What does relaxed homeschooling look like for an upper elementary child (4th grade+)?

[Heart_Mom]

I'm drawn toward relaxing the way I homeschool, both out of desire and necessity. I'm finding it impossible to fit all the teaching time in the day without feeling constantly pressured, and things will only get busier in the fall (see my signature).

 

I understand what it looks like to be on the more relaxed side with my younger children, particularly my K'er and 2nd grader. (Someone here linked to this article, which is very good: http://sonyahaskins.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=207:relaxed-homeschooling-an-introduction&catid=82:relaxed-homeschooling&Itemid=12 )

 

But what does a more relaxed way of homeschooling look like for a child as they get older? Obviously my 5 year old learns lots just by being with me, cooking with me, listening to me read to her, doing some phonics and handwriting, etc., but this obviously would not cut it for my 4th grader.

 

Right now I'm reading a (fairly short) separate history reading to each child, and spending some time each day one-on-one with 3Rs-type things for each of them. I'm thinking of making my oldest more independent by using something like Creek Edge Press' task cards for his History and/or Science. I love AAS, and I think my oldest really needs it, but it really is a chunk of time out of the day for a subject that, in reality, means nothing in eternity.

 

I feel like I'm not having time to just "be" with my children and to focus on their spiritual training and character building. I don't want to put academics above character. I would LOVE to read-aloud to all of them for l-o-n-g stretches of time each day (I did this when they were younger), but their ages are so varied, that I feel like whatever I'm reading is irrelevant to at least 2 of them at any given time. (Well, except the Bible!) At this point, we're doing a read-aloud with everyone together for only a short time (10-15 minutes) most days.

 

There's part of me that wants to ditch curriculum for History and Science, and just read aloud lots to them, requiring my oldest to do some written narrations, notebooking pages, and independent reading. But I'm afraid that I don't have the time/energy to pull that all together. And it seems like it might be to "loose" for a 10 year old?

 

So, I guess here's my question: For those of you who are on the more relaxed end of things ... what does your homeschooling look like with your upper elementary children (4th-6th graders)?

 

When I say relaxed, I don't mean unschooling. I'm very happy to have lesson requirements for my children. But I want to have time to be the Mama and not just a harried teacher. I want to have time to build my relationship with them more and more.

 

Any thoughts for me?

[Enough]

Good question!

:bigear:

[Cassy]

I'm homeschooling 3 children fairly similar in age to yours - 11, 7 and 4 - but my fourth is a 12 yo who's out at school each day, so I have it quite a bit easier.

 

My 11 yo consumes vast quantities of my time, but I am working very hard, with reasonable success at getting him to be more independent for math, writing, and bits of Latin, French and Science. History is very relaxed - it's basically a chapter of SOTW, read to all three at once, with questions afterwards, and maybe a little map work, a look at relevant library books and any suitable films (DVDs or streamed).

 

Like many, I've found February something of a struggle, and just this week have instigated a new regime of much earlier mornings, with the aim of finishing earlier and having more time to do more fun things. So far we've only managed a leisurely stroll to the library in the sunshine, planting a few trays of seeds and a walk all together with the dog. Just doing those simple few things extra, mostly out in the fresh air, has really energised me, and also left me feeling quite a lot more relaxed, so I'm very motivated to continue next week :001_smile:. We've also probably got more done too, certainly more than our February average :tongue_smilie:.

 

Reading aloud happens at bedtime when all four boys pile into my bed - the younger two usually fall asleep within half an hour, but I carry on reading to the older two for another half an hour or more (the littles don't seem to mind :tongue_smilie:).

 

It is very difficult, I really don't know if there are any easy answers. Certainly, running around flat out all day getting everyone through their school work, preparing meals, washing, cleaning, grooming the dog, never feels remotely 'relaxed' no matter how good my intentions.

 

Best of luck ;)

 

Cassy

[LadyMSews]

I consider myself a relaxed homeschooler, and I have children who are similar ages. The big difference is that I detest reading aloud, probably because I don't learn that way. In fact, I have very little retention of information that is spoken out loud...it has to be written down. Anything I read is stuck in my brain permanently, but the only way to remember what someone has said (like a sermon) is to take good notes and read them later. I also simply don't have time to sit down with my olders to read out-loud to them...my 3rd grader (8 yo ds) needs more help with his schoolwork, I'm teaching my 7 yo and 5 yo to read and the 3 yo has a God-given gift of getting into things when my attention is elsewhere. Last week he almost set the microwave on fire while I was giving dd8 a spelling test.

