One of the very best things about homeschooling your kids is that you are free to choose any philosophy of teaching you wish.  Paying attention to the way your child learns and adhering to his/her needs in the classroom is a huge benefit that homeschooled kids have.  Many of you reading this review may have chosen to homeschool for the very reason that your child could not learn the in the style being taught at a  traditional school.   There are plenty of styles of schooling your kids out there.  There’s Classical, Eclectic, Unit Study-based, Unschoolers, and more.  But the style that has most worked with our family is the Charlotte Mason approach.

In a nutshell, Charlotte Mason was an educational reformer that live in England in the late 1800’s.  She completely disagreed with how school worked and thought it could be better.  She had no children of her own, but she made it her life’s mission to improve the educational system as it was.  She set to work and started her own school.  I love a woman willing to go against the grain!

Her philosophy can be hard to adopt for homeschoolers that were brought up in public (or private) school because it is so different from “regular” school.  With a CM approach you use no text books.  Everything is taught on a literature-based standard.  Instead of having children memorize names and dates and cram for tests, you would read interesting and exciting literature to paint a mental picture that sticks with them…encouraging a love of learning.

So…pardon me for the long introduction.  I’ll get the the review now .  It can be difficult in the beginning to know how to use this philosophy, but I’ll share some of my very favorite Charlotte Mason guides that really helped me. (Please note: There are TONS of great websites and books to help you learn more, but these are my most “beat-up” CM books…meaning they are dog-eared, highlighted, “coffee-ringed”, and creased!)

Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola:  Karen Andreola is a forerunner for starting the Charlotte Mason revival in the homeschooling community.  She has written many books about teaching certain subjects the CM way, but this book is a compilation of allaspects of teaching the CM way.  The contents include everything you need to know. She includes a background about what drew her to the CM method and bumps along the way.  The book is sprinkled with personal stories about her life as a homeschool mom.  She stresses the importance of having a support system and possibly even starting your own CM group.  Each chapter ends with discussion questions and room for notes.

A Charlotte Mason Education Series by Catherine Levison:  These are the books that first got me excited about CM.  I love the way Catherine writes and her clear explanation of everything she discusses.  Her series is made of three separate titles:

• A Charlotte Mason Education
• More Charlotte Mason Education
• A Literary Education

The first book is an overview of each school subject and how to do them the way CM would have.  The second book goes a bit more in depth and gives great ideas for your classroom.  Both books have great examples, lists, and sample schedules to help you get started.

The third book in the series is  a compilation of books that CM used in her teaching and newer books that follow her guidelines of teaching.  There are many books reviewed and I use many of them in our homeschool.  This book also includes a great scope and sequence of grades K-12.  It’s a wonderful way to get started, even if you don’t follow it all the way through high school, it’s a great starting point.

Catherine’s website also includes excellent articles that I’ve read over and over.

Again, this is just the tip of the iceberg with Charlotte Mason helps.  A few others that come to mind are:

• Simply Charlotte Mason (website)
• Living Books Curriculum (website + curriculum)
• Penny Garner’s Charlotte Mason Website
• Ambleside Online (website + curriculum)
• For the Children’s Sake by Susan Macaulay
• When Children Love to Learn by Elaine Cooper

-Written by Alicia, a Charlotte Mason-loving, mom of three. You can find her blogging at La Famille.

“We don’t expect infants and toddlers to develop at the same rate or to do things in exactly the same way, so we do we transport all of our vital, lively distinctly different children to uniform environments, teach them all in one way, expect them to progress at the same pace, and call them below average if they don’t?” ~ Taken from Chapter One, Discover Your Child’s Learning Style.

One of the great aspects of homeschooling is the ability to fit the schooling to the child.  Understanding your child’s learning style can be a lot of help in determining just exactly how to do that.  Although not written specifically to homeschoolers, Discover Your Child’s Learning Style by Mariaemma Willis and Victoria Kindle Hodson is my favorite book to use during this process.  The authors not only cover the learning styles, but also the externals such as lighting, time of day, and noise factors that affect your child’s ability to learn.  They do this with the motivation of helping you help your child learn.  There is no right or wrong, no best way of learning, but it is individualized to the child.  Chapter Two’s title sums it up- Success for Every Child.

The Learning Style Model of Education is presented, utilizing each child’s Learning Style Profile, with the hope of teaching “…the child how to use learning-style information to learn more efficiently in all situations.” The profile reveals five aspects of the learning styles:

Disposition- Perform, Produce, Invent, Relate/Inspire, Think/Create

Talents- Music, Math-Logic, Mechanical Reasoning, Word-Language Reasoning, Spatial, Body Coordination, Interactive, Humor, Life Enhancement

Interests- Sports, Music, etc.

Modality- Auditory, Visual, Tactile-Kinesthetic

Environment- Sound, Lighting, Temperature, etc.

Included in the book are the Learning Style Profile assessments themselves, which are fairly painless.  Your child will rate the areas where they feel strong and  their own answers determine their results.  This can be an eye-opening experience, as many times we will assume that our children learn the same way we do.  It is suggested that you take the test along with your child, which I have done twice now.  With my older children, I discovered that only one of them has the same learning style as me!  As we tend to teach to our own learning style, this was important for me to grasp and understand.  Many of my older children are hands on learners, I am visual.  Knowing this prompted me to prioritize projects and hands-on activities, along with my natural leaning towards reading, writing, and computer work.  We have recently taken the tests with my younger children and I have discovered that the youngest walks to the beat of his own drum- which in this family means he is logical and math oriented.  As I am completely opposite, this book is vital to my understanding of how his brain works.

Many  homeschoolers are hard at work planning the upcoming year, perhaps Discover Your Child’s Learning Style can play a part in making it a successful one.  I know it’s been a blessing in our home.

- Lori is a highly caffeinated mom of seven.  She can be found at Hearthside Homeschool Reviews and More , as well as Reflections and Ramblings of a Not-So-Superwoman .

What a wonderful experience I have had the last few months!  I received the All-Day Charlotte Mason Seminar on DVD, seminar workbook, and the Laying Down the Rails book and Workshop on DVD from Simply Charlotte Mason to review.  If you have never been over to visit Simply Charlotte Mason, I highly recommend you take a look.  They offer free curriculum guides, free ebooks, and many materials for purchase as well.  They truly help make Charlotte Mason’s homeschool ideas simple.  Their blog is one that always inspires me.

I began by watching the 3 DVDs for the All-Day Charlotte Mason Seminar and taking notes through the accompanying workbook.  I did this over the course of several evenings while my children were falling asleep in their beds, which allowed me some quiet to focus.

Session 1 (34 minutes) introduced me to Charlotte Mason, who she was, when she lived, and her ideas about education.  It was neat to get to know her this way.  I had tried to read her books in the past, but just could not get through them.  It took too much brain power at a time when I was trying to just keep up with my young children and get sleep.

Session 2 (78 minutes) and 3 (71 minutes)held my hand as we went through each subject applying Charlotte Mason’s methods.  Here is where I had many, many ah-ha moments. Short lessons, living books, and narration – these things made sense and could easily be integrated in our unit study family.  I appreciated that I was not expected to add everything in at once.  The appendix explained a doable plan for making the transition to a Charlotte Mason approach a step at a time.  Here is a short clip from the workshop about using narration.

Are we now becoming a Charlotte Mason family? Yes and no.  (grin)  I think narrowly defining any homeschooling family by one method is usually inaccurate.  We prefer to pick and choose the pieces that work for our family.  I have discovered that many of the Charlotte Mason pieces fit our family!  We have already begun to incorporate the following:

• living books
• narration
• scripture memorization

We have plans to incorporate these ideas over the next year:

• map drill
• picture study
• music study

Now let me tell you a little bit about the  Laying Down the Rails book and DVD Workshop that came as part of this set.  I watched the DVD first (45 minutes), using the workbook section for it from the All-Day Charlotte Mason Seminar as I went.  I love Charlotte’s idea that good habits are like railroad tracks, they smooth life out because a child is not having to make the same decisions over and over and over.  I know that is true, even in my own life.  Habits help me to accomplish many of the routine things in my day without the extra effort of decision-making.

Sonya, the workshop presenter, is funny and helpful as she leads you through many of the habits a child can learn.  While there is an extensive list, she emphasizes to start with one habit, and not to add another until the first is truly habit.  It was really helpful to watch the DVD with my husband. He was not up for reading the book, all 230+ pages, but the workshop got us both on the same mental page easily.  He was as excited about habit training as I was.  You can watch a short clip from the DVD right here.

I next spent nearly a month reading and pondering the Laying Down the Rails book.  What a treasure!  It contains Charlotte’s words on each habit gathered into one place, prefaced by a concise definition of the habit and a story that shows how the habit is important.  There are entire chapters on ‘repairing the rails’ – breaking the bad habits we already have, including chapters on some specific problems like dawdling, temper tantrums, and lying.  See a sample from the book HERE.

Where are we now? Well, habit training is a process, and I will be honest that the first person who has to acquire the new habit is me.  However, we are working on our habits slowly and steadily, and I find a lot of support and encouragement when I read through Laying Down the Rails.

