Took a homeschool philosophy quiz and now you don’t know what it means? Read this post to find an explanation of the different homeschool philosophy’s.
Missed the homeschool philosophy quiz?
No worries, click here to take the quiz.
Did you get more than one homeschool philosophy?
Don’t worry, it is very common to fall under multiple schools of philosophy when it comes to education, so this is called eclectic! I personally am an eclectic homeschooler. We follow the Charlotte Mason school of thought primarily. I am not strictly that, but I do love reading-aloud to my children and we love nature studies, poetry, and all things tea. It took me some trial and error and $$$ in order to really figure out what worked for me and for my kids, but we eventually did land on a good flow! I think it is important to allow yourself and your children to do trial and error when trying to find a curriculum. Most curriculum websites have some free printables or a week worth of curriculum to try out. I highly recommend snagging those free ones.
What to do with this information…
I would take whatever areas you scored highest in and go to google and research your heart out. For example, if you fell under the Traditional philosophy I would type what type of curriculum for traditional homeschool. Another thing to google would be blog for Traditional homeschooling. You could also google the pros and cons of each philosophy. Let’s break each philosophy down to help you on your research journey. If I can tell you anything at all, let it be this, researching curriculum is a journey, it is a lot of reading, writing and collecting information. I highly recommend you have a notebook, or note section in your phone and write down all the things you like and why as you research. You could even write down bloggers you like, YouTube channels, IG and Facebook accounts.
Homeschool Philosophy: let’s see the breakdown
Unschooling:
Is very much child-led learning. They learn through their daily life, chores, playtime, social time. The parents allow the children freedom in what they want to learn, but with high parent involvement. There is however, a lot of flexibility with this type of schooling. Unschoolers believe you are always learning in normal life. For example, what to do while visiting the doctor or even checking out at the grocery store. It is very individual based and in summary, they learn through normal life. Wikipedia has a really great in depth summary of what this is. If you want to know more check out Unschoolers page.
Traditional:
The most common way to describe this is “school at home” or how you would envision “playing school” at home. Traditionalist use textbooks, and the parent teaches a short lesson then the child does a worksheet. Usually worksheet heavy and test and quizzes are very common. Common Curriculum choices are Abeka, Bob Jones, Life Pacs. If you want more info check out, Rainy Day Homeschooling, she has a great article explaining more in detail. She also has a lot of useful information if you are interested in this type of style.
Charlotte Mason:
With this homeschool philosophy there is a love for read alouds, nature studies, poetry, habits, art studies there is even hands on learning. It uses more “living books” vs textbooks for learning. Some common curriculum choices are: Simply Charlotte Mason, Ambleside Online, Sonlight. This Homeschool House is my favorite Charlote Mason person to follow, especially her YouTube, check her out! She is a fountain of knowledge and her excitement and love for homeschooling is so contagious. If I am ever stuck in a rut, I got to get YouTube and get refreshed!
Classical:
The take away points about this style are: learning stages of grammer, logic and rhetoric through a Christian lens. It teaches children how to think for themselves. There is usually a lot of memorization involved and information must be mastered before continung onto the next stage. Classical Conversations, Memoria Press and My Father’s World are common curriculums used. Classically Homeschooling has so much wonderful information if this is your style.
Other types of homeschool philosophy are:
Please remember, this is not every philosophy or style. I am just trying to give a simple overview. If you read the short summary and knew right away that a certain philosophy is not for you, then you can just cross it off and save yourself time. When I was first researching homeschooling options I was so overwhelmed and didn’t want to read six paragraphs of one type of homeschool philosophy, I knew I needed short and sweet. In writing this, I hope that is what I am able to provide to you.
Unit Studies: This is taking one theme and applying it to all subjects. For example, if the theme were animals- stories on animals, counting animals, a field trip to see animals, etc. Common curriculum choices are: Gather ‘Round, Five in a Row, Waldock Way.
Eclectic: In other words, you like more than one and like having the freedom to not be solely commited to one type of philosophy and it is very customizable. Interestingly enough, I would say that most seasoned homeschoolers are some type of eclectic.
Montessori: There is a lot of freedom and flexibility in this philosophy. For example, the parent is the facilitator for the learning, but helps to guide learning based off of the child’s freedom and interest. An example would be, pouring and scooping sand. We all know how much children love this and how it keeps their attention. There is usually movement involved in this type of homeschool. Montessori for Homeschoolers has a wonderful website, if this is one that interest you, I would check out their page.
Lastly, there are more homeschool philosophy’s, however, this is a general overview.
Thank you for stopping by,
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If there is anyway I can pray for you please e-mail me at ministryofthehomemaker@gmail.com
[…] I have done that for you in a short paragraph for each one. You can read that here. […]