Learning About Major Homeschool MovementsTRADITIONAL SCHOOLING METHODS
Philosophy: Companies “translate” materials developed for a typical classroom into something a little more useable for a homeschool parent.
Strength: Parents feel it is a proven and traditional methodology; it is familiar to the parent as a methodology, because they were likely traditional school students; companies that offer it have reputable names in educational world.
Weakness: Most parents feel they don’t have time to “prepare” lessons ahead of time as a teacher is paid to do; this weakness reduplicates itself with additional students, as each one has to be taught separately to their grade level; materials may assume the parent knows as much as a teacher.
Example Brands: Bob Jones, A Beka
WORKBOOK METHOD
Philosophy: Use a workbook that teaches the lesson on paper, and allows a child to feedback right away in a written format.
Strength: Parents can invest a very minimal amount of time and feel they’ve “covered everything”; kids love the colorful workbooks available nowadays; some educational needs are very well served by the workbook method.
Weakness: Many educators agree that not all skills can be learned effectively from a workbook; kids may get bored and feel they are not truly challenged; parents may find that children don’t learn from this method to think in an open-ended way; they grow dependent upon getting a “right” answer and don’t formulate creative ideas or educated, well-rounded responses.
Example Brands: Alpha Omega Lifepacs, Institute for Basic Life Principle’s Wisdom Booklets
CLASSICAL APPROACH
Philosophy: Advocates studying the Greek & Roman classics, learning about classical architecture,mythology, philosophy, logic and rhetoric, learning Latin, adding music and art study, and repeating history three times in four-year chunks throughout a child’s school career.
Strength: Parents can feel as though a child were better prepared for an honors school; may be a better choice for an advanced student; may be helpful for students with a natural interest in art or writing.
Weakness: Many parents do not feel comfortable with Latin or classical topics; some parents have trouble relating these skills to today’s real world and technology-forward global economy; some feel that it generates a repetitive history study; some parents find it does not interest their child.
Example Brands: Calvert, Peace Hill Press
TECHNOLOGY BASED
Philosophy: Put any of the above approaches into a digitalized format.
Strength: Parents can feel their child is becoming comfortable with a computer; involves very little work for the parent.
Weakness: Most parents find children quite adept at getting acquainted with a computer; parents find that children tire of not having any interaction with people in his educational pursuit; often shares some weaknesses with workbook approach, as often it is this type of format that is translated into a digital format.
Example Brands: Switched-On Schoolhouse, Rosetta Stone
UNIT STUDY
Philosophy: Study a topic with great literature, plan some activities, and pull together a bunch of experiences related to that topic in areas of math, science, writing, art and more. Based upon the thought that children learn best by doing.
Strength: Wow! Sounds great! Child loves it!; great family experiences; child is automatically self-motivated to succeed by his natural curiosity.
Weakness: The vast majority of parents find that this approach is very parent-heavy on preparation, which burns them out in no time; others will say that it is weak on drill of facts.
Example Brands: Amanda Bennett books, KONOS
LITERATURE APPROACH
Philosophy: Learn by reading great books.
Strength: Almost no parental planning; parents and children find it fun to read together; good common reading memories together.
Weakness: Parents often find that children get bored with just reading; very weak on actual drill of facts.
Example Brands: Learning Language Arts through Literature, Sonlight, Beautiful Feet
OTHER “FLASHY” PRODUCTS that are “bells and whistles” -- the really fun stuff -- are usually add-ons, rather than total curriculums.
Strength: Let’s face it -- sometimes it is nice to get to enjoy at least some of this!
Weakness: Often expensive; may have little educational return for the investment if you don’t do your homework.
Example Brands: Too many to name!