Would I buy these products? Yes!  That is an unequivocal yes.  The entire set can be purchased HERE for $54.95.  That includes 3 All-Day Charlotte Mason Seminar DVDs, the Session workbook, 1 Laying Down the Rails workshop DVD, and a print copy of the Laying Down the Rails book.  I love having the All-Day Charlotte Mason Seminar on DVD, a shot of motivation that I can turn on whenever I need a boost.  Homeschooling is a process, and the experience is different with each child.  Having Charlotte Mason’s ideas broken down into manageable tasks gives me easy action plans to try when we need something adjusted.  Laying Down the Rails is a treasure trove of ideas for habit training.  Time will pass and our children will acquire habits.  The question is what habits will they develop – ones we have carefully helped them build or contrary habits that we lazily let develop?

Written by Tristan, mom to 5 going on 6 children, homeschooling through unit studies with a side of lapbooks.  You can visit her at her blog, Our Busy Homeschool.

{Disclaimer: I received these products free from Simply Charlotte Mason to enable this review.  I received no other compensation and all opinions presented herein are my own.}

I had my eye on the Epi Kardia curriculum from the moment I heard of it. I was caught immediately by their name alone as it conveyed exactly the type of homeschooling theology in our home! Imagine my delight when I was offered a 1st grade set to review!  We couldn’t wait for it to arrive!

Epi Kardia is a “historically structured, literature-based curriculum using Charlotte Mason methods” available for grades Kindergarten through High School.  So why Epi Kardia as the curriculum name?…

(from their website) “The Greek words “Epi Kardia” mean at the heart. At Epi Kardia, we feel the heart of home education is the Christ-centered mentoring and discipleship relationship between parents and their children.”

This completely embodies our goals for our homeschool so I just had to try it out.

The day the box came in we were so excited!  I had to rip the box open and dig right in!

My kids were so excited and I was even more pleased with the packaging: eco-friendly packing peanuts!    I joyfully packaged those up for crafts at a later date! (As frugal homeschooling mom, I never miss a moment to reuse and recycle!)

I enjoy the way that the curriculum is broken down into three books so they were not cumbersome to use and their packaging was really pretty! (LOL)

I received the Epi Kardia 1st grade “Lesson Plans” set. This choice is laid out in a daily lesson plan format that outlines each subject for each day, including hands-on ideas, lapbooking suggestions, arts, crafts and more; so you can really just jump in and go!

Epi Kardia offers two different types of curriculum:

1. Complete Programs — their most cost-effective option, Complete Programs  can be used for three years each following our methodology.  Using unit overviews, history, science and music/fine arts book-lists divided by topic,  along with the suggested projects and activities, you write your own lesson plans.

2. Daily Lesson Plans — Love homeschooling (or want to homeschool) but you know you are not a planner, organized or you have a hard time following through? The Daily Lesson Plans are already-planned-in-advance and are written for specific grade levels.  They include weekly goals and objectives for each subject and daily lessons planned integrating the studies of history, science (K-8), language arts and projects.

Features of Epi Kardia Curriculum

• Based on Charlotte Mason methodologies include reading whole, living books, short lessons, oral narration, using copy work and dictation to teach grammar and composition, and more!
• All books listed in the curriculum have been read and evaluated from an evangelical Christian worldview by at least one of the authors
• Integrates the subjects of history, science, language arts (including reading, grammar, composition, phonics, poetry, literature studies, spelling) and fine arts
• Activities, books and projects recommended for each learning style
• Provided in their complete program, components are historical overviews of each time period for teachers/older students, as well as a customizable CD with teaching tools and helpful forms
• The 100+ page teacher’s manuals include abundant information about teaching covered subjects and as well as curriculum related material
• The 6th – 12th grade manual includes an extensive section regarding teaching high school writing.

Epi Kardia is a living book based curriculum, so books are an integral part of it.  In each set there is an outline of books that will be used for that quarter. Although the books are not offered as part of the curriculum purchase, I have found that most are easily found online for free, at your local library, or available used online.  (They even offer the books via links to amazon on their website, to save you time and energy).

Being the frugal family that we are, I’ve elected to procure the books from our local library and online at the free books sites (as listed in my listing of free curriculum). So far, the books have been fun and fairly easy to get. We love going to the library!

I look forward to finding new books that we may have never been exposed to! Like others in living book style curricula, I fully expect to find some books my kids will adore so much they won’t want to return them.

In my humble opinion, Epi Kardia compares nicely with other, more known curriculum such as Sonlight, My Father’s World, or Tapestry of Grace.  Of course, each of these curriculum offer their own perspective, features and lesson plans, which makes each one unique and tailored to each families personal needs.  However, I think the Sullivan family has joyfully found our core curricula of choice!

Prices for the curriculum varies according to your curriculum style choice and media. You can elect to buy the spiral bound books (like pictured above) or a CD.  Prices start at $75.00 for a full curriculum book or, you can choose to try their lesson plans, you may purchase the first unit (The Ancients–six weeks of plans) for only $25.  Epi Kardia is so sure you are going to love them, they even offer a full credit if you choose to buy the full set after purchasing the trial.

Institute For Excellence in Writing- Teaching Writing: Structure and Style DVDs By Andrew Pudewa

Feeling Empowered as a Parent/Teacher

Many of my blog readers have been asking me to write a review of Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) for a long time. I have hesitated to write the review since we are still very much a work in progress using their system of writing. My boys were in middle school when we first started using  IEW’s Teaching Writing: Style and Structure program.  At this point, after using the plans for three years, I feel prepared to give a review of the program based on how our year is going with this final stage of IEW and their Teaching Writing: Style and Structure DVDs and manual. (TWSS)

Just a Note to Make Things Clear

Please note that there are several programs available through IEW but this review is for the TWSS DVDs and teacher’s manual only. The TWSS DVDs are for the parent to watch and glean techniques and ideas in order to guide their children through the writing process. They are the beginning step to using the IEW system in your home school. Parents do not need any  previous experience teaching writing nor do you even need to be a confident writer. The TWSS DVDs will teach you all you need to know to help your children add structure and style to their writing.

The Strong Points of the TWSS Program

Guides the Parent: The TWSS method of teaching arms the teacher/parent and students with a variety of tools to use in their writing. The IEW system is a system that builds up a great foundation by introducing a structure that the child can use to express his thoughts in a logical and meaningful way. Each new skill slowly adds on the last skill. The DVD lessons in the TWSS series arm the parent with concrete ways to structure and then “dress-up” the student’s writing. Each lesson gives you specific objectives so the parent and student know exactly what the writing piece needs to accomplish. A whole new vocabulary is learned in the process and soon everyone is talking about quality adjectives and who-which clauses. (Link to a handout explaining more about dress-ups.) The most significant thing about the way new tools are added is that we are no longer trying to fix everything all at one time. The lessons help us to concentrate on the new tool introduced and to incorporate the previous tools into our current writing.

Lessons Build From Elementary to High School: Each lesson in the TWSS plan is a baby step to more sophisticated writing. Starting with key word outlines and summaries, your child learns to gather information to write about each week. I love that I can tailor the topics we want to write about to the lesson and make it even more meaningful. My boys are now busy writing instead of thinking of things to write about. The flexibility to choose your topics and apply them to each of the lessons in the TWSS sequence is one of the greatest benefits of this program.

Working from a Key Word Outline Makes Writing Easier

Tailor the Topics for Writing Projects: For instance, this week my boys are working on writing a research report. They both chose a topic from their current areas of study with one choosing a physics topic and one choosing a biography. They had plenty of fresh ideas from their studies to incorporate into their writing assignment. Remember that we did not start off writing research reports, but the TWSS lessons have built from one paragraph summaries to three paragraph essays to now a five paragraph essay with introduction, conclusion, and bibliography. Our next step after mastering the five paragraph essay is to work on what is called a “super essay” which is basically three five paragraph essays tied together with super introduction and super conclusion paragraphs.

Here are the official units covered in TWSS in the DVD lessons:
Units 1-2 Note Making and Summarizing including Stylistic Techniques and Dress Ups
Unit 3-Summarizing Narratives Stories and introducing Sentence Openers
Unit 4-Summarizing Reference for Library Reports and adding in Advanced Dress-Ups: Decorations, Triples
Unit 5-Writing from Pictures
Unit 6-Reports from Multiple Sources (extension of Unit 4)
Unit 7-Creative Writing and introducing introductions and conclusions.
Unit 8-Essays: Basic, Expanded, Super-Essay, Persuasive (extension of Units 4 and 6)
Unit 9-Critiques, Book Reports, and Reviews

Teacher’s Workbook: Along with the DVD lessons, you will receive a workbook with extensive notes for each unit, checklists, charts, and resources  for your child to use with the lessons.

Writing with Their Own Voice: It has always been important to me to have my children develop their own voice in their writing, to have the paper sound like it is from their own thoughts and reasoning. IEW has helped my boys use the IEW tools in a way that makes writing in their own words easier. At first the checklists provided with the lessons seemed cumbersome and awkward. They did not enjoy all the “box checking”. For instance, as the sentence openers are introduced they had to go back and rewrite a lot of their sentences to make sure they had used each sentence opener tool . (More on sentence openers in this IEW document, see page 7) The editing process was tedious and we all loathed that time of the week when we would review the writing and the checklist together. Progressively, each time we used the sentence opener tools in our writing, it became more natural. Now as the boys write an essay they can easily insert the sentence openers as they go along, they are on their mind. By incorporating the various style tools in the TWSS program, they have found their writing voice.

