Every homeschooler that I have met in this little town I live in (3 so far) is using the textbook model to teach their children! I'm shocked.
The different models, simplified:
- Relaxed model: let your kid do whatever they want and push nothing.
- Unschooling: let your kid lead their own education, supporting everything they are interested in with books, field trips, mentors, textbooks, or whatever is required for them to learn what they want to learn, as long as they want to learn it. Push nothing and trust that they will be interested in things that will require them to learn how to do math, writing, and reading, eventually.
- Textbook model: buy a program, either online or with texts, and follow a "canned" curriculum in all the traditional subjects.
- Eclectic model: do a little of this model and that model, whatever you think will work best for your kid.
- Unit model: study one big subject, usually in science or history, for an extended length of time (from 6 weeks on up, as long as the kids stay interested) such as The Oregon Trail, Marine Biology, or Ancient Egypt. Incorporate all traditional subjects into the unit, or as many that fit.
- Freeschooling: I've only heard this term from my friend. It involves making your child do a minimum of regular schoolwork to get the basics in math, reading, and writing. Unschool the rest.
- Classical model: an intensive and rigorous study of the basics with emphasis on languages, history, and writing.
I wanted to do the classical model but Mi'ita ixnayed that one. I've ended up freeschooling, which fits her personality and mine well enough. She's rather unschool, but I can't let go enough for that. With freeschooling I get my requirements for a decent education done--math, writing, and language (Latin) with daily exercise. I don't worry about reading. She gets to direct the rest of her education. Right now she is fixated on ancient Egypt. There's quite a bit of science involved in studying ancient history, and she loves science so I'm not concerned.
Anyway, I figured that the reason people homeschool is because they think that their child would get a better education at home. I figured that the benefits of tailoring your child's education would be the big draw.
I'm flat flabbergasted that homeschoolers would be doing basically the same thing they do at school, just at home. Granted, two of the homeschoolers I talked to are brand new this year, and perhaps they don't know the other options. The other one has been homeschooling for 5 years and her curriculum, A Beka, works fine for her two daughters.
I guess I have just been involved in schools for too long. I have used textbooks myself and have seen so many drawbacks to them that they hold no appeal for me.
That said, I did buy a canned curriculum for math and I am following it.
I haven't talked to a lot of homeschooling parents, but the few I have, I remember as taking different tracks. I remember some of them doing the canned thing because their children would have been in a regular school setting, with textbooks, but couldn't function in such a setting (severe ADHD or whatever). So they're just doing the same as their classmates, only at home.
ReplyDeleteI vaguely remember talking to some parents who went either the unschooling route or the eclectic routes. For sure I remember some made the choice not so much because they wanted a better education, per se, but because they wanted to incorporate their faith and either couldn't afford private school or didn't feel that was the best way to do it. And then there are a few - very few, mind you, overall, but they are out there - who simply signed up for "homeschooling" to get away from a truant officer.
I likely would choose the canned route myself, supplemented with parts of a unit model and *maybe* occasional unschooling. But that's probably because I'm not a teacher and would be worried my kids would miss something critical if I didn't have a map to follow that had been put together by a professional. In time, maybe I'd grow confident enough to put my own spin on it.
But as we know, I ain't goin' there. :)
I guess most people are concerned their kids would miss something if they don't follow a curriculum. That's why I'm doing it that way in math--I don't have confidence in my own ability to make it up as I go along and cover it all.
ReplyDeleteI think people think that educators know something they don't when it comes to education. There certainly is a lot of research about it, and they market themselves as 'the experts.' As an ex-'expert', though, I know that there is more than one way to skin a cat. Educators do research on how best to educate in the school setting. Outside the school setting, all bets are off.