If you haven't determined by now
you soon will that when it comes to homeschooling your child
there are a number of ‘methods' and teaching
approaches that you will come across.
In an effort
to give you at least a high level understanding of some of
the homeschooling teaching approaches here are some of the
more usually defined in no particular order of preference or
popularity.
Unit Studies:
The idea behind using a Unit Study
approach to teaching or homeschooling is that you make best
use of your child's natural interests. Say for instance that
your child has a natural interest about planets and space.
You would use this interest through most all of the subject
matters that you could. For instance, your reading skill
building would include stories that involved space travel or
the planets and solar system. Your math would associate
distance, relative size and such around the planets and
objects in space. Of course, your history would include that
of space travel and so on. The advantage of this type of
homeschool approach is obviously you are capitalizing on
natural interests of your child. The cautionary note is for
parents to become to enthusiastic and not explore any new
interest and even burn the child out on their initial
interest in something.
Relaxed or Eclectic
Homeschooling:
Probably the method used most by
homeschoolers (I've got my hand up here). Because most
homeschoolers have a strong sense of independence and they
enjoy the flexibility that a homeschool schedule provides,
this method fits the bill for many. The relaxed more
eclectic approach to homeschool is one more pragmatic in
nature. Experimenting with various techniques, buffing and
polishing them until they get produce the best results for
them.
Unschooling:
Unschooling is known as the
natural, interest led approach to homeschooling. Parents
that Unschool teach from everyday life experiences and do
not use any type of formal lessons. The children learn by
following their natural curiosity guided by answers,
explanations, and the teaching of the parents. The
disadvantage to Unschooling is that since the kids have
followed and researched on their own schedule, they may not
do as well on grade-level types of assessments and may find
it harder to adapt to a traditional school or educational
setting should they have to re-enter.
Classical Homeschooling:
Classical teaching methods have
their roots from the Middle Ages. This approach is
responsible for educating some of the greatest minds in
history. The classical approach is teaching people how to
learn for themselves. The five tools of learning (the
Trivium) are reason, record, research, relate, and rhetoric.
Young children begin with preparation, where they learn
basic reading skills, writing, and arithmetic. Then comes
grammar with sentence structure and composition. All heading
toward the dialiectic stage, where serious reading, study,
and intense research begins and continues.
Charlotte Mason Method:
At its core this homeschool
teaching approach believes that children learn best from
real life situations. According to Charlotte, children
should be given time to play, create, and be involved in
real-life situations. Parents who subscribe to this
methodology take nature walks, visit museums, and engage in
other learning activities from “living books”. Children
demonstrate their knowledge and progress not through
testing, but rather narration and discussion.
These are few of the
homeschool teaching approaches that you may
discover as you begin your research and journey. Certainly
not all of the methods available, but I hope this gives you
a bit of a boost.