TWSS consists of 6 DVDs for the Parent

Possible Obstacles to Successfully Using the IEW or TWSS Programs

Parent Involvement is High: If you are looking for a short-term fix or a program that you can have your child work through independently, the IEW system is probably not for you. The tools taught through the TWSS DVD lessons are helpful to the parent in their guiding the writing process with their own children. The tools are then used by the student to first learn how to structure their writing and then to incorporate style points to make the writing piece their very own. Your children will benefit from your help and support through the process of learning to write an summary, a story, and essays of all sorts. The DVDs included with the TWSS program can be used over and over and I have found it beneficial to watch them at the beginning of each school year.

Cost of the Writing Program: I struggled with the price tag on this program for over a year before purchasing the DVDs. Our home schooling convention had Andrew Pudewa as a speaker and listening to him explain his ideas and philosophy behind this plan convinced me it was worth the investment. It was also helpful to hear his style of teaching and his great sense of humor that comes through as he teaches. You can listen to his introductory video by going to this LINK and scrolling down to where there is a link to his video.   I have never regretted the decision.We purchased the TWSS and the Student Writing Intensive (SWI) programs together for $239 which when you take into account that we are using the plans for our fourth year, they are a reasonably priced. (The SWI program is a set of DVDs that the student watches and it comes with a complete set of lesson plans. The SWI DVDs correspond with the TWSS DVDs which are for the parent to watch. I need to write a separate review for the SWI plans-stay tuned.)

Help in Using the IEW, TWSS, and SWI Programs

Bonus Student Workshop DVDs: Included in the TWSS DVD program are three disks showing at different levels how Andrew Pudewa teaches his writing workshops using the TWSS lessons. I highly recommend watching these along with your child after getting started with the TWSS plans.

Free Resources: There are some free downloads available on the IEW website, both materials and pod casts.

Online Groups: There is also a very helpful Yahoo Group IEW Families, that has lots of free lesson plans, writing helps, and suggestions for free that you can tap into. The moderator of this group is very good at answering questions so if you are undecided about whether to purchase this program for your family, you might ask her some more specific questions about how you intend to use the IEW programs, especially with younger children.

TWSS DVDs  have made me a more confident writing teacher and coach. I have the tools to do what needs to get done to step my boys through learning to write wonderful essays and then some. The emphasis is on creating great writers all throughout the TWSS plans. All parents can teach writing structure and style using this great product.

I wrote a little bit of my random thoughts on IEW on my Harmony Art Mom blog a few months ago. You can read about it HERE.

Written by Barb-Harmony Art mom.  I also blogs at http://harmonyartmom.blogspot.com and my business is found at http://www.harmonyfinearts.com. I would love for you to join us for the Outdoor Hour Challenges: http://handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com.

Curriculum collects on shelves in our living room and peaks from boxes in the shed. A glance in either place reveals more stuff than we can realistically use. I’m so thankful for the options, but options can paralyze.

So how do I choose what to help me teach my children? How did these books end up in our possession instead of others?

I search for items that line up with our purpose for homeschooling, and trust God to lead me. Yes, the academics are important, but when I consider our goals getting an A in calculus isn’t top priority.

• I want my children to have godly character.
• I want my children to know how to think and reason.
• I want my children to grow in responsibility and self-government.

Can curriculum really address these deeper heart issues? I think that is the whole purpose of learning. So the curriculum crowding the shelves in our home has certain qualities.

It is reflective in nature.

Children need time to think about ideas. I keep multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank worksheets at a minimum.

It lays out the principles of a subject in a sensible way.

Definitions fill full the ideas words represent. A young child can understand that letters make sounds, sounds create words, and words turn into sentences. In this way, they can understand the whole subject of reading before they begin the practice.

It uses original source documents.

Reference materials lay a foundation for self-learning. Quotes inspire us to dig deeper into the context of historical events. Biographies are some of my favorite resources.

The writing is high-quality and inspirational.

This benefits my whole family. When we read good literature, we all enjoy lessons more. Yes, “Spot ran,” is technically a sentence, but it’s not engaging. Every student craves ideas and well-crafted stories.

When I started homeschooling, I had no idea how many wonderful resources I would find. I used to search to find enough for a complete year. Now it seems curriculum finds me.

What about you? What do you look for in curriculum? Do you have more than enough or not enough?

Written by Renae Deckard, Biblical Principled mother of 3. Find Renae’s reflections about homeschool and family life at Life Nurturing Education.

photo credit: kaleid

On my nightstand next to my Women’s Devotional Bible and the latest issue of my favorite quilt magazine sits a home school how to book I find so full of encouragement and practical advice I refer to it often. Elizabeth Foss’ Real Learning: Education in the Heart of A Home shows us how to use living books and real life experiences to teach our children.

If you want your children to love learning as naturally as they breathe, this two hundred page manual will surely inspire you to create an atmosphere of learning and offer you endless practical teaching techniques.

The book is divided into fourteen chapters beginning with a discussion of educators that have influenced Foss, including Charlotte Mason, Edith Stein, Susan Schaeffer MacCauley, Marie Montessori and others. We are told how to teach reading and writing using living books and offered suggestions on teaching narration, dictation and copywork. Math is made meaningful with tips on creating a living math library and using manipulatives. Next up is a chapter on history and science where we are instructed to chose living books, make time lines and write in century books and nature journals.  There are chapters on music, art, sports and teaching children with special needs.  Also included is an integrated unit for Advent and Christmas complete with recipes, and a nine year living book list organized by month and topic for Kindergarten through eighth grade. Catholic Moms  will especially enjoy the carefully selected go along Saint studies in the upper elementary cycles.

Of particular interest to me as of late are the chapters on chores, character development and burnout. I especially enjoy the Words From the Wise section following many chapters where homeschool Moms from around the world share their experiences.

If you know in your heart workbooks and textbooks are not inspiring a love of learning in your children.  If you want to move toward a living books education but you don’t know how you can possibly plan and teach different grade levels, keep up with the laundry, cook meals, and still feel like you are providing an age appropriate, challenging education, Elizabeth Foss’ Real Learning: Education in the Heart of the Home is a must read.

Susan, who lives in the heart of Dixie with her husband and three school age children, blogs about quilting and homeschooling at Stitchin’ Life.

When I first started homeschooling, I knew I wanted to make school part of our real life.  I knew my children would be involved in more than just textbook learning.  We were already spending so much time doing “non-traditional” learning like 4-H Clover Buds, service projects, field trips, plays, church choir, making meals for ourselves and others, and working on the farm.  I never knew exactly what to call this type of learning until I ran across a wonderfully encouraging website called The Homeschool Oasis that taught me the term “Lifestyle of Learning“.  Yes!  That’s exactly the kind of school I wanted – a school where learning was our lifestyle and our life was learning!

Barb Shelton and her husband, Dave, are the very passionate owners of The Homeschool Oasis where they strive to support you on all levels in a mission to re-educate yourself about education.  The website alone offers many, many articles that guide you along a journey of making your homeschool a lifestyle.  As I settled into an eclectic Charlotte Mason style for our homeschool, I found Barb’s articles helped cement the idea that school should be a loving, natural atmosphere.  Not that she claims to be a CMer – but her vision is usually not contrary to a CM style education.

Like many homeschoolers out there, as my daughter approaches high school, I’m beginning to get a little panicky thinking that the only way to make it through is a strict textbook curriculum.  Even though I’m not totally against textbooks, a strict textbook curriculum goes against the lifestyle of learning style we’ve had in our home for the last eight years.  As I was thinking about high school one day, I remembered Barb has authored several books and other products.  Upon finding Senior High: A Home Designed Form+U+la on her website, I literally begged her for a review copy.  I’m SO thankful she said yes!

This HUGE book, written in conversational style, contains eight sections with a couple of introduction chapters.

