We cannot solve our problems using the same thinking we used when we created them ~ Albert Einstein
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Monthly Archives: March 2024
Compulsory Education, Anyone??
Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion has no hold on the mind. Therefore do not use compulsion, but let early education be a sort of amusement; you will then be better able to discover the child’s natural bent. ~ Plato
Educational Philosophy, Educational Methods, Curriculum Choices, and Finding a Path for Your Family Amid All the Options.
If you are new to home schooling, or even if you’ve been doing this for a while, understanding the language used around home schooling choices can be pretty confusing. Today we are going to untangle some of these ideas and see how they fit together, so you can have the type of home education experience that fits your family and your goals! First lets define some terms.
Educational Philosophy
An educational philosophy is like a compass. It describes your goal and how to get there. Charlotte Mason, Montessori, Classical Education, Waldorf, Unit Studies, Eclectic, and Unschooling are some of the philosophies of education that are popular among home educators.
https://simplycharlottemason.com/what-is-the-charlotte-mason-method/: Educational Philosophy, Educational Methods, Curriculum Choices, and Finding a Path for Your Family Amid All the Options. https://amshq.org/About-Montessori: Educational Philosophy, Educational Methods, Curriculum Choices, and Finding a Path for Your Family Amid All the Options. https://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/homeschooling-styles/waldorf-homeschooling/: Educational Philosophy, Educational Methods, Curriculum Choices, and Finding a Path for Your Family Amid All the Options. https://campfirecurriculums.com/unitstudy/: Educational Philosophy, Educational Methods, Curriculum Choices, and Finding a Path for Your Family Amid All the Options. https://www.prodigygame.com/main-en/blog/unschooling/: Educational Philosophy, Educational Methods, Curriculum Choices, and Finding a Path for Your Family Amid All the Options. https://fearlesshomeschool.com/eclectic-homeschooling/: Educational Philosophy, Educational Methods, Curriculum Choices, and Finding a Path for Your Family Amid All the Options.Educational Methods
Educational methods are like the map that will guide your way from where you start, to where you want to be educationally. Textbooks, narrations, worksheets, note-booking, game based learning, and delayed formal lessons are examples of methods used in home education.
https://thecurriculumstore.com/: Educational Philosophy, Educational Methods, Curriculum Choices, and Finding a Path for Your Family Amid All the Options. https://www.homeschooldiner.com/guide/workbooks_worktexts.html: Educational Philosophy, Educational Methods, Curriculum Choices, and Finding a Path for Your Family Amid All the Options. https://juiceboxhomeschool.com/notebooking-in-homeschool/: Educational Philosophy, Educational Methods, Curriculum Choices, and Finding a Path for Your Family Amid All the Options. https://themulberryjournal.com/activities/mathematics/ultimate-guide-gameschooling: Educational Philosophy, Educational Methods, Curriculum Choices, and Finding a Path for Your Family Amid All the Options. https://www.prairiedusttrail.com/delayed-academics.html: Educational Philosophy, Educational Methods, Curriculum Choices, and Finding a Path for Your Family Amid All the Options.Curriculum Choices
Here’s where it gets fun! Once you know what your goals are for educating your family (philosophy), and you have an idea how you would like to move toward those goals,(methods) its time to get to the nuts and bolts, the daily application through curriculum. Curriculum is the vehicle that will move you from your starting point to your goals.
Choosing a curriculum is very important because if you choose the wrong one it won’t take you where you want it to go– your compass and map will be pointing the wrong direction and you will likely end up in Riverside when you wanted to go to San Diego (true story)!
Here are some of my favorite curriculum shops:
https://simplycharlottemason.com/: Educational Philosophy, Educational Methods, Curriculum Choices, and Finding a Path for Your Family Amid All the Options. https://timberdoodle.com/: Educational Philosophy, Educational Methods, Curriculum Choices, and Finding a Path for Your Family Amid All the Options. https://www.bfbooks.com/: Educational Philosophy, Educational Methods, Curriculum Choices, and Finding a Path for Your Family Amid All the Options. https://www.commonsensepress.com/: Educational Philosophy, Educational Methods, Curriculum Choices, and Finding a Path for Your Family Amid All the Options.Putting in a Good Words for Eclectic Home Schooling and Adjusting As you Go
Some families choose to educate their children using a variety of methods and goals drawn from various educational philosophies. This can be a wonderful option! With any of these options its hard to go too far wrong as long as you are thinking through your choices and evaluating how its going as you move along, and are willing to adjust as needed. Just remember your curriculum vehicle has a steering wheel, you can change direction as needed.
