I recently have had two realizations about our approach to homeschooling. I'm slowly starting to take ownership of it and finding what works and what doesn't. I'm glad that I'm using these preschool years to do this trial and error, so that once we start to report for kindergarten, we can hit the ground running.
Here is a list of subject areas that I am currently working with when planning out lessons for our preschool.
1. practical life skills
2. sensorial
3. literacy
4. numeracy
5. nature/science
6. culture/geography
7. health
8. physical education
9. music & music appreciation
10. art & art appreciation
11. languages (ASL, Polish, Spanish)
12. literature & poetry
13. religion (faith, morals, liturgy, prayer)
I come back to the way I utilize lesson plans after first discussing the first big overhaul of our approach to homeschooling, faith.
At last Sunday's homily, our pastor drove home the point that Christ needs to be at the center of our lives, and that religion cannot be merely one of the areas of our life, something I've been guilty of for sure. The first thing that popped into my mind was that we needed to rethink our homeschooling approach. I pulled out the book on Catholic homeschooling that I got at the Catholic homeschool curriculum fair we attended and started reading.
We always said that we decided to homeschool for various reasons, none of which were religious. But that doesn't mean that we are stuck with a secular homeschool for life! One of the things that really struck me so far from the book was relating how children sent to secular schools to learn "real subjects" and only hearing about God's presence in their lives on the periphery come to think that God has nothing to do with what they're learning in school! Science and History in particular have a way of pretending that God doesn't exist that is detrimental to a person's world view.
As catholic Christians, we believe that God created the universe and everything in it. There is nothing science can discover that doesn't directly point to the glory of God! Evolution (a theory, by the way, not fact) can nonetheless point to the fact that God's days are not limited to our 24-hour-periods, and perhaps the creation story is not something that happened thousands (or millions) of years ago, but rather something that is ongoing. Just like God forms us in our mothers' wombs, but He doesn't stop working on us after birth! To study science without acknowledging God's hand in it is to betray our Christian world-view.
Likewise with history. To look at the events of human history without addressing the role of sin, virtue, and the human longing for something greater than itself is to again miss entirely how God is present in our daily circumstances. Not that He orchestrates what happens, but that He is there with us. That people turn to Him, and He listens. That people turn away from Him, and He forgives (though not without meting out justice). Eliminating God from a history curriculum is pretending that humans don't need God. Again, this is a total contradiction of our Christian world-view.
Other subjects also can either serve to build up the spirit of a young Chrisitan or not. What we read penetrates our imaginations. Are we reading about what is true, good, and beautiful? Or are we reading merely what has always been taught? Just because certain works of literature are famous doesn't make them crucial to read. Likewise for art and music. I agree that there is an element of cultural competency that needs to be addressed, meaning that a person's education ought to prepare them to at least be aware of the existence of things that have shaped our society in meaningful ways - for better or worse. After all, we study wars rather than ignoring them because of the violence, death, and evil it portrays.
But if presented without any commentary from the perspective of the catholic Christian parent, the child is left to possibly conclude that anything famous in the secular world is "good", or "true", or "beautiful". I don't know if I completely agree with the adage, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder". Some things are just plain ugly. The same applies to what is good and true. We live in a relativist society. I am certainly a victim of this mentality. There is no objective truth, therefore there's no objective goodness. Virtue is whatever best suits me, the individual.
***
I'm returning now to the idea of lesson planning. I tried unschooling for several months when Antonio was born, and I was amazed how Natalia continued to learn in various areas without my so much as lifting a finger. Yet after those few months, I decided that we couldn't unschool long term because one of the motivating factors for me to educate my children at home is that I get to teach them!
So I make lesson plans. I try to make sure certain subject areas are covered. I attempt to figure out the best schedule to implement. And over and over I realize that everything always looks perfect on paper, but never works out in real life. Finally it occurred to me that while I love to plan and organize, I also love to stay with a natural flow of learning, following whatever sparks Natalia's curiosity. I tried to sit down with her and do X for a set amount of time one time, and it immediately felt artificial and not at all educational! Perhaps this will change as she gets older. But for now, for preschool, I'm starting to understand what my homeschooling method really is, and it's not any of the official methods out there. I've said we're ecclectic before, but I think I fially understand what that means to me.
