Home education methods

Introduction

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but merely some of the approaches which I have come accross which are being used by UK home educators and US homeschoolers alike.

Traditional textbook approach:

What might be termed as a "traditional" approach (usually using textbooks / workbooks) would appear to be favoured by many American homeschoolers, particularly Christians.

Althought there are lots of textbook and workbook-based curriculum available in the US, most UK traditional home educators use workbooks like CGP. If this approach appeals to you, WHSmith have a good selection of workbooks to choose from.

Most parents new to home education seem to be looking for this kind of structured programme, perhaps because it is reassuring to be able to have a kind of structure to fall back on. (Planning your own programme or allowing the children to take control of their own learning can seem a very daunting prospect!) Many of the British home educators I have spoken to who started off with a formal approach gradually moved to a less formal approach.

Classical Education:

Again, this approach is apparently favoured by many American Christian homeschoolers, but may be useful for any homeschooler, since the goal is to produce students who are capable of thinking and teaching themselves.

It consists of three stages: the Grammar stage (reading, writing, spelling, Latin, observation, listening & memorization), the Dilectic stage (logical discussion, debate, drawing conclusions), and finally, the Rhetoric stage (using written & spoken language eloquently & persuasively).

One of the proponents of classical education is Susan Wise Bauer ("Well Trained Mind", "Well Educated Mind", "Story of the World" etc.)

Charlotte Mason, or 'Living books & Life experiences':

Although she was an English philosopher and educator who deeply influenced primary education in this country for the better, you may never have heard of Charlotte Mason here in the UK. A large 'CM' revival movement sprang up within the homeschooling world in the US and 'Charlotte Mason' is one of the most popular home education approaches.

The Charlotte Mason approach includes, amongst other things:

- short lessons
- Nature-study
- Art appreciation
- Classical music appreciation

If you like Charlotte Mason's approach but would like somebody else to draw together the literature and do all the "legwork", take a look at the literature-based curriculum options listed at the bottom of this page on the right-hand side, which can all be used with Charlotte Mason. We use Sonlight Curriculum.

More information to come on our Charlotte Mason page.

Unit Studies:

Also variously known as "Themes", or "Project Work" and so on, this is actually widely used in UK state primary schools, and we actually came into contact with this method when we were in Sweden, as it's the method commonly used in Swedish pre-schools.

"Everything You Need to Know About Unit-Studies"

Lapbooking:

If you are using unit studies, a fantastic way of presenting your work is 'lapbooking' or 'scrapbooking', where you make a presentation folder ('lapbook', also known as 'flapbook', 'shutter-book', 'scrapbook' and 'mini-office') which contains mini-books, flaps, pockets and more. It's lots of fun, and looks amazing!

Take a look at Jimmie's fabulous introduction to lapbooking page on Squidoo.

Learn more at the Lapbook Lessons network and the Scrapbooking to Learn network.

More information and links to come on our lapbooking page.

Notebooking:

Another variation of lapbooking is 'notebooking' (and can be used for traditional subject-by-subject learning as well as for unit-studies). It can involve lots of creativity with lift-the-flaps, but it is presented as pages in a binder rather than in a folder.

Take a look at Cindy Rushton's bok "Notebooking! Yes! You can Be a Binder Queen Too!"

http://www.notebookingnook.com/

http://www.notebookingpages.com/

Heart of Wisdom:

The Heart of Wisdom approach is a Biblically based, Hebraic approach to education, which utilises some of the best features of many of the other teaching methods outlined above (including Charlotte Mason, unit-studies, lapbooking and more).

Take a look at the Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach.

Delayed Academics / Learning Through Play:

One of the reasons families decide to educate their children at home is that they feel that formal schooling starts too early. This is bourn out by research undertaken by US educators Dr Raymond Moore and his wife Dorothy. Unsurprisingly, the US school system wasn't receptive to their research, and they have since become advocates of home education and written several books.

The Moores advocate learning good habits, helping with housework etc. in place of early formal learning, whereas in the UK, the focus would be on natural learning through play.

Unschooling:

This seems to be one of, if not the most popular forms of home education in the UK: child-centred or child-lead learning - an unstructured learning approach which allows children to pursue their own interests. I would recommend reading John Holt's books. Check your library first.

http://www.unschooling.com/

http://sandradodd.com/unschooling

Our Approach

We have tried lots of approaches, and settled into a fairly relaxed position somewhere between "unschooling" and Charlotte Mason's "living books (quality literature) & life experiences", backed up in some areas by a more traditional, text-book approach.

I was attracted to Unit Studies, but I found I didn't have the time (or organisational capabilities) to put them together regularly, so although we still do some projects every now and then, it's not something we do all the time.

We are using the National Curriculum as a guide for our home education, that is all we're using it as - a guide. I see the National Curriculum mostly as a resource or platform for me to develop ideas for teaching, and we certainly won't be using the tests that go along with the National Curriculum.

We don't intend to use it in any way as a list of tasks to attain by any certain age! I think it would be useful to have some kind of planned 'curriculum' of ideas to offer to our children (tailored to our children individually, and also aiming to cover many subjects not covered by the National Curriculum).

Little Bears Study Notes
(Subject Pages)