Molly Green - Summer 2016

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.