Educational Philosophy Questionnaire

[Shelly in VA]

Interesting! Thanks for creating that quiz. My results were:

 

Score for Classical Education: 23 

Score for Montessori Education: 15 

Score for Charlotte Mason Education: 12 

Score for Waldorf Education: 12

Score for Unit Studies Education: 0

Score for Unschooling: -1

Score for Traditional Education: -6 

Score for Thomas Jefferson Education: -8 

 

I was surprised that Waldorf was as high as it was (questions about the importance of art and time outside bumped that up, I'm guessing), and that unit studies were so low (probably a reflection of trying to balance kids at such different stages for the past few years - my college bound senior and my 9 yo don't work together much!). 

 

 

[Jenn121]

Score for Waldorf Education: -6 
Score for Traditional Education: -13 
Score for Unit Studies Education: 0 
Score for Montessori Education: 9 
Score for Thomas Jefferson Education: -8 
Score for Unschooling: 6 

 

Score for Classical Education: 8 
Score for Charlotte Mason Education: 3

 

I answered neither agree nor disagree on many becasue I felt that my answer would change based on the abilites of the child being taught. I teach my girls very differently. 

[idnib]

Score for Waldorf Education: 6 

Score for Traditional Education: -10 
Score for Unit Studies Education: -2 
Score for Montessori Education: 14 
Score for Thomas Jefferson Education: 3 
Score for Unschooling: 5 
Score for Classical Education: 16 

Score for Charlotte Mason Education: 8

 

Thanks, you've given me some things to think about. I'm going to look a bit more at applying Montessori principles at home, and also figure out why I'm not doing some of the things I said were important.

[Zuzu822]

I don't know anything about Thomas Jefferson Education, but the rest seems pretty accurate, given what the target questions were for Waldorf (not a fan of anthroposophy!).

 

Score for Classical Education: 23 

Score for Charlotte Mason Education: 19 

Score for Waldorf Education: 19 

Score for Montessori Education: 17 
Score for Unit Studies Education: 8 
Score for Unschooling: 8 
Score for Thomas Jefferson Education: 5 

Score for Traditional Education: -12 
 

[Truscifi]

Score for Waldorf Education: 0 
Score for Traditional Education: -14 
Score for Unit Studies Education: 3 
Score for Montessori Education: 17 
Score for Thomas Jefferson Education: 2 
Score for Unschooling: 11 
Score for Classical Education: 10 

Score for Charlotte Mason Education: 17 

 

I would not describe myself as an unschooler at all, so that being higher than classical was surprising to me.

[luuknam]

I'm curious what the questions for Thomas Jefferson were.

 

ETA: my wife finished taking the quiz as well:

 

Unschooling: 19
Charlotte Mason: 12

Montessori: 9

Unit Studies: 6

Thomas Jefferson / Waldorf: 3

Traditional: -3

Classical: -6

 

ETA2: My wife just also defined her educational philosophy: a) lazy, and b) what works for the kid. At least she's honest.

[PeacefulChaos]

So this is what I came up with.  It looks pretty correct to me, though I'll admit I'm not sure what all of them mean!  :D  I sort of just decided to homeschool several years ago, read TWTM, and knew immediately that classical education is what I wanted for the kids.  So I'm not totally familiar with the rest of them... I know unschooling, Charlotte Mason (I see a few CM things that I like, especially from Simply Charlotte Mason), and Unit Studies (and I know I hate unit studies lol!), oh, and obviously traditional lol.  :)  The rest I'm not intimately familiar with (Waldorf, Montessori, Thomas Jefferson?).  

I will say that I felt like there were a few questions that I wasn't sure the best way to answer, so I had a fair number of 'Neither agree nor disagree' answers.  :)  Usually they were ones that I could see being useful for one child but not necessarily another, or things that I think could work in certain subjects over others, etc.  

 

 

Score for Classical Education: 18 

Score for Waldorf Education: 10 

Score for Unschooling: 8 

Score for Montessori Education: 6 
Score for Charlotte Mason Education: 2

Score for Unit Studies Education: 0 

Score for Thomas Jefferson Education: -1

Score for Traditional Education: -7

 

[Critterfixer]

I took the quiz a few days ago, and I just finished taking the updated one.

The scores were almost identical. I scored an 18 on Classical, 11 Montessori, and 6 on both Traditional and Waldorf. Nearly everything else was a negative for me or below 5. The exception would be CM, which did vary from a 5 in the first to an 8 in the second attempt.

I'd say it reflects the way I teach pretty accurately. 

