Never Say Never
A few summers ago, I checked out every homeschooling resource at the library. Weekly. I wiped them out. It was a great place to begin, as recommended by my homeschool mentor. Just getting my feet wet and learning. Also, lots of visioning just what I value in teaching and nailing down my ever evolving philosophy on homeschooling....how we do it, why we do it and so on. What I learned the most that summer is my deep ignorance on having any idea what homeschooling is all about. The more I learned about it, the more I was attracted to the idea. Which was a big surprise in my heart, I was one of those..."I'll never homeschool my kids." Famous last words.
If homeschooling had a spectrum, on one extreme would be unschoolers. They use no curriculum, no structure, and value their child discovering and learning on their own. There are no standards, no grade levels; their curriculum and core values of material simply flow out of their child's interests and discovery. On the other extreme, their are homeschoolers who try to recreate school in their home......desks, calendars, textbooks, same hours of school days, same rules, etc. This picture of homeschooling is what I had always pictured. Taking what is done in school and mirroring it in the home. When thinking in terms of this spectrum, we try to be somewhere in the middle with a small bent toward unschooling.
Some of my favorite teaching philosophies which I incorporate throughout our day and also use as I browse future curriculum are....
Charlotte Mason Method
Montessori Method
Classical Education
I'll leave you to your own clicking, if interested in a detailed explanation. I pull from the Charlotte Mason Method the most. Learning from this method is what has established my no structure/curriculum prior to age 5 conviction. Instead, I allow the boys the freedom explore, discover, and imagine....and sometimes, just play. They are becoming self-directed learners who love to discover. We currently are growing an avocado seed in the house, watching it, making observations, drawing pictures and writing in a science journal. This project was put in place by the Big Boy. That's the beauty of homeschooling you can't put in words, it just happens.
If homeschooling had a spectrum, on one extreme would be unschoolers. They use no curriculum, no structure, and value their child discovering and learning on their own. There are no standards, no grade levels; their curriculum and core values of material simply flow out of their child's interests and discovery. On the other extreme, their are homeschoolers who try to recreate school in their home......desks, calendars, textbooks, same hours of school days, same rules, etc. This picture of homeschooling is what I had always pictured. Taking what is done in school and mirroring it in the home. When thinking in terms of this spectrum, we try to be somewhere in the middle with a small bent toward unschooling.
Some of my favorite teaching philosophies which I incorporate throughout our day and also use as I browse future curriculum are....
Charlotte Mason Method
Montessori Method
Classical Education
I'll leave you to your own clicking, if interested in a detailed explanation. I pull from the Charlotte Mason Method the most. Learning from this method is what has established my no structure/curriculum prior to age 5 conviction. Instead, I allow the boys the freedom explore, discover, and imagine....and sometimes, just play. They are becoming self-directed learners who love to discover. We currently are growing an avocado seed in the house, watching it, making observations, drawing pictures and writing in a science journal. This project was put in place by the Big Boy. That's the beauty of homeschooling you can't put in words, it just happens.
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