Our Homeschool "Approach"

Someone asked me the other day what "method" I use to homeschool and to be honest we don't really fall into a "method."  So I described what we do during a typical day.  That seemed to appease them.  Of course when I came home I hopped on the computer and looked up homeschool methods.  I came across a number of blogs that talked about how "determining what homeschool approach works best for your family" is extremely important.  Maybe that's my problem.  Each year it seems as though we have to revise our homeschool plan; what may have worked last year may not (and probably won't) work this year.

With that being said, these are the areas in which I believe we fall.

Charlotte Mason Method
I've always thought the Charotte Mason method was interesting but not entirely for us.  It centers on the respect for children and their learning by first-hand, real-life situations.  This method believes that the knowledge of God is the primary and most important knowledge.

There are three parts to the Mason method.  They are an atmosphere, a discipline, and life.  As we all know children absorb a lot from their home and social environments (atmosphere); that parents and loved ones should encourage good habits (discipline); and that children should be given living thoughts and ideas, not just "dry facts" (life).

Multiple Mason sites talk about giving their children time to play, to create and the ability to be involved in real-life situations.  They also talk about going on nature walks and visiting art museums.  Lessons are short that focus on daily scheduled activities, so the brain "doesn't become overly stressed" with a singular task.

All of these websites talk about activities we do with our homeschool.  I found it interesting how they labeled each area.  If you just go by "the method", I agree with all of it.  So let's continue...

Eclectic
I think our family falls almost entirely in this category.  Eclectic homeschool is just that.  It's a hodge-podge of several different styles of learning.  Outsiders sometimes comment that the children aren't learning enough, or aren't disciplined enough.  We don't use one particular curriculum but a wide variety of resources (i.e.  YouTube, Netflix, workbooks, etc.)  We visit the library, local museums, and other local attractions.

Unit Studies
This is something we used more of a couple of years ago.  Unit Studies take a specific area of interest and use it to develop an in depth study that spans across all of the major subject areas - math, language arts (grammar, spelling, and reading), history, science, and art.  Several years ago we had so much fun with this type of schooling but I thought it was a lot of work to prepare.

Kira loved studying Egypt this is way as I did.  We incorporated tons of books and videos that centered on specific areas of Egypt.  She loved learning about Egyptian gods/goddesses but her favorite was learning about King Tut and Nefertiti.  She also found the pyramids fascinating.  We both learned more about the embalming process and rituals involved.  There were a couple of activities I would have loved to tackle.  One of which embalming either a chicken or Barbie.

With Unit Studies, you focus on a particular topic that the student was interested in.  Children learn more when they are learning about a topic they are interested in.  Heck, I think we all do!

As my conversation continued with this group of homeschooling parents, I was asked what I enjoy most about homeschooling.  One word - freedom.  The freedom to select from all the different educational styles and inspirational ideas from other homeschool families and teachers (and Pintrest!)