What homeschool method do you use?

[Homeschooling6]

I guess a little of this and a little of that.

 

We use whatever works for the season we are in. For the past two years we have used textbooks for almost all subjects. With lots of great books to read.

 

Before that we used SL Pre-Core2, WP-AW, AS1 & CAW, MFW-Adv & ECC. We love books!

 

Next year we are using MFW again with the older two and MOH for the four younger dc. With workbooks for math & LA's.

 

 

[nono]

Are you a fluent Chinese speaker? Do you have access to one?

 

To whom is this question directed? :confused: If it is to me, uh, throwing ethnicity out the window, I live in New Jersey. Of course I have access to a fluent Chinese speaker! (Many!)

Edited March 29, 2010 by nono

[Reya]

To whom is this question directed? :confused: If it is to me, uh, throwing ethnicity out the window, I live in New Jersey. Of course I have access to a fluent Chinese speaker! (Many!)

 

 

WHEW! Good. Then it's doable.

 

I keep meeting homeschoolers who try to teach their kids Chinese without regular (weekly) access to a native speaker. It isn't pretty.

 

To see to whom a question is addressed, you can change your display preferences. Then everything threads nicely.

[nono]

To see to whom a question is addressed, you can change your display preferences. Then everything threads nicely.

 

Been using vBulletin for a long time. Can't tolerate the threaded look. Sorry.

 

 

My primary reason (which isn't a lecture for anyone else to do so, to be clear!) for teaching Chinese -- it is for the written word, which is why I mentioned which character set in my original post. If I were teaching Latin, it would be so that my children could read it, not speak it. That's my primary focus within our family.

Edited March 29, 2010 by nono

[TXMary2]

We're ecclectic....a little bit of every thing. I use some textbooks, some living books, some narration, some copy work, some fill in the blank workbooks and some child led/unschooling.

[Reya]

Been using vBulletin for a long time. Can't tolerate the threaded look. Sorry.

 

 

My primary reason (which isn't a lecture for anyone else to do so, to be clear!) for teaching Chinese -- it is for the written word, which is why I mentioned which character set in my original post. If I were teaching Latin, it would be so that my children could read it, not speak it. That's my primary focus within our family.

 

Okay!

 

Are you just teaching traditional, then, not one of the classical....er...they aren't dialects if they're written...versions, too, later? Just out of curiosity, what is it you want them to read? Taiwanese updates of classical Chinese texts?

 

(Being nosy, but very curious as to the end-goal.)

 

Also, do you plan of teaching them to do/read calligraphy? If so, what style? If so, how the heck to you READ some of the styles without already knowing what's there? :D

[nono]

Okay!

 

Are you just teaching traditional, then, not one of the classical....er...they aren't dialects if they're written...versions, too, later? Just out of curiosity, what is it you want them to read? Taiwanese updates of classical Chinese texts?

 

(Being nosy, but very curious as to the end-goal.)

 

Also, do you plan of teaching them to do/read calligraphy? If so, what style? If so, how the heck to you READ some of the styles without already knowing what's there? :D

 

Well it would be nice for my children to be able to read the collection of early- to mid- 20th century books that are in our family's library first and foremost. It took a lot for folks to perserve and then transport these books to here. I'd like for them to be read, otherwise, what a wasted effort!

 

But truthfully, my end goal is simply to torture them, just like Latin would, but from a more culturally fitting angle. ;)

[NanceXToo]

I consider myself relaxed/eclectic (if you can do that while using a curriculum).

 

My 9 year old fourth grade daughter is doing the Oak Meadow curriculum this year. I like it because it doesn't consist of dry text book-ish stuff and encourages a lot of hands on, creative, arts and nature type stuff.

 

We modify as desired, sometimes sticking with something longer and/or adding on extra activities if it's of particular interest to us (like when we did colonial times), occasionally skipping something or shortening time spent on something if we've got it down pat and/or it's not of particular interest.

 

We spend maybe 2-3 hours a day on the formal curriculum stuff and not on any strict schedule. If something fun or interesting is going on (like with our extremely active homeschool group) we don't hesitate to drop everything and go have fun and enjoy life (which is still learning!) and then get back to the 'formal' stuff afterward (or the next day, or over the weekend, or whenever we happen to do it). I manage to never get too far behind.

 

I added on a little bit of extra stuff to it, like our own health curriculum and now an online typing/keyboarding course (at her request), a little extra times tables review and/or geography review (states and capitals).

 

We go on a lot of field trips, we read a lot of books, we play games, watch educational shows, and I try to give her a lot of time to do her own thing (which often involves various arts and crafts, painting, playing outside, and playing with her Nintendo DS). She's in Girl Scouts, a 4H Wilderness Class, a homeschool bowling league, and we're currently doing a monthly "young writer club" with her and some other kids in the homeschool group.

 

Over the summer we will be picking up where we left off last summer with Story Of The World Volume 1 and attempting to learn Spanish together (at her request). She'll continue with swimming lessons and art camp/classes.

 

Next year I will continue with Oak Meadow for fifth grade but will not use Saxon Math as recommended at that point; I'll be doing Teaching Textbooks instead.

 

Next year I will also start the Oak Meadow Kindergarten curriculum with my son, in September. He won't be quite 5 yet but I really LIKE that OM starts off much slower paced and hands on/creative/storybased etc especially in the early grades rather than pushing early strong academics. So it's sort of more like a preschool program, really. I do not do anything formal with him now for preschool, learning is very playbased and informal for us right now.

[DawnM]

I try very hard to be more Charlotte Mason, but my boys gravitate towards a more workbook type approach!

 

We tried 2 separate years to do Classical (TOG) and it did not fly either time, so we have given up.

 

Right now we do a combination:

 

CLE for math and LA

SL for History and Reading

SOS for Bible, Science, and Spanish

 

This is subject to change on ANY given day! :lol:

[maryanne]

We are eclectic neo-Classical homeschoolers. We are primarily neo-Classical homeschoolers who use an eclectic mix of curricula and ideas from the different flavors of Classical education within the framework of the Trivium. I've read WTM and gotten a lot of good ideas from it. We participate in Classical Conversations, but it supplements rather than drives what we do at home. I've also read Trivium Pursuit, "The Lost Tools of Learning", some Charlotte Mason and more, and taken the good stuff--the stuff that works for us--from each.

[mcconnellboys]

We're like you!

[Guest Cindie2dds]

This is an interesting question. I guess we are eclectic. During the early years, we are Waldorf with a dash of CM. As my girls grow older, I want to evolve into CM with a splash of Classical. :)

[momof165]

I like to use a variety of different hs approaches, so eclectic fits the bill pretty well. When ds was young, I used exclusively a Waldorf and Montessori approach. However, during our homeschool journey, I have incorporated more Classical and CM components. Now, I have a wonderful mix of Classical, CM, and Waldorf.

 

Sonja in CO

 

http://www.barefootbooks.com/marketplace/11956

[Mama Lynx]

We follow The Latin-Centered Curriculum, tweaked a bit as my ds is more science oriented. We tweak in a few other areas but follow the philosophy of LCC.

 

LCC framework here, too.