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"Should I, Shall I, Can I, Will I?" Part Two - Page 3

© Joan Archer

Homeschool parents manage their schools in different ways. Some like to copy formal schools and have a structured or "boxed" curriculum, start the day with The Pledge of Allegiance, take attendance, etc. These are parents and children who are most comfortable with a schedule and a calendar to go by. Some states require schedules to be written and the children are tested at the end of the year to see what they have learned. Grades and attendance are also recorded, as well as a type of transcript. Some states have a review person to monitor the homeschoolers, and provide them with teaching ideas. Most states are not so restrictive, but laws do vary. It is possible to do any type of homeschooling while following the legal guidelines, but traditional homeschool seems to fit tight rules the easiest. Those of us who are a bit more "loose" in our curriculum choices and scheduling need to push ourselves to keep up with the paperwork. Also, unfortunately for many of us, our children are bored stiff by any boxed curriculum. We are left trying to define homeschool activities to fit into an educational category. Baking a cake can be Mathematics, Science and/or Homemaking. (Dropping an egg on the floor could be subtraction!) The down side of the boxed curricula is that many of the boxed items are prohibitively expensive, even used sets, not to mention the "extras" to go along with them, i.e. tactile cubes, microscopes, special slides, etc.

Nearly the opposite of traditional homeschooling is Unschooling. Children learn the same types of things as other homeschooled kids do, but the learning process is much less structured, more like a series of "life experiences." Their curriculum is not "boxed" or sometimes even in a book or set of books. They learn by doing, by being personally responsible for their own education. For example, if they want to learn about the life-cycle of a butterfly, they could read about it, go look for a butterfly chrysalis, and then hatch butterflies in their own home. Parents in this situation are more like directors than lecturers or teachers. The child says, "Oh, look at that pretty butterfly!" and the parent replies, "Yes, how beautiful! I wonder where butterflies come from! Do you think we can find out?" The parent has found what homeschoolers call A Teachable Moment (See Family Values, above) and has capitalized upon it. A Motivating Moment was also snuggled in there, when the parent asked "Do you think we can find out about it?" Children like to be the leader in their knowledge quests, and the sooner they feel responsible for their education the better. The closest similar formal school experience would be a Montessori class.

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