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Home Education Magazine
September-October 2004 - Articles and Columns
Learning Styles
The Many Faces of Home Education - Tamara Orr
During the summer of 2002 and 2003, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to meet dozens of homeschoolers across the country. I came home filled with their enthusiasm, their curiosity and their wonder. I also came home knowing that no matter how many families I met, nThem homeschooled exactly the same way. Like snowflakes, they may have had many commonalities, but when it came down to how they actually homeschooled, from day to day, they were each wonderfully unique.
Many new homeschoolers are understandably searching for a good starting point in a journey that equally thrills and terrifies them. So, they may decide to meet one homeschooling family or read one homeschooling book and go from there, and they are off on a pathway that may work wonderfully--or not.
Perhaps homeschooling's most precious advantage is that it is completely malleable; it can be shaped to whatever you need it to be. Instead of forcing your child to fit into public education, you have the chance to mold education around your child. While this is empowering, it can also be frightening. Where do you start? Whose theories are right? The decision to homeschool demands that you do some real research. First, you have to find out what your options are and then slowly, you can select the one that you think will fit you and your partner's personality/philosophy of education, your children's personalities and your lifestyle choices. The most typical choices in homeschooling revolve around:
Academic: This is sometimes called "school at home". It's almost like public school in that you have scheduled classes, report cards, tests, etc. but it is done at home. It is the model that many homeschoolers begin with because it is the familiar one. It carries the risk of burn out for all involved but works wonderfully for many families.
Classical: This type of education is based on teaching critical thinking skills through classic languages (Greek and Latin) and a curriculum based on the "great books" of Western civilization. Similar to this is Charlotte Mason's Living Books philosophy in which there is a heavy emphasis on providing children with relevant and interesting books to read from an early age and involves an hour a day on structured academics.
Eclectic: This is the most common type of homeschooling because it takes a little of this, a little of that and stirs it all together. Perhaps you use a little structured math, complete with textbook and tests; English is reading books of choice and talking about them over dinner.
Unschooling: The antithesis of public education, this is a child-centered method that focuses on children's natural interests. Parents act as guides rather than teachers.
Each of these methods can break down into sub-steps and ideas and all of them can be combined into the same family in one way or another.
No matter which method feels right as your starting point, prepare to be completely wrong in your initial choices and accept that as an integral part of your family's learning process. Prepare to have one child adore academic homeschooling while another likes to unschool. Prepare to have your spouse think you should be using a textbook for math and you think you should just spend the day in the kitchen doubling recipes. Prepare to change your philosophies on a regular basis as you come face to face with: your old public education tapes, caring in-laws, interested neighbors, fellow homeschoolers and those kids with their own blasted educational philosophies. Prepare to change your lifestyle in ways you would never have expected, i.e. bedtimes, working schedules, etc. Most of all, be prepared for the delight you will discover in being with your children and what they can teach you. It's a journey we all take and although we may detour onto an endless maze of pathways, our destination is always the same: happy, healthy, successfully educated children.
© 2004 Tamra Orr
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September-October 2004 - Articles and Columns
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