Weeding Out Imposters
To find a curriculum that aligns with your educational philosophy you will need to do a little critical thinking. If a curriculum says it is “Montessori Inspired” that does not necessarily mean it aligns with Montessori philosophy, but maybe it just borrows some Montessori methods, which may be OK, or not. Look a little deeper before you buy. You can choose if it fits for your family or not.
You will need to look through the table of contents and the assignments to see if it aligns with your own ideas of how you want to spend your educational time. Is the math curriculum a spiral or master based format? It can make a difference so its good to know before you buy.
Final Word
When I started home educating my kids 30 something years ago, my philosophy of education was so, so different than it is now. I wanted to re-create a classroom experience for my kids, mostly because that’s all I knew. They had little 5yo size desks and pencil sharpeners, and a schedule and behavior charts and I wanted them to master right away all the material I taught.
Since then I have realized that my real goals aren’t test scores or college admission, but rather being able to think critically about a variety of subjects, being able to solve real life problems in practical ways, having a moral and spiritual foundation that helps them deal with real life problems small and large, and having strong character and perseverance when facing challenges, and to know Jesus as the loving caring Friend and King that I know, among other things.
Give yourself room to learn and grow. I’ve learned at least as much as my kids on this home schooling journey. As your understanding changes, so will your choices. Enjoy the Journey!
What questions do you have about philosophies, methods or curriculum choices? Ask in the comments!
Fabulous Frittata
Something new! I’ve never done a blog on food, but here we are. The last few months I’ve been working hard on lowering our food costs and eating at home more so I’ve been trying lots of new recipes and one of the family favorites has been this beauty– the ever versatile frittata. Because we can change it up so easily, its been on weekly rotation for months now.
I’ve included a fantastic recipe below from Dude That Cookz, but the thing I absolutely love about this is how many different ways you can make this and its still fantastic. Once you have the basics- the eggs and heavy cream and a little garlic and onion spices, you can literally clean out your leftovers from your fridge. Ham, bacon, sausage of any kind, half a leftover steak, or some shredded chicken? Yes please! Half a tub of pico de gallo, cherry tomatoes about to go squishy, half an onion leftover from fajitas, red or green peppers, a bag of spinach that needs to be used up? Bring it on!
No matter what I put in it, my kids seem to gobble it up, and it makes wonderful leftovers and packed lunches requiring no heating to eat. I often make mine in a square baking pan, rather than a cast iron pan so it cuts up into neat little squares for lunches. Bon Appetite!
Change
My daughter was looking at my Instagram the other day at the little bio section. It says:
“Mama<3 Home Educator<3 Advocate<3 Christian<3”
“Advocate? Advocate for WHAT?” in the way only 15yo girls can say it. I told her I advocate for lots of things, as the situation arises. Healthy eating, reducing the stigma around mental health issues, home education, literacy, history education, wild mustangs, adoption issues, foster care, sustainable and native gardening practices… the list goes on and on.
Have you ever come across a situation where things were wrong, and change was needed? Did you know what to do to help bring the change? Today I’d like to talk about how to advocate for change, for any kind of change, really but particularly one in the public arena, a social or political change.
Take a Look at Yourself
I think the first and arguably most important thing is to look at yourself. Is the way you are living your life in line with the change you want to see? If not… now is the time to make that happen. Maybe that means you stop using Round Up weed killer and use a salt an vinegar mixture instead. Maybe it means you need to start being kind to people who you suspect have a mental health challenge. Maybe it means you carry water bottles in your car and start giving them out when someone asks you for a cash handout. The point is, you want your life to represent what happens when the change has been made so your words and actions match.
Find Like Minded People
Next step is to look around and find like minded people and get together with them. Learn from them and figure out how you fit in with them. One example from my own experience right now is advocating for wild mustangs. I started out just ogling some of the fantastic photography online of wild mustangs and a rescue group that returns the mustangs to health and wide open spaces. When I was perusing these sites I learned about the problems facing the mustangs, a broken horse adoption system, corrupt Bureau of Land Management practices, and I became very motivated to see change in these areas.
I’d love to be able to run a 10k acre ranch and rescue mustangs myself– it would be a dream come true. I’d love to be able to spend days and weeks out on the open range working on my photography skills and taking pictures of these magnificent beasts to raise awareness.
Unfortunately my plot of land is only a 10’x50′ suburban backyard barely big enough for my yappy little dogs– no room for a large animal no matter how much I love them. My time and attention are taken up with home educating my wonderful children, while they wouldn’t mind me taking off for the wild places and skipping school, it might become a problem at dinner time or when someone needs a ride to sports practice. So, what can I do, that would actually help?
Speak Up!