• Front Stuff includes a few messages about the book, acknowledgments and a very detailed table of contents.
• Jumpstart Plan gives you a brief overview or sneak preview of what you can expect from the book.  This section gives you a feel for what you will be learning in the upcoming chapters and the outcomes you will produce.
• Section 1: Out of Fear and Into Freedom takes you through a re-education of sorts and challenges you to think of high school as a lifestyle of learning.  A question and answer section greatly encourages you in some of the most frequent fears such as, “I truly want to enjoy being with my kids again, but I feel the pressure everywhere for doing grades, following scope-and-sequences, etc.  And even at that, don’t feel I’m doing a good job…”  This section is a great encouragement for setting goals for your children, with knowing God being #1.
• Section 2: Requirements, College, Promotion & Graduation answers several questions about graduation requirements, giving credits, figuring hours earned and making college plans.  There’s even a very nice section about planning a meaningful graduation ceremony for your child.
• Section 3: Record Keeping System provides you with reproducible record keeping sheets, and directions and samples showing you how to use them.  I think I counted 11 sheets that cover everything from overall plans to weekly plans to transcripts.
• Section 4: Potpourri of Curriculum Supplements teaches you how think about curriculum in terms of “non traditional” education.  In other words, you’ll learn how to turn things like performances, cooking, home repair, and other activities that may not fit into a particular curriculum – but are definitely learning opportunities – and find a place for them on the transcript.  Several worksheets are included in this section that will allow your high schooler to document activities as learning.  There a A LOT of worksheets provided, but some topics include: a movie critique and analysis, occupational skills interview, healthful living planning, play critique, poet synopsis and much more.  My favorite is the home report where the child reviews their learning opportunities from the previous month.
• Section 5: Grading and Portfolio Guidelines teaches you how to determine grades outside of the traditional curriculum and how to prepare a top-notch high school portfolio.  A reproducible is included that helps you create a rubric (or scoring guide) for your child to let them know what is expected in order to receive certain grades.
• Section 6: Personalizing all this Stuff is the nitty-gritty chapter.  It teaches you step-by-step, with lots of examples, HOW to design your high school framework AND how to design your classes.  Barb knows that everyone (children and moms) have their own learning style, so she introduces you to varied approaches for designing the framework and classes so they meet the needs of both the child’s learning style and the mom’s organizational style.  In this section, Barb even gives you ideas for how to organize yourself and your materials!  Chapter 6 is so big and full of reproducibles and great information, Barb has split it into four distinct categories to make it easier to find what you need.
• Section 7: Lifestyle of Learning Applications brings it all together again encouraging you to make high school as natural and wonderful as the rest of the school years have been.
• Section 8: Resources, Reviews & Glossary is just what it says.  You’ll find a list of other resources Barb suggests, as well as some reviews of the book and a glossary of terms that might be unfamiliar to you as she uses them in the book.

I could keep writing my praises about this book, but this is quickly turning into one of the longest reviews I’ve written!  Just know that I LOVE the information shared and feel so much better about continuing our lifestyle of learning homeschool on into high school.  Thanks for the encouragement, Barb!

-Written by Cindy, an eclectically Charlotte Mason mom of three.

This seems like a topic that has been covered elsewhere but I had a reader ask me about my thoughts and experiences with Sonlight and Tapestry of Grace. I will try to do my best at representing our family’s experience with both programs. I originally wrote this entry for my Harmony Art Mom blog in the spring of 2009.

First off, I love both approaches to homeschooling. Some of my fondest years of homeschooling were those years that we used Sonlight. The boys were young and eager to read and to be read to and Sonlight’s choices were a perfect fit for our family’s tastes. I really enjoyed having my days all planned out for me and believe it or not….I did not do much tweaking to Sonlight’s well presented plans. (In fact, if you use my Harmony Fine Arts plans, you will see a striking resemblance to Sonlight’s format.)

I can't bear to part with our favorite Sonlight books.

We used Sonlight’s Core Levels 2, 3, 4, and 6. We also used Levels 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 for science. Somewhere during those years, I found The Well-Trained Mind book and decided that I really liked the idea of a four year cycle of history and I began investigating this idea some more.

We made the decision to switch to a curriculum that followed the four year cycle of history and included the Story of the World books. After much deliberation, we decided on using Tapestry of Grace. We picked up where Core 6 left off and that was with Tapestry of Grace year 3. My boys were in 6th and 7th grades at that time.

There really were two big adjustments coming from Sonlight to Tapestry of Grace.

Choices in Books and a Little More Planning

First of all, the TOG plans are so flexible that you really need to sit down with access to your home library, your local public library, and the internet to coordinate which books you will use to teach each concept. I take each unit’s plans and go through and decide on which books I would like to use to present each week’s concepts. There is definitely a learning curve when it comes to knowing how many books you need to use each week. Within each week, the books are not broken down by pages like in the Sonlight plans. You are given the title of the book and you are left on your own to cover it at a pace that you choose.

Unit Celebration Year 3-Lewis and Clark Dinner

With Tapestry of Grace, I would say that it takes two hours of initial planning per unit (nine weeks) to decide on books and to decide on activities. It also takes an additional 45 minutes or so per week to make sure you have the books you need and if your children are older, to go over the schedule with them to put in their planners. I use the library for many of our books so that means a trip to the library at least every three weeks to check out and return books. We would be doing that library trip anyway so I don’t count that into the planning time.

If you are a box checker, TOG will seem overwhelming unless you understand right up front that you will *not* do everything put down in the plans.

The way that TOG can be a huge time saver in a larger family is the ability to offer history, literature, writing, art appreciation, hands-on activities, geography, and more to everyone from one set of plans. You can keep all your children together in all these subjects and choose from the different levels of books as you go along. The subjects are taught topically and you can use your own resources as well if you want to substitute.

The thorough Teacher’s Notes have been a great help to me as the boys have moved up to the rhetoric level. The notes are very well done and the research has been done and gathered for me.

The advantage of Tapestry of Grace over Sonlight is that you are teaching things topically and you can substitute your own books or books from your public library if you want to. The plans are not put down in such a way that if you don’t have access to a certain book that you are stuck for the week. Another advantage to using Tapestry of Grace is the fact that you can move up and down the levels within each week, using what is appropriate for your particular child. One week your child may read the upper grammar level literature and the next you can offer the dialectic level book if you think they would benefit from it instead. The opposite is also true and you can have your rhetoric level student move down and read the dialectic selection some weeks if the load is too heavy and you need to offer something a little lighter. We do that sometimes if the ideas and concepts are new to our boys.

Tapestry of Grace Unit Display Year 2

More Meaningful Discussions

The second *huge* difference for us moving from Sonlight to Tapestry of Grace has been the increased expectations as far as the boys’ manner of learning. TOG has helped me to make the boys more independent learners. Many times the Sonlight discussions felt like question and answer time but with TOG we have deeper, more meaningful discussions. I think it is the way the material is not spoon-fed to them. Here is a link to some information on TOG’s website that will explain it better than I can.
Teacher’s Notes

Those are my general thoughts about our experiences with both Sonlight and Tapestry of Grace. I would highly recommend going over to Tapestry of Grace’s website and downloading the free complete samples that they offer. You will get a little taste of how the plans are scheduled out and how they differ from Sonlight. Remember there is a learning curve and know that after the first few weeks of using the plans you will be more skilled at knowing how they work together.
Tapestry of Grace-Free Sample

Just so you know, I am not an affiliate for Tapestry of Grace. The thoughts here are my own personal opinions and were drawn from our own experiences. As the years have gone by, our homeschool style has changed quite a bit and I am much better equipped to adapt TOG to our Charlotte Mason/Classical/Project based style of learning. It takes some effort but now that my children are much older, I have the time.

Written by Barb-Harmony Art mom.  She also blogs at http://harmonyartmom.blogspot.com and her business is found at http://www.harmonyfinearts.com. I would love for you to join us for the Outdoor Hour Challenges: http://handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com.

I am currently reading for the third time a little novel that is such a treat for me and one that I have a difficult time putting down. It’s a delightful story and homeschool idea book all rolled into one. I’m talking about the book Pocketful of Pinecones by Karen Andreola, the veteran homeschooling mother who brought to light the works of Charlotte Mason.

The story is set in New England in the 1930’s and is the fictional account of Carol, a first-time homeschooling mother who is learning to apply Charlotte Mason’s methods as she teaches her children. Carol’s journal entries give the reader a window into the daily life of her and her family, as well as her hopes, fears, joys, and dreams, revealing that she is not so different from mothers today.

Mrs. Andreola weaves a heartwarming story of motherhood and family with the main emphasis on Carol’s carrying out nature study with her two children. Without sounding like a “how-to” manual, the story carefully incorporates ideas for nature study topics, nature walks, and keeping a nature journal. The reader can also learn from Carol’s example how to gently share and discuss information about nature with children without merely throwing facts at them.

One of my favorite things about this book is the inclusion of nature-related poems and hymns that would make wonderful additions to your own children’s nature journals. Mrs. Andreola also provides the scientific names of any nature subjects mentioned in the story, as well as thoughtful questions and ideas designed to get your wheels turning about studying nature with your own children. Because the chapters are short, you can enjoy each one in as little as fifteen minutes each day, coming away with a new idea or two to ponder and try out for yourself.

Whether or not you use the methods of Charlotte Mason or incorporate nature study into your own homeschool, this book makes for a welcome escape to a simpler time and place. Carol’s calm and gentle demeanor has a soothing effect on me and is something that I aspire to in my own mothering. Each time I read this story I come away refreshed, rejuvenated, and inspired to continue setting aside time to explore God’s creation with my children.

You can learn more about the Charlotte Mason method and Karen Andreola’s books by visiting her websites, Homeschool Highlights and the Charlotte Mason Research and Supply Company.

Written by Shannon, who enjoys learning about nature with her own children. She can be found blogging at Song of My Heart.

When my husband and I decided to homeschool our children, I did what most new homeschooling moms do – I got online and started researching curriculum. Early on in my search I began to realize that there were many different philosophies of homeschooling. Up to that point, I honestly had not heavily pondered my own educational philosophy. I was simply trying to find a reading curriculum that would work well for my five year old son. As I began to read the vast amounts of online information about packaged curriculums, classical education, Charlotte Mason, unschooling, and a dozen other methods and philosophies, I soon became overwhelmed.

