Homeschooling is a Piece of Cake VII

The 4 R's

Once you have found the philosophy that works best for your family it’s time to start laying the foundation of their education. This is our first layer of cake. If this layer is not strong then the rest of the cake will crumble. The first lay of cake are what I call the four Rs. I am not going to tell you how to teach them because the philosophy your family embraces will ultimately determine your expectations and methods. But I am going to go over why they are the foundation.

The first R is Reading. I do want you to understand why reading is important. Reading is the fundamental method by which we access information. If you are able to read you are able to educate yourself about anything. The term literate is almost synonymous with educated. When your children can read you will find that your role becomes more of a facilitator then a teacher. Besides, it makes traveling much easier.

The second R is writing. Writing is the output of reading. If you are able to write you are able to express your thoughts and ideas with others. Writing allows you to communicate not only with those alive here and now but also with those yet to come.

The third R is arithmetic. Math is how we quantify the universe. It is how we balance a checkbook, figure out a mortgage, determine if we have enough paint, average runs, measure time, and double or triple a recipe, and make sure we didn’t lose a kid.

The final R is religion. There is a saying that you save the best for last. What you teach your child about the spiritual realm will affect them not just now but forever. This is the ONLY subject you will teach that has eternal consequences. That makes it the most foundational subject of all.

If the four R’s are the only subjects you ever teach you children they will have the foundation necessary live as productive members of society. They will have the core knowledge they need to be considered educated adults.

You now have a quality cake to serve to your family. But because we're homeschoolers and we're overachievers we are going to add a second layer to this cake. These are the subjects that make learning interesting. I admit it; this is where the real fun begins!

Homeschooling is a Piece of Cake VI

Charlotte Mason aka Living Books


Charlotte Mason, a turn of century British educator. Miss Mason was appalled by several tendencies she noticed in modern education. (1) The tendency to treat children as containers to be filled with predigested information instead of as human beings. (2) The tendency to break down knowledge into thousands of isolated bits of information to be fed into “container” children. (3) The tendency to engineer artificial learning experiences. She believed in what she called “twaddle”-worthless, inferior teaching material. She considered education a failure when it produced children able to “do harder sums and read harder books” who lacked “moral and real-life situations, and given ample time to play and create.

Mason’s approach to academics was to teach basic reading, writing, and math skills, then exposes children to the best sources of knowledge for all other subjects. This meant giving children experiences like nature walks. Observing and collecting wildlife; visiting art museums; and reading real books with “living ideas.” She called such books “living books” because they made the subject “come alive” unlike textbooks that tend to be dry and dull and assume the reader cannot think for him/herself.





Websites about Charlotte Mason:

Simply Charlotte Mason

Charlotte Mason Research and Supply Co.

Ambleside

Charlotte Mason Education

Homeschooling is a Piece of Cake V

Classical Education

The Classical Education philosophy has produced great minds throughout history. The modern proponent of the Classical model was British writer and medieval scholar Dorothy Sayers. As the Nazis rose to power in the 1930s, Sayers warned that schools were teaching children everything except how to think. Because young adults could no longer think for themselves, Sayers felt that they could be easily influenced by whatever tyrant came along. To remedy this, Sayers proposed reinstating the classical form of education used in the Middle Ages.

In Classical Education, children under 18 are taught the tools of learning collectively known as The Trivium. The Trivium has three parts, each part corresponding to a childhood developmental stage.

The first stage of the Trivium, the Grammar Stage, covers early elementary ages and focuses on reading, writing, and spelling; the study of Latin; and developing observation, listening and memorization skills. The goal of this stage is to master the elements of language and develop a general framework of knowledge.
At approximately middle school age children begin to demonstrate independent or abstract thought (usually by becoming argumentative or opinionated). This signals the begging of the Dialect Stage or “Logic” stage in which the child’s tendency to argue is molded and shaped by teaching logical discussion, debate, and how to draw correct conclusions and support them with facts. The goal of this stage is to equip the child with the language and thinking skills capable f the detecting fallacies in an argument. Latin study is continued, with the possible addition of Greek and Hebrew. The student reads essays, arguments, and criticisms instead of literature as I the Grammar Stage. History study leans toward interpreting events. Higher math and theology begin.

The final of phase of the Trivim, The Rhetoric Stage, seeks to produce a student who can use language, both written and spoken, eloquently and persuasively. Students are usually ready for this stage by age 15.

This is the philosophy that I would say that I follow. I do however borrow heavily from the other educational models.