One thing I can do, and anyone can do really with the internet, is to speak up and let your voice be heard. If its a social or political issue, you can contact your government representatives, who, through making laws and fiscal oversight can have a tremendous impact. In the example about the mustangs, congress funds the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) and sets their goals. If the people at the BLM are corrupt, congress is the one to investigate and clean it up, and change the needed policies. The only way your elected officials would know you care is if you contact them.
https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials
When you contact them, it is important to be thoughtful and offer evidence and information. No one will respond positively to threats or cursing.
Another avenue of action is to write letters to the editor or opinion pieces to be published online or in print newspapers. By providing information and persuasive reasons why the change is needed, you can motivate even more people to align their personal behavior with the change that is needed, and to speak up and let their voice be heard.
https://www.theopedproject.org/submissions
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is this…. many people feel like our world, our country and our individual lives are spinning out of control, right now. They feel like their voices are not being heard, and that everything is becoming more polarized and vicious. But there is a way out. We can use the tools given to us by the illustrious founders of our country, and speak up politely, thoughtfully, clearly and persistently until the change that is needed actually come to pass. I hope you will join me in advocating, and being the change that is needed.
It’s all in the Atmosphere!!!!
“When the atmosphere encourages learning, the learning is inevitable.” –Elizabeth Foss
“Education is an atmosphere—that is, the child breathes the atmosphere emanating from his parents; that of the ideas which rule their own lives” (Charlotte Mason in Parents and Children, p. 247).
#MotivationMonday
McCullough Peaks BLM Makes No Sense
McCullough Peaks BLM is currently conducting a gather of wild horses, and none of it makes sense. The BLM published a “plan” to gather 35 wild horses under the age of 5 years. And the plan started on November 27th and was to be completed six weeks before the foaling season starts, which is February 1st. And yet here we are on March 2 and they are still operating the bait trapping stations, and say they will operate until March 15th. So far they have removed 13 young horses and 2 older horses while BLM representatives block the roads and access for anyone who wants to observe the process.
Removing the 2 older horses makes no sense because this gather is supposed to be focused on younger horses, under 5yo. The 15 yo band stallion known on the range as San Jose was removed along with his 14 yo mare, known as Wind Winglet or Black Beauty. These horses are older and as such they are usually harder to adopt, and harder to “domesticate” and often end up in long term holding by the BLM or as failed adoptions sent to kill pens. Why such a senseless removal, that goes against their stated plan?
As senseless as this is, there is more, much more that makes no sense
According to the H-4700-1 WILD HORSES AND BURROS MANAGEMENT HANDBOOK (Public), Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management p 56 policy says a female horse is a “mare” on January 1 the year after her birth, and they are gathering foals 4-6 months old and listing them as “mares”. Nowhere else is a female horse under 4 years old called a mare. A foal is newborn to 12 months, a yearling is between 12 and 24 months and a horse remains a filly or colt until they are mature at 4 years old. A mare is a female horse, typically one that is breeding age (4 yrs and up). By BLM logic a week old baby could be considered a “mare” if she was born in late December.
Of the first 13 horses gathered from McCullough Peaks this year there are 4 foals, 3 yearlings, and 6 under 4 years of age. Why would the BLM have a policy to change the established language referencing the age of young horses? What, exactly, are they concealing?
Kat Ballou, a yearling but listed as a mare by the BLM in their records, was one of the first horses removed from McCullough Peaks, and she is dead now from acute head and neck trauma, according to a report from the Bureau of Land Management. Kat Ballou had been separated from her mother and left unattended overnight with three other young horses who were also removed from their mothers and somehow sustained head and neck trauma and died right there in the BLM pen, alone and unobserved. This negligent treatment of federally-protected wild horses must not be allowed to continue.The BLM took only a few days to “investigate” and decided that they followed all their policies and did nothing wrong… Kat Ballou was just an oopsie and no need to change anything or look further.
Well that’s something, all right. They don’t follow their own policies. They change words to make themselves look better or conceal their real actions. They don’t allow outside observation of their operations. Young horses, a Federally protected species, are dying at the hands of the very agency charged with protecting them. Wyoming officials are well known to be anti-wild horse and burro, and very very hard nosed in their stance on these issues. My conclusion is that The Bureau of Land Management is corrupt and apparently beholden to private ranching interests, as that is who will benefit when the wild horses are gone.
As a voter, tax payer and human being, I am asking you and your colleagues to stop the out of control BLM by putting an immediate halt to the McCullough Peaks bait trap operation, return the still living horses who have been removed, and use the appropriate congressional oversight to investigate the corrupt BLM. Do it now, while we still have wild horses at McCullough Peaks, an iconic symbol of freedom, and the American West.
Sincerely,
Kristen Claussen {Sent to my representatives today)
Be Fruitful 