Don't You Just Love...
Don't you just love all the different ways people homeschool their children? I mean there is classical, eclectic, traditional, unschooling, unit studies, the list just seems to go on. When I go onto a homeschool website or blog I get to peek into what others are doing and I find it so encouraging. Some people are dedicated to a certain method, and some use differing methods depending on the child.
I was recently reading some education posts on Momys, particularly on about Alpha & Omega. It is so interesting to see how for some they really enjoy this curriculum, but for me I thought it didn't have enough depth or really teach anything. I guess it is all in our perception. On Spunky's site, she had made a comment about textbooks only being the appetizer, and the real meal was in other books. She felt that textbooks were inferior (please see her correction on this assumption I made in the comments below). On Titus2 Teri Maxwell shares how she used many other methods and wore herself out teaching and then prayerfully switched to Texts. Her older children shared how they wished they would have been taught from texts all along they felt the education was superior.
For myself personally, I am using texts this year. After the texts arrive, I am hoping to purchase some "real" books to accompany these and have them as required reading on the topics covered in the texts. But for me at this stage this is what I am using. I also have Student of the Word curriculum, and this is the phonics program I use. As my children approach high school, I will switch back to S.O.W. as our complete curriculum. But for all the grades and younger children I have I felt we needed something else for now.
But I just love the incredible diversity in the homeschool community! It challenges me to think and do better in educating my children!
I was recently reading some education posts on Momys, particularly on about Alpha & Omega. It is so interesting to see how for some they really enjoy this curriculum, but for me I thought it didn't have enough depth or really teach anything. I guess it is all in our perception. On Spunky's site, she had made a comment about textbooks only being the appetizer, and the real meal was in other books. She felt that textbooks were inferior (please see her correction on this assumption I made in the comments below). On Titus2 Teri Maxwell shares how she used many other methods and wore herself out teaching and then prayerfully switched to Texts. Her older children shared how they wished they would have been taught from texts all along they felt the education was superior.
For myself personally, I am using texts this year. After the texts arrive, I am hoping to purchase some "real" books to accompany these and have them as required reading on the topics covered in the texts. But for me at this stage this is what I am using. I also have Student of the Word curriculum, and this is the phonics program I use. As my children approach high school, I will switch back to S.O.W. as our complete curriculum. But for all the grades and younger children I have I felt we needed something else for now.
But I just love the incredible diversity in the homeschool community! It challenges me to think and do better in educating my children!
posted by Dee at 5:44 AM
5 Comments:
It is a blessing that we are homeschooling at a season where there is SO much available. I wonder how our forerunners managed. They were our trailblazers, so to speak and I am thankful for them!
Me too!
It's true we all homeschool differently. But to clarify, I never said that textbooks are inferior. Nor do I believe that is necessarily true.
I merely stated that a diet of strictly textbooks kills the appetite for learning. Which was in reference to the main post about the public school teacher saying that the children have no longer a love for reading because of textbooks.
We use textbooks in our homeshooling. That may come as a surprise. I began studying homeschooling in 1981 when I was a freshman in college. It was illegal to homeschool in Michigan and when I assisted another mother
there was little available. Abeka still refused to sell to homeschoolers. (Yes, I am that old!) I helped her piece together textbooks and curriculum.
I am amazed with the wealth of material available. We are all unique and so is our schooling. There is no method that is inferior to another in my opinion. And I am like you I find great joy in watching the different ways people homeschool and thankful that there are so many options to choose from. It is the diversity of options that allows so many to homeschool.
My apologies Spunky! I hope that you can see how I would have interpreted that statement in that way. And I guess I am a bit sensitive because so many seem to be against texts. I agree that texts can kill the interest, but that is where life comes in and other books of course.
I really enjoy your blog! Thank you so much for correcting me about what you meant. I really appreciate it!
Oh yeah I definitely can. And that's why I wanted to clarify. That post was part of an ongoing conversation involving 3 posts and sometimes when people jump at different parts they don't always have the full context. That's one of the negatives of blogging. But it's hard to put everything in context every time.
I took no offense by what you said, I just didn't want others to get the wrong impression. I actually talk very little about HOW I homeschool because I am mindful that people will think I am judging them or their method. And neither would be true.
Thanks for reading my blog. I hope to be able to get back here to find out more about you soon as well.
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