Somewhere in my searching I stumbled upon a gem of a book titled, So You’re Thinking About Homeschooling: Fifteen Families Show How You Can Do It. I didn’t know it at the time, but this book would prove to be an incredibly helpful tool in those early months of sorting out my approach to home education. Written by Lisa Whelchel, child star of the hit series Facts of Life and now a veteran homeschooling mom, So You’re Thinking About Homeschooling takes you on a delightful tour of fifteen different families’ homeschools.

Each chapter covers a different type of homeschool or educational philosophy and is written as if you’re having a conversation with another homeschooling parent right in their own home. You’ll meet moms (and at times, dads and grandparents) from almost every approach imaginable – Charlotte Mason, classical, traditional, unit study, delight-directed, and the list goes on. You’ll also hear from families in unique situations, such as grandparents who are homeschooling their grandchildren, a mom whose son has ADHD, a family who lives and travels in their motorhome, a single mom, a large family with children of many ages, a military family, and many others. No matter what their approach to homeschooling, each “character” has a positive, can-do attitude toward your ability to educate your children at home.

Mrs. Whelchel’s writing style is warm and encouraging as well as informative. Each chapter stands alone, so you can pick it up and read one family’s story in just a few minutes. You’ll come away from this book with a good understanding of the many different ways people approach their children’s education. Even now in my fourth year of homeschooling, I occasionally turn to this book to soak in a few moments of encouragement.

So You’re Thinking About Homeschooling is available through many online book distributors and can often be found in public libraries. I hope that you’ll enjoy it and benefit from it as much as I have.

Written by Shannon, who can be found blogging about her own family’s homeschooling adventures at Song of My Heart.

I absolutely love to find products that help with our hands on approach of learning. I’ve come across another wonderful product from Evan Moor publishing called ScienceWorks for Kids Series. Full of hands on activities, projects, experiments, and much more.

It includes:

• Step by step instructions with illustrations to help you teach each lesson quickly and easily.
• Record Sheets
• Logbook forms
• Mini books to cut out, assemble and color
• Picture cards to help in reinforcing the lessons
• Reproducible pages so you can use the book over and over again
• Experiments
• Reading resources-books to help tie in each lesson
• Movie resources
• Worksheets for reinforcement
• And more

Booklet Activities to Color

What I love about this curriculum is the log book. It mentions it’s a classroom log but we used it after each lesson to write down what we remembered about that lesson after it was completed. For us there was no wrong or right answer. It was to demonstrate the knowledge they received during that time period. Something they can go back to later for review.

Sample How My Body Works Worksheet Activity

After reading each concept, my children loved reading the mini-books and assembling them. This brought the concept to their level of understanding. There is also a lot of opportunities during each lesson for group discussions while making hands on activities and experiments.

This series comes in three different age groups

Grades K-1

Animals
Plants
My Body
Weather
The Earth

Grades 1-3

Exploring Space
Animals with Backbones
Animals without Backbones
How Your Body Works
Geology
Plants
Habitats
Simple Machines
Energy: Light, Heat, & Sound
Water

Grades 4-6

Weather
Human Body
Simple Chemistry
Energy
Planet Earth
Living Things

Some project examples for How Your Body Works-

Make a Book About Me, Make a collage, five senses walk, skeleton puzzle, inside my body, match the smells, name that taste and much, much more.

Experiments include:

Looking at your skin through a magnified glass, Fingerprints, lots of five senses experiments, respiration model, counting your heartbeats, bones need calcium experiment and much, much more.

Learning About Roots

You can use these books as a stand alone to teach these concepts or they are easily used to supplement what you are already using. We use lap booking while using these books and it really helps build more understanding and allows more hands on activities to help my children grasp the concepts being taught. I would highly recommend these books for those that like to color, cut, paste, do experiments and overall love to work with their hands while learning.

To benefit the most out these books you will need to purchase extra items to do the experiments. Each concept tells you what you will need to buy and gives you a few different things per concept so you have things to choose from or you can do all of them. I felt they were all inexpensive to purchase or you may already have the items in your home. There is also a list of books to help enhance the study and should be available at your local library.

Sample Plants Lesson

You can purchase any of these great science books here

Written by Lynn Pitts, mom of 3, from Big Sky Country Montana. You can read more about our life at Learning by Living.

I am excited to tell you about NaturExplorers, a new series of nature-based unit studies written by Cindy West and Melissa Leach. The authors are both veteran homeschooling Moms who are passionate about studying nature with their children and inspiring other Moms to do the same. No matter what type of homeschooler you are, and whether or not you already do nature study with your family, these studies will give you encouragement and ideas for getting outside with your children and exploring God’s beautiful creation.

Here is a sampling of titles in the series:

• Animal Signs
• Peaceful Ponds
• Captivating Clouds
• Delightful Deciduous Trees
• Hard as a Rock
• Creatures of the Night
• Frogs and Toads

One of the things that I really like about these units is their flexibility. They are designed so that you can adapt them to be used in whatever way best meets your needs. A title can be used in its entirety as a complete science-based unit, or you can simply pick up the study and choose an idea to focus on as you head out the door for a nature walk.

However you decide to utilize these studies, you will find that they are jam-packed with plenty of ideas to keep you inspired about that particular nature topic for quite a long time.

Each unit includes the following:

• A section just for you, the teacher, to spark your interest and excitement about the topic
• Suggestions for quality, living books that will inspire your children about the topic
• Background knowledge for the teacher to equip you with some basic information about the topic before beginning the study 
• A great number of ideas for nature walks and outdoor activities
• Hands-on activities such as science experiments, art projects, recipes and more
• Writing and research ideas
• Bible lessons
• Poetry
• Artist and Picture study references
• Composer and Music references
• Helpful internet links
• Ideas for including younger and older children
• Suggestions for nature clubs and co-ops
• Nature Notebooking Pages

I found the  ideas to be creative and engaging, and as you can see, the units cover a lot of ground.  I’d also like to mention that they are available in e-book format and are budget friendly.

I encourage you to head over to Shining Dawn Books where you can check out all of the themes that are available and find a wealth of free helpful nature study ideas, information, and photos as well.

Written by Shannon, who blogs about her family’s homeschooling adventures at Song of My Heart.

Often I am asked by new homeschoolers about how to make an overall plan for the school year. They are looking for the nuts and bolts of putting lots of great ideas together because they tend to get overwhelmed by whole process. I shared the following ideas with a friend and I hope they help and encourage readers here at Curriculum Choice.

I try to emphasis to new homeschoolers that your “school day” extends far beyond the usual school hours. By making good use of that concept you can fit some school related learning into every day of the week and move some of your ideas and projects into the evenings or over the weekends so your whole family can participate.

My Steps to Pulling it All Together

1. Consider what you want to teach. What are the main points of the lessons? What are my goals for this particular year? The process of putting these thoughts on paper in a simple form gives a touchstone when considering what books, resources, and other options to use.

Take an inventory of what materials you have on hand

2. Gather your materials to see what you have and what you might need:

• Textbooks or workbooks (if you are going to use these)
• Library books (look on your local library website and browse their catalog of books)
• Games and Kits
• Online activities (Google the topic with “lesson plan” after it or “activities” or “unit study”)
• Field trip ideas
• DVDs from Netflix

I usually keep a notebook page for each subject as I am planning and record my ideas on paper as I go through Step 2.

3. Decide which materials best suit your child. Try to figure out which aspect of what you are learning is going to be most interesting to them.

Active learner-Short activities, lots of movement, limited table time.

Some Children Thrive on Reading Lots of Books

Visual Learner-Picture books, videos, lots of art activities.
Avid Reader-Keep a list of books that can fill in your schedule and don’t forget books for subjects like science, history,  and biographies of artists and musicians.
Project Learner-Kits, models, lapbooks, and notebook pages are great for this kind of learner.

4. Divide the text, books, activities, and field trips into the desired amount of time. I prefer to move slowly through a  book and have them give an oral or written narration every day. When your children are young, working up to one paragraph per book selection per day is enough along with a drawing or a map or something that is interesting to them. I never try to do it all.  (see #6)

Combine writing, art, and science into one project

5. Look for ways to connect subjects:

• History and literature (historical fiction)
• History and art and music (learn about artists and composers from the history time period)
• Science and art (drawing diagrams or labs, drawing animals found in your neighborhood)
• Math and science (measuring things for labs, cooking)
• PE and math (times tables while jump roping, counting repetitions, count as you bounce a ball)

6. Have an overall plan but be flexible.
Decide if any areas are needing extra attention for this school year, make those a priority and perhaps complete them earlier in the day.

Off Season Traveling is a Great Experience

Take the opportunity for field trips-This is one reason for home schooling in the first place. Taking field trips when everyone else is back in school is so enjoyable and far less crowded.

Plan for interruptions-Divide your books into 34 or 35 weeks instead of 38 so you have some wiggle room.

7. Have a plan for things to do when your child is sick:
Educational videos while laying on the couch.
Read out loud to your child.
Listen to classical music while they rest.
Play quiet games.

