Homeschool Methods
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By Beverly S. Krueger
When they initially consider homeschooling, most people have a fuzzy idea of what that will involve that’s sort of a mesh between what they themselves did in school and things they’d like to do with their children. They might plan to go on field trips or devote time to a family project. Most certainly, homeschooling will include books…probably textbooks…and school supplies and such. As they begin to explore just how to go about homeschooling, they are soon faced with a host of decisions including what curriculum to buy. What most don’t expect is to find out that, before they start purchasing curriculum, they have to navigate their way through a sea of homeschool methods each with highly convincing proponents selling just the right book or resource to turn their home into a veritable Garden of Eden of homeschooling. So they ask friends who homeschool how they go about it, and they’re given a little more realistic look at each friend’s preferred homeschooling method with a small to large dose of advocacy.
What’s a beginner to think? They could go to their local library and pick up books that provide in depth advice on each of the methods. Or, they could start with our short primer on homeschool methods and then move on to the one or two that appeal to them most…or become what the vast majority of homeschoolers are—eclectic homeschoolers. We’ll get to that in a minute.
Traditional Homeschooling
Traditional homeschooling generally replicates the classroom model of education at home. That can be accomplished by purchasing a complete textbook-based curriculum such as Bob Jones University Press or A Beka offer, purchasing worktexts or software curriculum such as Alpha Omega Publications or Christian Light Education offer, or doing something like A Beka video school where children watch videos of actual classrooms complete with students and teachers. Online schools or distance learning schools like Clonlara, Calvert, Jubilee Academy, or K12 offer complete educational packages with the support of teachers.
Traditional homeschooling can be very expensive if you choose the less parent intensive options such as video schooling or online schooling. Worktext based curriculums tend to be much cheaper, but they can also be formulaic and boring for kids that do better learning hands on. It’s not necessary to purchase a complete curriculum from one publisher, if you choose to homeschool traditionally. You can choose the math program from one publisher and the language arts program from another.
Those who chose to purchase teacher’s manuals, textbooks, and test banks planning to teach all the core subjects themselves will find themselves dealing with lesson planning and scheduling that can turn very difficult when homeschooling multiple children. These curriculums tend to require a certain amount of teacher prep. They are also written for the classroom setting, which means they will have a certain amount of busy work and some activities may be difficult to do with one or two children at home. Many publishers that have marketed to homeschoolers for some time have developed homeschool packages that deal with this to some extent, but especially in the high school grades, school-oriented texts can be overwhelming. Knowing that textbook style curriculum includes busy work, you should never feel required to do every bit of a textbook curriculum’s activities or exercises. If your child is advanced, eliminate the items that are too easy, doing the reverse for a challenged child.
Many new homeschoolers begin planning to homeschool using the traditional method; there are many other possibilities that offer benefits to the hands on parent. It should be noted also that many of the following methods include the use of textbooks, leaving behind the traditional method doesn’t mean leaving behind the hand holding that textbook curriculums can provide. You may turn to textbooks for those subjects in which you are weak or know your own lack of interest will impede your child’s progress.
Classical Homeschooling
Classical homeschoolers base their studies on the trivium model of learning that dates back to the Middle Ages and often includes the study of Greek and Latin. The trivium divides learning into three stages based on a child’s development. Young children think very concretely. Their ability to think abstractly comes at a later age in their development. The three stages of learning in the trivium focus on children learning content that suits their stage of cognitive development. The three stages are grammar, logic (dialectic), and rhetoric.
The grammar stage relies on what classical educators deem the young child’s innate ability to memorize. Because the child is a concrete learner, they learn concrete things. In arithmetic, that includes learning to compute and memorizing math facts. Why division works the way it does is not addressed. This applies language arts, science, and history equally. Children in the grammar stage memorize the rules of grammar and the facts of science and history.
The second stage, logic, begins in the middle school or junior high grades. The ability to think critically, to analyze, and to use proper logic are emphasized. Children learn to organize facts, draw conclusions, and begin to explore the hows and whys of the subjects they study. This stage of learning is built on the facts learned in the grammar stage. During this stage, logic and critical thinking are taught. This stage is also sometimes called dialectic, because it teaches children how to ask and respond to questions.
The rhetoric, or third stage, focuses on teaching students to express themselves clearly, with insight and persuasion. Building on the foundations of knowledge and thinking skills learned in the grammar and logic stages, students now are expected to express themselves with abstract thinking on topics like what is truth, what is beauty, and what is good. Whether studying literature, art, history, or science, students in the rhetoric stage, typically high school students, will grapple with issues, develop personal opinions, and then persuasively present those opinions to others.
Classical homeschooling appeals to those looking for a rigorous education that will allow their children to become effective leaders. Classical education takes a variety of forms in homeschooling. Those with a Christian focus rely on the Bible as the ultimate source for defining truth. Classical homeschoolers include study of the Greek and Roman classics, Latin, formal logic, debate, and worldviews. Emphasis is placed on reading texts by Thucydides, Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Shakespeare, and other authors in the Great Books tradition. Homeschool parents must be prepared to spend time discussing with their students, as the dialectic approach is important, the give and take of questions and responses. A number of publishers provide resources for implementing this method, and there are a number of classical online academies.
