You must be me exactly with your plans. I also like the Montessori method for littles. In fact, back when I was still teaching and feeling bummed, I think learning about Montessori education is what started the ball rolling for me to discover the homeschooling world (though “The Well-Trained Mind,” of course, is the first official book I read on that topic)! I even have my little guy sleeping in a floor bed right now, much to my mother in law’s chagrin 😂 we will see how that pans out when he starts really crawling.

I looked into it because of the hype and because I enjoy looking at and admiring different curricula. I dipped as soon as I saw all the Ken Ham materials. No thanks for me. It’s one thing to teach young earth creationism, it’s quite another to teach children science while simultaneously having a book (“Dinosaurs of Eden”) that features an image of a sharp-toothed dinosaur eating leaves! 😒 I’ll never get over that book cover. I think even if I were a kid looking at that I would feel insulted. I don’t think I could trust him to teach my child real science, and they used so many materials from him. Personal soapbox aside, I’ve been seeing this curriculum mentioned a lot on homeschool pages I follow. I think it’s becoming more popular because it’s a nice looking “all-in-one” type package. We all know there’s been an influx of new homeschoolers and a package can feel reassuring to people who’ve never taught their own children before. Masterbooks looks really nice, it has everything put together for you, and makes you feel prepared without having to do any outside planning. A lot of people were looking for something like that this year. I’ll have to take a look at some of the older grades. I wasn’t too pleased with their math selection, though, I don’t think it’s very thorough for a stand-alone math program. Honestly, I don’t get the hype behind this company. Someone asked in a Facebook group a few weeks ago for curriculum suggestions and so many people said “Masterbooks!” Maybe I’m spoiled because I’ve looked at so many other curricula but it really doesn’t look that exciting to me.

Love the idea of doing a poetry tea time! That sounds so sweet and relaxing

A goal I’ve had on my mind for a while now is to sit down and re-learn how to write in cursive. I was taught in elementary school, but by fifth grade teachers were telling us just to write in print again. By middle school, cursive was never mentioned again. Got to love the consistency of the US public schools. Anyway, my handwriting is atrocious, to the point where it embarrasses me when I write thank you notes and the like. I want to sit down and really learn how to write in cursive. What would your recommendations for an adult be? Please don’t say Spencerian 😂 as lovely as it is I don’t want to spend my whole year writing the word “The” like Spongebob at the beginning of his essay.

Totally agree, Clem. I do think memorizing basic math facts is really important. But I don't see why it's so bad to teach children to think about and understand the methods they are using, then drill them until they can name their facts by heart. In the Memoria Press forum (in reference to the article I posted) one of the leaders wrote that first graders don't need to know *why* 2 plus 2 equals 4, they just need to memorize that fact. That seemed kind of absurd to me. I mean, why can't we teach them *why* first, and then have them memorize it? It seems weird to fill a child's head with facts that they don't understand. I mean, they will be able to use those facts quickly later on, but I feel that it does them a disservice. However, note my statement, "I feel." I really don't "know." As I don't have an excellent grasp on advanced math topics myself. So perhaps I am off base! However, since Cothran used an anecdote as evidence, I will too. I was taught my math facts. Drill and kill procedural method. That has served me well, but did nothing for me when I tried to learn how to think about math so I could do computer programming. My brain was never taught to think that way, and starting as an adult was very difficult. I *think* it would do children a service to train them to think about math more abstractly and learn how to problem solve. The public schools I taught in, though, are likely the reason why articles like Cothran's exist. They are teaching conceptual math, "new" math as they call it, some crappy Pearson program. Envision, I believe it was called. Anyway, I had otherwise intelligent fifth graders that were still counting on their fingers to do problems like 6+7. Should never have been allowed to happen. Drill and memory definitely has its place.

