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Homeschool styles?
- Thread starter windblown
- Start date
New here
Thought I'd chime in because I love this subject!I homeschooled my children; they are all adults now and I'm helping with my grandchildren. I was atheist at the start, so it wasn't for religious reasons. I just wanted my children to be able to think and learn for themselves, and not be drones or lemmings. I never did like school, so I stayed away from the 'school at home' and instead did what I think most would call "unschooling", but I did have some structure and rules. I was a single mom and we were all very close; besides when I was at work, we all had the same schedule and did things like chores, meals, and learning together. Our main source of learning was nature - lots of hiking, nature study, and nature journaling. I learned about Charlotte Mason's ideas and took from her copywork and dictation to learn how to write properly [used whatever books they were currently interested in] - and the idea of "living books" or "twaddle-free books". No junk in our home. I also ditched the tv (again, not for religious reasons, but because I saw that it was mostly trash). We checked out books and educational dvds from the library, and my main rule was they had to be learning something.
I bought whatever curriculum caught their eye - the teacher's manual so they had all of the information. They really were not interested in most curriculum, but they did have a few things sitting around. The one exception to this is I did have them all go through Rod & Staff's 5th grade English book ... all the English grammar they would ever need to know. One child decided to dig a little deeper on his own. A curriculum they all enjoyed reading was Life of Fred (math). SO fun. We visited the library once a week so they could refresh their stock. They were all responsible for their own books and I made them learn how to use the card catalog system to find books. The librarian in our home town just loved us and learned to know what each child was interested in and would have things waiting for them each week. She was such a sweet woman! My youngest read all things gardening, bugs, trains, and engineering. My oldest read all things math, music, and science. My daughter was mostly interested in history and art (including sewing).
We also did one activity a week; my only rule was: it had to be something we could all do together: they chose a homeschooling art class and a music class that we all went to at the same time. My dad paid for it
And above all, whether when I was still atheist or when I started to walk with the Lord / Yah, my main focus was character. I mean, who cares if you can do chemistry and trig if you cannot respect the person next to you or help the old woman down the street?
As adults in this crazy world, they would all be considered quite successful - not saying that to boast, but just to say "it works". All they need is a loving home with room to grow. Encouragement. A healthy environment. Mama knows best!!
In full disclosure - my youngest didn't learn how to read good until he was about 9 1/2, and always had a hard time with writing and spelling (though we really did try!!!). To this day he cannot do either to save his life, and that's not an exaggeration. Something in his brain is just wired differently, and he sees / writes numbers instead of letters. And my oldest struggled with some kind of dyslexia to where he would literally miss every word that did not have a picture in his head [especially words like of, and, the, to, etc, but other words, too]. Once we realized he was missing these kinds of words, we worked on reading out loud more (before that I was mostly the one that read out loud, and we read together every night).
I got The Good and The Beautiful a few years ago for myself (just trying to keep my brain fresh!!). It is a very beautiful curriculum, easy to use, and it is biblically based without pushing a specific denomination ... per se. I mean, it was written by a Mormon, but there is not even a hint of their religion in it (not that I've seen so far). I got the Pre-K for my grandson and he just loves it
It does have a Charlotte Mason feel to it with the picture studies and art and whatnot, but it does not strictly follow Charlotte Mason. There's also Ambleside Online - I used their "twaddle free" booklist for ideas on books to read together, but they have an entire Charlotte Mason style curriculum for free.
That’s a quite detailed description! Thank you!New here
I homeschooled my children; they are all adults now and I'm helping with my grandchildren. I was atheist at the start, so it wasn't for religious reasons. I just wanted my children to be able to think and learn for themselves, and not be drones or lemmings. I never did like school, so I stayed away from the 'school at home' and instead did what I think most would call "unschooling", but I did have some structure and rules. I was a single mom and we were all very close; besides when I was at work, we all had the same schedule and did things like chores, meals, and learning together. Our main source of learning was nature - lots of hiking, nature study, and nature journaling. I learned about Charlotte Mason's ideas and took from her copywork and dictation to learn how to write properly [used whatever books they were currently interested in] - and the idea of "living books" or "twaddle-free books". No junk in our home. I also ditched the tv (again, not for religious reasons, but because I saw that it was mostly trash). We checked out books and educational dvds from the library, and my main rule was they had to be learning something.
I bought whatever curriculum caught their eye - the teacher's manual so they had all of the information. They really were not interested in most curriculum, but they did have a few things sitting around. The one exception to this is I did have them all go through Rod & Staff's 5th grade English book ... all the English grammar they would ever need to know. One child decided to dig a little deeper on his own. A curriculum they all enjoyed reading was Life of Fred (math). SO fun. We visited the library once a week so they could refresh their stock. They were all responsible for their own books and I made them learn how to use the card catalog system to find books. The librarian in our home town just loved us and learned to know what each child was interested in and would have things waiting for them each week. She was such a sweet woman! My youngest read all things gardening, bugs, trains, and engineering. My oldest read all things math, music, and science. My daughter was mostly interested in history and art (including sewing).
We also did one activity a week; my only rule was: it had to be something we could all do together: they chose a homeschooling art class and a music class that we all went to at the same time. My dad paid for it
And above all, whether when I was still atheist or when I started to walk with the Lord / Yah, my main focus was character. I mean, who cares if you can do chemistry and trig if you cannot respect the person next to you or help the old woman down the street?
