Little Bears Family Homeschool
Home Education methods:
Introduction * Textbook * Classical * Delayed Academics * Living Books & Life Experiences * Unschooling * Unit Studies * Our Method *
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. There is some really good information about each of these approaches and others in the Elijah Company's catalogue.
Traditional textbook approach:
What might be termed as a "traditional textbook approach" would appear to be favoured by many American homeschoolers, particularly Christians.
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!) I started out intending to "unschool" (see below) and am now going the other way towards a more structured approach. However, many of the British home educators I have spoken to who started off with a formal approach and gradually moved to a less formal approach.
Some popular US programmes I have yet to investigate include Alpha- Omega/ Ace and Calvert. A specifically British programme is available from W.E.S. I don't know of any specifically secular programmes. Recommendations would be welcome.
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 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).
You will find some
very useful links at www.classicalhomeschooling.org/info.html
some articles on classical education can be found at http://www.cet.com/~theoaks/articles/articles.html
and there's a really useful on-line magazine collumn, up-dated
monthly called "Applying the Trivium" at http://ccsnet.org/flesh.html
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:
"Better Late Than Early", and "School can wait" by Raymond and Dorothy Moore. The former is aimed more at parents, whereas the latter is aimed more at professionals. Both books are avilable in this country through HERO Books.
Looking for links... There is a bi-monthly 16 page magazine, The Moore Report International, available at $12/year from Box 1, Camas WA 98607, although I have yet to see it and so cannot actually recommend it.
What the Moores advocate in place of early formal learning is learning good habits, helping with housework etc.
Living books & Life experiences:
Although she was an English philosopher and educator who deeply influenced primary education in this country for the better, you are almost sure never to have heard of Charlotte Mason here in the UK. In America, however, there is a big 'CM' movement within the homeschooling world.
There is still a small movement here, the Parents' National Education Union (PNEU) but it has really developed more into a private 'Christian' school network, (which is sad, since Charlotte Mason was primarily concerned with improving the educational lot of underpriviledged children and advocated home education) and they seem to be much less into 'living books & life experiences' and much more into the traditional textbook approach.
If that's what you're looking for, the PNEU have a homeschooling curriculum. Contact the The World-wide Education Service of the PNEU, Strode House, 44-50 Osnaburgh Street, London NW1 3NN.
From what I can gather, the American movement seems to have stayed much closer to what Charlotte Mason originally intended, especially since the British organistion has re-interpreted Charlotte Mason's writings in the belief that school is no longer as bad as it was in her day. (Comments?!) The Christian element is also less obvious. Read more about Charlotte Mason here: http://www.charlotte-mason.com
Many other US home educators who seem to go along with most of Charlotte Mason's teachings, use a "literature approach". Take a look at Greenleaf Press and Beautiful Feet Books for a literature approach to History, amongst other things.
If you like Charlotte Mason's method but would like somebody else to draw together the literature and do all the "legwork", take a look at Sonlight Curriculum. This is what we have decided to use and are very pleased so far.
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, but contact HERO Books as
they carry many of his titles.
There is a magazine produced by the US organisation John Holt
formed: Growing without
schooling magazine, Holt Associates, 2269 Massachusetts Ave.,
Cambridge, MA 02140, USA.
There's a useful FAQ on unschooling including useful links & recommended books at http://pwp.starnetinc.com/twentz/UL/faq.html There's an interesting article entitled (unsurprisingly, perhaps) "Can a Christian be an Unschooler?" at http://www.midnightbeach.com/hs/can-a-christian-be-an-unschooler-htm
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.
Some ready-made unit studies
Herald (Home Education Resources and Learning Development) is
a Homeschooling support group who also supply ready prepared unit
studies. I haven't looked at the studies yet, but they have been
very helpful and supportive. Kelda Cottage, Lydbrook, Gloucester, GL17 9SX
The method we are currently using is something of a mixture of many methods: 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, so although we might do some projects every now and then, it won't be our main method.
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).
Have I missed
anything? Comments and/ or suggestions as well as
recommendations for useful links/ addresses would be most welcome
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© Sharon Mortemore
Updated: 08 November, 2000