Homeschool Methods

When we began homeschooling many years ago, I really didn’t understand the entire concept of homeschooling.  For the first couple of years, I tried to do school at home – scheduling assignments rigidly, only taking scheduled breaks, only doing school work in a certain spot, etc…  I could tell that our kids were not content with the way homeschooling was going, so I began to do some research.  (And, once I start researching something it always has a way of snowballing!)

     I have a lot of homeschooling friends.  They use every method imaginable.  Some are Charlotte Mason, some are Thomas Jefferson, some are school at home, some are eclectic, and some are completely unschooling.  Let me tell you, as I was researching these terms I felt like I had fallen into some type of homeschooling vortex from which I would never return.  There were aspects of each method (many more than are even listed above) that I liked and aspects that I didn’t like.  We tried and tried different things.  Most failed.

    After all of this searching, I have come to the conclusion that we are a very eclectic homeschooling family.  What does that mean?  Well, I don’t know what the ‘official’ definition of eclectic homeschooling is, but for us it means we find what works and use it – even if it means our curriculum is a mixture of many different methods.  Having six kids has taught me that people do not all learn the same way.  I cannot place my kids into an educational mold and expect them to fit.  I have acquired many different curricula in any subject area we study and we try things out until we find what works.  This means that sometimes we begin a school year with one math curriculum, for example, and we switch to another mid-year.  I know, hard and fast experienced educators cringe at the thought of doing that.  I used to be one of those, too.  But, when it comes to my children, I work with them everyday and I try to make sure they are actually grasping concepts.  If they are not understanding something, a change in curriculum for a lesson or two – or even a semester – can give them a new insight and help them ‘get it.’

     What method do you use in your homeschooling adventure?  Check out other posts on our ‘Back to Homeschool’ blog hop to read about other homeschooling families and their methods.