 

That said, my oldest 2 are in 5th and 7th grade and are working mostly independently on a daily basis. I sit down with them each Monday and go over what they did last week and what I want them to accomplish this week. I have a simple handmade chart, with a block for each subject. I list what they need to do. This chapter of history, these math lessons, this writing assignment. They are free to work on their schoolwork in whatever order and what pace they choose. One dd does a little of each subject every day. The other dd does all math one day, all history the next, etc.

 

We do use textbooks for history (Abeka). They were given to us and free is nice. :) We supplement with living books that I track down either from Ambleside or similar reading lists. We use TT for math and Jump-In for writing.

 

Those are the big three subjects we do each week. Music is huge for us...the three older children all play two instruments each, so lessons and practice take a good chunk of time each day...we have a small house and have a somewhat strict schedule of practice times, so that everyone has their time to practice.

 

So each day, my dc have meals, chores, schoolwork, music practice and free time. They do have some limits on screen time, and I provide plenty of good books to read and encouragement to read them. The older dc memorize a Bible verse of their choosing each week and my older dc read their Bibles just about daily. My oldest dd and I are doing a Bible study together.

 

I find character building is just a normal part of life (as my sometimes frayed patience would attest!). Just living as a big family offers so many chances to learn great character qualities and have time with me. :)

 

We will buckle down on some things in high school...science and foreign language, for example. Our college plans right now are that our dc will do clep tests for credit and do as much college at home as possible. We have good IRL friends who have gone down this road with much success.

 

HTH!

Edited March 2, 2012 by LadyMSews

[coralloyd]

We are relaxed here. I have a 10, 8, and 5 yr. old. My 10 does the following, only 4 days a week:

Math- MUS 3 times a week, the 4th day we play a math game together.

English- R&S 4, a lesson a day

Spelling/Copywork/Dictation- Simply Spelling, a lesson a week

Reading- Reads a chapter from a book I pick for her or let her pick. Then we talk about it.

 

History, Science, Read-Alouds, and memory work (Scriptures, poems, & Spanish vocab.) are all done together as a family. For History, I read, they narrate, we discuss. While I read they do map work or color. The 4th day we do hands-on projects together. Science, is pretty much the same except for the coloring and map work, and only two days a week. Memory work we use SCM's system at the lunch table along with our read-aloud.

[NanceXToo]

I'm a relaxed homeschooling mom of an 11 y/o and a 6 y/o. I blog about our day-to-day homeschooling lives a lot, and the link to my blog is in my signature if you want to take a peek (it's been even more relaxed than usual the last week because I'm on day 8 of being sick and the kids just got over being sick, but you can get a good idea of what our days are like if you poke around; I include text, pics, and a lot of info on the sidebar to the left as well).

 

I'm not an unschooler. I consider myself relaxed/eclectic. I chose what I consider to be fun, creative, hands on curricula, I use it as a guideline and sometimes modify as needed/desired. We pretty much tend to do school around real life, and not live our lives around school, and I don't hesitate to drop school if things come up that we want to go do, because I feel that there are a LOT of different ways to learn and a lot of different things out there to learn about. We do a lot of outings and field trips and educational tours and activities and so on. We read a lot, play games, follow our own interests, and eventually we catch up on the curriculum stuff, or sometimes we consolidate, or sometimes we end up skipping some things, but we do get most of it done. We try to have as much fun with it as possible and to be kind of laid back about it and to not make it dry or textbookish all the time.

 

I'm happy with the way our days go. I feel like they're well-rounded. I feel like my kids are happy and content, I can see that they're learning, and often, I'm learning with them. We have to have evaluations each year and our evaluator is usually impressed/content with the things I show him, even with our more relaxed/eclectic/hands on kind of style, and whenever I've given my daughter a standardized test, she's done well on it, so I'm not really concerned that I'm doing the wrong thing at this stage. Maybe things need to be a little different when she draws nearer to high school years, or maybe they don't, I don't know yet... but right now, things are going well and I'm pleased and we're all happy.

[JennW in SoCal]

 

So, I guess here's my question: For those of you who are on the more relaxed end of things ... what does your homeschooling look like with your upper elementary children (4th-6th graders)?

