The Rookie Workshop for New Homeschoolers
PART 2 -- Homeschooling Styles
It used to go by just one name - Homeschooling Styles - but over the years, other terms have popped up, like little dandelions after a summer rain. Now we also have Homeschooling Methods, Approaches, Philosophies, Kinds, Types, Ways, etc., etc., etc. I don't know why we need so many different words to describe the same thought, but there you have it. Anyway, don't get confused; the idea's still the same. It just means, "How structured do you want your homeschooling to be?"
Now, there are just 4 basic Styles: Traditional, Unit Studies, Unschooling and Eclectic. Beyond that, there are also sub-categories such as Charlotte Mason, Waldorf, Classical, and Radical Unschooling. But, I'm only going to explain the top 4, because I think having too many branches on the tree just muddies the waters. If you want to get into sub-categories later on, try surfing around A to Z's Home's Cool Homeschooling Methods, or Home Education Magazine's FAQs and Learning the Ropes. Excellent resources, real homeschoolers, been around forever. Well, nearly.
Life Without School: Homeschooling and the Sorting Hat
"Maybe we should look at homeschooling styles the way we look at recipes."
So says Celeste. Sensible woman. Labeling ourselves like we do is okay to a point.
But it has its darker side, too.
Using an umbrella or a private school isn't 'a style' of its own, per se. What basic style you use depends on what the school will support. If you need contact information, I can recommend some viable ones. But please don't ask me about those public-school-at-home programs. I haven't a clue, nor do I want one. If you left the public school, just to continue public schooling inside your home, that's your choice. My homeschooling advice won't be of any value to you. You need public school advice. Check your state website.
Choosing a Homeschooling Style should be done in conjunction with figuring out your child's Learning Style(s). The two go hand-in-hand. Together they'll help you pick out learning materials, buy supplies, make an outline for the next month or two, explain your education plan to nervous grandparents, keep your sanity, etc. Learning styles will be covered in the next section, but in case you're thinking of jumping headfirst into the Spending Money Pool, please remember, start small, start simple, and don't (DO NOT) spend a lot of money at first. It's a given that you will make mistakes. They're much easier to swallow if you've just spent $17 rather than $1700. No matter what initial decision you make, don't worry, it's not a life sentence. You aren't, I repeat are not going to be tied into your first Style decision until the end of time. Homeschooling is educational freedom, my friend. That's the beauty of it. You're in charge. You're allowed to change your mind, backtrack, try something new and/or adjust everything according to your growing kiddo's needs. Home learning is the world's only truly individualized education.
The Traditional Style
This is the school-at-home method; structured and
textbook-oriented. Some families use a pre-packaged
curriculum from a supplier, such as the Christian-based
Sonlight curriculum or the secular Robinson Self-Teaching Curriculum. These 'Curriculums-in-a-Box' as we often
refer to them, will include textbooks, teachers' manuals,
lesson plans, and usually some type of support, either online or by
telephone.
Quite a few familes design their own curriculums, using a variety of things, such as textbooks for 1-2 subjects, field trips for another, and volunteering to teach the rest. A typical example would be using I Hate Mathematics!
You can find pretty good deals on learning supplies at the Homeschooler's Curriculum Swap or the Homeschool Buyers' Co-op. A dependable religious supplier with a wide variety is Christianbook.com, although they may be a tad pricier than the other two. Also, local support groups in your area will hold used curriculum fairs once or twice a year, and school districts often host free giveaways of books, videos, desks and other whatnots they don't use anymore. Just call and ask.
Buyer Beware! "Accredited home school curriculum." I've seen this phrase SO many times. What does it mean? Who 'accredits' this curriculum and what does that stamp of approval do for you? Not much. Especially considering every state - heck, every school district! - all have completely different educational standards. You know how it is when you move from state to state. Montana won't always accept Colorado's school credits, and Colorado won't accept New Mexico's. Be careful out there. Don't always believe those snake oil salesmen. If you feel you need something 'accredited', check with the college you think your kid will attend and ask them if an accredited curriculum makes a difference to them and who they want it accredited by.
The Unit Studies Method
These are learning modules based on 'themes' or 'interests'. Unit Studies can be short or long, lasting anywhere from a week to a few months, depending on their complexity. For example, if your child heard about the drama and wanted to learn what happened aboard Apollo 13, that would be a pretty short Unit. But, if that small foray then sparked an interest in NASA, all the different missions to Mars, and learning about the entire Apollo program via Tom Hank's engrossing From the Earth to the Moon
you would obviously end up with a much longer, more complex Unit.
Units are great fun, and they're really wonderful if you're homeschooling more than one. You can have 2 or 3 different Units going at one time, taking turns with each child. And the kids also learn from each other, just by listening. Best of all, whatever your child happens to be interested in at the moment can be used: Building A Paper Mache Castle, Making Money, Designing a Blog, Planting Flowers, Buying Designer Jeans. If you prefer, you can also use Units to concentrate on just one single subject at a time, like Math, Language Arts or History. All subjects are interwoven, so it's doubtful that a Science Unit will only teach your child Science. Is that as clear as mud? Alright, let me try explaining by example. Let's say your child wants to make money. (Kids always like finding ways to make some extra cash. For that matter, so do we parents.) My youngest son became enamoured with making money, so he very single-mindedly designed his own Making Money unit. I doubt he knew that's what he was doing, exactly, but that was the end result.
