It’s been one of those days.  The baby’s having a growth spurt and wants to nurse all day.  Something got spilled – doesn’t matter what it is: sugar, flour, eggs, syrup or honey or juice (oh my!) - and it took you three hours to get it cleaned up with all the interruptions. 

You really wanted to fix a nice, healthy dinner, but after nursing the baby for the fifteenth time you find it’s 6 pm, nothing’s thawed, and you’re wondering what your husband will think if you call and ask him to pick up pizza on his way home. 

You started some laundry that morning but never got the clothes any further than the washing machine.  Home-schooling that day amounted to your first grader reading a book to you that you know he/she already had memorized.

I could go on but you get the point…it’s been “one of THOSE days!”

After you feed the kids pizza , get them bathed and into bed, you just feel as if you accomplished nothing all day.  Then you start to think about how many of THOSE days you actually have.  You start to wonder if you’re in some kind of time or energy warp like in a science fiction movie where everyone else is moving around and accomplishing things and you are just…stuck.  (Or maybe you feel like you’re in your own version of “Groundhog Day!”)

Sometimes, when I’ve had one of THOSE days, I would do something that I am wondering if you have ever done.  No, I didn’t consume a quart of ice cream (though with all that nursing it probably wouldn’t have mattered!)

No, what I am talking about is this: sometimes when I would have one of THOSE days, I would actually sit down and write out what I did that day.  I mean EVERY.  LITTLE.  THING.  And then I would go down the list and put a check mark next to each thing!

Ha!  I showed THAT day!  I really did accomplish something!  I am not in a time warp!  I will not wake up and repeat this day!  (Okay, maybe I will…but eventually something different will happen…I might even fix dinner!)

So has anyone reading this ever done that?  Am I the only “Type A” home-schooling mom who, at least occasionally, needs to see a nice, neat list with a row of check marks next to it?  Anyone?

Many years ago I started keeping a “book of quotes” – short sayings or even paragraphs that expressed something of my life experience.  Those quotes have had to do with parenting, homeschooling, Christianity, grief, perseverance, and others.

I thought I would take the opportunity to share some quotes that have inspired me, challenged me, and in some cases, made me laugh.  I hope you find a few that you can take with you on your life journey as well.

Relationships

• Love – a wildly misunderstood although highly desirable malfunction of the heart which weakens the brain, causes eyes to sparkle, cheeks to glow, blood pressure to rise and the lips to pucker.
• “Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up.”
• “The hardest-learned lesson: that people have only their kind of love to give, not our kind.”  (Mignon McLaughlin)
• “A baby is born with a need to be loved – and never outgrows it.”  (Frank A. Clark)
• When asked, “What would you do differently if you were raising your family again?” a dedicated missionary mother replied, “I would stay home more, be kinder to my children, and feed them spiritually.”
• “Forget love – I’d rather fall in chocolate!”  (Sandra J. Dykes)
• “One of the quickest ways to meet new people is to pick up the wrong ball on the golf course.” (This one is for my golfer son!)

Grief

• “Grief is a great teacher when it sends us back to serve and bless the living.  We learn how to counsel and comfort those who, like ourselves, are bowed in sorrow.  We learn when to keep silence in their presence, and when a word will assure them of our love and concern.”
• “Closure is for business deals.  Closure is for real estate transactions.  Closure is not for feelings or for people that we love.” (Taken from “The Myth of Closure” published in the February 1999 newsletter of the Hospice Foundation of America)

Work/Success

• “God feeds the birds, but he doesn’t throw the food into their nests.”
• In the mid-1940’s a father was questioned about his decision to send his daugher to college since she “would probably just marry and raise a family.”  Her father’s response: “Educate a man and you educate an individual; educate a woman and you educate a family.”  (From a letter published in the Focus on the Family magazine many years ago.)
• “It is hard: to forget; to apologize; to save money; to be unselfish; to avoid mistakes; to keep out of a rut; to begin all over again; to make the best of all things; to keep your temper at all times; to think first and act afterwards, to maintain a high standard; to keep on keeping on; to shoulder the blame; to be charitable; to admit error; to take advice; to forgive.  But it pays!”

Life

• “Be proud of every scar on your heart, each one holds a lifetime worth of lessons.”
• “While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions.”  (Stephen R. Covey)
• From a magazine article I read: “I believe…that sometimes, when everything is going wrong, the best thing to do is take a nap.”