8. Make use of your time spent traveling in the car:
Listen to books on tape.
Listen to folk music or classical music.
Have a box of books they can read to themselves.
Have a stack of math facts flashcards (keep in a Ziploc.)
Have a stack of sight words to read (keep in a Ziploc.)

Hopefully this post has helped you in some way, either with a few ideas to get started with or a some new ideas to try in your homeschool.

Written by Barb-Harmony Art mom.  She also blogs at http://www.harmonyartmom.blogspot.com

This is one of my new favorite books in regards to Biblical reasoning with your children. It is not a Bible program, it is an instructional book on how to attain Biblical wisdom in every area of life. We all know we should instill wisdom in our children but exactly how do we do that day to day?

Freedom & Simplicity R Road to Biblical Wisdom: A “How to” Guide to Biblical Learning in Home Education by Lisa Hodgen is the manual for Biblical reasoning in your lessons. It is called the “R Road” because life is a journey. The R’s are tools that you use to attain wisdom. These are Receive, Record, Ruminate, Release and Revisit/Refresh. She walks you through each of these R’s and shows you how to practically apply these in your school lessons to achieve true Wisdom.

Wisdom is something that we all want but we aren’t sure how to get there. Her R’s do just that. And she’s careful to make sure you understand that all of life is learning–this Wisdom is for all of life and not just relegated to the school hours. This book is like the piece of BPA education I have been missing–the nuts and bolts what “getting wisdom” looks like.

She also gives a brief overview of the Mashal in the appendix. And she shares a large list of her favorite books and resources for different subjects. Her appendices alone are worth the cost of this book. If you are new to BPA this book is an excellent place to start. Her simplification of the 7 Principles is an excellent primer on the foundations of Biblical wisdom and liberty.

Lisa brings over 20 years of home educating experience to this topic and I felt like she was sharing with me the things she has learned so I can be a better mother teacher to my children. Also she offers her unique perspective with her 7 Pillars of Excellence.

Why you might like this book:

• easy reading.
• comprehensive.
• She explains what other home education books do not–how to practically attain Biblical wisdom.
• The resource list.
• Her simplified version of the 7 Principles of America’s Christian history.

Why you might not like this book:

• it’s an ebook.
• Your philosophy does not jibe with Bible centered curriculum.
• You want concrete step by step. Her books is principle based and flexible. It’s intended as a resource not a daily plan.

Click the cover to order. I am giving away a copy of this book on my blog, so maybe you can win a copy!

In this third and final article on unit studies, I wanted to share a few miscellaneous thoughts and resources.

How Long Should A Unit Study Last?
As long as it you want it to! Depending on the ages of your children and their level of interest in the topic you are exploring, you could spend anywhere from one week to several months on a unit study. My children are ages three, five, and eight years old, and on average we spend two to four weeks on a given topic. This past year our study of Colonial Times lasted for two months because everyone was enjoying it so much.

I also wanted to mention that I try to vary the kinds of units we do. Instead of studying two social studies topics in a row, I try to alternate science with social studies. We might study Westward Expansion, then The Solar System, then China, and then Reptiles. You don’t have to schedule your studies this way, but it has kept interest levels high in our family.

Keeping a Record of Unit Study Adventures
We’ve documented our studies through lapbooking, notebooking, and scrapbooking, but you can organize your materials in whatever way works best for you.

Things we’ve included in our books:

• Written work such as creative writing, mini-books, labeled diagrams, written reports
• Drawings and other artwork
• Mementos and brochures from field trips
• Pictures, pictures, pictures! A camera is a homeschooling Mom’s best friend. We’ve included photos of artwork and hands-on projects, students dressed in costume, any cooking we’ve done, field trips, and more.
• Reading lists

The children help with arranging and adhering things into their books. The responsibility of putting these together will eventually become completely theirs as they grow older.

I also like to keep a running list of the topics we’ve covered over the years. This helps me to make sure we cover everything that we need to over time.

Favorite Resources

• Five in a Row is a delightful, literature-based curriculum that I have reviewed here.
• Amanda Bennett has written many terrific studies on a wide variety of topics. She includes a lot of internet links in her studies that enable you and your children to see the world through the click of your mouse.
• NaturExplorers is a new line of nature-based unit studies. The ladies at Shining Dawn Books have written some wonderful studies on topics such as clouds, wildflowers, ponds, animal tracks, and many more. I will be reviewing their Frogs and Toads unit here in the near future. In the meantime I think you’ll enjoy perusing their offerings.
• Homeschool Share is a collective of wonderful, free resources written by homeschool Moms like you and me. They offer oodles of unit studies, lapbooking and notebooking resources, and more. If you’ve never visited Homeschool Share, you’re in a for a real treat!
• You can find the form I use for putting together my own unit studies here and here.

Will we always use unit studies? I would like to think so. I don’t know what our schooling will look like in five years, but for now unit studies are a great  fit  for my teaching style and my children’s learning styles. They have also been a wonderful way to fan the flame of learning in my children. I do know that whatever methods we choose throughout our homeschool career, I want our children to be excited about learning.

If you decide to embark on a unit study adventure of your own, I encourage you to have fun making memories, take lots of pictures, and enjoy those precious moments with your children.

Written by Shannon, who can be found blogging about her family’s unit study adventures at Song of My Heart.

This is a follow up to an article I wrote about unit studies two weeks ago. If you’re unfamiliar with unit studies and want to learn more about them, I suggest reading the first article before you delve into this one.

As I mentioned in my last article, designing your own unit study does not have to be a scary prospect. You know your students’ personalities, learning styles, and needs better than anyone, so that makes you the ideal candidate for putting together a unit for your students. The process does not have to be complicated, although it will require some of your time. When you are finished, you’ll see your investment pay off, as you’ll have a tailor-made study that your family can enjoy exploring together.

This is typically how I go about planning our unit studies:
1. Choose a topic.

• Follow your students’ interests. Ask your children what they would like to learn about. If that is too open-ended for them, or you want to have more control over which topics you cover during your school year, then give your students a list to choose from. Obviously, in a family with multiple children this can get tricky. The point of unit studies is not to have three different ones going at the same time. (I guess you could, but personally, I couldn’t pull it off.) One of the benefits of unit studies is that all of your students can be included and you can learn about the same topic together as a family. So, when more than one child is involved in choosing a topic, you have to either vote on a favorite topic, take turns choosing a topic, or use some other democratic process in order to keep people happy.

• Choose the topic yourself. If you do this, I encourage you to choose with an eye toward capturing your students‘ interest. Remember that a great benefit of unit studies is their usefulness in nurturing your child’s love of learning. Take advantage of that benefit!

• If your home school group is going on a certain field trip or you are a planning a family vacation that will include an educational stop, then you could do a unit that encompasses that particular place. For example, if you’re headed for Cape Kennedy, Florida, then your trip would be extra meaningful if you studied Space Exploration or the Solar System. If possible, try to get a good start on your unit or complete it before your trip. This increases the educational value of your visit because you and your children have gained some prior knowledge of the subject before you arrive. Be sure to check the website of wherever you’ll be visiting. Many places have teacher sections on their websites with activities and lesson plans that you can download for free and use in your study.

2. Gather your resources.

• Use your local library. Do a keyword or subject search of your library’s online catalog. You can narrow your search by including “juvenile literature” along with “solar system” (or whatever your chosen topic is) in the search field. You’re not only looking for non-fiction books but also quality children’s fiction that will appeal to the different ages you are teaching. Don’t worry about checking out too many books. You can always return the ones that you don’t find useful. Also, some libraries carry special resource or activity kits to correlate with certain topics or children‘s books. Ask your librarian if these are available at your library. And don’t forget to take advantage of inter-library loan services.

• Google your topic. My searches often look something like, “solar system elementary unit” or “solar system second grade lesson plans” or “solar system home school unit” or “solar system children’s books”. You’ll come up with ideas for learning objectives, activities,  book recommendations, projects, and more.

• Scan your shelves. See if you have any books, materials, or other resources pertaining to your unit. When I was preparing a unit on weather, I looked in my book closet to find an entire book of weather activities I had forgotten about. During our gardening unit this spring, I pulled out a “Root-View” Science Kit that someone had given the kids as a Christmas gift. It ended up being the focal point of our study.

3. Plan the unit.

As you peruse your materials, jot down notes while keeping the following in mind:

(I often use this form to organize my ideas – page 1 and page 2. )

• Learning Goals: Decide what you want your students to learn about the topic. Ask yourself “the 5 W’s and an H” – who, what, when, where, why, and how. For example, in a unit on the Solar System, some goals might be to learn when God created the solar system, the names of the planets and their order, the life cycle of a star, the definitions of rotate and revolve, the names of three famous astronauts and their missions, a timeline of the space race, the purpose of the space race, and the definition of a sphere.

• Incorporate as many of the subject areas into your unit as possible. In the learning goals listed above, I covered science, history, and math. Writing could easily be included by having your student write a short biographical sketch of one of the astronauts or a creative paragraph about your student’s imaginary trip to the moon. Reading is the backbone of all of our units. I do lots of read-alouds with everyone, but I also make sure that my reader has the opportunity to read at least one or two easy books about our topic. (During our unit studies we continue our regular math and reading curriculum.)