Doing Simple Units
Now, I could've just used his moneymaking interest to teach him the basics of addition,
subtraction, decimals and percentages. How many pennies
make up a dime, a quarter, a dollar? How do you write
twenty-eight cents in decimals? Can you count
change back? Let me show you how to calculate sales tax
on that new video game you're planning to buy.
Complex Units
But, since this was HIS idea in the first place, he was intent on much more than just that. First, he took it upon
himself to study the design of real currencies from
around the world from books we checked out at the
library. Then he took drawing paper (like 3 reams) and colored
pencils (he wore out 2 boxes) and made all sorts of money from all over the world, from Yen to
Rubles to regular USA greenbacks. In doing this, the boy was teaching himself
Art, English, Geography, Graphic Design,
Science (you should see how many unobtrusive, little monetary
encoding features there are in the world!), and World
History.
After that, sonny opened up his own 'bank' in his room and made little price stickers to paste on every bloomin' thing in the house - the bananas, the box of cereal, my car keys, the tube of toothpaste in the bathroom. By trial and error he learned what we'd buy, what we wouldn't - and for what price. Amazing, kid-designed lessons in Math, Critical Thinking, and Economics.
He (Matt) also discovered how to negotiate and work out 'credit plans' with disgruntled customers (mom and dad) who wanted to drive their cars or brush their teeth on a moment's notice, without having to stop at the bank first. This taught him Debate skills, English, and pre-Algebra.
So, out of that one, single Unit Study, Matt created his own six-month-long curriculum which covered every subject on earth. Keep in mind, this child was only 8 years old at the time. The biggest perk was that mom didn't have to come up with one, single lesson plan or grade a shred of paper. It was wonderful!
So, as you see, you and your kids can
easily design Units yourself. If you'd rather try ones designed by other homeschoolers that are all ready to go, here are some very excellent ones:
A to Z's Unit Study Method,
The Home School Mom's Free Homeschooling Unit Studies Online
and Knowledge House in Arizona's Not Just for Kids Page.
The Unschooling Method
Unschooling is also known as child-led, delight-driven,
interest-initiated or natural learning. Unschooling
allows your child to learn a wide array of core
curriculum just by living their lives and pursuing
their interests. Sounds radical, doesn't it? And too good to be true. But, trust me, it works. I unschooled mine (once I got over my initial 8 month freak out) and they were accepted into college at ages 16 and 14, respectively. I had nothing to do with it. All I did was show them how to use the library, look things up online, and ask questions. Mostly, I stayed out of their way, except for driving them around around a lot. And no, it's not that I have special training or fancy college degrees falling out of my ears either. You're listening to a woman who graduated high school at the bottom of her class and just barely managed to get a beauty school degree. (of course, I wasn't in the least interested in beauty school -- my mother insisted I go -- but that's another story)
Unschooling is known for its snowball effect, meaning one little discovery leads to another, which then leads to a completely unrelated fact, and so on. You'll find a general example of how unschooling worked in our family in The First Year of Homeschooling: It's All Greek to Me! Learning happens during the most mundane (and the most exciting) moments. It'll occur when you tell your young'un to shovel out that pig stye of a room, and she decides that cleaning includes bathing the water-phobic cat. The lessons that result may not be what you intended, but your daughter just taught herself things that would be nigh onto impossible to learn from a textbook.
Here's another example: I'm unschooling right now. I'm teaching myself html, xhtml, CSS, ftp and other impressive acronyms, so I can design this website and put all this info here for you to read. Nobody 'assigned' me this project. No one will 'grade' me on it when I'm done. I'm just doing it because I want to.
You're doing much the same thing. You're online, looking up information on homeschooling, deschooling, learning styles, legal requirements, etc. In other words, you're unschooling yourself. It really is the most normal, natural way of learning there is. (Although the school system has gone to great lengths to convince us otherwise.)
For other explanations on how unschooling works, peruse the FAQ on Amy Bell's Natural Learning Page, the entire Unschooling.com site, and Joanne's inspriring An Unschooling Life. If you prefer books you can hold in your hand:
The Eclectic Method
Eclectic is a combination of 2 or more of the above Styles. This
allows you to pick and choose from each one to
best suit what works for you, your life, your budget
and the needs of your child. This is probably the most common Style you'll see among homeschoolers. Unschooling may work for one child, while the next one needs more structure. As long as it works!
NEXT: THE ROOKIE WORKSHOP PART 3 -- Learning Styles
"The objective of teaching a child is to enable him to get along without his teacher." - Elbert Hubbard, American Writer and Editor
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