If you haven't read the first part of my homeschool series please do so here.
Once you have found your purpose or reason for homeschooling, timeline and went out looking for a support system, you need to figure out the different ways to homeschool. I know, I know, you are itching to buy that curriculum and set up your schedule and just start already. Ok, fine, but don't. One huge piece of advice that I give new homeschool moms and dads is to wait before shelling out the bucks for a curriculum you are not even sure you will like. Take a break and study up before you invest.
There are many different ways to homeschool. I will show you how I evolved into what I do today. Which is just a mix of so many different styles. I will probably not be able to cover all of them but you will get an idea and maybe search out the info that appeals to you and fall down some rabbit holes in which you will find so much information about different homeschool styles
Tradition homeschooling (Textbook/Workbook)
When families first start homeschooling, they do what they know. Traditional or textbook/workbook styles of homeschooling is a safe and familiar way to homeschool. When I first started homeschooling, I knew nothing about types or styles of homeschooling, I just knew I wanted to teach my son something at home.
I went to the nearest Walmart and purchased a few 1st. grade jumbo workbooks, a chalkboard and an American Flag. I also purchased a teachers academic planner and some colorful posters. I think you know where I am going with this. I was trying to duplicate the school room, in my living room. It was cute, and fun and then it wasn't. I even purchased a real homeschool curriculum for math. We ended up working on math for 3 hours. No joke. I felt I had to do every single activity from that math book. The weather, the calendar, the counting bears, the practice sheets and the actual assignment. I learned early on, to take what I wanted and leave the rest.
Plus, I had a very strict schedule from morning to night time. I thought I had to fill the same hours at home that my kids did at school. Nope, you don't. But we will talk about that in another post. As homeschoolers get more comfortable they start branching out a little, looking for something different. And then again, some don't and love the structure and familiarity of textbook learning. That's fine. Everyone is different. I am really different so I kept looking. But before I tell you what I found next I want to just share a few examples of Textbook and/or Workbook style curricula. A couple which I still use with my kids.
Text Books/workbook style
A couple of well known homeschool companies.
1. Abeka
2. BJU
3. Saxon (mostly math)
4. Alpha Omega (workbook style)
5. School of Tomorrow
This is by no means a complete list. I just listed those that I have used or have heard from other families that really enjoy them.
Classical/Charlotte Mason education
I am combining these two together not because they are the same but because I found them at roughly the same time.
I don't think I will do this justice because there is so much to tell about classical and Charlotte Mason education. I worked at a homeschool bookstore and I ALWAYS recommended The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer. In the edition I had, (don't know which one it was and I lent it to someone and its still gone.) it even had daily schedules and pages of resources for purchasing the books needed for classical education. This book is not the only book on Classical Education but its my favorite out of the ones I have read. I loved it, and constantly referred back to it. I visited the site recently and found it to be a wonderful resource for parents.
Classical education divides the teaching of subjects into stages and not grades. You will not be in 1st grade, 2nd grade etc. You will be in 3 different stages of education. The first stage is the Grammar stage. This stages is between K- 6, the elementary ages. At this stage kids are absorbing facts. They learn through memorization and singing. The ABC Song, a Song for States and learning math facts through song and memorization. Their brain is learning concrete information, not abstract information.
The next stage is Logic stage. This is the middle school years. In this stage the student uses all those facts they learned and make connections. Compare them, contrast them and find out how they relate to each other. They start learning by reasoning and learning how to defend a topic through independent thinking.
The third stage is the Rhetoric stage. This is roughly the high school years. The students now have the tools to go forward and educate themselves. They can gather facts, apply them and even defend them. Student focus on communication and expression. Students in this stage are gearing up for adulthood and they can work toward their desired interests. They are able to use their abstract thinking with the tenets learned in the previous two stages.
Wow, that is a lot of information.
Also, The Well Trained Mind is not the only source for classical education out there. There are many different ways to teach classical education. There are co-ops like Classical Conversations and many many books and sites that teach in the Classical Education Style.
Below are some of my favorite Classical Education companies.
1 Memoria Press
2 Beautiful Feet
3. Veritas Press
The main reason I loved this style is because its very literary based. Lots of good books, hardly any textbooks and also children are learning languages such as Latin and Greek. As I searched more and learned more I found my way to the Charlotte Mason style of education. This for me was the next logical step. Many do consider Charlotte Mason a classical education curriculum.
Charlotte Mason was a teacher in the early 20th century in England. Charlotte Mason education is three-pronged: in her words, “Education is an Atmosphere, a Discipline, a Life.” She believed in living books, not twaddle, or dumbing down education. I loved that idea. She educated the whole child. She believed that children were not blank slates and teachers molded them into a functioning adult. Children were endowed with gifts and abilities to deal with knowledge and ideas
Sadly, my kids were not readers and I had to mosey on down the road but I kept many many ideas from Charlotte Mason. I found a free online curriculum called Ambleside Online. It has books schedules, daily and weekly schedules for every academic year plus many books are free online. Its a great resource that I still include in my homeschool toolbox.
Unschooling or Child led education.
Child led education is a great tool to have in that homeschool toolbox. This style of education gets a lot of criticism because it doesn't look like what we consider education. I have used this and still do because eventually, I do what works for each child.
Child led education, is just that. We allow the child or children to follow interests. The educator (parent) does not dictate the path, but follows the path the child chooses. They provide opportunities and supplies (like books, art supplies, videos etc) to help their child learn and grow by following that which interest them.
A wonderful Ted Talk by Logan LaPlante is wonderful at explaining how this helped him grow and learn.
These are just of the few styles I have personally used. My information of each style is very basic but I hope it piques your interest enough to learn more about these different styles of education.
Currently I am leaning towards A Thomas Jefferson Education. This had completely changed the way I think about education. It has inspired me. I have learned the importance of educating myself to be able to educate those around me. You can do it at the same time. No need to learn everything before you start homeschooling. I will talk more about this on a post about what I use to continually inspire and motivate myself.
Next up: Schedules and the S word (socialization)
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