Posted in Lessons from Our Humble Homeschool

When I first started researching homeschooling before officially making the decision to do it, I decided right off the bat that whatever I did, I was NOT going to be an "unschooler".  I wanted a very structured, literature-based approach and was leaning toward classical or Charlotte Mason. 

Since making the decision to homeschool (about 5 years ago) we have tried just about every approach there is just trying to find the right fit for our family.  I'm learning that even though something works one year it may not work the next year.  The dynamics of our family change every year with all the differing developmental levels of our children.

In my last entry I described our current approach.  It is theme-based, literature-based, and interest-based.  It is extremely flexible because of our family situation.  And it is working for us.  I have considered it somewhat of a living books approach (leaning toward Charlotte Mason) because we are reading many quality books and doing some narration and hands-on learning.  I am quite pleased with the compromise I have come up with.  The best of many approaches, I like to think.

So the other night, I was reading on Ambleside Online (a free online Charlotte Mason curriculum) and discovered a paragraph which perfectly described our homeschool.  According to AO, we are a Delight-directed/Unschooling family.  Egads!  How did I get here?!?!

However, even though I was turned off by this approach in the beginning, I now see the benefits of it and am reaping them!  I guess the moral of the story is "Don't judge a homeschooling approach before you try it.  You may just use it and benefit from it someday!"

Cheerio!

~ Layla