 

When I say relaxed, I don't mean unschooling. I'm very happy to have lesson requirements for my children. But I want to have time to be the Mama and not just a harried teacher. I want to have time to build my relationship with them more and more.

 

Any thoughts for me?

 

We were very relaxed homeschoolers pretty much until high school, and both kids have turned out well and are successful college students. (One is in university and one is finishing high school through community college, with acceptances and scholarships for good 4 year colleges for next fall.) I have no regrets for how I homeschooled and in fact am so happy that I built such a great relationship with my boys.

 

Relaxed for us meant doing math first thing in the morning. It meant reading aloud every single day, usually reading materials to both kids together. You have such a wide range of ages that this isn't necessarily going to work, but you don't need to read separate titles for each and every child. We read literature, listened to audio versions of classics, and we always had a large stack of picture books and grown-up books on what ever the topic of interest was for the month. My kids usually had passions they wanted to explore, but I made sure to add in history or science titles each week. We watched shows such as NOVA and other science and nature shows.

 

Relaxed also meant that writing was grammar one day, copy work another and narrations yet another. We never did all of those subjects in the same day and yet my kids write well. It meant copy work was from books of their choosing, but narrations were assigned by me. It meant doing crafts, building legos, playing with science kits, going to the zoo, museums and plays.

 

I didn't do formal science until high school, and yet both boys did very well, even finding the courses sometimes an easy review of material they already knew. I didn't introduce Latin early on, due to my kids in particular, not to any desire to be relaxed. I would think it would be an easy add on to the morning's 3Rs.

 

One final anecdote. The year my kids were in 8th and 5th was the year my mom was in and out of hospitals and nursing homes, eventually passing away. My days were often spent handling her affairs and I'd come home with no energy to review math or check up on what the kids were doing. But every day we did read aloud together or listen to books together -- Sherlock Holmes, Christmas Carol, Around the World in 80 Days, Watership Down. We watched some wonderful old movies, too. I was convinced that I had ruined the 8th grader's life, that he wouldn't be ready for high school because I wasn't enough of a super mom. But come 9th grade he was just fine, and graduated high school early.

 

Focus on those 3Rs to build basic skills, and keep picking quality books to fill their minds with more content than you could ever plan for. And enjoy your little ones. You'll have an empty nest before you know it!

[momto2Cs]

There's part of me that wants to ditch curriculum for History and Science, and just read aloud lots to them, requiring my oldest to do some written narrations, notebooking pages, and independent reading. But I'm afraid that I don't have the time/energy to pull that all together. And it seems like it might be to "loose" for a 10 year old?

 

Sounds about right! Seriously, due to the million things going on all the time, I have relaxed more and more. I do have some requirements, as follows:

 

4 days a week, my 10 yo ds has to:

Do math

Do spelling

Piano practice

Do some writing (right now he's writing a short story)

And we're trying to add in Latin, at his request

 

Then, as time/interest allows:

We read books together on science, though sometimes he'll watch documentaries instead

We read together as a family

I read aloud from a couple of different history books

We read books/do projects/watch movies that have to do with the kids current focus (right now it is mythical creatures)

I occasionally have him do copy work, and we do poetry readings once a week, plus art appreciation, etc. (Brave Writer Lifestyle)

 

Other stuff:

He's my artist and creator, so he always has a few projects going on

He reads a lot

He's teaching himself computer animation

He does like to watch shows like Myth Busters, How It's Made, and any of the Walking With... series

 

And seriously, that's it. To make myself feel more "accomplished" I made a simple check-off sheet. You'd be surprised how much is checked off at the end of each week!

[AK_Mom4]

DD10 is definitely relaxed!

 

Today started as usual with DD10 practicing piano for 30 minutes. Then math, which takes another 30-45 minutes depending on what she is working on. History is literature-based, so she was reading the Children's Homer today as she starts studying Ancient Greeks. Science was a documentary about the Mars Rover (she is studying space this quarter). For English, she is doing Saxon Grammer and lots of free writing.

 

Yesterday was similiar except that we took our work to the library after piano. We also have a favorite coffee shop that works well.

[Rebecca]

One final anecdote. The year my kids were in 8th and 5th was the year my mom was in and out of hospitals and nursing homes, eventually passing away. My days were often spent handling her affairs and I'd come home with no energy to review math or check up on what the kids were doing. But every day we did read aloud together or listen to books together -- Sherlock Holmes, Christmas Carol, Around the World in 80 Days, Watership Down. We watched some wonderful old movies, too. I was convinced that I had ruined the 8th grader's life, that he wouldn't be ready for high school because I wasn't enough of a super mom. But come 9th grade he was just fine, and graduated high school early.

