...you must never yell at your children. I'm not saying that as an order, I'm saying that as an assumption. Over the years, many people have said things to me upon finding out that I homeschool. So in this post, I wish to sort out the fact from myth. As to this particular one, it is a myth. A mom once told me she could never homeschool because she new she would yell at her kids. WHAT???? (That's what happened in my head.) WHAT??? She thinks I never yell at my kids???? Ummm... I have yelled at my kids..and do. It's not something I'm proud of; but there it is. Sometimes, I lose my patience and I yell. My kids will tell you that I have oft said, "Why do people yell? Because they feel they are not being listened to!!" I say this during my rant. So, sorry to take that reason for not homeschooling away, but homeschoolers may, might, shouldn't, but do, sometimes yell at their kids.
...you must have a degree in education. This kept me from homeschooling for many years. I thought I was unqualified. What it takes to manage a classroom in our school system is very different from what it takes to educate your kids at home. In addition, you have the teacher books as an aid and can buy complete curriculums and lesson plans, if you want. It's been 12 years since I started and there is so much available on-line now. No teacher has all the knowledge in his/her head. There may be some states that require that, but I'm not aware of them. Contact your local chapter of HSLDA to find out.
....you are superwoman. This one always makes me feel uncomfortable. SO many people I meet, upon learning that we homeschool, go on about how wonderful I am, how amazed they are, how they could never do what I do. I'm no more superwoman than they are. I remember the first year we homeschooled I was so relieved. I hated following the school schedule from the time Martin was 4 years old and went to pre-school 3 days a week. Hated it! Life was so much more peaceful marching to the beat of our own drum. So, to me, all the other women out there are superwomen. Kids in school, jobs, extra-curricular activities; I don't know how YOU do it. I can assure you that I have never met a homeschool mom who feels like superwoman. So, let's just agree that we all spend our time the way that works best for our families and leave it at that.
...your kids must be socially awkward. My personal favorite. (heavy sigh) My first and last word on this is: where you are educated does NOT make you socially awkward. If you think about it, there are socially awkward kids in school and socially adept kids that homeschool. If you find a higher percentage of socially awkward kids among homeschoolers, it may be because the families choose to homeschool rather than subject their kids to being bullied in school. Also, don't confuse socialization with counter-cultural. Many homeschoolers don't watch a lot of television. Their kids may not have cell phones. That makes them counter-cultural, not socially awkward. As a society, with our collective mind, we reject those who are different, especially in the teen years. So maybe your kids are socially awkward or maybe they're just counter-cultural , but feel free to homeschool in either case!
....your kids must be super smart. Countless people respond with that. They've heard all the stories of spelling bee winners, geography bee winners and 15 year olds ready for college. I guess that does happen. Not in our homeschool though. I told my husband before we began homeschooling that one thing I did not want to do is have kids ready for college at 15 or 16 years old. I believe my kids, and your kids, are the students they are and we have very little affect on that. I'm NOT saying that parents can't/don't influence their children's education. That would be silly! I'm just saying that those high-achievers would have been high-achievers wherever they were educated. Certainly, ALL the winners of the spelling/geography bees are not homeschooled. Homeschooling doesn't produce brilliance anymore than it produces social awkwardness. It is true that with homeschooling, kids learn to advance at their own pace. If they have a passion, they have more time to develop it. Those things are true. But not every homeschooled kid is super smart.
....your house will be messy. I'm afraid that is probably true. No matter who you are, unless you are superwoman, the level of cleanliness will probably be less than it would be if your kids went to school. This is true for two reasons, first, because your kids are home and second, you have a full time job. Homeschooling is a full-time job. It doesn't have 9-5 hours, but it takes up time and energy like a full-time job would. There are ways to keep on top of the house and I'll talk about that later.
