Our method was VERY simple. Choose a non fiction book or several books on the topic of your choice and study through it. I say study through it because all of the book may not have been read. Some sections of a book may not be applicable to the present subject of study. While studying or after, take notes, photocopy small sections, write essays, etc. and place in binders. That is it. VERY simple. At high school level, approximately 2-3 hours a day was required for the research portion of their education plan. However, many days more time was spent as the student got excited about what he was studying and hated to stop for a break.

I would periodically check through the work and assign grammar/usage assignments that were necessary but I never "corrected" the notebooks. I would guess that 95% of the time nothing NEEDED to be corrected. As it was copywork and notes from sources that they had on hand, they would check spelling and wording, etc to be sure they were putting accurate information into the notebooks. Accurate information was very important to them.

 Side note: I have always LOVED a good used book sale and we have hundreds of good books right on hand. Both of our sons have quite extensive libraries of their own as well. We have also used local libraries a lot over the years (a mild understatement! )

So as you can see, using the research method in homeschooling is very easy on Mom (yahoo!!) and VERY effective for the student.

Till next time,   ~Penni

For years our sons did research (many people refer to this as notebooking) for part of their home education program. Each day they were required to spend a certain amount of time reading non-fiction books and adding information to their notebooks = doing research. The time required to spend on research each day varied according to their ages. By the teen years usually at least 3 hours each day was required. This time did NOT include the time spent doing math and reading aloud with the family, personal devotions, etc.

This method worked really well for our family; both of our sons were able to see what area of study they had a desire to study at a higher level. Much of our method of doing research came from the writings of Chris and Ellen Davis, Marilyn Howshall, Ruth Beechick, and Barb Shelton to name just a few.

I'll share more in the future- including details of how we did what we did (and how we still do it) and links to really awesome websites and articles.

God bless you on your journey through life!

~Penni