Some families chose the path of home education because they could teach their particular faith or moral values while others did so because they needed efficiency in their schedules to allow their children to pursue electives, such as acting, dance, or sports. These various families were clearly teaching their children reading, writing, and arithmetic while including additional instruction important to their family’s particular beliefs and interests.
What I noticed was that several of the homeschooling families had a lifestyle mixed with work (chores or part-time jobs), service (community projects), and learning (academics). This resonated with me, and I wanted this same flexibility and choice that homeschooling avails you.
I also read books that encouraged me toward homeschooling. The books I read were “A Charlotte Mason Companion,” by Karen Andreola and “Better Late Than Early,” by Raymond Moore.
I had a limited understanding about what a Charlotte Mason education involved. I knew she was a deceased British educator that encouraged reading books. However, after reading “A Charlotte Mason Companion,” I learned that a Charlotte Mason education was a philosophy that focused on the child. A child, to Charlotte Mason, was a born person, not an empty vessel. This meant that a child could be presented with living ideas and meet mind to mind with authors, art, music, and other ideas from books directly. A child does not need the parent to chew up their food, they can do it for themselves. We, the home educator, can simply provide our children a feast of ideas originating from living books centered on poetry, history, nature studies, music appreciation, handicrafts, cooking, gardening, and more. The child can develop their own connections and generate their own “aha” moments from meeting mind to mind with, for example, authors like E.B. White, artists like Mary Cassatt, and musicians like George Gershwin.
The other book that influenced me to homeschool was a book authored by Dr. Raymond and Dorothy Moore titled “Better Late Than Early.” The book summarizes research supporting the contention that children are not psychologically ready for formal learning until age eight to 10. They suggested that waiting allows children to gain the maturity and logical skills necessary for formal work and prevents children from becoming frustrated and discouraged by attempts to handle material they are simply not yet ready to understand. “Better Late Than Early” advocates delaying formal academics until children’s brains are mature enough. So until that time, have your children learn at home through work (chores), service (helping others in the family), and informal learning (cooking, gardening, music appreciation, etc).
Dr. Raymond Moore and his wife, Dorothy Moore, were often called the grandparents of the modern homeschool movement and their book influenced me to follow the “Moore Formula” of work, service, and learning.
To me, the Moore Formula seemed to overlap with a Charlotte Mason philosophy toward home education nicely because both approaches looked at children and respected their individuality and their readiness. Both the Moore Formula and the Charlotte Mason philosophy valued the importance of spending time with your child through reading with them, working with them, and sharing an unhurried life with them. This also resonated with me, and I knew I could try homeschooling and take it year by year. If it did not work out, then I could try a different course.
I also realized there will be academic holes and that is OK. The goal for our family was to teach our children to love learning and thus become independent lifelong learners. What my children did not learn, they can discover and acquire for themselves because of the home learning lifestyle we have nurtured.
The home learning life centers on building a home library, providing a garage full of construction tools, shelves of art supplies and craft materials (model paint, clay, tools for glass etching and wood carving, construction paper, etc.), all of which is within arm’s reach for our children. My children were taught how to use tools safely and we included them in a multitude of home repair projects, always under our supervision. We share the kitchen with them and have them help prepare meals and shop for ingredients. The unhurried homeschooling life provides our children time to read independently, to explore and create their own pieces of art—even to build their own toys.
My children were often in the garage creating something, so we ended up documenting the pieces that they created through photo journaling. Once I had a collection of their creations on one page in a photo collage, I began to realize that my children were learning.
The advice I would offer is to read to your students before you teach them to read. Sit on the sofa and read books authored, for example, by A.A. Milne, Robert McCloskey, E.B. White, and Laura Ingalls Wilder. You cannot read too much. Teach your children to read by reading to them. For your leisure time, parents can read for their own pleasure. A home culture of reading models the value of reading to your children.
Then writing will come because you have trained your children’s ear to hear the words of the great authors that have created timeless, living books. A child cannot write well if they have not read much.
For my children, I used a reading curriculum called “Sing, Spell, Read and Write” by Sue Dickson. She had this wonderful CD that came with the readers and my boys learned their phonics largely from listening to its catchy songs. I waited until I knew my children were ready and did not start teaching reading until then. Waiting until your children’s brains are ready is the key. It is far easier to teach your kids to read and write when you wait on their brain development. If you teach them reading and writing too early, you and your child will be frustrated, and homeschooling will not be a joyful experience.
As far as writing, I used to worry quite a bit about this. However, it was not until I learned about journaling that I became less anxious. This is the reason I advocate journaling preceded by and combined with reading living books.
The delight on my son’s face inspired me to create the journal booklets. The journal entries are meaningful for my children because they “tell me” what they understand about a current event, a historical event, or how they are feeling about a piece of art. To this day, my children will make journal entries. We also continue to read together, and my children will also read independently.
So for example, I don’t know how to speak Mandarin Chinese fluently. I had actually learned to speak the language with my children by first reading picture books to them—books that were written in English as well in Chinese (in pinyin). The Eric Carle books were excellent for this because I found the narrative (“Brown Bear, Brown Bear” or “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”) repeated verbs and had simple sentences that my children could follow along without any translation. In fact, this method of learning a foreign language coincided with François Gouin’s method of learning a foreign language, a method that Charlotte Mason implemented.
I think this is the most important step and the earliest decision a homeschooling family will need to make before embarking on homeschooling. There are many homeschooling philosophies such as traditional homeschooling, classical homeschooling, unschooling, and Charlotte Mason. There is no right or wrong philosophy, only what is right for your family.
Home education is very individualized and tailor-made for your students; no two families are alike. Try out one home education approach for a month and then try another, allowing your family time to figure out which works best for you. I think it is well worth investing the time to decide which particular home education approach is best.
I would like to also add that the experiences we have had with home education have worked for our particular family. There are many approaches to home education and the most important factor is to find an approach that you and your children like.
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