The following are some longer quotes but because of their profound observations I chose to include them as well:

• “I’m a rich man.  I live in a free country.  Millions and millions of people cannot know the richness of that.  They live behind iron curtains or under the shadow of a dictator.  Millions more in this country where I live have never realized that freedom is an obligation, not a license.  Thus they are poor.  Poor because they have not learned that freedom is not a license to drag others down into the depths of filth, but that freedom is an obligation to lift myself and my fellowman to greater and greater heights, pressing toward that high mark to which our Maker calls us.”  (Don Wildmon)
• “It’s not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done better.  The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”  (Theodore Roosevelt)
• “People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; forgive them anyway.  If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; be kind anyway.  If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; succeed anyway.  If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; be honest and frank anyway.  What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; build anyway.  If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; be happy anyway.  The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; do good anyway.  Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; give the world the best you’ve got anyway.  You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; it was never between you and them anyway.”  (Mother Theresa)

So what do you think of my choices?  I am sure you have some favorite quotes of your own…won’t you please share them with me and my readers?

It was a picture-perfect day.  My house was in order, literally – something that does not happen everyday while home educating three boys who are “all boy.”  Well, as I was saying, it was a picture-perfect day.  My house was in order, my eldest sons worked quietly on their computerized curriculum, and I taught my seven-year-old reading.  After three subjects and two hours, I checked on my sons.

“How goes it?” I asked my seventh grader.  

“Super! I finished 4 things,” he smiled triumphantly.

“Great,” I said. Then I turned to my eighth grader. “How goes it?”

“Uh. Not good. I didn’t do a thing.”

As it turned out he had looked at aircraft pictures all morning, only clicking on his schoolwork when he heard me coming to check on them.

Technology. What a love/hate relationship I have with it while home schooling.  Even with parental controls and controlling time and access it can be the door to great success and inspiration or the door to great seduction and loss.  At least this was the way I used to view technology.  After spending time listening to God, I’ve learned it is not the technology that is the problem, but the way I was directing my children’s character.  Similar to a gun, it is not the gun that is dangerous, but the character of the one using it that determines its usefulness or harm.

So the issue at hand is what is the best way to hone my sons’ character.  My husband and I have used lists of character qualities, modeling good character, reading them classics with honorable characters, all of which have helped, but not cured the problem because the issue is not honing my sons’ character, but showing them how to receive an entirely new character – the Character of the King. 

For our family coming from a Judeo-Christian foundation we learned, like many, to master a list of character qualities and do our best to do them. That was the sum of good character.  And yet, year after year we would see leader after leader falling from grace after displaying how lacking his or her character was.  This combined with our own failures as parents led us to real answers. 

A list would not work, self will would not work, rewards and punishment would not work, even laws and community norms would not work.  So what did?  A relationship.  A relationship with a supernatural being has the power to change our hearts and therefore our character.  This is what my husband and I refer to as The Character of the King and it is an impartation of character.

One of the best ways to understand this is through gardening.  The seed one plants in a garden has the capacity to grow into the plant it is designed to be.  We all have seeds of greatness that are designed to grow us into the heroes of our generation.  Whatever that may be or wherever that may be.  The only problem is that these seeds can only germinate in the presence of the King – Jesus’ heart.  Only there can this seed grow into the person that is uniquely and wonderfully you.  His heart is the heart of God and the more we are in relationship with him, the more his character becomes ours.

Sadly, history is full of misrepresentations of his character as angry, hateful, and capricious.  But nothing could be farther from the Truth.  Our Father in Heaven is love, not that he is loving, but he is love.  And with the advent of his son Jesus taking all the curses of humanity onto himself, you could say God is in a good mood.  What better character than that to have growing the seedling of my sons’ hearts. 

So now when we encounter the problem of my son making a poor choice with technology, my husband and I redirect his mind back to his new heart.  Through relationship with the Gardener he discovers the reasons behind his poor choices.  We remind him of his higher calling in life and the Love that is there to restore him.  And you know what?  He is now governing himself.  He still makes mistakes, but they are fewer and farther between.  And when he makes them, he is quick to own them and grow beyond them.

So the next day you are having a bad technology day, consider there is a way to grow your children’s character that is internal and eternally for their good. 