 

 

Thank you for this! All of it was so good- but this particular quote has really helped me.

Rebecca

[CaffeineDiary]

I'm feeling like the ogre here again. But someone has to say it.

 

If you are choosing a relaxed homeschooling curriculum because you independently determined that that''s the best way for your kid to learn, that's one thing.

 

But if you're choosing it just because you don't have time to devote to being a proper teacher to your kid (and obviously with another baby on the way, no one would blame you for not having that time) then I think you are doing them a disservice. If I were in your situation, I would seriously consider enlisting some help; whether that be a public school, a tutor, or something else.

 

Kids at that age are absolute sponges for information. That doesn't reduce our need to actively provide them with guidance. It increases it.

 

You can get lots of anecdotes from people about how things worked out great for them through 'relaxed' education. But the plural of 'anecdotes' is not 'evidence'. And my fear is that the Dunning-Kruger effect is possibly in play here in more than one way.

 

My $0.02.

[2squared]

We fall under the heading of "intentional" or "focused" rather than relaxed. With a clan like mine (which resembles the OP's), choices must be made. Yes, even schooling choices.

 

I have made the choice to focus on the 3Rs and to use (for me) efficient and effective teaching tools. I determine how much time I can devote to one-on-one teaching, and fit our 3Rs into those windows. Right now that is about 4 hours, which directly corresponds to how much my youngest sleeps during the day. :001_smile:

 

My 4th grader gets 2 hours of one-on-one time. I teach a RS math lesson and sit with her through her RS work and Singapore CWP. Then we move on to daily copywork and dictation which we use to teach grammar and spelling. We finish with writing for about 30 minutes. She reads science/religion/history for about 40ish min/day while I work with my 2nd grader. She also takes piano lessons.

 

My 2nd grader gets 1 hour of one-on-one time. He follows a similar path as my 4th grader: RS math, Singapore CWP, daily dictation, and narration.

 

My perK/Ker may get 20 minutes of reading, handwriting and/or math. His schooling depends on the day. My 3yo listens in and participates when she can.

 

My kids know a ton of science, but they have caught most of it from being out in nature, reading, and documentaries. They know less history, but honestly, I'm not worried about that at all. Their schooling won't be perfect no matter where they go to school.

 

I read aloud picture books at some time during the day, and chapter books at bedtime. I need to be better about not squeezing this out of the day when the day gets crazy. My 7yo LOVES to listen to books on tape, so I encourage this for free time and in the van on long trips.

 

All that to say....with 5 kids squished together in age, I think it's unavoidable to feel crazy and overworked. I am in the kitchen a lot. I teach a lot. I have a toddler to chase, preschoolers to monitor, and olders to run around to activities. It is a lot. I try to keep the kids' lives somewhat calm so they don't feel as I do. I give them large chunks of free time every day, which includes a lot of outside time. I let them stay home as often as possible when I'm running around. I make traditions for the kids to look forward to. I smile at them, hug them, and pray for the best.

Edited March 3, 2012 by 2squared

[TXMomof4]

Relaxed does NOT = leaving children to fend for themselves and to run amok in the streets because they have no guidance or supervision.

 

I have a 6th grader at PS and a 5th grader at home. I guarantee my relaxed 5th grader is learning WAY more than her ps sister. She is required to read real books. She does math every day. She does grammar every day. She works on writing in some capacity every day. We do history together several times a week and science at least once. She gets her books, gets her schedule (that I prepare) and does her own work. Some days she's working for a few hours, sometimes shorter. When she's done though, the big difference is she reads or watches educational shows. She plays with her siblings outside making up games or searching through the woods.

 

I would say we are relaxed but I am confident in my child's education. I'm watching my 6th grader knowing she is doing great by school standards and trying really hard not to be horrified by the quality of (or lack of) education she is receiving. I know it isn't true of every ps, but here it is and it is so depressing.

[ktgrok]

I have a baby coming in the fall too, and am a bit panicked by it. My answer has been to get more preplanned stuff to do...So we are using Sonlight for history and lit, switched on school house for spanish, and kinetic books for math..all of which she can do on his own for the most part.