Websites for Classical Education:

The Well Trained Mind

Veritats Press

Trivium Pursuit

Memoria Press

Thomas Jefferson Education

Homeschooling is a Piece of Cake IV

Unschooling

The Unschooling philosophy is defined by John Holt, a 20th century American educator. He concluded that children have an innate desire to learn and a curiosity that drives them to learn what they need to know when they need to know it. Holt believed that both the desire and curiosity are destroyed by the usual methods of teaching. In his book Teach Your Own, Holt wrote “What children need is not a new better curricula but access to more and more of the real world; plenty of time and space to think over their experiences, and to use fantasy and play to make meaning out of them; and advice, road maps, guidebooks, to make it easier for then to get where they want to go (not where we think they ought to go), and find out what they want to find out.”

Unschooling has come to mean a less structured learning approach that allows children to pursue their interest with parental support and guidance, and lets children learn by being included in the life of adults. The child is surrounded by a rich environment of books, learning resources and adults who model a lifestyle of learning and are willing to interact with him. Formal academics, IF pursued at all, are pursued when the need arises. In this approach, children are apprenticed or “discipled” by adults who include him in what they are doing. In the process, the child learns everything the adult knows. And possibly a great deal more. Christians who favor less structured schooling, but with definite goals, prefer to be called “relaxed home educators”

One of my favorite stories that demonstrates Unschooling was told to me by my mentor Mrs. W. When Mrs W.'s daughter E .W. was about twelve years old she heard that the Lady Washington was going to be in the Seattle area. Since she loved tall ships (the name of ships with the tall mast and sails) her family decided to make a field trip of it. They were given the opportunity to go on board. E .W. asked a lot of questions and really impressed the crew with her knowledge and interest in tall ships. At the end of their time together the crew told the family that they would be in the Westport, WA area and invited them to see the ship again.

The family made the trip to Westport and once again had the opportunity to see the Lady Washington. This time she got to spend the weekend on the ship . After this trip Mrs. W. got a phone call. It was the crew of the Lady Washington. They wanted E .W. to take the two-week training to be a crew member of the Ship. The cost was around $250.00. Mrs. W. thanked them for the opportunity and talked with E.W. about it. Mrs. W. was concerned that her daughter was still too young and thought taking the time to earn the money to pay for the training would be a good plan. The crew called back again. They liked E.W. so much that they were going to waive the fee for her to take the training . So E.W. got the training to be a crew member aboard the Lady Washington. Then some time later the family got another phone call. E.W. was given the opportunity to help them to sail the Lady Washington to St. Vincent in the Caribbean. This would involve sailing from Washington state, through the Panama Canal, and across the Caribbean Sea. The Lady Washington was going to be used in the making of the movie The Pirates of the Caribbean:Curse of the Black Pearl. At the start of the voyage, E.W. was fifteen years old. After thinking and a lot of prayer, Mr. and Mrs. W. decided to let her go. E.W. was gone for ten months. E.W. not only helped to sail the ship but she was also an extra in the movie. Today E.W. has achieved the rank of Captain, but still prefers the job of Bosun, which is taking care of all the wooden parts and lines of a tall ship. You never know what road will open up when you let your children follow their dreams.

Thank you so much Mrs. W and E.W. for letting me share your story! Best wishes as you follow the road less traveled!

Do you have a great unschooling story? Post it here!




Natural Child.Org

Unschooling.com

unschooling.org

If you have made it this far down the post I have a question for you. Did you try all of the Lady Washington Links? They all go to a different site!

Homeschooling is a Piece of Cake III

The Unit Studies Approach

A Unit Study involves taking a theme or topic (a unit of study) and delving into it deeply over a period of time, integrating language arts, science, social studies, math, and fine arts as they apply. Instead of studying eight or ten separate, unrelated subjects, all subjects are blended together and studied around a common theme or project. For example, a unit study on birds could include reading and writing about birds and famous ornithologist (language arts); studying the parts, functions, and life cycles of birds and perhaps even aerodynamics of flight (science and math); determining the migrating paths, habitats, and ecological/sociological impact of birds (social studies); sketching familiar birds (art); building birdhouses or birdfeeders (hands on activates) and so forth.

One of my favorite Unit Studies involved a comparison of The War Of The Worlds by H.G. Wells. First they read the book which was published in 1898. Then they listened to Orson Wells 1938 radio broadcast. This was followed by watching the 1953 film and the 2005 film. This showed a progression of storytelling over time. There is even a musical adaptation. To see a more complete list check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds

This just shows that you are not limited when you use unit studies. Be creative and have fun, you never know what you (and your kids) might learn.

Some of my favorite Unit Study Resources are:



http://www.konos.com/index.html

http://www.easyfunschool.com/

http://www.unitstudy.com/