Ecclectic homeschooling to me means several things. 1) I make plans and goals so I know what to look out for in terms of library materials, outings, etc. I plan and organize because I enjoy the very process of planning and organizing. I do not intend to meticulously implement any of my plans, and I expect them to be altered and updated periodically. 2) I observe the natural interests and inclinations of Natalia. I answer her questions and find resources for subjects she shows an interest in. I do not interrupt her indpendent play unless absolutely necessary (say, it's time to leave for church). 3) I return to my plans periodically and take note of what has already been learned. I then can move on to the next set of goals in a given subject as I reimagine the lesson plans.
So there is definitely a strong component of unschooling that remains. I think the only thing that isn't "pure unschooling" with us is that I do have subjects in mind for Natalia to be exposed to, and certain skills and knowledge that I do intend for her to learn. Nothing we do is done against her desires, though. She is loving memorizing various things, so why wouldn't I take advantage of this stage of her development and try to surround her with things I think are good for every person to know by heart? (Basic geography comes to mind. She knows her contients and oceans, and we're slowly moving into the concepts of countries. I'm not sure that she would've become interested in geography if I hadn't brought it up and if I wouldn't continue to bring in resources to build on this interest.)
I like labels, and perhaps that's what this is for me - a labeling of what was all along. Ecclectic unschooling with a hint of classical? Because I am drawn to some of the features of the classical approach/Charlotte Mason. What finally did it for me and forced me to cut my emotional ties with CM is the feeling of guilt over not spending hours outside. It just isn't for us, not where we live. I couldn't shake the guilt, so I shook the label instead!
I also think that unit studies may be making an appearance. As I think about incorporating God into our subjects and not just keeping Him in "religion", I instantly think of making unit studies around the liturgical year. I see unit studies as supplemental to a core curriculum, though. I don't want to tie myself to the idea of forcing ever subject into every unit study. History and science may need to unfold along separate timelines!
I'm probably overthinking the whole preschool homeschooling thing, but it's for a good cause - the whole education of both my kids. I think Antonio will benefit from this time, as I will hopefully have an idea of what crucial elements to include in his preschool in a couple of years. I also think Natalia will benefit because by the time we have to officially report her home education in two years, we will have ironed out the details and can hit the ground running without having to second guess ourselves.
Speaking of state reporting, I had to finagle the terminology a little to get from the list of mandatory subjects to the list of our home school subjects above. The mandatory subjects in our state are as follows:
1. language arts (literacy, literature/poetry)
2. math (numeracy)
3. science (nature/science)
4. social studies (culture/geography/history)
5. health (nutrition, safety, hygiene/disease control, exercise, rest, stress avoidance)
6. physical education (gross motor skills)
7. art (& art appreciation)
8. music (& music appreciation)
Confession time - the title to this post just occurred to me, so I think I will address the nuances of this "methodology" in a future post.
Showing posts with label Montessori. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Montessori. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 4, 2017
Friday, April 21, 2017
Sending Kids to Daycare and Preschool
I assumed that, as a stay-at-home mom and future homeschool educator, I wouldn't have to deal with the decision of sending my kids to daycare and then preschool. But one by one, more and more playdate moms have started revealing to me that they're sending their kids to some sort of organized school-ish environment, if even for a few hours each week. My first shock was when other stay-at-home moms started doing it. My second shock came when a future homeschooling mom likewise revealed that her elder child will be starting preschool in September. Note that "shock" does not mean "disapproval". It just wasn't on my radar. I assumed that only working-for-pay moms sent their kids to daycare or preschool, out of necessity.
But I would be lying if I said the thought of sending my own daughter somewhere outside the home for "enrichment" never crossed my mind. In fact, it has recently crossed my mind as I lamented having to stop any serious preschool homeschooling with the birth of Antonio. During my pregnancy, I really enjoyed not only sharing various educational lessons with Natalia, but also documenting them and being able to see how she's learning. Then I gave myself a couple of months after baby brother's birth for unschooling, and again I was pleased when I went to document these months to see how Natalia was learning without any advanced thought given by me to planning out what she should learn.
