When it comes to home educating your kids, your philosophy of education is probably the biggest of big ideas, and it will guide everything that happens in your kids education– even if you don’t know what it is or that you have one. Owch!
So lets talk a bit about what a philosophy of education is, and how to chose one that fits for your family, instead of just drifting along with whatever ideas happen to stick. 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. Here are some links that describe some educational philosophies:
So as you are reading through these links, I encourage you to branch out, find other web sites and books that talk about the big ideas of how to teach your kids, and look at what each philosophy values and how they accomplish instilling these things into children. As you read and see different things you will probably find yourself leaning toward certain ideas, and this is how you build your own philosophy. Where the values line up, where the goals speak to you, where you see ideas you know are true and you want to include, that’s where your personal philosophy starts, and you can start to apply the philosophy to your choice of methods and curriculum and educate on purpose.
Without having a philosophy of education we often get swept up in whatever new and shiney fads or ideas come by and we often don’t end up with the end result we wanted. So, share in the comments where are you in your journey with an educational philosophy?
Be Fruitful 