[Enough]

We were very relaxed homeschoolers pretty much until high school, and both kids have turned out well and are successful college students. (One is in university and one is finishing high school through community college, with acceptances and scholarships for good 4 year colleges for next fall.) I have no regrets for how I homeschooled and in fact am so happy that I built such a great relationship with my boys.

 

Relaxed for us meant doing math first thing in the morning. It meant reading aloud every single day, usually reading materials to both kids together. You have such a wide range of ages that this isn't necessarily going to work, but you don't need to read separate titles for each and every child. We read literature, listened to audio versions of classics, and we always had a large stack of picture books and grown-up books on what ever the topic of interest was for the month. My kids usually had passions they wanted to explore, but I made sure to add in history or science titles each week. We watched shows such as NOVA and other science and nature shows.

 

Relaxed also meant that writing was grammar one day, copy work another and narrations yet another. We never did all of those subjects in the same day and yet my kids write well. It meant copy work was from books of their choosing, but narrations were assigned by me. It meant doing crafts, building legos, playing with science kits, going to the zoo, museums and plays.

 

I didn't do formal science until high school, and yet both boys did very well, even finding the courses sometimes an easy review of material they already knew. I didn't introduce Latin early on, due to my kids in particular, not to any desire to be relaxed. I would think it would be an easy add on to the morning's 3Rs.

 

One final anecdote. The year my kids were in 8th and 5th was the year my mom was in and out of hospitals and nursing homes, eventually passing away. My days were often spent handling her affairs and I'd come home with no energy to review math or check up on what the kids were doing. But every day we did read aloud together or listen to books together -- Sherlock Holmes, Christmas Carol, Around the World in 80 Days, Watership Down. We watched some wonderful old movies, too. I was convinced that I had ruined the 8th grader's life, that he wouldn't be ready for high school because I wasn't enough of a super mom. But come 9th grade he was just fine, and graduated high school early.

 

Focus on those 3Rs to build basic skills, and keep picking quality books to fill their minds with more content than you could ever plan for. And enjoy your little ones. You'll have an empty nest before you know it!

 

I love hearing about your experience. :001_wub:

 

I know I shouldn't seek external validation/justification for the way I homeschool- nevertheless, it's wonderful to know that it is quite possible to raise kids who will be very successful academically WITHOUT having to go the Tiger Mom route.

[Heart_Mom]

Wow! Thank you so much, everyone, for your responses! You've given me lots of ideas to ponder. I really appreciate that you all took the time to share how your homeschooling looks for these older ages. :grouphug:

 

To address peterb, I think it's a matter of priorities. If a family's #1 goal for their children is academics, then relaxing a bit when a new baby comes is not going to be a viable option.

 

The #1 goal for my children has always been their spiritual development. Of course, I want them to have a solid academic education as well, but for my family, it is definitely second place to encouraging them to see the glories of God's grace and to love Him with all of their being. So, I would not consider sending my children away from home all day, because I would not want to miss out on the time with them to stress those things that are of ultimate importance.

 

I would much rather have a child who loves the Lord, is solid in the skills he will need for his life, and has never heard of the Byzantine Empire than a child who gets a full scholarship to Harvard and rejects Christ.

[coralloyd]

Heart Mom, I just wanted to say, AMEN!

[Corraleno]

But if you're choosing it just because you don't have time to devote to being a proper teacher to your kid... then I think you are doing them a disservice. If I were in your situation, I would seriously consider enlisting some help; whether that be a public school, a tutor, or something else.

Yes, because we all know that public school teachers are far better educated and trained than homeschooling moms. Unless you can teach like a proper teacher, you have no business educating your kids. :rolleyes:

 

You can get lots of anecdotes from people about how things worked out great for them through 'relaxed' education. But the plural of 'anecdotes' is not 'evidence'.

Don't listen to "anecdotes" from experienced homeschooling moms who've raised kids to adulthood and sent them off to college — clearly the real evidence supports the superiority of "proper teachers," like those in the public schools.

Oh wait...

 

And my fear is that the Dunning-Kruger effect is possibly in play here in more than one way.

That is incredibly insulting. :glare:

 

For anyone who doesn't know what he's referring to:

The Dunning-Kruger effect describes a cognitive bias in which people perform poorly on a task, but lack the meta-cognitive capacity to properly evaluate their performance. As a result, such people remain unaware of their incompetence and accordingly fail to take any self-improvement measures that might rid them of their incompetence.