However, having a baby in the home who loves attention and physical proximity but doesn't care much for baby carriers has proven to be quite challenging. At best, we have been able to take full advantage of our local library, both in terms of exploring lots of books, especially on nature, but also classic children's literature and even Spanish, as well as the occasional storytime where Natalia interacts with the librarian and other children. And while this is all fine and good for the time being, I am not satisfied with this arrangement long-term. And so when one mom after another started sharing with me where they are sending their kids, suddenly the idea arrived on my radar.
I immediately thought of Montessori preschool. I knew that if I ever sent my kids to preschool, I'd want it to be Montessori. I love the environment and philosophy behind Montessori. We've incorporated various Montessori-inspired activities into our daily living over time. I also like that the children are not segragated by age but that they are in a three-year age group, where younger children can learn from older ones, and the older kids can practice leadership skills while helping the younger ones. But one internet search put the idea of Montessori preschool idea to rest. Tuition.
A couple of moms have been praising the co-op preschool they've selected for their kids, and while I like the idea of spending most of the time outside, focusing on social interactions rather than premature academics, and the fact that it's a tiny fraction of what a Montessori preschool costs, I hesitate.
First of all, I would have liked to have been able to send Natalia somewhere right now, over the next few months, until Antonio becomes less clingy and I am freed up enough to take over homeschooling again. But it seems that unless I were satisfied with a daycare, all preschools start and end along with the public school year, and there's a comitment generally for the school year.
But there's more. I also do not like the idea of surrounding Natalia with other kids who, like her, have yet to learn proper social interaction skills, and let them influence each other for better or for worse. One-on-one is one thing. But in a classroom setting... and without my presence, it comes down to this: who knows what she'd actually be learning from her peers! Name brands? Disney characters? Attitudes towards toys, food, clothes, hair, the list is really endless. The whole point of me staying home, first of all, and then homeschooling is to maintain control over what my children are and aren't exposed to. (I use the word control here not in a Type-A personality way, but in the it's-my-responsibility-and-perogative-as-parent way.). The point is for me to not delegate the task of raising them to others, whose values I may not share.
In addition, giving Natalia a regularly recurring time away from home would also limit her exposure to one of our minority family languages. (I say one of them, thinking here of Polish, because her Spanish exposure is mostly tied to when Oscar is home, which wouldn't change if she were to attend preschool.) Especially during the first 5 or so years, language exposure is critical if we want fluency for our kids. There is no need for us to worry about English for our kids, because we live in an English-as-majority-language community. But if we want to safeguard our minority languages, we need to seek out more opportunities in Polish and Spanish, not less.
I understand why public (or even private) school-bound kids' parents may want to give their kids "a head start" by enrolling them in preschool. Expectations for school kids has risen to unrealistic levels, so that arriving in Kindergarten on the first day of school, kids today are already expected to know the alphabet. I disagree with such premature academics. I didn't start to learn to read until I was 6 or 7, and I dare to say that my reading and writing skills are much better than most public school graduates, not to mention that I'm literate in three languages. I don't say this to brag, but to prove a point - so-called "delayed academics" works, and it works better than premature academics.
But other than academics, school-bound kids also have to prepare for the social aspects of school. For better or for worse, kids these days don't just go to school to learn (in fact, I doubt that's actually the reason for many anyway), but to make friends, try to fit in, learn what the mainstream says about what's normal and appropriate, and essentially lose themselves to group-think in many cases. Bottom line, kids headed for school do need to be prepared for what that environment is like. Standing in line, raising your hand before speaking, asking permission to go to the bathroom, taking turns with limited equipment or supplies, etc. Without these skills, schools would be even more chaotic than they already are. (Though not all agree, as the likes of Sudbury schools have started popping up more and more.) As future homeschoolers, my kids have no need of these skills, especially not at age 3 or 4.
And so I conclude that in the end, the best decision for our family is to keep on trekking with what we've been doing. Staying home together, building on family relationships as paramount, and only supplementing the value system we live at home by playdates and group events for kids. That is enough.
But I would be lying if I said the thought of sending my own daughter somewhere outside the home for "enrichment" never crossed my mind. In fact, it has recently crossed my mind as I lamented having to stop any serious preschool homeschooling with the birth of Antonio. During my pregnancy, I really enjoyed not only sharing various educational lessons with Natalia, but also documenting them and being able to see how she's learning. Then I gave myself a couple of months after baby brother's birth for unschooling, and again I was pleased when I went to document these months to see how Natalia was learning without any advanced thought given by me to planning out what she should learn.