Montessori Homeschooling
Maria Montessori the founder of the Montessori movement believed as unschoolers that children are natural learners and don’t need to be forced to learn. However, she believed that they learned best in an ordered environment that offered them the tools and resources to make the most of the drive to learn. She also believed that learning was a process that followed a particular pattern with all children. At certain ages, children have sensitive learning issues that must be addressed in their environment. When a child reaches the age with a particular sensitive learning issue, his environment needs to include the tools that will allow him to work on that learning issue. Montessori learning is thus highly structured but not individually forced.
The Montessori Method is primarily directed at children through age 6, although the ideas can be used with older children. Montessori believed that children ages birth to six years had a greater ability to learn and that this opportunity should not be wasted. Resources are available to help homeschooler use this method at home, since the resources often developed for Montessori schools would be cost prohibitive for most homeschoolers.
Charlotte Mason Homeschooling
Charlotte Mason homeschooling is based on the educational theories of Charlotte Mason. She believed that children learn best from real things. Thus, she advocated nature study and the use of good books in children’s education. She also believed that children learn best by doing. She advocated the use of nature notebooks, in which children are trained in scientific skills like observation and record keeping. Each of the specific learning activities she promoted was meant to inculcate good habits in the child. For example, dictation was meant to instill good writing habits, the use of proper grammar, and correct spelling. Once the child had developed these good habits, they could be allowed greater independence in their learning. She did not believe in busywork or traditional textbooks believing that children learn best when history is presented as the story of the people who made history.
Homeschooling using Charlotte Mason’s ideas is easier than ever with the number of publishers offering resources for dictation, lapbooking, and notebooking. Ambleside Online offers a K-11 charlotte Mason style curriculum free online using many free resources. They advise that homeschoolers learn about Charlotte Mason and her educational ideas before using the curriculum. What you’re doing and why is important to becoming a successful Charlotte Mason method homeschool family.
Unit Study Homeschooling
Unit study homeschoolers select a topic and use that as the centerpiece for their studies. The goal is to tie in as many of the academic subjects as possible into the study, although most use additional resources for math, grammar, and spelling. Typically, a unit study will have one or two spines, the core books for the study. This core is supplemented by additional books, activities, projects, and other resources that fit the topic. For example, a study on water could take you to the pet store to discover the differences between salt and fresh water and what that means for the animals that live in each. Experiments to see what floats and what doesn’t can be conducted. Children might read Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems and then write their own pond poem. The possibilities are endless, and the direction your studies take and the time you spend is entirely up to you.
To make life simpler for busy homeschool moms, there are a number of publishers and authors of ready to use unit studies. You can also create lasting keepsakes from your units by creating unique lapbooks or notebooks. A number of companies supply ready to make lapbooks as well as resources to create your own on many, many topics. Notebooking pages can be found to tie into almost any study. You do need a certain degree of organization to keep unit studies on track. It’s easy to skip planned activities because you’ve forgotten to purchase steel wool or some other required item. Some worry that they won’t cover everything they should if they use unit studies. A good scope and sequence can help you track what you’ve covered and what you haven’t, but as for covering all topics, most textbooks claim to do this, but often only briefly. The tendency to forget what you’ve learned is typical of textbook curricula, while during a unit study the core information is reinforced through a variety of learning resources and activities that do more to cement the learning.
Unschooling
Unschooling goes by a variety of names, including child led learning or delight led learning. The idea is that all children naturally learn, and if put in a rich environment will, of themselves, learn many things that might be taught in school and many things, which might not. The important thing is that unschoolers do not do school. They don’t create lesson plans, purchase textbooks, or set a specific time to learn math facts or learn to read. They allow the child’s natural curiosity to dictate his own need to learn his math facts or learn to read, and they provide resources when and if the child asks for them.
Unschoolers focus on providing that learning rich environment whether that’s a bin full of dress up clothes, cabinets of art and science equipment, or shelves of books. Most unschoolers are also involved in an ongoing learning dialogue with their children (note this is not unique to unschoolers)helping them sort and sift, pointing them in new directions or towards places they can discover answers for themselves, and dangling a variety of possibilities in front of their children to see if they’ll latch on to something new.
Unschooling allows children to learn at their own pace according to their own learning rhythms. Often the pursuit of knowledge will force them to acquire new skills. Unschooling is not for most people. For many it seems like leaving a child’s education up to chance, and they can’t take that risk. Reading unschooling success stories can allay some of those fears if this method of homeschool intrigues you.
Eclectic Homeschooling
When we talk about eclectic homeschooling we often talk about choosing amongst a variety of resources, but it is also true that eclectic homeschoolers often use a variety of homeschooling styles. For some families, a single homeschooling style can be the perfect way of homeschooling, but often families find that mixing styles works better for their unique situation or lifestyle. While some styles seem inherently different, unschooling and classical homeschooling for example, a surprising number of homeschoolers are able to take the parts of each style that suits them and merge them into their own homeschooling style synthesis.
Most eclectic homeschoolers develop their homeschooling style over time. It’s a process of learning about and trying out new styles and then incorporating or eliminating aspects that don’t suit your family. We’ve provided resources that will allow you to explore the methods we’ve explored, but note that even within each method there are variations.
Traditional Homeschooling
Classical Homeschooling
Montessori Homeschooling
Charlotte Mason Homeschooling
Unit Study Homeschooling
Unschooling
Eclectic Homeschooling
Copyright © 2009 Eclectic Homeschool Association
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