As adults in this crazy world, they would all be considered quite successful - not saying that to boast, but just to say "it works". All they need is a loving home with room to grow. Encouragement. A healthy environment. Mama knows best!!
In full disclosure - my youngest didn't learn how to read good until he was about 9 1/2, and always had a hard time with writing and spelling (though we really did try!!!). To this day he cannot do either to save his life, and that's not an exaggeration. Something in his brain is just wired differently, and he sees / writes numbers instead of letters. And my oldest struggled with some kind of dyslexia to where he would literally miss every word that did not have a picture in his head [especially words like of, and, the, to, etc, but other words, too]. Once we realized he was missing these kinds of words, we worked on reading out loud more (before that I was mostly the one that read out loud, and we read together every night).
I got The Good and The Beautiful a few years ago for myself (just trying to keep my brain fresh!!). It is a very beautiful curriculum, easy to use, and it is biblically based without pushing a specific denomination ... per se. I mean, it was written by a Mormon, but there is not even a hint of their religion in it (not that I've seen so far). I got the Pre-K for my grandson and he just loves it
LOL. Pretty much.
But in all seriousness, the idea of a boxed curriculum is such a new thing. "We" have only "needed" boxed curriculums (or public schools) for just a short part of our recent history. I just think: what have we been doing for most of history? A living education. Children learning right alongside mother, father, aunt, uncle, older sibling, grandparents, etc. They were actually an asset to the family at such a young age, needing to contribute to the family cause (farming? cooking? carpentry? whatever). They all had jobs to do, and things were expected of them. Now this is called child abuse [while at the same time allowing a kid to sit on their butts all day long playing video games or chatting on social media is NOT considered child abuse; I am 100% in opposition to that belief]. I don't cuss, but if I did I'd add in a few choice words here for emphasis. It's just terrible and shameful and unfortunate how things have been turned so upside down and backwards.
Have you [speaking to anyone I guess!] read, "Folks, This Ain't Normal" by Joel Salatin? Great book! And it really speaks to my heart. Another book that was foundational to my homeschooling efforts was, "The Successful Homeschool Family Handbook" by Raymond and Dorothy Moore. Lots of food for thought. I'm not saying I agree 100% with everything in these books, but they were a great blessing to me. The Moores have another book called, "Minding Your Own Business" that also really influenced me "back then". It helped me get my children in to getting their own businesses started, helped me see the vital necessity of making sure they were ministering to others, and it really fit into the vision I had for my children when they became adults.
This is a perfect description of our youngest who, like yours enjoys equipment and hard work. About two years ago we utilized a system of retraining the brain that really, really helped him in the area of spelling and math. The lady who worked with us is a member here, I'm trying to remember her 'handle.' I do have her name and email, I'll send that via PM... Anyway, short story is that in a five or six month period, investing a little time each day, we saw quite large results.
His brain is wired for numbers ... he knew complicated math (complicated for his age) and never used a curriculum - it's just built in to him. I discovered this by accident one day when he was 4 years old - he was sitting on the floor building something and said, "Mom, 4 plus 4 is 8" and I just thought he was copying what he heard from his sister, so I started quizzing him. He knew every answer to everything I asked him regardless of whether it was subtraction, addition, multiplication, division, and even basic fractions and percentages. We got up into double and triple digits with no issues, and it was all in his little 4-year-old head. At the same time / age I was trying to teach him the alphabet by using flashcards and having him trace in sand and make clay letters with playdoh (etc... I covered all the learning styles). He just could not get it. I noticed his lips were always moving when he was trying to say the letter, so I started listening to what he was whispering very quietly ... he was whispering the letter's place in the alphabet. A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, D = 4, and so on. I asked him about it. He COULD NOT say the letter until he counted it first, regardless of what letter it was or what 'learning style' we were doing. He could write letters and numbers before he could read, however once he started trying to write words he would use lots of numbers instead of letters (the same issue except only with the single-digit letters - ex: instead of a "C" he would write a "3", and the "3" was always backwards, too. Now that I think of it, he did the majority of his numbers and some of his letters backwards). Very strange!!!!
We tried several ways to help him learn how to write and spell, but nothing ever clicked for him. I honestly believe it's just how his brain is wired and it's a weakness for him. His issues have not hindered him in life one bit; he's very successful and in high demand in our area. HOWEVER his issues do keep him humble, so that's good!! I think it's good to have some shortcomings that are super obvious, especially when you're good at everything else!
You know?! We live in a smaller town and all of the ladies at the bank have known him since he was about 14. They don't make him sign his deposits or fill out deposit slips. If he ever has to sign something like with a lawyer, he shortens his name to initials and everyone is fine with that. And then he got married last year ... so she does a lot of that for him now. Maybe there is some kind of name for what's "wrong" with him? I never checked in to it because I was such a rebel with labels. I did not want my children to go to college, so it didn't matter anyway.
Well, that was a fun trip down memory lane! Thanks!!!!
Is it a weakness, or do people just perceive it to be a weakness because he is different? Maybe Yah has a particular reason for his 'gift' with numbers... Glad he has a good woman that balances him in his area of need!
Maybe 'weakness' was not the best choice of words
because it hasn't hindered him one bit ... but like I said, it does help keep him humble. I think it's good to have "weaknesses" (or whatever word fits there!!!). His wife is the sweetest thing
Excellent approach!