However, having a baby in the home who loves attention and physical proximity but doesn't care much for baby carriers has proven to be quite challenging. At best, we have been able to take full advantage of our local library, both in terms of exploring lots of books, especially on nature, but also classic children's literature and even Spanish, as well as the occasional storytime where Natalia interacts with the librarian and other children. And while this is all fine and good for the time being, I am not satisfied with this arrangement long-term. And so when one mom after another started sharing with me where they are sending their kids, suddenly the idea arrived on my radar.
I immediately thought of Montessori preschool. I knew that if I ever sent my kids to preschool, I'd want it to be Montessori. I love the environment and philosophy behind Montessori. We've incorporated various Montessori-inspired activities into our daily living over time. I also like that the children are not segragated by age but that they are in a three-year age group, where younger children can learn from older ones, and the older kids can practice leadership skills while helping the younger ones. But one internet search put the idea of Montessori preschool idea to rest. Tuition.
A couple of moms have been praising the co-op preschool they've selected for their kids, and while I like the idea of spending most of the time outside, focusing on social interactions rather than premature academics, and the fact that it's a tiny fraction of what a Montessori preschool costs, I hesitate.
First of all, I would have liked to have been able to send Natalia somewhere right now, over the next few months, until Antonio becomes less clingy and I am freed up enough to take over homeschooling again. But it seems that unless I were satisfied with a daycare, all preschools start and end along with the public school year, and there's a comitment generally for the school year.
But there's more. I also do not like the idea of surrounding Natalia with other kids who, like her, have yet to learn proper social interaction skills, and let them influence each other for better or for worse. One-on-one is one thing. But in a classroom setting... and without my presence, it comes down to this: who knows what she'd actually be learning from her peers! Name brands? Disney characters? Attitudes towards toys, food, clothes, hair, the list is really endless. The whole point of me staying home, first of all, and then homeschooling is to maintain control over what my children are and aren't exposed to. (I use the word control here not in a Type-A personality way, but in the it's-my-responsibility-and-perogative-as-parent way.). The point is for me to not delegate the task of raising them to others, whose values I may not share.
In addition, giving Natalia a regularly recurring time away from home would also limit her exposure to one of our minority family languages. (I say one of them, thinking here of Polish, because her Spanish exposure is mostly tied to when Oscar is home, which wouldn't change if she were to attend preschool.) Especially during the first 5 or so years, language exposure is critical if we want fluency for our kids. There is no need for us to worry about English for our kids, because we live in an English-as-majority-language community. But if we want to safeguard our minority languages, we need to seek out more opportunities in Polish and Spanish, not less.
I understand why public (or even private) school-bound kids' parents may want to give their kids "a head start" by enrolling them in preschool. Expectations for school kids has risen to unrealistic levels, so that arriving in Kindergarten on the first day of school, kids today are already expected to know the alphabet. I disagree with such premature academics. I didn't start to learn to read until I was 6 or 7, and I dare to say that my reading and writing skills are much better than most public school graduates, not to mention that I'm literate in three languages. I don't say this to brag, but to prove a point - so-called "delayed academics" works, and it works better than premature academics.
But other than academics, school-bound kids also have to prepare for the social aspects of school. For better or for worse, kids these days don't just go to school to learn (in fact, I doubt that's actually the reason for many anyway), but to make friends, try to fit in, learn what the mainstream says about what's normal and appropriate, and essentially lose themselves to group-think in many cases. Bottom line, kids headed for school do need to be prepared for what that environment is like. Standing in line, raising your hand before speaking, asking permission to go to the bathroom, taking turns with limited equipment or supplies, etc. Without these skills, schools would be even more chaotic than they already are. (Though not all agree, as the likes of Sudbury schools have started popping up more and more.) As future homeschoolers, my kids have no need of these skills, especially not at age 3 or 4.
And so I conclude that in the end, the best decision for our family is to keep on trekking with what we've been doing. Staying home together, building on family relationships as paramount, and only supplementing the value system we live at home by playdates and group events for kids. That is enough.