....your kids must not have learning disabilities. While it's true that some learning disabilities or behavior issues require professional help, it is also true that many families homeschool BECAUSE they have a child (children) with a learning disability. I have a child with dyslexia. Homeschooling allows for one on one attention, tailor made curriculum, and flexibility. A active child can get up and do 10 minutes of jumping jacks if need be. Or a child mastering the times table can do so while riding their scooter or swinging on the swing. Parents of kids with disabilities do homeschool because it allows for more flexibility and for the child to move at their own pace.
....you must be a religious zealot or government paranoid. I'm neither and I've met many other parents who are neither of those things. Of'course, you can find religious zealots and people who are paranoid about the government but it is not a prerequisite. Many families do homeschool in order to better pass on their beliefs in God, but there are also secular homeschool groups that do not want to be associated with any religion. Although there was a time when homeschoolers fit more neatly into a 'box,' I believe the variety of homeschoolers today is as large as the variety of families all around the world.
....you must have LOTS of patience. Well, you'd have to ask my kids about that. It's probably true that homeschooling teaches you patience, but that's true of parenting. That's how I look at it. Parenting requires patience and working with your kids on their homework requires patience. Heck, eating dinner with your kids requires patience. If you believe yourself to be a person who is short on patience, don't let that stop you from homeschooling. When I find myself short on patience, I check my expectations and adjust my attitude. Usually, I'm expecting too much from my kids or myself.
....your kids will be too dependent on you. That's the complete opposite of the objective of homeschooling. As homeschoolers, we are trying to teach our children how to teach themselves. As a homeschooling mom, you will become frazzled if you allow your children to depend on you too much. I've heard comments from teachers at my boys' high school about how the homeschooled kids tend to work ahead. That's more like it!
....you must be having a lot of fun. Well, that's hard to argue with! I used to tell my husband that if we're not having fun, we're done homeschooling. I'm still homeschooling. There are good times and bad, but overall, I love the memories we've created and the fun we've had. It is a lifestyle and I'm glad God called us to it. It's certainly an adventure!!
My next post in this series will be my last in this series. I will address some questions that I've gotten over the years. I hope you had a happy St. Patrick's Day, a blessed Lenten season, and I hope you have a Happy Holy Week!
Musings on the daily trials and triumphs of a homeschool family.
Monday, March 25, 2013
Monday, March 11, 2013
Why Choose What
This is a post about curriculums I've used and what has worked for me. Keep in mind that there are tons of good choices out there and you have to find what works for you. More importantly, you have to find what works for each child. When choosing curriculum you will have to consider what kind of teaching method you are going to use, your child's learning style, and also consider the content of the books (do you support what it is teaching).
Preschool and kindergarten: This is a great time to unschool. We mostly played games, sang songs, explored the world. The key at this age is to have fun. Ask your school district what they expect kids to know by the end of kindergarten. Usually, they need to know their name, address, phone number, the alphabet (saying it and recognizing letters), counting to 10, and shapes and colors. These are minimums. I used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons with Sam, Jane, and Ruth and loved it. If you have multiple kids, the older kids are great teachers! Chances are your child will soar with your loving attention!
Religion: The Bible. Read from it to your kids. Read a few verses in the morning, at lunch, after dinner. Pick a favorite book; Genesis, Acts, Letter from James, a gospel, and read it, verse by verse, over and over. The repetition is good and it will give each semester or school year a focus. I have also picked different prayers that we memorize by praying them either in the morning or at lunch. Some people go to daily mass and begin each day that way. We prayed around our school table in the mornings. Sometimes, informal prayers and sometimes the rosary. As the kids get older, I think it is great to just take the Catechism and study it. So many Catholics don't even know what the Church teaches and to read the catechism is to discover that She is beautiful.
Math: I start out with ABeka 1st-3rd and then switch to Saxon in 4th grade. The earlier Saxon I found boring for the younger kids but the older ABeka wasn't challenging enough. I love the younger ABeka because the lessons have other things incorporated. Each unit focuses on something like Around the World or Careers. The lessons are very colorful. I've heard good things about Math-U-See and tried it briefly with Ruth. She didn't want to do it, but I've incorporated some of the materials (manipulatives) in her early learning and I think it really helped; we still reference "decimal street." This is a subject that I don't think a lot of research is warrented. The biggest factor with math is consistency. Do it every day. Drill those math facts and get a good foundation. I treat math like tithing or my mortgage payment: it has to be done without fail.