I have so many mixed feelings on Waldorf education. On the one hand, when I learned about its founder and origins, I felt some red flags raising. Anthroposophy feels like some kind of scientology for kids 😂 However, who among us doesn't look at their crafts and toys and swoon a little bit? I completely understand the draw toward something more simple for our children. In fact, I have read "Simplicity Parenting" by Payne; I read it when I was pregnant having seen it recommended on some parenting blogs. While I think some of the advice was a little extreme (like getting rid of the television completely) I found that many of its ideas really resonated with me. One portion in particular from that book that really wrote itself on my heart was when the parent would light a candle every morning before her child came down to breakfast. As part of their morning ritual, the child would come down to have their breakfast by the candlelight. What a beautiful and gentle way to start the day, especially on a dark winter morning! The biggest part of Waldorf that I hope to incorporate into both my homeschool and my parenting is their use of rhythms. I think routines and rhythms are so important to both adults and children. So now you've peaked my interest on "The Heart of Learning." It is a bit pricy. Do you think it's worth the 30 dollars? Does it give a lot of practical advice and ideas? While I don't think I am interested in Waldorf education per say, I would love some more ideas for "simplifying" childhood in our crazy culture. Thanks for the links; I have actually looked at both of those websites extensively as I am insane. I have no business looking at curricula, but I genuinely think it's fun to do so. That's the teacher in me 😂 I got sad during my brief stint teaching in public schools and started going down curriculum rabbit holes.

This is how I hope to be with myself, flipped the other way. I am a literature girl who needs to work on having a more "STEM" mindset. I think it's ok to say that you aren't a "math person" or a "words person" but it is still good to push ourselves in those areas we lack natural talent or drive in, especially as homeschool teachers! I have no idea what will interest my son one day but I know I'm going to need to keep on teaching and improving myself if I am going to be an effective teacher to him. I get what you are saying here (the book isn't going to actually show me teaching strategies), but I think that learning more about a subject for it's own sake could help make me a better teacher, especially since it's an area I wasn't taught very well in. I've read some classical arguments for more "traditional" math but I'm not sure I buy into that. Take this article from Memoria Press, for instance: https://www.memoriapress.com/articles/why-johnny-cant-add/ It presents an argument against "new" (conceptual) math. When I read it, something twinged in me. I felt as though I *should* strongly disagree with it; there were several sentences that made me bristle, some of which I listed here: "You learn arithmetic, not in order to think about arithmetic, but in order not to think about it." "...there are things you learn in order that you may think about them and things you learn so that you do not have to think about them, and that arithmetic is an example of the latter." "It [arithmetic] has no value other than as a tool for learning other things, namely more advanced, conceptual math." I was aghast reading these statements! Yet, how can I truly refute them if I barely understand the subject myself? I want to learn more about conceptual math so I can understand what it is and why or why not I will choose to teach math this way in the future. I want to come back to this article and be able to rip it apart with more understanding of the topic. Also, despite how infuriating and, ironically for a company that sells logic curriculum, illogical some of their articles are, I do still like Memoria Press. Hmmm, maybe they aren't "math people" 😂

Wow, that video was a good watch (I did skim past the college-oriented questions and stuff just to hear what he had to say about education itself). I have read about AOPS and Beast Academy on these forums and have always been intrigued by the way they bring math and critical thinking together. What he said about math education resonated with me. I was the kid who took up to calculus and did decently well in all my math classes, but I never really understood what I was doing. As he said in the video, I was a kid who was a great "pattern finder" and had a good memory. With the way math is usually taught, that's all you need. Give me a formula to memorize and I'm ready to plug and chug. That math education does not serve you at all when you try to go into something like computer programming! (Which I took a few college classes of for fun). I have never been so intimidated by math in my life as I was in those classes! They would give you problems that you had to (gasp!) figure out how to solve without being given explicit formulas! You had to learn to use math and logic to talk to the computer. I far from the only frazzled student in that class. Our current American math education simply does not teach its students to "discover" how to solve problems. We should be giving math students ingredients and a cookbook, not a predigested meal! I can see why this inspired you to homeschool. However, I must say that I found his message a bit off-putting at times. Yes, I understand his audience, but he very much seemed dismissive of the average-intelligence kids. He seemed like he was talking only to those who are gifted or advanced. I don't know if it was the intention, but it came off to me as though he believed this method of teaching math only works for gifted kids. Does the founder of AOPS only believe that gifted children can use their programs? My final thoughts on the matter are that I liked what he said about people who say they aren't "math people." "I'm just not a math person," "Sorry I'm just not good at math." Like it's a badge of honor. But no one treats reading that way. "Haha, sorry, I can't read!" "I was never a word person." Hah! I hope to mind what I say about myself in front of my son so he never picks up an attitude like that. I'm going to keep this lecture in mind as I read Lipping Ma's book and see what she has to say about math education. Thanks for the link!