Saturday, September 3, 2016
What Eclectic Homeschooling Means to Me
I have to keep reminding myself that we are an eclectic homeschooling family. Just because I like some aspect of a given approach doesn't make us followers of said approach. I keep falling into that sort of literalism, where I start to think I'm, say, a Charlotte Mason kind of homeschooler, but then I worry about the various aspects of that approach that I actually don't see myself incorporating and waste time worrying about it. So here's a quick run down of what currently resonates with me from various approaches I have researched.
Montessori
I had forgotten that we incorporated the elements of developmentally-appropriate independence into Natalia's daily life long ago, and that these have been growing with her. We do not do Montessori trays, even though I have tried. There's a lot of prep that goes into them, and she has shown minimal interest in them. Instead, I've finally looked at what I like about some of the activities, and I've built those skills into our daily life. So dry scooping is now dog feeding. Liquid pouring is now pouring herself drinks at meal times. I don't give her random things to wash/scrub/clean for the sake of practicing those skills. Instead, she actually washes veggies or dishes or her hands with me. She dresses herself, after picking out her outfit for the day. I don't have a dressing frame for her to practice. There's no need for her to know how to do and undo buttons if her clothing doesn't include them. One other aspect of Montessori that I think snuck in long ago has been the simple, wooden surroundings and natural light. Definitely high on our priorities when setting up her playroom and even when purchasing our house - I insisted that there be windows low enough for her to easily see out of at her curent 3 feet tall. This has proven to be an indispensible part of the sort of lifestyle and educational environment I want for my kids. Oh, and we do not own any toys that operate on battery. Period.
To sum up:
* practical life skills encouraged through daily life
* developmentally-appropriate independence encouraged regularly
* simple and natural environment
Charlotte Mason
There are a few specific approaches to learning that I really like from CM, even though most I cannot yet implement. Nature study as a whole has been giving me a headache, as CM recommends an amount of daily outdoor time that seems ridiculous to me, even when it's beautiful outside. This week was the first time we were able to spent a couple of days doing things outside, and I just didn't see the need to spend more than two and a half hours outside. We are not preparing to live outside, so while I definitely value some time outdoors, I was worrying myself for no reason trying to figure out how to be out more. Going forward, as summer comes to a close and decent weather returns, I see us having our windows open a lot, airing out the house, being able to appreciate fresh air that way, and spending a couple of hours a day outside, while also looking at ways to incorporate nature study indoors, such as through our nature corner. I am satisfied with that being sufficiently beneficial. As Natalia gets a bit older, I look forward to her starting a nature journal.
I also really like the CM approach to language arts, which I utilized when I taught adults ESL. Namely, narration, copywork, and dictation, along with a lot of reading for pleasure. I don't foresee spelling word lists or handwriting lessons, or even - hold onto your seat people - formal phonics instruction. In light of what I'll discuss below (under Classical), if memorization comes easily for young children, then I see nothing simpler than mere exposure providing all the memorization Natalia needs in order to internalize what sounds are made by which letters in which contexts, and how words are spelled. I see no reason to interfere with this process by talking about grammar rules and all their varied exceptions. Sounds like a waste of time to me.
While I do like the idea of utilizing living books for our history and social studies, I see two problems with this. One, the ability to aquire all the books that would be necessary to cover any given timeperiod thoroughly. And two, not having anything summarizing how the various books tie in together, at least from my perspective as the facilitator of the information. Instead, I will definitely use some sort of history "spine", yes a dreaded textbook, and branch out from there to find as many living books as possible for each time period being studied. In light of another paragraph below (about Unschooling), I will let Natalia's interest dictate how much time, and how many books, we devote to any given time period, so that if she's not particularly interested in something, at least we covered the basics from the spine.
To sum up:
* nature study as a precursor to later science learning
* nature notebook
* narration, copywork, dicatation, and reading as the core to literacy
* living books whenever possible, more so when interests are high
Classical
Two things resonate with me from this approach. One is the focus on memorization in the early years, because I see no reason not to take full advantage of a child's natural interest in memorizing things. What better time than then to present valuable facts for the child to memorize and then be able to use as a foundation for more in-depth learning later on. Yes, it seems like mere dry facts now, but I'm looking at the big picture, and I think it'll be that much more fun and interesting to delve deep into subjects if Natalia already has a working knowledge of key facts about whatever it is she is studying later on. (Note here that I will pick and choose which subjects will be relevant for memorization work. For instance, there will be no grammar rule or spelling memorization, but things like capital cities or species of the animal kingdom, yes.)
