Now that we have discussed they why of your homeschooling decisions and some various methods of homeschooling, in this blog we will be looking at some philosophies of education that may shape your choice of homeschooling methods.
Some methods and philosophies may overlap. For example, unschooling is really a philosophy of education because it has to do with how you believe children learn best, but I mentioned it in the last post about methods because it is also a way to homeschool.
Your philosophy of education really has to do with how you believe children learn best and how that affects your style or method of teaching.
Many traditional philosophies of education view the student as the passive learner while the teacher is the active one who imparts knowledge. This is why workbooks, textbooks, and lectures feature prominently as traditional methods of education. The teacher presents information in a carefully scripted way, and the student hears the information and regurgitates it on worksheets or tests.
The classical education philosophy suggests that children learn by training of the mind. This philosophy purposes that children move through three basic levels of learning called the "trivium." This philosophy focuses on different methods during the different stages of learning. For example, the first stage is an absorption of the facts so lots of memorization methods would be used.
Many homeschoolers subscribe to a Charlotte Manson philosophy of education. Charlotte Manson lived in England in the early 1900s. She wrote about a "gentle" philosophy of education where children are allowed to learn and discover things in a natural way during their early years. Charlotte Mason's philosophy was "Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life." Proponents of this philosophy read good, classic, "living" books and use methods such as narration, copywork, picture study, and nature study to teach in a gentle and natural way. You can read about Charlotte Manson and get her original six volumes in modern English, and get a free Charlotte Manson curriculum guide at Ambleside Online.
We have only skimmed the surface here, but these are some of the prominent philosophies of education that homeschoolers are drawing from today. Again, the first and foremost question goes back to your focus. Why are you homeschooling? This will affect your choice of methods and your educational philosophy.
Resources:
Most unit studies cover all areas of the curriculum except math. Konos and Alpha Omega's Weaver are two Bible-based packaged unit studies. Mystery of History is a popular history based unit study. Sonlight is a popular literature-based unit study curriculum. My Father's World also uses great literature and is a unit study curriculum based on history cycles. Hands Of A Child offers laptop packages for many different unit studies. Homeschool Share has free unit study and lapbooking ideas.
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