Monday, June 27, 2011
Thinking about homeschooling? The Law.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Summer Fun
Monday, June 20, 2011
Linky Monday~ Homeschooling Methods~ Pt. 4
The Waldorf Method is a fast growing international movement arising from the philosophy and methods of Rudolf Steiner who founded the first Waldorf School in Stuttgart, Germany in l9l9. Steiner's insights have lead to new approaches in medicine, architecture, the fine arts, economics, and agriculture as well as education.
Waldorf education is designed to address the whole child: the head the heart and the hands. It stimulates the mind with a full spectrum of traditional academic subjects; it nurtures healthy emotional development by conveying information experientially as well as academically; and it teachers the hands to be valued members of the child’s being through a broad range of artistic and physical activities.
Waldorf education emphasizes respect, wonder for nature and reverence for human existence. Learning becomes much more than the acquisition of vast amounts of information; rather, learning becomes an engaging voyage of discovery, both of the world and of oneself. Because it touches children on a deeper level, they remember more easily what they have learned.
(source)
Enki homeschooling is a curriculum which aims to join vision and practicalities into an ideal education. Each activity must be worth doing and support the overall health of the family.
Features of Enki Philosophy
- Rhythms and circle times are used to cover content areas.
- Arts-integrated curriculum is woven into family life.
- Focus is kept on the core issues of what the parent wants to bring to the children, i.e., health and happiness.
- Methods are adaptable to various learning environments.
- Sensory integration and artistic movement activities.
Other features include meeting needs for community and meeting the needs of multiple age siblings.
Content Areas
- Humanities
- Mathematics
- Science
- Projects and crafts
- Foreign language
- Visual arts
- Movement arts
- Music
- (source)
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Sackville Day









Monday, June 13, 2011
Linky Monday~ Homeschooling Methods~ Pt. 3
In this approach to homeschooling, the child works on each subject separately every day. All learning is planned and followed by grade level. Schooling does not get off track and everything is covered, with no worrying about learning gaps. Many homeschool programs that use the structured approach provide textbooks for each subject, along with a teacher's manual. Tests often follow each lesson, to be sure that the child is learning. Most structured homeschools have a daily schedule. Some structured homeschoolers run their programs Monday through Friday, from June through September; others run a year-round program.
Most structured homeschools enjoy the curriculum since the units and textbooks can be purchased (no need to create them). With a purchased structured curriculum the schedules, lessons, scope and sequence are planned for you. Some parents purchase a preplanned, structured curriculum so they have something to fall back on, diminishing the worries of homeschooling. Many parents that are new to home education start with this type of program.(source) The unit studies approach is designed to give both in-depth and broad understandings of subjects revolving around some entire theme that interests the child. This integrated approach includes science, math, geography, art, music, history, language, literature, drama, and creative movement. It is often referred to as a multi-disciplinary or a thematic approach. It is an experiential, hands-on approach to learning. It is believed that when children go into such depth, and spend a generous amount of time on each theme, their retention of the subject is higher than in traditional methods. Since the central focus is on one theme, all core subjects are integrated together based on that particular theme. The primary advantage, of course, is that the subjects are blended together and not learned separately. There are many other advantages with the unit study approach:
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This is also known as interest driven, child-led, natural, organic, eclectic, or self-directed learning. Lately, the term "unschooling" has come to be associated with the type of homeschooling that doesn't use a fixed curriculum. When pressed, I define unschooling as allowing children as much freedom to learn in the world, as their parents can comfortably bear. The advantage of this method is that it doesn't require you, the parent, to become someone else, i.e. a professional teacher pouring knowledge into child-vessels on a planned basis. Instead you live and learn together, pursuing questions and interests as they arise and using conventional schooling on an "on demand" basis, if at all. This is the way we learn before going to school and the way we learn when we leave school and enter the world of work. So, for instance, a young child's interest in hot rods can lead him to a study of how the engine works (science), how and when the car was built (history and business), who built and designed the car (biography), etc. Certainly these interests can lead to reading texts, taking courses, or doing projects, but the important difference is that these activities were chosen and engaged in freely by the learner. They were not dictated to the learner through curricular mandate to be done at a specific time and place, though parents with a more hands-on approach to unschooling certainly can influence and guide their children's choices.
Unschooling, for lack of a better term (until people start to accept living as part and parcel of learning), is the natural way to learn. However, this does not mean unschoolers do not take traditional classes or use curricular materials when the student, or parents and children together, decide that this is how they want to do it. Learning to read or do quadratic equations are not "natural" processes, but unschoolers nonetheless learn them when it makes sense to them to do so, not because they have reached a certain age or are compelled to do so by arbitrary authority. Therefore it isn't unusual to find unschoolers who are barely eight-years-old studying astronomy or who are ten-years-old and just learning to read.
(via~ Pat Farenga)
Relevant Links
Radical Unschooling~ Sandra Dodd
Blogs
I'm Unschooled. Yes, I Can Write
Monday, June 6, 2011
Linky Monday~ Homeschooling Methods~ Pt. 2
Many families believe that a spiritual foundation is key to a moral education. If this describes your family's philosophy, a multitude of curricula and materials are available for your faith-based homeschool. You may use a traditional curriculum similar to the one taught in public schools, such as the suggestions noted above, and add a study unit based on your family's religious beliefs. Or you may prefer that each subject area of the curriculum incorporates your family's spiritual beliefs.
A science curriculum, for example, may be secular and focus more on an evolutionary theory, while a faith-based science curriculum may incorporate a creationist point of view. These can be important points for families to consider when purchasing curriculum and supplemental books.
Homeschool curriculums and books are available for nearly every religious belief and culture. From Catholic to Islamic, Jewish, Latter-Day Saints, or Native American, you'll be able to find resources to suit your family's homeschool style.
Montessori (pronounced MON-tuh-SORE-ee) is a comprehensive educational approach from birth to adulthoodbased on the observation of children's needs in a variety of cultures all around the world.
Beginning her work almost a century ago, Dr. Maria Montessori developed this educational approach based on her understanding of children's natural learning tendencies as they unfold in "prepared environments" for multi-age groups (0-3, 3-6, 6-9, 9-12, and 12-14).
The Montessori environment contains specially designed, manipulative "materials for development" that invite children to engage in learning activities of their own individual choice. Under the guidance of a trained teacher, children in a Montessori classroom learn by making discoveries with the materials, cultivating concentration, motivation, self-discipline, and a love of learning.
(via NAMTA)

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