The other thing, which is technically also a part of CM, is the historical timeline. I'm a visual learner, so I love the idea of having a horizontal display of history, something that I wish I would've had access to when studying history myself. I see our curriculum being history-based, so there will always be a large time line that we can always add to as we learn whatever it is we learn from the various subjects we'll be studying.
Both Classical and CM have their own ideas on the importance of foreign language, but as a multilingual family, I see their suggestions of Latin and French as being, shall we say, classist. I absolutely think every person should be comfortable conversing in at least one language other than their native language, but I completely disagree that the decision as to which language it should be, ought to come from outside the family. In our family, Polish and Spanish are co-native languages, and the foreign language that we are studying is ASL.
To sum up:
* memorization of relevant facts in various subjects during the early years
* historical timeline as a visual representation of what we're studying
* importance of foreign language study
Unschooling
I've had a love-hate relationship with the idea of unschooling, but as I become more and more confident in myself as an eclectic homeschooler, I'm realizing that just like with the other approaches, I need to take what resonates and not worry about the rest. I cannot phathom homeschooling without having a pre-planned curriculum. One of the reasons I want to homeschool is because I enjoy that aspect of it. That said, I am completely flexible on taking detours as Natalia's interests dictate. Just because something is on the agenda doesn't mean it must be covered, at least not right then. So in that regard, I am taking the unschooling approach of allowing plenty of time for child-led interests to be pursued. What I don't see is having no direction at the start, because I do think there is value in learning that sometimes we have to do things we may not necessarily love to do. That is an attitude that will come in handy in adulthood. I don't want my kids to grow up expecting to only ever do what they feel like doing, because the world just doesn't operate that way.
I also like John Holt's explanation of how children learn naturally, in particular in his "Learning All the Time" book, and specifically when it comes to early math skills. Rote counting, for instance, is not valued as a skill in itself. Math should be useful, relevant to real life. So my focus will be on talking about and pointing out numbers, groups of items, measurements, money, time, shapes, etc. as we come across them in our daily lives, much like I've done with the practical life skills a la Montessori.
To sum up:
* allowing plenty of freedom and flexibility to veer off the planned curriculum or lesson plan in order to pursue the child's interests until they wane
* a natural approach to numeracy
Reggio Emilia-inspired
Project-based, child-led learning for the early years, this "approach" sounds very similar to Unschooling from the perspective of following the child's interests and seeing the parent as a mentor rather than teacher, but also shares aspects with Montessori regarding the idea of the environment itself being a "third teacher" (RE personifies what is hinted at by Montessori). What's unique about it that resonates with me is the emphasis on documenting the child's work, and a few very specific aspects of play that I want to make an effort incorporating into our preschool.
To sum up:
* keeping a portfolio of the child's work
* using mirrors, light, shadows, and color (mixing in particular, may be my own take)
Bringing it all together, our eclectic homeschool approach is as follows:
NOW
* practical life skills encouraged through daily life
* developmentally-appropriate independence encouraged regularly
* simple and natural environment
* nature study as a precursor to later science learning
* keeping a portfolio of the child's work
* using mirrors, light, shadows, and color (mixing in particular, may be my own take)
* importance of foreign language study
* a natural approach to numeracy
* nature notebook (starting at 4?)
* narration, copywork, dicatation, and reading as the core to literacy (narration and reading 4+?)
* living books whenever possible, more so when interests are high
* memorization of relevant facts in various subjects during the early years (4/5?)
* importance of foreign language study (ongoing)
* historical timeline as a visual representation of what we're studying
* allowing plenty of freedom and flexibility to veer off the planned curriculum or lesson plan in order to pursue the child's interests until they wane (ongoing)
* using mirrors, light, shadows, and color (through Kindergarten)
* I am currently leaning towards Math-U-See as our math curriculum.
* For a science curriculum, I'm interested in Real Science 4 Kids at the moment, but that's because it's the only science curriculum I'm very aware of, thanks to a homeschooling webinar.
* The history curriculum I keep hearing about is The History of the World, but of course it's too soon to commit still.