From The Living Tale Series: Henley and the Book of Heroes:  “A hero needs a heart so he can do extraordinary things. Remember, Henley, every good story needs a hero…and a hero needs a heart.”  Learn more about it at: www.TheLivingTale.com

While this book may seem that it is designed for educators alone it is, in fact, a must-read for parents, employers, and anyone who is in a position of leadership.  I was introduced to this book in a church study group.  And again, I am not exaggerating when I say it changed my life.

You have to understand, of course, where I was in my life at the time to understand why it had such an impact on me.  The year was 1993 and I was in my third year of home-schooling.  My oldest child and only daughter was in third grade.  A year before, the community we lived in (Homestead, FL) had been devastated by Hurricane Andrew and the effects of living with the destruction which still surrounded us was, to say the least, producing a lot of stress in my life.  I found myself becoming impatient with my daughter and the speed (or lack of) with which she was learning her lessons.  Thank God that The Seven Laws of the Learner came along.

The major thing I learned from this book – the life-changing part for me – is this: if my child is not learning it is my fault.  Wow.  You mean the responsibility for my child’s learning (or not) is solely mine?  Yes. 

Fortunately, the book does not stop with telling you that it is your responsibility to teach in a way that your child/student/employee learns what you are teaching them.  It also teaches you how to become a “Master Teacher.” 

Below I am going to provide you with some of the chapter titles of the book, and just a couple of the points that can be found in each:

Law One: The Law of the Learner 

•  Maxim 1: Teachers are responsible to cause students to learn.
•  Maxim 3: Teachers are responsible because they control subject, style, and speaker.

Law Two: The Law of Expectation

•   Maxim 1: Expectations exist in everyone about everything all the time.
•   Maxim 4: Expectations are exposed through our attitudes and actions.

Law Three: The Law of Application

•   Maxim 2: Application is the responsibility of the teacher.
•   Maxim 3: Application and information should be balanced.

Law Four: The Law of Retention

• Maxim 1: Retention of facts by the student is the teacher’s responsibility
• Maxim 3: Retention increases as the student recognizes the content’s relevance.  

As is apparent from the title there are 7 laws in this book and each chapter has multiple “maxims” which detail and recommend teaching techniques related to each law.

It may be surprising that for those currently home-schooling – or seriously considering home-schooling - I recommend reading this book as one of the first orders of business, since it is not a book specifically geared to home-schooling at all.  But that simply demonstrates how much of an impact I believe this book could have on your home-schooling experience.  Believe me, the time you spend reading this one book will be an investment that reaps innumerable rewards. 

The Seven Laws of the Learner: How to Teach Almost Anything to Practically Anyone

A few years ago I came across the following “wish list” and found it hilarious.  I had saved a copy, which I came across a few months ago when I was organizing ideas for blog posts.  I enjoyed reading it again and thought I would like to share it with my readers.  The writer of the post, Deborah Markus, of http://www.secular-homeschooling.com/ has allowed me to share this with you.  I hope you will enjoy this article, and visit her site for more information about her online magazine.  (Oh, and by the way, I did get stood up for my senior prom and I am still bitter about it!)

1. Please stop asking us if it’s legal. If it is — and it is — it’s insulting to imply that we’re criminals. And if we were criminals, would we admit it?

2. Learn what the words “socialize” and “socialization” mean, and use the one you really mean instead of mixing them up the way you do now. Socializing means hanging out with other people for fun. Socialization means having acquired the skills necessary to do so successfully and pleasantly. If you’re talking to me and my kids, that means that we do in fact go outside now and then to visit the other human beings on the planet, and you can safely assume that we’ve got a decent grasp of both concepts.

3. Quit interrupting my kid at her dance lesson, scout meeting, choir practice, baseball game, art class, field trip, park day, music class, 4-H club, or soccer lesson to ask her if as a home-schooler she ever gets to socialize.

4. Don’t assume that every home-schooler you meet is home-schooling for the same reasons and in the same way as that one home-schooler you know.

5. If that home-schooler you know is actually someone you saw on TV, either on the news or on a “reality” show, the above goes double.

6. Please stop telling us horror stories about the home-schoolers you know, know of, or think you might know who ruined their lives by home-schooling. You’re probably the same little bluebird of happiness whose hobby is running up to pregnant women and inducing premature labor by telling them every ghastly birth story you’ve ever heard. We all hate you, so please go away.

7. We don’t look horrified and start quizzing your kids when we hear they’re in public school. Please stop drilling our children like potential oil fields to see if we’re doing what you consider an adequate job of home-schooling.

