languages from early on such as Latin or Greek.  History is also taught chronilogically.  The second stage, Dialogue (ages 12-15), helps students learn how to piece together the facts they know and interpret them logically.  The third stage is Rhetoric (16+), wherein the student learns to articulate his logical thoughts in a manner that other humans will understand.  Learning debate and speech are prized during this period.  The classical method is a largely liberal arts education, with loads of reading some of the “best works in literature in the western world”.  Veritas Press is a great place to look for resources in homeschooling with this method.

UNSCHOOLING

Unschooling was made popular by John Holt’s theories on learning developed during 1950s-70s.  This method of teaching a child at home revolves around child directed learning, meaning that parents are more of a “coach” and not a traditional teacher.  The parents ensure that the child is exposed to a wide variety of experiences and books, but no formal plan, tests, or schedules are imposed on the child.  As a student of unschooling, the child is free to decide what they want to learn, when they want to learn it, and how they want to learn it.  For instance, if a trip to the museum sparks a desire in dinosaurs the child might spend a month studying nothing but dinosaurs.

TRADITIONAL OR “TEXTBOOK, SCHOOL-AT-HOME”

This method brings the traditional school feeling to home, making use of textbooks, tests, worksheets, and schedules.  Many online resources are available where you can buy complete curriculum packages that lays out your days, weeks, and entire school year in a traditional 180 day format. New homeschoolers may feel most comfortable with this method as it is nearest to the way they were taught and involves a lot less work.  Hardcore advocates of homeschooling, however, may feel that this undermines the premise of the whole homeschooling movement - a chance to break away from public school sanctioned mass-society education methods.  Saxon, ABEKA, and Bob Jones are popular choices for those who choose to go the text book route as an entire curriculum with all subjects can be purchased for the student’s whole year from one company.

UNIT STUDIES

Unit studies focus on a particular theme (boats, stars, indians, etc.) for a set period of time (1 week, 4 weeks, 2 months), and all learning, books, and activities incorporate around this theme.  Many different subjects (history, geography, art, science, math) can be taught under one theme, and because of it’s wide range of appeal, homeschoolers with 2 or more children find unit studies an easy way to teach a wide range of ages at once - especially where history and science is concerned.  Unit studies are easy to create on your own (if you’re up to the challenge and have a great library), or you can purchase a unit study curriculum, such as the widely popular KONOS.

ECLECTIC METHOD

The best thing about homeschooling is the freedom that families have to tailor their education to their children’s individual needs.  Because of this, many people do not devote themselves to just one method - but instead incorporate a wide variety of methods based on their child’s learning abilities in each subject.  For instance, many families find that textbooks work best when teaching  math.  Yet hands on unit studies, and not dry textbooks, work better for getting their child interested in history or science.  They also might incorporate Charlotte Mason’s theories of narration and short lesson periods, while keeping in mind the elements of the Trivium.

As for us, I believe we’re going to be pretty eclectic.  Of course though, Little Jacks yet-to-be-determined learning style will dictate a lot of how we end up schooling him.  So far I am drawn the most to teaching with living books.  Being a very, very avid reader myself since the age of 3 (yes, I was an early reader), I love books and can spend hours at the library.  Therefore, daily reading to my children is #1 on my to-do list.  I like the theory behind the classical education, but the focus and dedication needed to accomplish this high level of learning is not something I’m willing to take on (at least I don’t think).  When it comes to math, I’m yet undecided if I care for a text book or not.  Math always came easily to me and with so many resources online, and with my belief in hands on learning, we may not use a math textbook for the first few years - and if we do, it would be akin to the Math-U-See program.  Unit studies also appeal to me, and I already have Volume one of KONOS. 

As for unschooling, although I do believe in letting childrens’ imagination wander and encourage interests, I don’t personally believe in unschooling when it comes to basic subjects (math, history of the world, science).  I also believe that children desire structure and, especially when they’re young, they have a need to know what to expect day to day.   I’ve “unschooled” myself in many subjects (astronomy, animals, computer science) for many years - but I highly doubt that I would have ever learned many other subjects if I would have been left alone throughout childhood to follow my own interests.  My interests definately wouldn’t have led me to study Calculus in high school if it hadn’t been required formally in the school I attended - but when I got to college I appreciated the fact that my calculus skills let me skip all but one final math class when obtaining my business degree! 

Worksheets, while looked down upon by some homeschoolers, are also a favorite of mine because I remember how much I enjoyed them when I was little.  To me, they were “fun”.  However, that’s an area that I know Little Jack may not take to, so those options are open.  I also favor narration, dictation, and essays in places of tests, although Jack will have to know how to take a test since routine testing is required of homeschoolers by South Carolina law.

One final homeschool interest I’ve been looking into lately is Sonlight.  Sonlight offers boxed curriculm in the form of “living books” for most subjects and textbooks / worksheets for math and grammar.  Their selections of books are really nice, and they provide complete lesson plans.  With their “newcomer” program you can purchase an entire year of “school” for your chlid.  It makes for a very streamlined teaching process while still incorporating the use of real books - and you build a nice library out of it as well!

Tagged: Homeschooling

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