Montessori
I had forgotten that we incorporated the elements of developmentally-appropriate independence into Natalia's daily life long ago, and that these have been growing with her. We do not do Montessori trays, even though I have tried. There's a lot of prep that goes into them, and she has shown minimal interest in them. Instead, I've finally looked at what I like about some of the activities, and I've built those skills into our daily life. So dry scooping is now dog feeding. Liquid pouring is now pouring herself drinks at meal times. I don't give her random things to wash/scrub/clean for the sake of practicing those skills. Instead, she actually washes veggies or dishes or her hands with me. She dresses herself, after picking out her outfit for the day. I don't have a dressing frame for her to practice. There's no need for her to know how to do and undo buttons if her clothing doesn't include them. One other aspect of Montessori that I think snuck in long ago has been the simple, wooden surroundings and natural light. Definitely high on our priorities when setting up her playroom and even when purchasing our house - I insisted that there be windows low enough for her to easily see out of at her curent 3 feet tall. This has proven to be an indispensible part of the sort of lifestyle and educational environment I want for my kids. Oh, and we do not own any toys that operate on battery. Period.
To sum up:
* practical life skills encouraged through daily life
* developmentally-appropriate independence encouraged regularly
* simple and natural environment
Charlotte Mason
There are a few specific approaches to learning that I really like from CM, even though most I cannot yet implement. Nature study as a whole has been giving me a headache, as CM recommends an amount of daily outdoor time that seems ridiculous to me, even when it's beautiful outside. This week was the first time we were able to spent a couple of days doing things outside, and I just didn't see the need to spend more than two and a half hours outside. We are not preparing to live outside, so while I definitely value some time outdoors, I was worrying myself for no reason trying to figure out how to be out more. Going forward, as summer comes to a close and decent weather returns, I see us having our windows open a lot, airing out the house, being able to appreciate fresh air that way, and spending a couple of hours a day outside, while also looking at ways to incorporate nature study indoors, such as through our nature corner. I am satisfied with that being sufficiently beneficial. As Natalia gets a bit older, I look forward to her starting a nature journal.
I also really like the CM approach to language arts, which I utilized when I taught adults ESL. Namely, narration, copywork, and dictation, along with a lot of reading for pleasure. I don't foresee spelling word lists or handwriting lessons, or even - hold onto your seat people - formal phonics instruction. In light of what I'll discuss below (under Classical), if memorization comes easily for young children, then I see nothing simpler than mere exposure providing all the memorization Natalia needs in order to internalize what sounds are made by which letters in which contexts, and how words are spelled. I see no reason to interfere with this process by talking about grammar rules and all their varied exceptions. Sounds like a waste of time to me.
While I do like the idea of utilizing living books for our history and social studies, I see two problems with this. One, the ability to aquire all the books that would be necessary to cover any given timeperiod thoroughly. And two, not having anything summarizing how the various books tie in together, at least from my perspective as the facilitator of the information. Instead, I will definitely use some sort of history "spine", yes a dreaded textbook, and branch out from there to find as many living books as possible for each time period being studied. In light of another paragraph below (about Unschooling), I will let Natalia's interest dictate how much time, and how many books, we devote to any given time period, so that if she's not particularly interested in something, at least we covered the basics from the spine.
To sum up:
* nature study as a precursor to later science learning
* nature notebook
* narration, copywork, dicatation, and reading as the core to literacy
* living books whenever possible, more so when interests are high
Classical
Two things resonate with me from this approach. One is the focus on memorization in the early years, because I see no reason not to take full advantage of a child's natural interest in memorizing things. What better time than then to present valuable facts for the child to memorize and then be able to use as a foundation for more in-depth learning later on. Yes, it seems like mere dry facts now, but I'm looking at the big picture, and I think it'll be that much more fun and interesting to delve deep into subjects if Natalia already has a working knowledge of key facts about whatever it is she is studying later on. (Note here that I will pick and choose which subjects will be relevant for memorization work. For instance, there will be no grammar rule or spelling memorization, but things like capital cities or species of the animal kingdom, yes.)