8. Stop assuming all home-schoolers are religious.

9. Stop assuming that if we’re religious, we must be home-schooling for religious reasons.

10. We didn’t go through all the reading, learning, thinking, weighing of options, experimenting, and worrying that goes into home-schooling just to annoy you. Really. This was a deeply personal decision, tailored to the specifics of our family. Stop taking the bare fact of our being homeschoolers as either an affront or a judgment about your own educational decisions.

11. Please stop questioning my competency and demanding to see my credentials. I didn’t have to complete a course in catering to successfully cook dinner for my family; I don’t need a degree in teaching to educate my children. If spending at least twelve years in the kind of chew-it-up-and-spit-it-out educational facility we call public school left me with so little information in my memory banks that I can’t teach the basics of an elementary education to my nearest and dearest, maybe there’s a reason I’m so reluctant to send my child to school.

12. If my kid’s only six and you ask me with a straight face how I can possibly teach him what he’d learn in school, please understand that you’re calling me an idiot. Don’t act shocked if I decide to respond in kind.

13. Stop assuming that because the word “home” is right there in “home-school,” we never leave the house. We’re the ones who go to the amusement parks, museums, and zoos in the middle of the week and in the off-season and laugh at you because you have to go on weekends and holidays when it’s crowded and icky.

14. Stop assuming that because the word “school” is right there in home-school, we must sit around at a desk for six or eight hours every day, just like your kid does. Even if we’re into the “school” side of education — and many of us prefer a more organic approach — we can burn through a lot of material a lot more efficiently, because we don’t have to gear our lessons to the lowest common denominator.

15. Stop asking, “But what about the Prom?” Even if the idea that my kid might not be able to indulge in a night of over-hyped, over-priced revelry was enough to break my heart, plenty of kids who do go to school don’t get to go to the Prom. For all you know, I’m one of them. I might still be bitter about it. So go be shallow somewhere else.

16. Don’t ask my kid if she wouldn’t rather go to school unless you don’t mind if I ask your kid if he wouldn’t rather stay home and get some sleep now and then.

17. Stop saying, “Oh, I could never home-school!” Even if you think it’s some kind of compliment, it sounds more like you’re horrified. One of these days, I won’t bother disagreeing with you anymore.

18. If you can remember anything from chemistry or calculus class, you’re allowed to ask how we’ll teach these subjects to our kids. If you can’t, thank you for the reassurance that we couldn’t possibly do a worse job than your teachers did, and might even do a better one.

19. Stop asking about how hard it must be to be my child’s teacher as well as her parent. I don’t see much difference between bossing my kid around academically and bossing him around the way I do about everything else.

20. Stop saying that my kid is shy, outgoing, aggressive, anxious, quiet, boisterous, argumentative, pouty, fidgety, chatty, whiny, or loud because he’s home-schooled. It’s not fair that all the kids who go to school can be as annoying as they want to without being branded as representative of anything but childhood.

21. Quit assuming that my kid must be some kind of prodigy because she’s home-schooled.

22. Quit assuming that I must be some kind of prodigy because I home-school my kids.

23. Quit assuming that I must be some kind of saint because I home-school my kids.

24. Stop talking about all the great childhood memories my kids won’t get because they don’t go to school, unless you want me to start asking about all the not-so-great childhood memories you have because you went to school.

25. Here’s a thought: If you can’t say something nice about home-schooling, shut up!

Well actually, these monkeys look like they’re having a good time at the beach

I recently published two series, one on “Getting Started in Home-Schooling” and one on “Teaching Methods.”  Sometime in the future I plan to publish a series on teaching specific subjects.  I fully intend to approach the topic of sex education because I believe that it is parents – not public or private school teachers, not youth group leaders, and certainly not the media or the internet – but parents who should be teaching their children about sex.

However, this is not that post.  Rather, I came across a fantastic article, written by Robert Stacy McCain, that I feel compelled to share.  The topic is monogamy/chastity vs. promiscuity, and asks (among other things): “Which requires more discipline to achieve, chastity or promiscuity?” and contends that, “If we imitate the sexual habits of bonobos, we can’t complain if the result is a Culture of Savagery, characterized by inhuman cruelty.”

Robert’s article teaches lessons about sociology and history – and illustrates what we can expect when society trades chastity and monogamy for promiscuity and hedonism.

If nothing else, at least read it for the last sentence, which is priceless.

