83 MollyGreen.com | Summer on the Homestead | Summer 2016
So which approach worked best? The
answer really surprised me. They all
worked, at least for a time. One family,
for example, started homeschooling by
using a variety of curricula and resources, and then realized that their growing
children needed more structure. They
signed up with an online school.
This flexibility shows a huge benefit to
homeschooling: if a method or an approach seems inadequate, families can
try something different. Few schools
can manage this, as they’ve purchased
expensive textbooks and they’re
locked into Common Core goals.
Homeschoolers, though, can adjust to
the needs of their children and their
families.
I did just that in 2002. My daughter
Lisa had been asking to unschool for
more than a year. I finally agreed and
let her plan her freshman year of high
school, and I became her mentor rather
than an active teacher. Christian and
Eric soon followed suit for their sophomore and junior years. I continued
with an eclectic approach plus some
unit study work for Mary, then 11,
until high school. But I had the confidence to switch the others to child-led learning because a couple of the
families I interviewed had used it with
amazing results. I recognized some
similarities between their children and
my own kids, so I gave it a try.
For high school, child-led learning
was a perfect fit for us. All four of my
children set goals far beyond what I
would have required of them, and they
achieved those goals. Eric taught himself jazz piano, checking out stacks of
library books and CDs, enough so that
he now plays the style (plus many others) as a full-time Nashville musician.
Lisa wrote (and rewrote and rewrote)
her first novel, which made it through
two rounds of read-throughs with her
first-choice New York publisher. (It
was rejected—but hey, they told her to
keep trying.)
Throughout twenty years and various
semesters of home education, I used
unit studies, an eclectic approach,
some textbooks, and child-led learning,
and all of them worked for us at the
time. I doubt that unschooling would
have been a smart choice for my kids in
the early years. But by high school, all
of them felt ready to move beyond the
unit study approach.
What works best for you? If you’re just
starting to homeschool, I encourage
you to first read a couple of books that
address different kinds of approaches—not theoretically, but in practice.
I recommend mine, of course, but also
suggest Nancy Lande’s Homeschool-
ing—A Patchwork of Days: Share a Day
with 30 Homeschooling Families. Both
describe a number of homeschooling
families, how they function, and
how they teach. As you read these
accounts, you’ll be able to identify at
least some ideas that definitely will—
or won’t—work for you. This will help
you to make smart choices in buying
curriculum and planning your school
year.
Experienced homeschoolers, I encourage you to read the same books and
open your minds to the possibilities of
other approaches. Maybe it’s time for
a change. Or maybe you simply need
some reinforcement that you’re on the
right track.
Whether beginner or veteran, remember this encouraging fact: if you love
your kids and you’re doing your best to
give them an incredible homeschooling experience, you probably will do
just that—regardless of the approach
you use.
Rhonda Barfield is wife to
Michael, a former homes-
chool teacher, and mother
of four young adults. She’s
authored five books— Re-
al-Life Homeschooling: The Stories of
21 Families Who Teach Their Children
at Home, and four others on saving
money on groceries—and more than 120
articles. Rhonda also coaches students for
WriteAtHome.com and teaches piano.
Rhonda Barfield
www.FunSchoolingBooks.com
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