 

In other words, those of us who lean towards relaxed schooling are simply too incompetent and ignorant to recognize our own incompetence and ignorance.

 

Jackie

[Heart_Mom]

Heart Mom, I just wanted to say, AMEN!

 

Thanks for your encouragement, Coral! I sometimes feel like everyone thinks I'm nuts! :)

 

(It's okay with me, mind you, if many people don't share my priorities, but it is nice to hear some encouragement every once in a while!)

[....]

I'm not going to debate the relaxed homeschooling-rigorous homeschooling thing, because it's an exhausting conversation and the arguments aren't going to change my mind.

 

However...have you read Educating the Wholehearted Child? :thumbup1:

 

I'm also a huge fan of The Latin-Centered Curriculum (that's pretty relaxed compared to some other stuff :glare:).

 

I also realized that if we could fit into a homeschooling box, we are *probably* Montessori homeschoolers. If you google "Montessori middle school", there are a few websites that talk about Montessori education at that age. Besides interest-led learning, Montessori thought kids at that stage should be doing alot of real-world activities...building things...projects...learning about money/finances... I try to make this a big part of our week. My son has been doing some beginning carpentry, we started a garden this month (which was hours of reading, going through nurseries and some woodworking), etc.

 

Another thing about Montessori is that she would set out materials and let each student choose what they wanted to study. I've been doing this for about a year now and it has been a huge success in our homeschool. There are two subjects that are non-negotiable (math and writing), but I let them choose what programs to use.

 

Just an example, my kids have asked to do things like Spanish, German, any science (they're science nuts) and my 1st grader (who is unschooling this year) is working through 3 math programs right now. :001_huh: My son has also asked to do Moving Beyond the Page next fall (we did some of their lit studies last year)...so sometimes, they request specific curricula.

 

I could ramble about this forever. :tongue_smilie: If you check YouTube, there is a pretty good video that explains Relaxed Homeschooling. She talks about doing the basics and letting her daughter choose what she wants to learn the rest of the day.

 

One more resource...sometimes if you do a search for Unschooling blogs, you can find the coolest project ideas. :coolgleamA:

[....]

You can get lots of anecdotes from people about how things worked out great for them through 'relaxed' education. But the plural of 'anecdotes' is not 'evidence'. And my fear is that the Dunning-Kruger effect is possibly in play here in more than one way.

 

My oldest daughter scores in the top 1 percentile on standardized testing. ;)

 

I usually keep that to myself, but I couldn't resist. :D

[catz]

My oldest daughter scores in the top 1 percentile on standardized testing. ;)

 

I usually keep that to myself, but I couldn't resist. :D

 

Ok, both my kids too actually.

 

And I don't have much more to contribute, but I find if I focus on basics everyday and give my kids rounding in other areas (science, history, art) I find that my particular kids are still doing better on average than kids sitting in school all day. Music lessons are important here and my kids enjoy many extra activities out of the house. Too much seat time would kill my kids passion for learning and the first few hours a day is so much more valuable then trying to maintain their attention all day long. If a longer and more structured academic day works for other families, that is fine. I don't think you can stereotype more relaxed homeschoolers as underachievers by any stretch however.

 

Good luck to the OP finding a nice balance! :001_smile:

[....]

I don't think you can stereotype more relaxed homeschoolers as underachievers by any stretch however.

 

Good luck to the OP finding a nice balance! :001_smile:

 

:iagree: Also, none of us can say that there is one right way to homeschool.

[Enough]

I'm not going to debate the relaxed homeschooling-rigorous homeschooling thing, because it's an exhausting conversation and the arguments aren't going to change my mind.

 

However...have you read Educating the Wholehearted Child? :thumbup1:

 

I'm also a huge fan of The Latin-Centered Curriculum (that's pretty relaxed compared to some other stuff :glare:).

 

I also realized that if we could fit into a homeschooling box, we are *probably* Montessori homeschoolers. If you google "Montessori middle school", there are a few websites that talk about Montessori education at that age. Besides interest-led learning, Montessori thought kids at that stage should be doing alot of real-world activities...building things...projects...learning about money/finances... I try to make this a big part of our week. My son has been doing some beginning carpentry, we started a garden this month (which was hours of reading, going through nurseries and some woodworking), etc.