The other thing, which is technically also a part of CM, is the historical timeline. I'm a visual learner, so I love the idea of having a horizontal display of history, something that I wish I would've had access to when studying history myself. I see our curriculum being history-based, so there will always be a large time line that we can always add to as we learn whatever it is we learn from the various subjects we'll be studying.
Both Classical and CM have their own ideas on the importance of foreign language, but as a multilingual family, I see their suggestions of Latin and French as being, shall we say, classist. I absolutely think every person should be comfortable conversing in at least one language other than their native language, but I completely disagree that the decision as to which language it should be, ought to come from outside the family. In our family, Polish and Spanish are co-native languages, and the foreign language that we are studying is ASL.
To sum up:
* memorization of relevant facts in various subjects during the early years
* historical timeline as a visual representation of what we're studying
* importance of foreign language study
Unschooling
I've had a love-hate relationship with the idea of unschooling, but as I become more and more confident in myself as an eclectic homeschooler, I'm realizing that just like with the other approaches, I need to take what resonates and not worry about the rest. I cannot phathom homeschooling without having a pre-planned curriculum. One of the reasons I want to homeschool is because I enjoy that aspect of it. That said, I am completely flexible on taking detours as Natalia's interests dictate. Just because something is on the agenda doesn't mean it must be covered, at least not right then. So in that regard, I am taking the unschooling approach of allowing plenty of time for child-led interests to be pursued. What I don't see is having no direction at the start, because I do think there is value in learning that sometimes we have to do things we may not necessarily love to do. That is an attitude that will come in handy in adulthood. I don't want my kids to grow up expecting to only ever do what they feel like doing, because the world just doesn't operate that way.
I also like John Holt's explanation of how children learn naturally, in particular in his "Learning All the Time" book, and specifically when it comes to early math skills. Rote counting, for instance, is not valued as a skill in itself. Math should be useful, relevant to real life. So my focus will be on talking about and pointing out numbers, groups of items, measurements, money, time, shapes, etc. as we come across them in our daily lives, much like I've done with the practical life skills a la Montessori.
To sum up:
* allowing plenty of freedom and flexibility to veer off the planned curriculum or lesson plan in order to pursue the child's interests until they wane
* a natural approach to numeracy
Reggio Emilia-inspired
Project-based, child-led learning for the early years, this "approach" sounds very similar to Unschooling from the perspective of following the child's interests and seeing the parent as a mentor rather than teacher, but also shares aspects with Montessori regarding the idea of the environment itself being a "third teacher" (RE personifies what is hinted at by Montessori). What's unique about it that resonates with me is the emphasis on documenting the child's work, and a few very specific aspects of play that I want to make an effort incorporating into our preschool.
To sum up:
* keeping a portfolio of the child's work
* using mirrors, light, shadows, and color (mixing in particular, may be my own take)
Bringing it all together, our eclectic homeschool approach is as follows:
NOW
* practical life skills encouraged through daily life
* developmentally-appropriate independence encouraged regularly
* simple and natural environment
* nature study as a precursor to later science learning
* keeping a portfolio of the child's work
* using mirrors, light, shadows, and color (mixing in particular, may be my own take)
* importance of foreign language study
* a natural approach to numeracy
* Natalia is taking swimming lessons with Daddy for the next couple of months
* we plan to order Signing Time for our ASL foreign language curriculum soon
* we plan to order Signing Time for our ASL foreign language curriculum soon
LATER (starting around age 6/K except where otherwise noted)
* keeping a portfolio of the child's work (in lieu of testing) (ongoing)* nature notebook (starting at 4?)
* narration, copywork, dicatation, and reading as the core to literacy (narration and reading 4+?)
* living books whenever possible, more so when interests are high
* memorization of relevant facts in various subjects during the early years (4/5?)
* importance of foreign language study (ongoing)
* historical timeline as a visual representation of what we're studying
* allowing plenty of freedom and flexibility to veer off the planned curriculum or lesson plan in order to pursue the child's interests until they wane (ongoing)
* using mirrors, light, shadows, and color (through Kindergarten)
* I am currently leaning towards Math-U-See as our math curriculum.
* For a science curriculum, I'm interested in Real Science 4 Kids at the moment, but that's because it's the only science curriculum I'm very aware of, thanks to a homeschooling webinar.
* The history curriculum I keep hearing about is The History of the World, but of course it's too soon to commit still.
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