Apr. 15, 2006 - Homeschooling Methods
A few weeks ago, I was really excited to get this book in the mail. Living overseas, I rarely get to hear about new ideas and methods of homeschooling. I have enjoyed reading this book. I wish that I had had this when I was first getting started in homeschooling. Often I when I read articles on this site and others, I hear terms like "The Principle Approach" or "Charlotte Mason". While I had some idea of what these were, I never knew exactly what they were talking about! Now I do.
Homeschooling overseas, especially in countries where English is not the primary language, we face challenges that the average homeschooler might not face. For example, when I shop for new school books, I need to feel confident that what I am choosing will work for us where we live. For example, I have always been attracted to unit studies, but for us here in Pakistan, they aren't easily done. I don't have access to a library or to shops where I can get craft supplies. Even a simple project that requires the most basic of supplies, like paper towels and paper plates, can send us on shopping expeditions that involve visits to multiple shops and many hours spent finding what we need. And just because you see something at a shop once, doesn't guarantee it will be there the next time that you need it!
What I want to do in this blog and in the following ones, is to examine the methods of homeschooling and talk about how you can apply these to overseas homeschooling. I realize that much of my perspective comes from working as a missionary mom in restrictive countries. Military families or those living in more "Western" countries have greater access to resources and may not feel so limited.
Classical Education
In some ways, classical education can be easy overseas. After all, we don't have as many of the distractions and can devote more time to our studies. On the downside, we don't have access to many resources. If your Latin program isn't working for your family, there isn't much that you can do about it without spending a great deal of money!
Douglas Wilson wrote a great article explaining what classical education is and why we should implement it. The results he described are what I want for my kids! I especially appreciated Christine Miller's article. It was full of practical helps and how-tos of classical education. I went straight to the internet to find her website and others that she recomended.
Principle Approach Method
Of all the methods, this is the one that I felt least attracted to. Maybe it is because I was raised overseas and have spent many years of my adult life also living outside the USA. I would consider myself as patriotic as most people living back home, but I do tend to see things from the other perspective just as much (drives my husband crazy!). Our team here in Pakistan is made up of many different nationalities-British, Australian, German, New Zealanders, etc. I can't see this approach appealing to the non-Americans that are homeschooling here.
On the other hand, I liked the emphasis on the higher levels of thinking, reasoning, and research skills that were emphasized for the upper grades. I was still unclear as to how this worked out in the elementary grades after reading this section of the book. As a pratical, bottom line person, I would have liked to have seen specific curriculum named that I could look at.
Comments
Apr. 17, 2006 - nice to read some posts from you
Posted by Jimmie
Love the new picture. What a neat place. I'd like to visit there! You school room looks nice too! It's so wonderful to have a dedicated school room. I have one too. (Actually I won in the contest! Woo Hoo!)
I can totally relate to what you said about HS overseas. It's so hard for me to make decisions about what to buy based on only what I read on the Internet. It would be so much easier to go to the library or a convention to see the materials before purchasing. And I guess that if I had access to a library I'd buy a lot less -- instead I'd just borrow it.
