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What curriculum should I choose? Are there guidelines we
should follow? There are no set guidelines (in Texas) or right curriculum. Make sure you remain child oriented. “Teach the child, not the curriculum” Trust yourself, relax, and don’t bend to the prejudices of others. No matter which curriculum you choose, make sure your children each day have: • something or somebody to love • something to do • something to think about 1) “There are opportunities for love in every home” Love is service to others 2) Something worthwhile to do Not entertainment Kids will exclaim “Look what I did!” 3) Children that are not given something to think about, grow up at best with two ideas: 1. To work hard 2. Amuse themselves when not working If the child develops a habit of seeking something to think about – continues into adult life. Such as, the cultural aspects of life- not just rushing off to the video store or other amusements. Where do you find something to think about? BOOKS! Real living books about great men and women. The children will learn how to dig out ideas from good literature. - Karen Andreola, Charlotte Mason Companion “Many parents find that listening to their child is one of the most important things they do. It provides clues and insights into how he thinks, what interests him, what he has learned, what his concerns are, etc. It helps parents figure out how to help their children learn. “ -Larry and Susan Kaseman, in "Taking Charge Through Homeschooling"
“Homeschooling parents can ignore what are for the most part government directives as to what shall be taught and when. Rather, parents and children can work together to develop courses of study that address long-term needs, interests, and capabilities in the context of what they, and not a bureaucracy of somewhat dubious credibility, deem important and necessary.” -David and Micki Colfax, "Homeschooling for Excellence"
“What children need is not new and better curricula but access to more and more of the real world; plenty of time and space to think over their experiences, and to use fantasy and play to make meaning out of them; and advice, road maps, guidebooks, to make it easier for them to get where they want to go (not where we think they ought to go), and to find out what they want to find out. “ -John Holt, in "Teach Your Own" Learning is an art. Children come with a natural curiosity, but they need help developing the art of learning. Parents can model the art by learning in their own life. We can do this by pursuing our own interests, reading for enjoyment, read out loud to our children, and provide them with a book rich environment. We should have an attitude of learning in all that we do. This will help our children learn how to learn. The foundation does include the three-R’s. Think of them as tools in a tool box. Children may be clumsy with these tools until they learn how to use them. We need to show them how to use them. Learning styles can be divided into three stages. Stage 1- birth to 8yrs This is the time to explore and imitate learning. We should answer all of their many questions. See a lesson in every question. The early years are for laying down the foundations of learning. They need to see that learning is fun. Show them the joy in the learning process. Learning is a life long process, not restricted to school hours or school years. The preschool years are not the time to teach reading or math. We should use life's most impressionable years to teach life's most important lesson: how to be happy! -Richard and Linda Eyre, in "Teaching Children Joy" Stage 2 – 8 to 14yrs Now it is time to really learn. Things begin to click at this age. If we force a child to read too early, we may run the risk of loosing something. Yes, they will be able to read after possibly a struggle and battle, but the child may hate reading. This will undermine the attitude of the life long love of learning. Let your child be your guide. They will let you know when they are ready. Stage 3 – 14 to adult The basic skills should be accomplished. Now we can pursue self- directed goals and interests that will lend to future goals. It is more important to teach HOW to learn than to teach WHAT to learn. Give the tools the child needs to learn on their own. Teach children to ask questions such as: How do you know that to be true? On what information do you base that? Where did you get your information? What happens if you are wrong? Content = education (product) Teaches what to learn and what to think. Process = education (how to) Teaches how to learn and think. “It is easy to give a quick nod to lifelong learning, more difficult to consider what it really means, for the idea that people should study for about 12 years and then start living is more deeply seated in our culture than many people realize. Lifelong learning is more than an occasional adult education course. It is the expectation that someone will know more at age 40 than she did at age 30, the realization that it is never too late to begin learning another language, the belief that there are important new insights just over the horizon, no matter how old you are. But it is easy to forget these things, and a great deal of pressure on a homeschooler results from the perhaps unintentional assumption that everything a child will need to know during his life must be mastered in his first 18 years.” -Larry and Susan Kaseman, in "Taking Charge Through Homeschooling
A homeschooling parent in Canada wrote a letter which ended with a quote by Roque Dalton: "May we keep hauling up the morning." I like the metaphor of a sailing ship upon the sea for parenthood and for homeschooling. There are no completely reliable charts, and so we must often navigate without them. We must learn for ourselves how to find the currents, avoid the reefs and storms, and enter the harbors. As we haul up the sails to go on sailing, so we haul up the morning for the adventures of each successive day. There is room for everybody on this ocean, and there is no pilot's license required or worth having. We must trust ourselves and our children. May each of us keep hauling up the morning. -Earl Gary Stevens, Home Education Magazine, 1990 |