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from the friendliest folks in the Rocky Mountain
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The Rookie Workshop for New Homeschoolers
Part 3: Homeschooling StylesScope and Sequence:
A Typical Course of Study for Grades K-12 from World Book which closely approximates what's being taught in public school.
You might see these called Homeschooling Styles, Methods, Approaches, Kinds or Types, but the idea's the same. There are also sub-categories, such as Charlotte Mason, Classical, Radical Unschooling and Waldorf. It tends to be really confusing at first, I know. Just remember that at the core there are really only 4 basic Styles to keep track of.
Traditional
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 Alpha Omega LIFEPAC
Other familes design their own curriculums, using a variety of materials such as Saxon Math worksheets, Time4Learning's online education activites, Steve Spangler Science Experiments, local field trips for studying government, and so forth.
It all depends on what suits you, your budget and how much outside curriculum support you feel you need.
Unit
Studies
These are shorter learning modules based on 'themes' or
'interests'. Units can last anywhere from a couple of
days to a few months, depending on their complexity.
For example, learning about "Apollo 13" would be a
simple, short Unit. "Studying The Entire History of the
Space Program and NASA", however, would take much
longer. But, whatever your child is interested in can
be turned into a Unit: Getting a Boy Scout Merit Badge,
Making Money, Web Page Design, or Planting a Garden.
You can also concentrate on just one single subject at
a time, like Math. As an example, let's say your child
wants to study Making Money. (Kids always like finding
ways to make some extra cash. For that matter, so do we
parents.) My youngest did this unit, and best of all,
it was all his idea in the first place.
Simple
Unit: Now, I could've just used this Making
Money 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 decimal form? 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
Unit: But, we went further, because he was
really interested in this. He took it upon
himself to study the design of real currencies from
around the world from books we picked up at the
library. Afterwards, he took drawing paper and colored
pencils and made all sorts of currencies, from Yen to
Rubles to regular USA greenbacks. In doing so, he was
teaching himself Art, English, Graphic Design,
Geography, Science (you should see how many monetary
encoding features there are in the world), and World
History.
Then he opened up his own 'bank' in his room, and made
little price stickers to paste on every bloomin' thing
in the house - the bananas, my car keys, the toothpaste
in the bathroom. By trial and error he learned what
would sell, what wouldn't - and for what price. Those
lessons covered Math, Critical Thinking, and Economics.
He also discovered how to negotiate and work out
'credit plans' with disgruntled customers (mom and dad)
who wanted to drive their cars on a moment's notice,
without having stop at the bank first. This taught him
Debate skills, English, and pre-Algebra.
Ergo, out of that one Unit, my son created his own
six-month-long curriculum which covered every subject
on earth. Keep in mind, the boy was was 8 years old at
the time. The added bonus was, I didn't have to come up
with one, single lesson plan or grade any papers.
(Cheer!) I loved it!
So, as you can already tell, you and your kids can
easily design units on your own. I'll (eventually) have
some new unit ideas posted here on the RMEC website for
you. In the meantime, here are some very excellent
ones, made by homeschoolers, and all ready to go:
A to Z's Home's Cool, The Home School Mom and Knowledge House in Arizona.
Unschooling
This is also known as child-led, delight-driven,
interest-initiated or natural learning. This style
allows your child to learn a wide array of core
curriculum just by living their lives and pursuing
their interests.
Unschooling is also known for its snowball effect: one
little discovery leads to another discovery, which
leads to a completely unrelated fact, and so on. One
mini-example of how unschooling works is noted in
The First Year of Homeschooling: It's All
Greek to Me! Other examples could include
practically anything your child does in life:
Shoveling Out My Room, How Do You Bathe A Cat,
Digging A Hole To The Center Of The Earth in the
Backyard.
Need another example? Okey-doke. I'm unschooling right
now, at this very moment, while you read this. I'm
teaching myself html, xhtml, CSS, ftp and other
impressive acronyms, so I can keep this website online.
No one assigned me this project. I'm just learning all
this stuff because I want to.
You're unschooling, too. Right now. You're online,
looking for websites on home education, deschooling,
learning styles, legal requirements. Think of all
you've learned thus far, just today. Rather astounding,
isn't it?
For a really in-depth look at how unschooling works,
check out my Support page for mailing lists,
peruse the FAQ on Amy Bell's Natural Learning Page, and
the Unschooling.com site. Prefer books
you can hold in your hand? Visit RMEC's book page.
Eclectic
This is a combination of 2 or more of the above. This
allows you to pick and choose from each of the above to
suit what works best for you, your life, your budget
and the needs of your child. Your children are
constantly growing, changing and developing new
interests! (And that growing part always seems to come
just after we've bought them clothes. It's one
of those unwritten laws of the universe.)
Next:
Learning Styles
The objective of teaching a child is to enable him to get along without his teacher.
- Elbert Hubbard, American Writer and Editor