Here is Robert’s article:  http://theothermccain.com/2010/07/13/monogamy-and-survival/

Note: I realize that bonobos are technically apes, not monkeys, but I thought this title sounded better.  And since it’s my blog, I took some “poetic license.”

This is the sixth and final post on Teaching Methods.

The eclectic method of home-schooling may seem self-explanatory, but I think it’s worth taking a look at since the vast majority of home-schoolers are using this method.  While I have no hard data to support that statement, my experience of knowing home-schoolers for over twenty years gives me some basis to say that I believe the most common method used by my fellow home-schoolers is the eclectic method.

While often home-schoolers will start out adopting a more rigid curriculum (the “school-at-home” approach I discussed here), most will quickly find that unsuitable for their purposes.  In my own personal experience, I had been home-schooling for only four months when I realized that duplicating an institutional model in my home was not only counter-productive…it was a disaster! 

I very quickly started relaxing my methods and looking for ways to make our home-school more functional and more interesting for both me AND my daughter.  The next year we participated in a unit studies co-op with several other families.  A year or so later I discovered Greenleaf Press’ Famous Men series.  Throughout the years we have used 4-H programs; my sons were active in Royal Rangers (which I used for part of their curriculum); and I have used a multitude of various workbooks, CD’s, videos, computer programs – a veritable plethora (isn’t that a great word – “plethora”) of materials and experiences to enhance our home-schooling journey.

Over the last few weeks I have discussed various teaching methods you might use in your home-school.  In the eclectic method, you pull from all those methods and more to make your home-schooling experience uniquely yours.  Your children are unique, your family is unique – there is no formula for education, there is no formula for raising a responsible, well-adjusted, academically prepared child.  There are certainly some great resources (hopefully this website is one for you!), there are people who are further along on their journey who can give you advice.  But when it comes down to it, God gave those children to you.  They are unique little (or not so little!) people that God gave into your care so that you could bring your unique gifts to bear: to raise them, to nurture them, and yes, to educate them. 

To recap the various methods I have discussed in this series, there are:

• The Traditional Method
• The Classical Method
• The Unit Studies Method
• The Charlotte Mason Method
• The Unschooling Method
• The Eclectic Method

Someone reading this may say, “Wait a minute, there are other methods of home-schooling that you didn’t cover here!”  This is true.  I tried to focus on the methods I believe are most commonly used by home-schoolers today.  But if you have used another method not mentioned here, would you please share with me and my readers in the comments?

This is the fifth post in a six-part series on Teaching Methods.

My first exposure to the concept of unschooling was through a book (that I didn’t read but was familiar with) that detailed the story of the Colfax family.  David and Micki Colfax “unschooled” their four sons in the ’70’s and ’80’s, three of whom received full scholarships to Harvard.  (The Colfaxes did not call it unschooling however – they simply referred to it as “home-schooling.”)

Well today, the popularity of unschooling has grown exponentially…as has the controversy surrounding it apparently.  Unfortunately, the controversy seems to primarily stem from those who really don’t want parents educating their children at all – whether through unschooling or some other method.  I’d like to give a little background on the unschooling “movement,” my thoughts on it, and some links that you can use to get more information in the event this method of home-schooling piques your interest.

John Holt is generally thought to be the “father” of the unschooling movement.  For many years he produced a newletter entitled, “Growing Without Schooling.”  The general philosophy of unschooling is that education should be “delight-directed” i.e., students choose how, when, why, and what they study.

I am going to go out on a limb here (maybe) and suggest that, for many parents, unschooling may seem counterintuitive.  Moreover, I believe that for parents who home-school long-term, the type of teaching method they choose to implement will be, at least in part, a function of their personality and temperament, combined with an understanding of, and adapting to, their child’s particular learning style.

All that being said, I want to acknowledge that I do believe unschooling is a proven teaching method that works.  As I am not an “unschooler” per se (though I do believe some of my methods would be consistent with those used by unschoolers) I am providing links that will give you the opportunity to explore this method yourself. 

Before I do that, however, I would like to broach a subject that has recently come to my attention, that of a certain antagonism that some “unschoolers” seem to have towards “home-schoolers.”  My feeling, and I believe this has been the opinion of the home-schooling community for decades, is that unschooling is simply another type of home-schooling, not that there is a “home-schooling camp” and an “unschooling camp.”  (As I pointed out earlier, the Colfax family, widely considered to be unschooling pioneers, merely referred to themselves as home-schoolers.)