 

Another thing about Montessori is that she would set out materials and let each student choose what they wanted to study. I've been doing this for about a year now and it has been a huge success in our homeschool. There are two subjects that are non-negotiable (math and writing), but I let them choose what programs to use.

 

Just an example, my kids have asked to do things like Spanish, German, any science (they're science nuts) and my 1st grader (who is unschooling this year) is working through 3 math programs right now. :001_huh: My son has also asked to do Moving Beyond the Page next fall (we did some of their lit studies last year)...so sometimes, they request specific curricula.

 

I could ramble about this forever. :tongue_smilie: If you check YouTube, there is a pretty good video that explains Relaxed Homeschooling. She talks about doing the basics and letting her daughter choose what she wants to learn the rest of the day.

 

One more resource...sometimes if you do a search for Unschooling blogs, you can find the coolest project ideas. :coolgleamA:

 

This. :)

 

And also, about this sentence in particular:

 

I'm not going to debate the relaxed homeschooling-rigorous homeschooling thing, because it's an exhausting conversation and the arguments aren't going to change my mind.

 

The arguments used by self-proclaimed rigorous homeschoolers aren't necessarily true, provable, or applicable to all kids or even most kids. I avoid getting into those debates because ultimately, despite how fervently we may hope otherwise, and how much we may try to expose them to or cram into their brains, not a single one of us can claim to be able to guarantee success for our kids. And to top it off, virtually ALL of the words used in the debate are relative and/or involve a value judgement and therefore can't be 'claimed' as only applying to ONE type of homeschooling.

[Corraleno]

I find if I focus on basics everyday and give my kids rounding in other areas (science, history, art) I find that my particular kids are still doing better on average than kids sitting in school all day. Music lessons are important here and my kids enjoy many extra activities out of the house. Too much seat time would kill my kids passion for learning and the first few hours a day is so much more valuable then trying to maintain their attention all day long. If a longer and more structured academic day works for other families, that is fine. I don't think you can stereotype more relaxed homeschoolers as underachievers by any stretch however.

 

Good luck to the OP finding a nice balance! :001_smile:

:iagree:

 

My non-negotiables are math and foreign language (DS chose Greek, DD chose Latin), and we do those first thing in the morning. We're pretty much interest-led for the rest. E.g., for "language arts," DS is really into linguistics, so he watches TC courses, reads linguistics texts, and is working on an invented language. He recently decided that he wants to study lots of other languages, so he's currently learning the Arabic alphabet and is listening to Spanish CDs. He asked me to buy him the One Year Adventure Novel, because he wants to write a novel about a civilization he's invented. As for literature, he's read the Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, and parts of Thucydides and Herodotus, and we've done Sophocles' Frogs and Birds as read-alouds. I just ordered Xenophon's Anabasis from Amazon at DS's request. 

 

DD loves to write little reports as well as letters and emails to her grandparents and cousins, so I teach grammar/mechanics/composition in that context. Last summer the kids were really into astronomy, so we read books, watched tons of documentaries, went to planetarium shows, attended "star parties" with the local astronomy club and got to try out lots of different telescopes and look at lots of different objects, and we built a Galileoscope. We've done tons of biology research and experiments; we have an "ecosystem tank" filled with all kinds of critters from the local river; we have pet geckos and a toad; we've bred mantises, mealworms, and silk worms.

 

Both kids do robotics, electronics, and programming (DD uses Scratch, DS uses Alice). As a family we do a lot of hiking, which often includes geocaching, birding, and nature journaling. We have memberships to the Science Museum, Natural History Museum, and Zoo. Both kids play chess, and we play strategy-based board & card games, which are more fun (and IMHO just as effective) as a lot of "critical thinking" curricula. DD plays violin, and will be eligible to join the Youth Orchestra next year. Both kids do TKD, rock climbing, fencing (DH teaches them) and horseback riding (DH teaches this too).

 

Jackie

[Heart_Mom]

 

However...have you read Educating the Wholehearted Child? :thumbup1:

 

 

I just picked this up at the library this morning. It's a book I've known about for years, but have never read. I'm intrigued! :D

[momto2Cs]

Another good book to read is The Relaxed Home School by Mary Hood. It does cover how she worked with her older kids as well as younger.

[Heart_Mom]

Another good book to read is The Relaxed Home School by Mary Hood. It does cover how she worked with her older kids as well as younger.

 

I just checked and my library has this book too! Thanks for the recommendation!:001_smile: