anyone combine totally different education philosophies?? how do you do it?

[earthmother]

I am a strong proponent of classical education but at the same time completely love Oak Meadow and Waldorf. I guess I was wondering if anyone out there uses two curricula that you may feel are "opposing" and how does you make it work. thanks

[In The Great White North]

I combine Waldorf and classical. I find them complementary.

 

The timing of the history is a little different but both use a lot of "Living Books." WTM goes through the cycle twice in grade school, whereas Waldorf goes through once, spending longer at each and including fairy tales and fables in history (instead of English). WTH stays in the same order for high school; Waldorf start with modern in 9th, then retreats to ancients.

 

The Classical Writing (Aesop, Homer, etc) sounds a lot like what Waldorf schools do. In 1 - 3, the teacher tells a story and the children "narrate" the story back to her. It starts with lots of "leading" questions, like "And then what happened?" The teacher then writes a passage or poem on the board, which the children put in their main lesson books (ie. copy work). By 4th grade, the students are starting to write their own versions of the story the teacher told, as rough drafts and then edit and rewrite them into their books. By 8th grade, the teacher "lectures" and they summarize and write into their books. Always with illustrations of course.

 

Waldorf schools start languages very early (1st grade) but the language varies by school We are using German and Latin. We are using LC1 but I'm making up German as we go along. I haven't found any Waldorf language products, possibly because Waldorf schools do languages primarily orally, and certainly don't do workbooks. My dc hate workbooks, even though they are not in the school anymore. They probably always will.

 

Science is presented "whole to parts,' and is studied in the same way as history (ie. narration, copywork, writing/drawing).

 

Block scheduling is a bit different but I have found it very helpful. About the time dd is tired of a subject, the block is over and we can go on to something else! You can schedule botany when things are growing outside, instead of mid-winter. Astronomy can be done when you're going camping and staying up late anyway. You can spend all day on ane experiment without worrying about when your're going to do theother subjects.

[Rosie_0801]

As far as I can tell, there aren't many teaching philosophies that are complete opposites. That's why most people seem to become more eclectic with their methods as time goes by. Different styles suit their family for different subjects.

The only thing I can think of is those people who are trying to encourage optimum development by starting handwriting classes at 6 months of age, or other such stupidity.

Rosie

[mcconnellboys]

See, I view all these, as well as Charlotte Mason, as complimentary. I tend to think that I combine some elements of all of them.

[St. Theophan Academy]

I agree - while elements of each are very different, they share elements or are complimentary. I think we all take what we like from each approach. Few follow only one "method" or philosophy, especially if you homeschool for more than a year :) I love Waldorf's use of art to teach, and have found it to work very well with my oldest. I like CM's approach to science, music and art appreciation, so we use these concepts as well. I agree with the idea of a rigorous and deep education that teaches a child how to learn, and feel like a focus on the "basics" early on is crucial, so I embrace classical education and especially LCC. That is why pre-prepared studies rarely work for most. I love some ideas from each, I take those things that I love and that I think my children will learn best from, and fit them together to suit us. I like to think we follow LCC mostly, but in imparting that knowledge I use some waldorf and CM teaching techniques (and others). If you do any study on how we learn, or research right v left brain teaching etc. you will see that this is one of the best way to reach children, by engaging them in more than one way.

[Peela]

Waldorf comes out of the same Classical soil that CM and all the modern neo-Classical forms spring from. They are all variations on a traditional style of education that was "normal" way back. Waldorf is a pretty rigorous education- it's nothing like unschooling . It emphasises respect for the child (like CM), sees childhood as a development through stages (like the modern Trivium does, but a different perspective), it teaches languages, it puts emphasis on studying nature (like CM), and it uses a lot of hands on and artistic expression, not in the sense of "expressing your inner self", but in the sense of honouring Beauty and the need to keep children in touch with that Beauty of life while learning their lessons- which is really a way of integrating left and right brain processes, keeping the child "whole" so to speak rather than th over-development of the left brain which is predominant in education everywhere.

I have always loved Waldorf ideas and if it werent for the fact my step daughter had a bad experience with a teacher (just a personality clash) at a Waldorf school, my kids would have gone to one.

[ummof3]

Just bumping this up.

 

I'd love to hear how you would start homeschooling with all these different philosophies. I'm finding it hard to work out how our day would go. I have a 6 and 8 yr old. Do I need to start with a plan as that's what puzzles me the most.

 

thank you x

[StephanieF]

Umm of 3 I would turn your question around and rather than say I need a plan say "what do I want to achieve" (or my children to achieve).

Only when you know what you would like your outcome to be can you plan.

Everyone is different which is why we all have different plans. Everyone sees education as something different and sees certain things as more important than others.

For me, I keep in the back of my mind that ds may go to school one day. In fact, I hope he will go to senior school at 11yrs. However that may change and the date isn't fixed. Having that in the back of my mind means that I have to achieve certain things. He may also have to go to school should our financial situation change or if I become ill.

 

So with that at the top of the list I know what he has to achieve in maths and language arts. For me those are a priority, and within that he basically needs to learn to read and write correctly and have a good understanding of maths. From there I can choose a curriculum which fits in with that and will suit ds best. I don't always get it right first time but as I know what he needs to achieve it makes it easier for me to plan.

 

Like most people here, I take bits and pieces from various philosophies. I like the way TWTM tells us how to teach writing so I use WWE. I like the memorisation bit so I use that. I like the fact that at an early grammar stage it tells you to concentrate on the basics and anything else is extra etc etc. But I don't worry that if I use a bit of something else I need to think too much about it, just do it.

 

I started with a blank piece of paper, like you and just added bits and pieces. Start with what you consider to be the basics and see what you have time left for. Sometimes I went overboard and could easily see that it was overkill. Sometimes we did something and it didn't work so we stopped. Also, the beauty of HE is that you can pack everything up and go to a museum for the day if it fits in with what you are doing and not worry that you didn't follow your plan for the day.

 

However at the back of my mind I always have "what is it that I want to achieve". Sure, I'd like ds to love art and do lots but for me it is more important that we concentrate on reading. I'm sure a lot of people will say I'm wrong but if I followed them I wouldn't be achieving what I want to do and so it wouldn't work.

So my advice is, take a piece of paper, fold in half-one half for each child and write down the basics you want to do and have a bit at the bottom for the extras and see what it looks like.

One thing though, each child works differently but for mine I get him to start first thing in the morning and we do everything in one go-switching from subject to subject and moving around the room from say the kitchen table to a comfy chair for reading. As soon as I let him go for a break, that's it lego takes over!

Stephanie

Edited February 7, 2009 by StephanieF

[Closeacademy]

I've used Waldorf techniques in math and phonics. I have tried to go straight Waldorf several times but find a blend works for us.

 

For math:

 

I use Waldorf stories to introduce a new concept, then we "play" with the concept with our gnomes and buckets and gems. I like the idea of using squirrels and nuts and baskets that some people do. Then we turn to Singapore to work a little and if we need more practice I bring out Rod and Staff with its farm and nature ideas.

 

I found that when I read Ron Jarmon's book Teaching Mathematics in Rudolf Steiner Schools that Singapore really lined up nicely with the order of concepts taught and that I could easily match things up.

 

We also do the math artwork like make number pages that include: the number, the number word, the roman numeral, and pictures of items that are found in that number. And the addition ladders and such.

 

Phonics:

I use Spell to Write and Read Phonograms but I have made Waldorf style pictures to go with them choosing words and pictures that can represent the letters and phonograms in a very visual way. We do not do the SWR spelling lists but use Rod and Staff instead which is very earthy and teaches the same sounds and lines up nicely.

 

If I had had a lot of money to spend on curriculum. I would have loved to buy the stuff from Christopherous house to combine with my regular curriculum.

 

Hope this helps a little. By the way notebooking that uses drawings of the children is very similiar to what they do in the Waldorf schools.:001_smile:

[prairiegirl]

Stephanie has given you some good suggestions. Be familiar with the philosophies that resonate with you. Pick the elements that you like of that philosophy and add it into your day. Start out simple so you don't overwhelm you or your children. After a few weeks, if it is working, add in another element.

 

We have tried every educational philosophy known to man. I think i am finally able to admit that we are eclectic homeschoolers. We do a bit of this and a bit of that and squish it all together.

[Donna A.]

As a Christian, I find My Father's World to be a near-perfect balance between philosophies, and that's one reason I chose them. After reading TWTM, I realized what we'd been missing in our homeschool from an academic perspective, but I wanted a more biblical worldview than WTM alone provides. (Shorter lessons, too!) Nothing else has ever seemed "quite right", and I found the balance I was looking for in MFW. I also think that it's fairly easy to tweak from child to child, year to year, and even philosophy to philosophy if you lean a little more classical or a little more hands-on, etc.

 

http://www.mfwbooks.com/philos.htm

Edited February 7, 2009 by Donna A.
to correct typos