Without getting into a long discussion of how this antagonism has come to my attention, I will simply note that, for some reason, some unschoolers are making the assertion that home-schoolers are doing nothing except having “school at home.”  I have actually seen that wording in more than one forum and I have to say as a home-schooler that I find that wording to be, at best, misleading, if not offensive.

If you have been reading my series on “Teaching Methods” (this post is part five of that series) then you know that home-schoolers use a wide variety of methods to reach and teach their children.  I do not believe that because home-schoolers choose to be the ones who direct their child’s education, as opposed to choosing a “child-directed” approach, that it automatically follows that they are simply replicating the institutional system in their homes.  Given the fact that the right of parents to educate their children is constantly being challenged by those who ARE in the institutional system (especially teacher’s unions) I would hope that unschoolers and other home-schoolers would be supporting one another’s choices rather than denigrating them.

What follows is a list of links to websites and books that can answer any questions you may have about unschooling:

• http://home-educate.com/unschooling/
• http://www.holtgws.com/whatisunschoolin.html
• Homeschooling for Excellence by David and Micki Colfax
• Teach Your Own: The John Holt Book of Homeschooling
• Learning All the Time by John Holt
• Real Lives: Eleven Teenagers Who Don’t Go to School Tell Their Own Stories by Grace Llewellyn

Unschooling is certainly another option to consider as you educate yourself regarding the different teaching methods being used by home-schoolers today.  Are you an unschooler?  If you are I would love for you to share your experiences in the comments section.

This post is the fourth in a six-part series on Teaching Methods.

Charlotte Mason (January 1, 1842 – January 16, 1923) was a British educator who believed that children learned better through exposure to real books, nature, and life.  She eschewed textbooks in favor of great literature; her students spent a large portion of their time outdoors studying and recording nature; and creativity was also emphasized.  One of the main features of the Charlotte Mason method is its use of “living books.”

I would define “living books” as books that are the kind you would pick up and read for pure enjoyment.  Keep in mind that what you would pick up for enjoyment, and what I would, may very well be two different things.  For the last couple of years, my book of choice is a crime thriller (a whodunnit).  Jeffrey Deaver books, for example.  But I also read books on politics, religion, health, and others.  You might like books about crafts or home decorating or hunting.

I hope it is clear then, that including living books in your curriculum is not complicated.  What are your interests?  What are your children’s interests?  How can you include books on those topics in your curriculum: language arts, science, history, the arts, life skills…

I have particularly found “living books” to be a great foundation for our studies of history and science.  To give some specifics:

1) As I discussed in my post on Traditional Methods, I found early on that, for my family, history textbooks were far too dry…and boring.  I was beside myself with joy (seriously) when I found Greenleaf Press’ series on “Famous Men.”  Greenleaf’s series divides history up into: Old Testament History; History of Ancient Egypt; History of Ancient Greece; History of Ancient Rome; History of the Middle Ages; and The Renaissance and the Reformation.  I love the fact that they teach history chronologically because well…that’s how history happened!   I love that they discuss the famous men (and women) of the particular era AND they pull in “living books” that provide depth and context to what the kids are learning.  I am not going to go into more detail; I plan to do a thorough review of these materials at another time. 

2) Until high school, I find that science is taught much more effectively using the unit studies method and part of the unit studies method involves the use of living books.  If you take a look at the KONOS method of unit studies (which I discussed here) you will find that living books figure prominently.  For many families, the use of “nature notebooks” – something the Charlotte Mason method uses extensively – are also part of their science “curriculum.” 

How else might you use “living books” in your home-school?  As an example, you could build part (or even most) of your curriculum around great literature.  Spend a year delving into books by Charles Dickens, for instance.  Pull out ideas and concepts that are presented in his books and develop a debate topic.  Have your children write book reports or chapter reports.  Have your children illustrate scenes from the books. 

As I pointed out in my post on unit studies, I spent one year with my middle son (then in eighth grade) reading and studying 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea for his language arts, science, and geography.  I had actually not planned it that way.  It was something that just happened “organically” (for some reason bloggers like to use that word a lot so I thought I’d throw it in) – but the point is, it worked!

I would like to leave you with some links you might want to check out if you are interested in learning more about the Charlotte Mason method.  I want to point out (as you might have figured out already) that this method actually dovetails quite well with other methods of home-schooling.  In fact, you can use the principles of the Charlotte Mason method to enhance any home-schooling method you might choose to use.

