Question of the day: What is your homeschooling style?
When my oldest child was much smaller- I went through a time of being obsessed with homeschool styles, I read them ALL- or at least all that I could find, looking for the perfect fit for us. It turned out none of them was my perfect fit, but I did learn a lot of great ideas. So, I did what so many homeschool websites told me "Take what you like, and leave the rest." This is a list of things I decided to take, and what I didn't take, from some of those styles. These summaries are WAY too short to explain an entire theory, so if you are new, and see something interesting, do you own research and learn more.
Charlotte Mason-
Read lots of great books- GREAT
Go for walks outside and appreciate nature- I can do that!
Have short class periods for small children, working on longer ones when they get older- Makes sense.
Be a super teacher, make the kids talk about art a lot, teach them to draw EVERY DAY- Um, no
So, what I got from Charlotte Mason, was a wonderful book list, which we often worked from. A goal of getting outside, and trying to experiment with drawing. I also loved her idea of teaching fine artists, however, her method just didn't work for me. So, what I do, is I get a calendar of the art of a famous artist. I take it apart, and hang up anywhere from 3 to all 12 of the pictures on the wall of our homeschooling space. We talk about which pictures we like best, and why. I change the calendar as often as I feel like it- anywhere from 2-6 times a year.
Waldorf
Do lots of handwork (knit and stuff)- COOL
Let your child help do tasks like bake bread and make snacks- Awesome
Read sweet little fairy tales- Can do
Do art, music, drama, dancing, and foreign languages all teacher led- Uh, oh, not so sure I can handle that
Play outside every day, no matter what the weather- Crap- I am a weather wimp.
So, what I took from Waldorf- we tried to play outside in the rain sometimes- which isn't as bad as I thought it was. I try to foster my child's ability to do things for herself (Montessori is into that one too). I also try to do a lot of "handwork." The Waldorf version of this, did not really work for us. Have you ever tried to felt wool into a baby chick? Or mold beeswax into ANYTHING? That stuff is amazingly hard. Instead, we found crafts and activities that worked for us. My kids learned to loom knit, instead of knitting with knitting needles, for example.
Montessori
Do lots and lots of hands on stuff with TONS of materials- Um, that gets expensive, but cool
Do lots of practical life skills- Sounded good, but kid #1 hated it, while #3 loves it
Teach reading and math in a special way- Crap, more things I didn't know how to do
I did purchase and make some Montessori materials, and there are lots of good ideas on line. But my oldest child only wanted to do any given activity about once, and move on, so investing in the stuff, just wasn't a good way for us to go. I picked and chose materials that worked for us, and left the rest. I still look for good montessori materials for my kids, but just can't do it whole hearted.
Unschool
Let your kid learn at her pace about whatever she wants to, it will all work out in the end, no worries.
Turns out this gave me TONS of worries. I am sorry, but some people need to actually be taught some things, or they don't learn them. My child needed to be taught the right way to form her letters, though I waited until later than the usual to do it, and she HAD to be taught spelling, she just didn't absorb it magically. However, honoring her as a learner, going at her pace, and letting her have the ability to choose as much as was reasonable, worked well for us.
Classical Education
Read lots of great book- OK- great, I was already on board
Do a 4 year history cycle, staring with ancient times and going through modern- COOL
Teach Latin- Crap
Teach your child to read and write at a pace that works for them, but here are a lot of easy to follow suggestions- Awesome! I needed that.
Actually, I have used the Story of the World history books all the way through the program now, and have just loved them. They made history engaging, and actually taught about the whole world, not just Europe and the US. I also liked the methods of teaching writing, by staring with the child doing copy work, and stating narrations that the parent writes for the child, so the child gets to separate the act of handwriting from thinking of what to write. I have used various writing and grammar books that are from "classical education" but we used them at the pace of my own child, not the one on the cover (Writing with Ease and Writing with Skill.) I also have ended up teaching latin to my oldest child, but not because the program suggested it, but because she asked to learn it. I don't actually know Latin, so we had to search for an interesting curriculum that we could learn together. As a middle schooler, she will be doing the program Visual Latin, which is video based, and I don't have to know anything to teach it. However, the Classical Education model, has some pretty firm ideas about what, how and when children should learn certain things, and that part, just didn't make sense to me, or my kid, so we took what worked, and left the rest. I also found the huge number of things to teach, overwhelming, so I didn't do it.
I read lots of theory books, and then would spend time testing things out on my child. For us, sticking 100% to any individual theory, made us miserable, so I would then switch to another. Eventually, I figured out my own style, mixed from high lights of all the many things I read, but that will be a separate post. The oddest thing about making my own style, is that as I educate my kids, I have found that each of my kids would be happiest doing more things from one style or another. The oldest would rather unschool, the middle child would be a great Waldorf student, and the youngest Montessori style is a fit for. But as a mom, I can't manage to do all that. Finding a style that works for your family, has to mean finding a style that works for both the teacher and the student. As my children grow, I try to pick and choose things we will all enjoy and learn from, no matter which theory they fit into. For us, its about having a great educational experience, not about following anyone's rules of how to do it.
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