English: I've used Rod -n- Staff for english all these years and I can't say enough good things about it. It is published by the Amish folks. It is very practical. The student has a text, workbook, test book and you have ONE teacher book. That's huge; I love that. My teacher book has the same page number that the student's are on. It has exactly what the teacher is supposed to say and each lesson begins with an oral review. Answers to review questions are on the same page, and answers to worksheets and tests are in the back. Whew! I wish they would all do that! Also, I have warm memories of my kids cracking up when they would read sentences like, 'Dorcas has been baking all day.' A little levity is lovely!*
Science: Apologia. Period. Love it and wish I had used it all these years. I used some ABeka, some LifePac, and others. I've always had a hard time picking a science curriculum. I admit, I had seen apologia science and didn't use it because it looked so boring. Well, shame on me. Lesson learned. Not only can you not judge a book by it's cover, you can't judge a book by glancing at it's pages! It was just SO much writing and few pictures. If I were a kid, that text would not excite me. But I've taken three kids through it (and plan to take Ruth, as well) and they consumed it. Sam was the second kid I took through it and when I mapped out the lesson plan for that year I planned on skipping a couple of sections because I felt they dealt with things he'd already learned. He liked the text so much he decided he didn't want to skip any of it and he did the extra reading to fit them in. I only wish I had taken my oldest through it, too! It's outstanding.
History: I have never found a history curriculum I liked well enough to use repeatedly or to recommend. In the primary grades I used How Our Nation Began (1st-3rd grade appropriate) and The Evangelization of the New World (2nd-4th, maybe 5th grade) and felt these were excellent texts for primary history. I used ABeka for some history as well. Sadly, much beyond 5th or 6th grade, the curriculum turns decidely anti-catholic. I tried Rod -n- Staff, but they too spend a great deal of time teaching their students how awful catholics are. (That's a whole seperate post!) Anyway, there is a curriculum out there for history that is based on developing a timeline. I think if I had it to do over, I would choose that. We did a couple of history timelines over the years and the kids always responded well. They were excited about doing them and learned from and remember them. Mostly, I've used the library, our encyclopedias, and research on the internet (supervised, of'course) to teach the kids history and that has seemed to work.
Spelling: LOTS of choices here. I now use Seton for spelling and penmanship. Beautiful books with faith woven in every page. This is a subject, though, that requires a lot of trial and error. My best advice is to try things and give them a chance before you throw in the towel. Too much switching can be detrimental. Honestly, I think reading and writing is the best way to improve spelling. That being said, I think you still need a curriculum and I believe that this is the subject I've thrown away the most money on. For me, the best formula is: new list (perhaps pre-test) on Monday, exercises with the words on Tu-W-Th and test on Friday. If a curriculum doesn't follow that methodology, I don't look at it anymore.
Literature: One thing we did that we all liked was reading at lunch time. Lunch had the potential to bring chaos to our world. It was distressing to me to end our morning studies only to have the kids run around like maniacs and leave me wondering why we were doing this homeschool thing. So, very early on, I decided I would read to them at lunch. I had heard that reading to kids is a very great discipline. It teaches kids focus, imagination, and how to sit still. I think we started with the Harry Potter series; it was Martin's suggestion. All the kids in school had been talking about it (the first 5 or so books were already out) and he thought maybe we should give it a try. Soon, we read that at night (so Daddy could hear, too) and I read Little Women at lunch. Yes, Little Women and my "little men" loved it. They couldn't wait for the next day to hear more and would beg me to keep reading. No one was more surprised than me, but a good book is a good book. We read the Series of Unfortunate Events, Charlottes Web, Treasure Island, Magic Tree House books, The Boxcar Children, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, Ella Enchanted, The Little Princess, and many more I can't think of right now. Daily routine and practice helps to train children and with homeschooling you can maximize those opportunities.