• http://charlottemasoneducation.com/
• http://simplycharlottemason.com/
• http://www.charlottemason.com/

Any one of these websites can give you a fantastic overview of the Charlotte Mason method and also provide ideas that you can implement in your own home-school program.  I would love it if my readers who have used this method would also share their experiences in the comments!

This is the third post in a six-part series on Teaching Methods.

Unit studies is a teaching method that has two particular advantages: 1) it allows you to cover a number of different subjects while focusing on a particular topic, and 2) it allows you to teach those subjects over a broad range of ages and/or grades.  If you are not familiar at all with unit studies, I will explain what I mean.

The particular unit study program which I have had the most experience with is called KONOS.  KONOS is a unit study program that utilizes character traits to teach your child across the various disciplines: history, science, language arts, math and the fine arts, for instance.  Many years ago (1991-92 to be exact) I participated with my daughter in a KONOS co-op.  There were approximately 5 families with 8-10 kids of grade school age (and several more pre-schoolers).  One of the character traits we studied was “obedience.”  And one of the topics we used to study this character trait (to give you an example of how this works) was “Kings and Queens.”

During that unit on “Kings and Queens” we:

• Studied castles
• The children made cardboard swords and shields with a coat-of-arms
• We took a field trip to a medieval festival
• We learned to play chess

- and that is just a few of the things we did over the course of this study (which lasted approximately 12 weeks).  As you can probably tell, the kids had a lot of fun during this study, and moreover, they learned!  Integrated studies such as these help children to make connections across the various disciplines so that the information isn’t learned and then forgotten.  The children are also engaged in the process because they are having fun, so the subjects they are learning are tied to good memories which allows them to retain what they are learning.

While it can be a lot of fun to use unit studies in a co-op environment, you can accomplish the same engaged learning in your own home with your own children, even if their ages vary widely.  Besides that particular co-op group (which met for one school year), I have been involved in a unit study with just one other family, and I have used unit studies with just my own children.  I have even used unit studies with my kids that I created myself.  (One in particular, a unit study on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea I hope to publish as an e-book and make available on this site.)

Here are several unit study programs you might want to look into to use with your own family, or to use in a co-op environment:    

•  KONOS –  as I stated earlier, KONOS is the unit study program which I have used the most and I highly recommend it.  The first volume of the core KONOS curriculum has enough material in it to last several years (if you choose to stretch it out as I did) and includes character traits such as: Attentiveness, Obedience, Orderliness and Honor, just to name a few.
• Weaver Unit Studies – The Weaver Curriculum is a unique unit-based, Bible-centered home-school curriculum.  This family-based curriculum uses the same daily Bible theme as a foundation and then creates lessons for each student.  I have never personally used Weaver but it has been around for quite awhile and is recommended by many in the home-schooling community.
• There are a number of unit studies written by veteran home-schoolers such as Amanda Bennett and Valerie Bendt.
• Create your own unit study!  I have done this several times with topics such as: Astronomy; the Human Body; and others.  It will take a little bit of your time but I can assure you it will be worth it.  If there is a subject you want to tackle and you find the traditional methods less than satisfying, follow these instructions to create your own unit study.

CREATE YOUR OWN UNIT STUDY

1) Start with sitting down and making an outline of the topics you would like to cover in your study.  (For instance, when I created a unit study on the “Human Body” I divided it into systems: the circulatory system, the respiratory system, the nervous system, and so on.)

2)  Then check your local library for books related to the topics you have chosen.  You don’t even have to go to the library…just go online and search the library’s catalog.  Check out the books that you will use either as a source of information or that you will read to your children (or assign them to read).

3) Using your outline that you made, begin to list activities you will do together, as well as activities or assignments you may want your child (or children) to do on their own.  I would suggest that you first have a brainstorming session, then come back and polish your list. 

4) Decide how long you want to take to complete your study (I suggest you plan it out by the week).

5) Most of all, have fun with this!

Finally, of all the advantages unit studies have to offer, one of the most important to me has been simply the moments shared with my children.  Implementing unit studies for any part of your curriculum will give you the opportunity to create fun and fond memories.  Moments like that cannot be analyzed, quantified, or graded – they are simply what makes your family unique, special, and stronger.

If you are a home-schooler who has used unit studies with your own children, won’t you share in the comments section what you have used and how it worked out for your family?

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