• How your students will learn the material. You have endless choices, so I’ll share some of our favorites: reading living books (quality literature) and discussing what we‘ve read, doing science experiments, using a timeline, doing hands-on projects, and taking field trips. Remember that activities do not have to be elaborate or labor-intensive for Mom in order for learning to take place.

• If you want your students to demonstrate what they’ve learned, how will that be accomplished? Again, your choices are endless: put together a lapbook or notebook, give an oral presentation, write a report, cook a meal, write a play and act it out, write a poem or a song, narrate a story, make a model, and the list goes on.

4. Schedule it.

I decide how long I want to spend on the unit, and then sit down with my lesson plan book to schedule which activities we’ll do when, making sure that there is some sort of logic to the order of my plan. (For example, you would probably want to learn the names and order of the planets before covering how many moons Jupiter has.)  Even though I like to have a plan, I also try to remain flexible and willing to go down a rabbit trail every now and then.

I have a few more unit study odds and ends to share with you, so I’ll wrap up this series with a third and final article in the near future. Thanks for sticking with me!

Written by Shannon, who can be found blogging about her family’s unit study adventures at Song of My Heart.

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.  Or, so they say.  I’m not an old dog but after homeschooling for a number of years I felt like I’d heard and seen it all.  This is especially the case with a classical education, because I’ve been around since the beginning of the resurgence of the ever-so-popular The Well Trained Mind by Susan and Jesse Wise Bauer.  This book was the inspiration for me to research further and find the right balance for our classical Christian homeschool. 

 A Missing Inheritance

The book, Trivium Mastery by Diane Lockman, is the first classical education book to challenge my way of thinking in 9 years.  I mean really challenge it.  Diane has some historic proof of a real classical education and she challenges this new movement that we all have been drawn to.

What I like about this book is that she makes a classical education more palatable.  It’s not as hard as us “die-hards” can make it seem sometimes.  A true classical education can be reduced to concurrently teaching three primary skills to substantial mastery: language, thought, and speech. 

I do not believe this book would be easy for new classical home-educators.  It is assumed that you know certain things about the classical resurgence.  It is almost as if this book is written as an intervention.  The fact is, that is why she wrote it.  She discovered a classical education and followed the trail back in time.  She traced back the history of a classical education, past the popular names such as  Susan Wise Bauer, past the Bluedorns andWilsons, past Dorothy Sayers and on to the original Greeks and their methods.  You should almost read the Sayers text or The Well Trained Mind first to better understand her points. 

12 Classical Makeovers

The second half of the book is several test families, that she has done a classical make-over on.  She gives lots of examples and innovative ideas.  I had to keep a running list of these ideas for each of my school-aged children.  You really should read each family’s make-over to gain all the helpful information that is in this book.

I’ll be honest, I have struggled with the suggestions in this book because it almost seems too easy.  I appreciate the research behind Trivium Mastery and I am really anticipating her sequel that will be geared toward the rhetoric years.

This old dog has learned a few new tricks and I encourage you to read this book if you have been wondering how you could simplify your homeschool by creating an authentic classical home school.

One further note:  the assessment tools that are included in the back of this book are worth their weight in gold.  They have helped me clearly understand some of our needs that need to be met this coming year.  And, I see myself using this handy reference throughout the year as we assess our goals.

Please visit Trivium Mastery for more information about Diane and her book.

Written by Brenda, a classical eclectic mother of 5.  You can find her blogging regularly about family traditions and their homeschool journey at Tie That Binds Us, after their summer vacation has come to an end.

When I think back to my elementary school days, images of workbooks, purple mimeograph sheets (remember those?), and textbooks cloud my memory. I attended a traditional school where I gained a solid education in the three R’s. However, despite my strong phonetic skills, I abhorred reading. My penmanship was beautiful, but I didn’t compose a creative paragraph until junior high. I could recite my math facts, but they had no real life application as far as I was concerned. And I cannot recall a shred of the science and history contained between the covers of those numerous textbooks.  Against this vague backdrop of pencils, papers, and chalkdust, there are two things that stand out vividly in my mind – Mrs. Shirley Campbell and Georgia History.

Mrs. Campbell was my third grade teacher.  In her generation of educators, she was an innovator. Before hands-on activities were in vogue, she had her students churning butter and learning photography. Before outdoor classrooms were all the rage, she took us outside to gather leaves rather than merely look at pictures of them in a book. Before the term unit study was even coined, she plunged us into a year-long exploration of our state’s history. Simply put, she was a teacher ahead of her time.

Because of her desire to make learning a living, breathing experience for her students, I developed a curiosity and deep interest in the topics that she covered, particularly Georgia History. She engaged us in hands-on activities, assigned projects that encouraged creativity, read wonderful stories to us, and took us on countless field trips around the state. She fanned the flame of learning in me, and thirty years later, I continue to be a lover of history.

When I set out to homeschool our children three years ago, one of my main goals was to ignite a love of learning in them. I knew that for us, unit studies would be a wonderful way to accomplish this goal. I first heard about the unit study approach when I was an education major and immediately recognized it as Mrs. Campbell’s method for teaching her third graders. As a new teacher I decided to use unit studies with my students, and I saw how they were drawn into the topics we studied and how they enjoyed what we were learning. It was only natural for me to continue using this approach when I began homeschooling my own children.

What Is A Unit Study?
In a unit study you take one topic and study it in depth, exploring all aspects of it across the curriculum. For example, a unit study on Outer Space would delve not only into the science aspect of the topic, but also into the history, math, reading, writing, music, and art surrounding it. As a result, the student begins to see the topic as a big picture, not just the individual parts that make up the whole.

Advantages of Unit Studies

• They provide a rich learning experience. The students live with the topic for several days, weeks, or even months. By the end of the study, they truly understand and retain the material. It is theirs.

• They are an efficient and cost-effective way to teach multiple ages. The whole family joins in the fun of learning about the same topic, so you don’t have to purchase individual textbooks and workbooks for each grade level.

• A topic can be covered as in depth as you’d like and can be tailored to fit your students’ interests and needs.

• Unit studies can be child-directed or teacher-directed. For delight-directed families, the study can be fueled by the child’s interests. However, if your homeschool is more teacher-directed, you can choose the material that will be covered during the unit.

• They can make all of the curriculum areas more enjoyable for students. For example, if your child is not a fan of history, but he loves science, then he might enjoy learning about the history of the space race as part of a unit on the Solar System.

• They can ignite a love of learning even in the most reluctant learner.

• They can make use of quality literature (living books).

• You can incorporate all kinds activities, materials, and projects into a unit study. Cooking, art, dressing in costume, drama, music, games, craft projects, living books, lapbooking/notebooking, and field trips are a few that we have enjoyed. For all of you Charlotte Mason families out there, there are countless unit studies into which you can incorporate nature, artist, and composer study.

• They encourage creativity and problem-solving.

• Unit studies are a wonderful way for families to make fun memories together!

In my next post I’ll talk about how you can put together your own unit study. Now don’t let that idea scare you! First of all it’s not as difficult as you may think. Plus it can be a lot of fun. However, please know that there are plenty of wonderful unit studies out there that have already been written for you! All you have to do is choose one and follow the lessons and activities the author has laid out for you.

I’ll leave you with a couple of great resources to check out:
Homeschool Share - I’ll talk more about this wonderful treasure trove of free unit studies in my next article.

Amanda Bennett’s Unit Studies – Mrs. Bennett is the queen of unit studies. She offers helpful tips about using unit studies, as well as some fabulous units that you can purchase.

Written by Shannon, who enjoys unit study adventures with her three children. She blogs about their homeschooling journey at Song of My Heart.

Have you ever read an article with glossy photos of the perfect homeschool family?

Older children work on math while little ones build the Eiffel Tower with popsicle sticks. Mother posts the schedule on the refrigerator and everyone follows it. Father stages a play to reinforce the lessons of the day. The whole family always smiles at the camera.

Barbara Frank wrote The Imperfect Homeschooler’s Guide to Homeschooling to combat discouragement that trails these misconceptions of utopia.

The conversational tone of this veteran homeschool mother of four overflows with wisdom. She shares practical tips such as the Top Ten Tools for Homeschooling Parents and 115 Organizing Tips for Homeschoolers. (I am almost convinced to get a filing cabinet.)

In the extremely helpful chapter about overcoming obstacles, Barbara Frank tackles the issue of time management and personal habits.

She also discusses how personality traits can help or a hinder home education. See if you are a teacher, a perfectionist, a follower, etc., and then learn to temper your natural bent with the grace of God.

Other circumstances can strain efforts to teach, and Barbara touches on them all: children with special needs, stresses with finances, and difficulties with relationships.

Chapters include:

• Confessions of an Imperfect Homeschooler
• Homeschooling 101
• Teaching Specific Subjects
• Teaching Techniques and Ideas
• Covering All the Bases
• Overcoming Obstacles to Homeschooling
• Coping with Changes and Challenges
• One the Home Front

It is easy to view a snapshot, but the noise behind the photo is muted. Barbara gives the reality of homeschooling a voice. She teaches her children. She believes you can, too.