I would be remiss if I did not mention my Emma Serl books. They were books that were mentioned by Laura Berquist in her book, Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum and I have used them with all 5 of my kids and I will never sell them. These are old books not easily found and they teach basic english grammar and what I especially love is the memorization exercises. Sprinkled throughout the books (there are two, primary and intermediate) are poems for memorization. My kids have memorized many a poem and I believe they are better for having done so. It's a good exercise for their brain (memorization is an integral part of a classical education) and I know that those good words are in their hearts.
Now, a word on testing. Many homeschoolers are wholeheartedly against testing. I don't really understand why so I can't speak to that. If a curriculum I buy comes with testing, we will use the tests. Maybe not religiously, but it's ususally built into my lesson plan. As far as standarized testing, I did test my kids once in a while. Really, for my own sake. I just needed to know they were on track and I wasn't missing anything. Then, as they approached high school, I tested them because the high schools want to see the test results. Testing is a tool. Nothing is all bad or all good, so use tests as a guide and not as a task master.
I have really labored over this post. I'm not sure I'm happy with it still. No one can really give you advice on curriculum. For every person you find that swears by a curriculum, I can show you a person that hated it. My advice, as always, is to pray about it. Talk to people, go to the conferences, look on-line and then take a leap of faith and dive in. As a homeschooler your job is to provide opportunities. Use the library, use encyclopedias, take field trips, join clubs and your kids will learn. Remember, as homeschoolers you're teaching your children how to be lifelong learners. You are teaching them how to teach themselves. Trust yourself and your child's ability to learn and enjoy the adventure!
* My apologies if your name is Dorcas.
Preschool and kindergarten: This is a great time to unschool. We mostly played games, sang songs, explored the world. The key at this age is to have fun. Ask your school district what they expect kids to know by the end of kindergarten. Usually, they need to know their name, address, phone number, the alphabet (saying it and recognizing letters), counting to 10, and shapes and colors. These are minimums. I used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons with Sam, Jane, and Ruth and loved it. If you have multiple kids, the older kids are great teachers! Chances are your child will soar with your loving attention!
Religion: The Bible. Read from it to your kids. Read a few verses in the morning, at lunch, after dinner. Pick a favorite book; Genesis, Acts, Letter from James, a gospel, and read it, verse by verse, over and over. The repetition is good and it will give each semester or school year a focus. I have also picked different prayers that we memorize by praying them either in the morning or at lunch. Some people go to daily mass and begin each day that way. We prayed around our school table in the mornings. Sometimes, informal prayers and sometimes the rosary. As the kids get older, I think it is great to just take the Catechism and study it. So many Catholics don't even know what the Church teaches and to read the catechism is to discover that She is beautiful.
Math: I start out with ABeka 1st-3rd and then switch to Saxon in 4th grade. The earlier Saxon I found boring for the younger kids but the older ABeka wasn't challenging enough. I love the younger ABeka because the lessons have other things incorporated. Each unit focuses on something like Around the World or Careers. The lessons are very colorful. I've heard good things about Math-U-See and tried it briefly with Ruth. She didn't want to do it, but I've incorporated some of the materials (manipulatives) in her early learning and I think it really helped; we still reference "decimal street." This is a subject that I don't think a lot of research is warrented. The biggest factor with math is consistency. Do it every day. Drill those math facts and get a good foundation. I treat math like tithing or my mortgage payment: it has to be done without fail.
