Tag Archives: Classical Education

An Easy Start to Your Home School Year

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So you have decided to take the plunge– you are going to start homeschooling your kids. You’ve read everything you can get your hands on, you’ve bought all the cute and fun supplies, you’ve told your extended family and tried to calm their concerns, you agonized over curriculum and deciding if your 5 year old should start now or next year…

And now you think you are ready. Before you take that first big step (or really any time after you have already started) I would like to share the very best home education advice I ever got. It’s saved my bacon more times than I can count, and I dearly wish I could remember who originally said it.

“Start out slow, and then ease up”

OK, take a breath and let it out slowly…….. and then read it again.

“Start out slow, and then ease up”

For many home educators this is one of the hardest things… there is so much intensity about wanting to do it right and for many people that means doing it all.- if you are willing to put in the time to home educate your kids its a fair bet that you are pretty passionate about the results. And then our anxiety wants us to do it ALL THE TIME.

But doing it all, and doing it all right, and doing it all the time is not actually an attainable goal. If that’s what you are trying to do it will be overwhelming and really hard on the kids, and then they end up hating school. Ask me how I know? I did exactly this and had to learn a new way.

So I invite you to try a different way. If you have a little one just starting school, a few minutes a day is really all that is needed, One of my kiddos was very bouncy and ADHD and literally had an attention span that lasted 2 minutes when we started formal lessons at 6yo. We slowly expanded that to a more age appropriate level over the next few years but we did all the behavioral things to help, plenty of exercise, honored the child’s need to physically move, and slowly stretched it out, slowly adding subjects over weeks and months, and spreading them throughout the day.

Photo by Ylanite Koppens on Pexels.com

If you have older kids and the school year is just starting, you don’t have to jump into every book on the first day. Some of our best years have started with a first day of school tea party, where we reviewed what we are doing for the school year i.e. “this year we are studying the Greeks, and will study life science and learn to use a microscope and write even better than we did last year” and then read some poems and then just let them look at the new books, do an easy assignment or two and then we went to the park.

The next day when we started we just did a couple subjects and every few days added some new subjects/activities until we were at full capacity. After a few days off we would start slowly again, although building back up faster if we had only been off a short time. Slow and gentle takes the bite out of having to get back to work!

Here are some more ideas for an easy start to your home schooling year:

10 ways to start easy this homeschool year

Compulsory Education, Anyone??

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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.

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Photo by Ylanite Koppens on Pexels.com

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!