Lori D. you have given me a goldmine. Can't wait to dive down these threads! Carolina Wren, educating myself has been on my mind a lot lately. My math education in particular was very lackluster compared to the way it is taught in many schools nowadays, and I know that if I want to teach it well one day I am going to need to understand the more conceptual methods myself. I am going to begin by reading Lipping Ma's book and seeing where that takes me. As for my own interests, I have always wanted to read and study more of the Great Books but I am , admittedly, intimidated. I think I need to just start and do it slowly but it would be helpful to have some sort of guide to follow, or at least have a friend reading them with me. I feel like Great Books need to be discussed with others to get the full richness of them. Well, maybe that's true of any book! It can't hurt to at least begin reading some. If I had a thousand dollars to spend and I didn't dislike Douglas Wilson so much I would buy Omnibus for myself! I need a dollar store Great Books education, please. 🤣 Susan, I have read so many interpretations of Charlotte Mason; I really need to sit myelf down and read what the woman herself actually had to say. Thanks for the link! That's gonna be a nice project for next year. Also, I'm not an unschooler (as of this moment in time) but I love Holt. The man spoke to me deeply at a hard time in my career; I saw a lot of what he wrote about when I worked in the public schools. Perky, I go back and forth on the importance of Latin in a child's education, and am not sure what my current opinion on it is. I do like Memoria Press from what I have seen, though, and I know their curriculum is kind of based on LCC so I think I will check it out one day. I wonder if Latin is really as useful as they claim, or if it is more of an eliteist niche thing to teach a child intead Latin in place of a modern language? No shade, I genuinely want to know more about that topic . Thanks for the recommendations so far! I love adding to my reading list, especially since I have been stuck at home 😕 .

Thanks for sharing your own experience 🙂 I definitely do love my little guy! But sometimes I need a podcast to listen to during those long times rocking him to get him to sleep 😂 I love the simplicity of how you got started. Well-Trained-Mind, a homeschool mega catalogue, and you were ready to give it a whirl. I also have a rainbow resource catalogue, not because I’m trying to force academics on a tiny one, but because I genuinely enjoy looking at curriculum! That’s the teacher in me I suppose. I think part of it stems from enjoyment of learning, and another from perhaps a dissatisfaction with my own education and looking at “what could have been.” I’m not looking for stuff to “do” (other than read lots of fun books) with my son. Rather, I am, as you said, seeking to educate myself. I enjoy learning about different philosophies of education as I wrestle with my own. I know it will change when (if it all works out that way) I do get to homeschool, but I’d like to at least have some confidence in my own beliefs around education before I get started. The funny thing is, for my MAE I had to write a statement on my “philosophy of education.” I can’t stand what I wrote now! It’s so generic and clearly what was expected of me going into the public schools. So little real, in depth thought. For the first time, I want to put real thought into what I am doing. That’s why I was asking for recommendations. Surely you have come across an article or a book that really inspired you as a homeschooler! I’d love to read those things that inspired others, even if I don’t end up agreeing with them myself.

Title says it all. This is my first post here (probably the first of many) and I’m looking for your favorite resources that influenced your homeschooling philosophy. I’m just a lady with a degree in education and a brand-new baby who came to the conclusion that homeschooling is what I want for him. So give me what you got. I’ve read “The Well-Trained Mind,” (a few times 0.0) and have a smattering of authors on my shelf, from the Clarksons and a few other Charlotte Mason lovers to John Holt and the unschooling squad. If you squint closely at my bookshelf, you’ll even find that somewhere between a couple of Montessori books is one by Douglas Wilson, who I have decided I do not like at all! Classical education (or neo-classical, I suppose, yes, I’ve lurked here for a while and read many a thread 😂) does, however, resonate me. I’m slowly building my philosophy of education. What an impossible feat! How can I say with confidence exactly what I want for my child’s education? To be a good, Christ-loving man? To be hardworking and a lifelong seeker of knowledge? To be virtuous and wise? To be knowledgeable in many subjects? So many things make up a philosophy of education! Please, indulge me by listing the works that helped you formed your own, the ones you did read and the ones you wished you had read. If you made it this far, thank you all for reading this! I have many years ahead of me before my homeschool journey begins and I look forward to engaging with many of the works you all recommend, as well as listening to your own stories 🙂