English: I've used Rod -n- Staff for english all these years and I can't say enough good things about it. It is published by the Amish folks. It is very practical. The student has a text, workbook, test book and you have ONE teacher book. That's huge; I love that. My teacher book has the same page number that the student's are on. It has exactly what the teacher is supposed to say and each lesson begins with an oral review. Answers to review questions are on the same page, and answers to worksheets and tests are in the back. Whew! I wish they would all do that! Also, I have warm memories of my kids cracking up when they would read sentences like, 'Dorcas has been baking all day.' A little levity is lovely!*
Science: Apologia. Period. Love it and wish I had used it all these years. I used some ABeka, some LifePac, and others. I've always had a hard time picking a science curriculum. I admit, I had seen apologia science and didn't use it because it looked so boring. Well, shame on me. Lesson learned. Not only can you not judge a book by it's cover, you can't judge a book by glancing at it's pages! It was just SO much writing and few pictures. If I were a kid, that text would not excite me. But I've taken three kids through it (and plan to take Ruth, as well) and they consumed it. Sam was the second kid I took through it and when I mapped out the lesson plan for that year I planned on skipping a couple of sections because I felt they dealt with things he'd already learned. He liked the text so much he decided he didn't want to skip any of it and he did the extra reading to fit them in. I only wish I had taken my oldest through it, too! It's outstanding.
History: I have never found a history curriculum I liked well enough to use repeatedly or to recommend. In the primary grades I used How Our Nation Began (1st-3rd grade appropriate) and The Evangelization of the New World (2nd-4th, maybe 5th grade) and felt these were excellent texts for primary history. I used ABeka for some history as well. Sadly, much beyond 5th or 6th grade, the curriculum turns decidely anti-catholic. I tried Rod -n- Staff, but they too spend a great deal of time teaching their students how awful catholics are. (That's a whole seperate post!) Anyway, there is a curriculum out there for history that is based on developing a timeline. I think if I had it to do over, I would choose that. We did a couple of history timelines over the years and the kids always responded well. They were excited about doing them and learned from and remember them. Mostly, I've used the library, our encyclopedias, and research on the internet (supervised, of'course) to teach the kids history and that has seemed to work.
Spelling: LOTS of choices here. I now use Seton for spelling and penmanship. Beautiful books with faith woven in every page. This is a subject, though, that requires a lot of trial and error. My best advice is to try things and give them a chance before you throw in the towel. Too much switching can be detrimental. Honestly, I think reading and writing is the best way to improve spelling. That being said, I think you still need a curriculum and I believe that this is the subject I've thrown away the most money on. For me, the best formula is: new list (perhaps pre-test) on Monday, exercises with the words on Tu-W-Th and test on Friday. If a curriculum doesn't follow that methodology, I don't look at it anymore.
Literature: One thing we did that we all liked was reading at lunch time. Lunch had the potential to bring chaos to our world. It was distressing to me to end our morning studies only to have the kids run around like maniacs and leave me wondering why we were doing this homeschool thing. So, very early on, I decided I would read to them at lunch. I had heard that reading to kids is a very great discipline. It teaches kids focus, imagination, and how to sit still. I think we started with the Harry Potter series; it was Martin's suggestion. All the kids in school had been talking about it (the first 5 or so books were already out) and he thought maybe we should give it a try. Soon, we read that at night (so Daddy could hear, too) and I read Little Women at lunch. Yes, Little Women and my "little men" loved it. They couldn't wait for the next day to hear more and would beg me to keep reading. No one was more surprised than me, but a good book is a good book. We read the Series of Unfortunate Events, Charlottes Web, Treasure Island, Magic Tree House books, The Boxcar Children, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, Ella Enchanted, The Little Princess, and many more I can't think of right now. Daily routine and practice helps to train children and with homeschooling you can maximize those opportunities.
I would be remiss if I did not mention my Emma Serl books. They were books that were mentioned by Laura Berquist in her book, Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum and I have used them with all 5 of my kids and I will never sell them. These are old books not easily found and they teach basic english grammar and what I especially love is the memorization exercises. Sprinkled throughout the books (there are two, primary and intermediate) are poems for memorization. My kids have memorized many a poem and I believe they are better for having done so. It's a good exercise for their brain (memorization is an integral part of a classical education) and I know that those good words are in their hearts.