Written by Renae Deckard, Biblical Principled mother of 3. Find Renae’s reflections about homeschool and family life at Life Nurturing Education.

This is the third of a three part series to answer why, how, and what in regards to Principle Approach education.

We often start our search for education looking for curriculum. What will we teach? What do our children need to know? The mounds of resources quickly become overwhelming. That is why I started this series discussing philosophy. Examining the reason I homeschool gives me a filter to sift the piles of books.

This universe is an amazing place. There is no way we can teach our children everything they need to know or even want to know. So how do we decide what is most important?

Photo by Barbara L. Slavin

I propose that rather than teaching little bits here and there, we teach the whole subject by teaching its principles first. Five-year-old Sunshine can understand that letters create words and words combine into sentences and sentences become whole paragraphs. We discuss the gift of language. We look in the Bible to see how God communicates with us. We are inspired to communicate with Him and with each other.

It is simple to break down the subject to its rudiments, but it is so empowering. It gives the child a foundation with which to build upon.

Principle Approach philosophy is just beginning to have curriculum, but the idea of individualized education encourages parents and teachers to create their own using the 4R method. Rather than creating all my own lessons, I add these ideas to the books that fills our shelves.

Some curricula does a good job of systematically building upon the principles of a subject and studying the unique vocabulary of each; not every one looks at the source and origin. It requires some thought and study, but each subject has it’s source in either the nature or character of God.

• Science is the study of His creation.
• Math is the knowledge He used to create.
• Art is the expression of that creativity.

When we begin to see the Creator behind each subject opening our understanding, His purpose is revealed: the increase of His kingdom in the hearts of men. The history of science and math display advancements for safety and even liberty.

Nathaniel Bowditch’s dedication to the study of navigation gave men greater freedom to sail without fear of getting lost and perishing at sea. Johann Gutengerg’s printing press gave wings to ideas and individuals reached up to grasp them by learning to read.

According to Noah Webster, curriculum is

the course of study…a stated or orderly method of proceeding…the way of life or conduct.

Studying for life, step by step, building upon the foundation idea by idea, year by year. Growing in understanding of how individual hearts are woven into a providential metanarrative. Life inspired. Hope restored. An effect of biblical education.

Written by Renae Deckard, Biblical Principled mother of 3. Find Renae’s reflections about homeschool and family life at Life Nurturing Education.

Many people today think that memorization is unimportant. They argue that anything that they need to know, they can look up on-line. But can a person be truly educated if he doesn’t “know” anything? I think not.

We need knowledge in order to understand new concepts. Critical thinking programs are wasted if there is no foundation of knowledge to build upon. The writer has nothing to write about if they know nothing. Truthfully, anything that we know, we have memorized. We may not have tried to memorize it, but if it is in our memory, we have memorized it.

One of the key components of a classical education is memory work. Unfortunately in our home, it is an area that we have been sadly lacking. When my husband and I had our year-end homeschool evaluation, memory work was one of the major things we decided to work hard at implementing in our homeschool. As I began my search for help in doing memory work, I saw many references to Living Memory by Andrew Campbell on the Well-Trained Mind Forums.  (Andrew Campbell is also the author of The Latin-Centered Curriculum.) When The Curriculum Choice contacted Mr. Campbell, he graciously sent me a copy of Living Memory to review.

Living Memory is a substantial volume with 452 pages! The first section of the book explains the value of memory work and how to memorize. Mr. Campbell suggests that memorization is most effective when utilizing four basic language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Included are suggestions for incorporating each of these skills in your memory work program. In addition, there are instructions for preparing a memory work notebook. This information covers only the first 14 pages of the book. The remainder of the book is filled with suggested memory work. The selections are divided into the following categories:

• Latin
  • Grammar and Vocabulary; Proverbs; Poetry and Prose;
    Scripture; Prayers; and Hymns and Carols.
• Greek
  • Grammar and Vocabulary; Proverbs; Poetry and Prose; Scripture; and Prayers and Hymns.
• Arithmetic and Mathematics
  • Addition and Subtraction Fact Families; Multiplication Tables; Euclid’s Definitions; and Area and Volume Formulas
• Grammar and Composition
  • Grammar Poem, Grammar Catechism, and Common Misspelled words
• Literature
  • Literary Facts and Lists; Sayings, Proverbs, and Famous Quotations; Teaching Rhymes; Poetry; and Dramatic Speeches from Shakespeare’s Plays
• Religion
  • Scripture, Prayers, Catechism, Poetry, Hymns, and Carols
• Geography
  • Continents; Oceans; States and Capitals; and Nations and Capitals
• World History
  • Major People and Events from around the world
• United States History and Civics
  • Key dates in American history; Founding Documents; and Patriotic songs, verse, and oratory
• Natural Sciences
  • Lists and mnemonics for natural science
• Reference Charts
  • Charts of Greek and Latin paradigms

Living Memory contains ample material for an entire school career of memory work! There is wonderful variety in the selections. It includes everything from “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” for my 2 year old, to the Gettysburg Address for my middle school son, plus more advanced material to use in the future.  I am so excited about setting up notebooks for my kids for next school year. The hard tasks of narrowing down things to memorize and compiling the material has been done for me in Living Memory. Now I can customize our memory work to correspond with our other school subjects. With a list, though long, of suggestions, I feel confident that I will be able to add valuable memory time to our daily schedule. I highly recommend Living Memory to anyone seeking ideas for classical memory work. It is available from Lulu.com.

Written by Kristen, Classical mom of 4

This is the second of a three part series to answer why, how, and what in regards to Principle Approach education.

As I mentioned in the previous article, Principle Approach is a Philosophy, my purpose of education is to give my children life and hope. I want their character to be formed, so they are prepared to achieve all God has for them. I want them to love learning and worship the Creator as a result. I want them to live with an ever increasing liberty that spreads to their neighbors.

How can these goals be achieved? There is no guarantee for my desired outcome, but there are methods that can help “produce a reflective character, one able to listen to the ’still small voice’ of conscience which enables us to act appropriately in any circumstance.” (A Guide to American Christian Education, pg. xxi) 

Conscience is an internal thing. It cannot be purchased or sprinkled over lessons. It is an issue unseen, unmeasureable. How can you educate the heart?

In Isaiah 1:18 the Lord pleads with his people,

‘Come now, and let us reason together…Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.’

By reasoning from biblical principles, lies are exposed and truth exalted. The stains of ignorance and selfishness are washed with reality and love, life-long pursuits.

The 4 R method places biblical reasoning as the foundation for all learning:

1. Research God’s Word.
2. Reason from the truths identified.
3. Relate the principles to every day life.
4. Record the ideas for remembrance.

This method is not new. It is the historic method of self-education that brought an increase of liberty to America. Liberty we can reclaim for future generations by teaching our children to teach themselves.

If you would like to know more about this method, I invite you to join us at the new Biblical Principle Approach group at Our Lifestyle of Learning.

Written by Renae Deckard, Biblical Principled mother of 3. Find Renae’s reflections about homeschool and family life at Life Nurturing Education.

The Robinson Curriculum is a self-teaching curriculum. It’s intent is to create self-taught children. It focuses on the 3R’s, which are, of course, reading, writing, and math. The curriculum itself is a series of cd roms, that have many good quality books, encyclopedias, dictionaries, a King James Bible, a Course of Study (teacher’s guide so to speak), a vocabulary program, and flashcards.

These books can be printed out, or they could be read on the computer (not recommended, but possible). The author of this curriculum is Art Robinson. He has six children, and he developed the curriculum when his wife passed away while she was homeschooling their kids. He needed his children to be more self sufficient in their studies. So, he developed a curriculum, and a method of study to help his children along those lines. You can read more about his story, and his methods by reading this .

 
I use this curriculum more flexibly then the author suggests. I have several of the books printed out, and my boys have been through all of them already (they are avid readers). I often will use my own choices of books for their reading. The author uses Saxon Math, and we use a combination of Horizons and Teaching Textbooks. I will use Apologia books for Science, where the author of the curriculum recommends not doing any formal science until they have reached a certain Math level. You can still use the curriculum very effectively even if you don’t do everything exactly the way the author suggests.

It requires about an hour or two of Math a day, 2 hours of reading, and an hour of writing (at least). These are the crucial elements. My children do about an hours worth of Math, and they read for two hours, at least, every day. We are still working on the writing aspect. They are required to write every day, and have their work corrected. Any errors will be corrected for the next day, so that they can write a final draft. I am having them also go through a book that is teaching them to write book reports.

 
This method has improved the ability of my kids to learn for themselves, and not be quite so dependent on mom as teacher. Now, don’t get me wrong, I still believe in being involved, guiding them, and answering questions, but my main focus for my kids is for them to grow up knowing how to find answers for themselves, and to be discerning. This curriculum is helping them in that endeavor.
If anyone has any further questions about the curriculum, please ask. I’d be happy to answer. Check out their website, also, to get any further questions answered. One thing that I would recommend is joining the email discussion group. It is heavily used, and very helpful!

Written by Elizabeth Babler, mother of 7, she can be found blogging at Family Life with the Babler Family.