I want to share with you all my all time favorite homeschool resource. It's not a popular homeschool book, or a helpful homeschool workshop audio recording - it is a catalog. Actually, it is rightly called a resource guide.
I still have mine from the year 2003 and is weathered, torn, and tea stained.
I am not one who tends to keep lots of catalogs but this one is different.
This resource guide is from The Elijah Company. It is stuffed with articles that I believe ALL homeschoolers - newbies and seasoned veterans - can benefit from reading. Unfortunately, The Elijah Company no longer sells items from their resource guide but it is still available for purchase and is well worth it's $1.00 price tag!
Let me tell you a little bit about what it includes:
The resource guide includes many articles about different topics on homeschooling and then recommends resources about or for that topic.
Some articles included are:
- Why homeschool your children
- Identity directed homeschooling
- Exploring teaching approaches
- Creating a learning environment
- Determining your child's real needs
- Choosing teaching materials
- Language arts
- Teaching math in the home
- Science: creating a sense of wonder
- World history: imparting perspective
- High school years
You will not be dissapointed in their content and insight!
I purchased 10 of these resource guides (about $15 with shipping). I donated three to our homeschool support group library and kept two for my own personal library. I give the rest to friends or moms I meet who seem to need a little inspiration. I also like to give them to moms who are new to homeschooling who would appreciate help with forming a vision, focus and direction for their new homeschool journey. I have already given my supply away and plan to order more.
I will give you just a little sample: Common teaching approaches
All home schooling materials fall into two main categories: traditional textbook curricula and non-textbook curricula. (Most of us already know lots about the traditional textbook method and it's strengths and weaknesses so to save time and space I ommited that part from this sample) Non-Textbook Approaches
Although there are a number of excellent textbook and worktext programs available, many home educators object to the fact that textbooks are teacher-directed, chalkboard-oriented, and seldom take into account different teaching approaches or the different ways children receive and process information.
John Gatto says, “Real books educate. School books school.” With textbooks, parents may feel they are “bringing the classroom home” instead of educating their children in a way that is uniquely home-based. These parents have found alternative teaching approaches that allow them to tailor their home schooling to their family’s particular needs. Here are the six most common non-textbook teaching approaches: - The Classical Approach is derived from successful courses of study throughout history and recently revived through the writings of Dorothy Sayers.
- The Principle Approach is based on the premise that our nation is a unique and vital link in the westward chain of Christianity.
- The Living Books and Life Experiences Approach of Charlotte Mason treats children as persons, not as containers to be filled with information.
- The Unit Study Approach integrates several subject areas around a common theme.
- Unschooling assumes that children are natural learners and gives them resources to do so.
- The Eclectic Approach takes a cafeteria-style view of home schooling and chooses suitable teaching materials from all different approaches.
They continue to break down each approach and I will include one sample here:
The Unit Study Approach
A Unit Study takes a theme or topic (a unit of study) and delves into it deeply over a period of time, integrating language arts, science, social studies, math, and fine arts as they apply. Instead of studying eight or ten separate, unrelated subjects, all subjects are blended together and studied around a common theme or project.
For example, a unit study on birds could include reading and writing about birds and about famous ornithologists (language arts), studying the parts, functions, and life cycles of birds and perhaps even the aerodynamics of flight (science and math), determining the migration paths, habitats, and ecological/sociological impact of birds (social studies), sketching familiar birds (art), building bird houses or feeders ("hands on" activities) and so forth.
Several fine prepared unit study curricula are available, but it is easy to prepare your own unit studies around areas of interest. History is the logical core curriculum to build ongoing unit studies around. History provides a framework for all the other subjects because it follows a progression and covers every other subject (except possibly math), like art, music, science, literature, etc.
Here are some questions to ask yourself before trying unit studies with your children:
1. Am I a creative person?
2. Do I like trying to make everything interesting and fun?
3. Do my children have a variety of interests and learning styles?
4. Can I live with the fact that there may be “gaps” in my children’s education?
5. Do I have the time and energy to be the driving, creative force behind the development of units Strengths of the Unit Study Approach:
- All ages can learn together
- Children can delve as deeply or as lightly into a subject as they like
- The family’s interests can be pursued
- Students get the whole picture
- Curiosity and independent thinking are generated
- Intense study of one topic is the more natural way to learn
- Knowledge is interrelated so is learned easily and remembered longer
- Unit studies are fairly easy to create Weaknesses of the Unit Study Approach:
- It is easy to leave educational “gaps”
- Hard to assess the level of learning occurring
- Record keeping may be difficult
- Prepared unit study curricula are expensive
- Do-it-yourself unit studies require planning
- Too many activity-oriented unit studies may cause burn-out of teacher and student
- Subjects that are hard to integrate into the unit may be neglected
I am sure you can see how this resource guide would be helpful to someone new to homeschooling! Many of the articles like Determining Your Child's Real Needs or Identity Directed Homeschooling are helpful to newbies as well as homeschoolers with many years under their belts.
I re-read the articles every year. Either in the summer, or when I am suffering from winter burn out. I am always re-charged and inspired! Here is the link to purchase your own resource guide (it is the seventh item down) Don't forget to order extras for your support group, friends, co-ops, or new moms you meet! The shipping fee is the same whether you order 1 or 20.
Blessings, Dee
I can not tell you how much I appreciate this post. I have been trying a bit of this and a bit of that and feeling guilty to be seemingly "experimenting" on our daughter. We began homeschooling in the middle of the school year as we could not watch her love of learning slip any further away.
We are a homeschooling family raising 4 boys in Virginia. This blog is mostly about anything relevant to raising boys or homeschooling in general - but every once in a while I can't help but add some nonsense from our daily life.
Mar. 18, 2008 - Many Thanks!
Thanks for sharing this!
Angela