Now, a word on testing. Many homeschoolers are wholeheartedly against testing. I don't really understand why so I can't speak to that. If a curriculum I buy comes with testing, we will use the tests. Maybe not religiously, but it's ususally built into my lesson plan. As far as standarized testing, I did test my kids once in a while. Really, for my own sake. I just needed to know they were on track and I wasn't missing anything. Then, as they approached high school, I tested them because the high schools want to see the test results. Testing is a tool. Nothing is all bad or all good, so use tests as a guide and not as a task master.
I have really labored over this post. I'm not sure I'm happy with it still. No one can really give you advice on curriculum. For every person you find that swears by a curriculum, I can show you a person that hated it. My advice, as always, is to pray about it. Talk to people, go to the conferences, look on-line and then take a leap of faith and dive in. As a homeschooler your job is to provide opportunities. Use the library, use encyclopedias, take field trips, join clubs and your kids will learn. Remember, as homeschoolers you're teaching your children how to be lifelong learners. You are teaching them how to teach themselves. Trust yourself and your child's ability to learn and enjoy the adventure!
* My apologies if your name is Dorcas.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Teaching Methods
I'm not an expert on teaching methods. I'm not even a good reference. The best I can do is to tell you what to research. I wish when we were making the decision to homeschool, I had taken a little more time (any time would have been more) researching what the different methods were.
We went to the Catholic homeschool conference in our area, which took place in March. There was a speaker there by the name of Laura Berquist. She is the author of the book Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum. We went to her talks and I really enjoyed her. After wandering around being thoroughly overwhelmed by all the curriculum choices I finally bought her book, went to the section where she recommends curriculum for each grade level, and bought what she recommended for the grades we had that first year. Although I liked everything I got, it was a stupid way to choose curriculum.
In hindsight, I had more time. We weren't starting our homeschool till the following September. That's six whole months. I could have perused the books at the conference and then researched types of teaching and then purchased on-line. I just felt so overwhelmed by all the choices and no idea of where to start. Now, I know that the best place to start is to define how you are going to educate your kids. See, I didn't even know that there were different ways to homeschool. I'll give you the little information I have and then you can do more research about the methods and that might help give you a starting point for curriculum.
Classical teaching is designed to teach to the developemental stage of the child. The 3 stages, called the Trivium are: grammar, logic and rhetoric. When you use this training, your kids may appear to lag behind their peers in traditional school at first. However, when they hit middle and especially high school, they will take off and excel. I have employed some of this ideology and I believe it has helped my kids. I've known homeschoolers who teach classical and it is always impressive. If I could have a do-over, I think I would try to do classical all the way. It's an excellent education.
Unschooling is another choice that I personally was not able to pull off. Do your research on this. Talk to other homeschoolers who unschool and really understand the methodology before beginning. It is my impression that families are unschoolers. In other words, it's how the parents are; they can't help it. Their whole approach to life and their lifestyle is conducive to unschooling. Often, they travel a lot and are very adventurous and their kids are the big benefactors. Unschooling is simply learning while living. They use books a lot, just not textbooks so much.
Two other methods are Montessori and Waldorf. I know a very little about both. Montessori is child led. What is the child interested in and then imerse them in things to broaden their learning about it. Waldorf is, I believe, based in the arts; using the arts to teach. There are Montessori and Waldorf schools that offer classes for homeschoolers as enrichment, but these methods can also be used at home. While montessori education has been around a long time and there are formal schools that use this method, Waldorf is relatively new and slightly controversial. Again, do your research first.
Finally, the traditional method of schooling needs little explaining. You use textbooks, workbooks, and test and you cover the four R's - Religion, Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic - plus spelling and history and grammar and science, etc. You sit at the table and do lessons and have seat work, etc. This is mostly what I have done while also doing some unschooling activities and employing some classical techniques. A very ecclectic approach. I would, after 12 years of homeschooling, recommend you NOT bring the classroom home. I wish someone had told me that 12 years ago. The decision to homeschool opens a door, a big door. There are so many opportunities and resources available. Don't feel you have to bring the traditional classroom experience you had growing up (or your kids have had if they are in school) home. I don't think I totally did that, but I spent too much time trying. If you choose to homeschool, you're already unconventional, non-traditional, counter-cultural. If you don't fit in the box at traditional school, why try to fit in the box at home?
So, pray about it. Seek God's guidance. Do lots of research. Talk to multitudes of people and when you and your spouse decide how your homeschool is going to be....know that it will change! Find a starting point but be flexible. Know that your family will grow and change and that tomorrow is always a surprise.
Next time, a little more specifics on what I've used, why I've used it or not used it, and what you need to consider when choosing curriculum. I've also recently been asked about testing, especially in the elementary years, so I'll touch on that next time.
We went to the Catholic homeschool conference in our area, which took place in March. There was a speaker there by the name of Laura Berquist. She is the author of the book Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum. We went to her talks and I really enjoyed her. After wandering around being thoroughly overwhelmed by all the curriculum choices I finally bought her book, went to the section where she recommends curriculum for each grade level, and bought what she recommended for the grades we had that first year. Although I liked everything I got, it was a stupid way to choose curriculum.
In hindsight, I had more time. We weren't starting our homeschool till the following September. That's six whole months. I could have perused the books at the conference and then researched types of teaching and then purchased on-line. I just felt so overwhelmed by all the choices and no idea of where to start. Now, I know that the best place to start is to define how you are going to educate your kids. See, I didn't even know that there were different ways to homeschool. I'll give you the little information I have and then you can do more research about the methods and that might help give you a starting point for curriculum.
Classical teaching is designed to teach to the developemental stage of the child. The 3 stages, called the Trivium are: grammar, logic and rhetoric. When you use this training, your kids may appear to lag behind their peers in traditional school at first. However, when they hit middle and especially high school, they will take off and excel. I have employed some of this ideology and I believe it has helped my kids. I've known homeschoolers who teach classical and it is always impressive. If I could have a do-over, I think I would try to do classical all the way. It's an excellent education.
Unschooling is another choice that I personally was not able to pull off. Do your research on this. Talk to other homeschoolers who unschool and really understand the methodology before beginning. It is my impression that families are unschoolers. In other words, it's how the parents are; they can't help it. Their whole approach to life and their lifestyle is conducive to unschooling. Often, they travel a lot and are very adventurous and their kids are the big benefactors. Unschooling is simply learning while living. They use books a lot, just not textbooks so much.
Two other methods are Montessori and Waldorf. I know a very little about both. Montessori is child led. What is the child interested in and then imerse them in things to broaden their learning about it. Waldorf is, I believe, based in the arts; using the arts to teach. There are Montessori and Waldorf schools that offer classes for homeschoolers as enrichment, but these methods can also be used at home. While montessori education has been around a long time and there are formal schools that use this method, Waldorf is relatively new and slightly controversial. Again, do your research first.
Finally, the traditional method of schooling needs little explaining. You use textbooks, workbooks, and test and you cover the four R's - Religion, Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic - plus spelling and history and grammar and science, etc. You sit at the table and do lessons and have seat work, etc. This is mostly what I have done while also doing some unschooling activities and employing some classical techniques. A very ecclectic approach. I would, after 12 years of homeschooling, recommend you NOT bring the classroom home. I wish someone had told me that 12 years ago. The decision to homeschool opens a door, a big door. There are so many opportunities and resources available. Don't feel you have to bring the traditional classroom experience you had growing up (or your kids have had if they are in school) home. I don't think I totally did that, but I spent too much time trying. If you choose to homeschool, you're already unconventional, non-traditional, counter-cultural. If you don't fit in the box at traditional school, why try to fit in the box at home?
So, pray about it. Seek God's guidance. Do lots of research. Talk to multitudes of people and when you and your spouse decide how your homeschool is going to be....know that it will change! Find a starting point but be flexible. Know that your family will grow and change and that tomorrow is always a surprise.
Next time, a little more specifics on what I've used, why I've used it or not used it, and what you need to consider when choosing curriculum. I've also recently been asked about testing, especially in the elementary years, so I'll touch on that next time.
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