[El...]

I took it again, and while my scores were about the same, I think the questions were more clear now.

[Embassy]

I'm curious what the questions for Thomas Jefferson were.

 

ETA: my wife finished taking the quiz as well:

 

Unschooling: 19

Charlotte Mason: 12

Montessori: 9

Unit Studies: 6

Thomas Jefferson / Waldorf: 3

Traditional: -3

Classical: -6

 

ETA2: My wife just also defined her educational philosophy: a) lazy, and b) what works for the kid. At least she's honest.

 

You can find the questions separated into the different categories here:  http://eclectic-homeschool.com/what-kind-of-homeschooler-are-you-quiz-feedback/

[Embassy]

I keep getting a 404 Not Found error.

 

Sorry, all web problems have been fixed now.

[Kathryn]

Score for Waldorf Education: 0

Score for Traditional Education: -11

Score for Unit Studies Education: 0

Score for Montessori Education: 5

Score for Thomas Jefferson Education: -5

Score for Unschooling: -3

Score for Classical Education: 19

Score for Charlotte Mason Education: 15

[forty-two]

Score for Waldorf Education: 8

Score for Traditional Education: -9

Score for Unit Studies Education: 3

Score for Montessori Education: 5

Score for Thomas Jefferson Education: 6

Score for Unschooling: -2

Score for Classical Education: 17

Score for Charlotte Mason Education: 6

[HS Mom in NC]

Thomas Jefferson

  "  Early elementary years should focus on exploring the world with no formal lessons. "

Another heavy focus on early education for TJEd is character training.

    "Discussions are a major part of learning."

This would be true of many variations of Classical Education, particularly for the Circe crowd who don't really fall under the TJEd crowd.

   " A child’s passion for learning should drive their education."

This would apply to some unschoolers too.

   " Education is the child’s responsibility."

Again, many unschoolers would say this.

   " Parents should study and read while the child studies and reads."

Apprenticeships and mentors are major components for TJEd in the latter years.
The use of great books is critical to a TJEd, but not mentioned. Great books also fall under the category of Living Books and would fit Charlotte Mason too.

[Guest]

It was interesting to take this test, partly because I am done with homeschooling now, and so I know how the story turned out (as far as the story is written).  I came out strong on Classical, with pretty strong responses on Waldorf and Charlotte Mason, and negative on everything else.  Especially Thomas Jefferson and Traditional.  

 

I haven't read all the responses, so I'm sort of responding in a vacuum here.   But I did notice a couple of things.  

 

First, 15 years ago, I would have had opinions (probably strong ones) about things I voted "neutral" on today.  

Second, I don't know that the Waldorf-focused questions "pegged" it exactly because I looked into Waldorf both at the beginning and the end of the journey, and was either "me" or "nope" about it.  But it could easily be me--at least as much as the quiz--that didn't get it right.  

Finally, some of the questions I voted "neutral" on (which was more of them than I would have expected) were because the way the question was worded, I felt strong agreement with part of it, and strong disagreement with the other part of it.  Or it felt like the question asked for stronger response than I had, so I toned it down by my response.  I mention these not to gripe, but so you can make your questionnaire more helpful for your purpose.  The example I remember best is "grades for elementary and middle school."  I strongly disagree with grades for elementary, but strongly agree with grades for middle school.  So it came out neutral, which doesn't really help, except it probably does because I am probably MISSING THE POINT!!!  

 

Anyway, it was interesting.  I was glad to see that i have become less doctrinaire but still principled, if that makes any sense.  

 

:0)

 

[Corraleno]

I would say this is accurate except for the TJEd score:

 

Score for Waldorf Education: 16 

Score for Traditional Education: -23 
Score for Unit Studies Education: 12 
Score for Montessori Education: 18 
Score for Thomas Jefferson Education: 21 
Score for Unschooling: 16 
Score for Classical Education: 6 

Score for Charlotte Mason Education: 13

 

I find it completely bizarre that TJEd was my highest score, because my actual opinion of TJEd is like -1000. Whatever Thomas Jefferson's actual beliefs about education may have been, "TJEd" as packaged by Oliver DeMille is nothing more than a pyramid scheme run by a conman with fake degrees. I would not include it in a quiz with legitimate homeschooling approaches.

 

[MinivanMom]

Score for Classical Education: 21

Score for Charlotte Mason Education: 17

Score for Montessori Education: 8

Score for Waldorf Education: 8
Score for Unit Studies Education: 6

Score for Unschooling: 3
Score for Thomas Jefferson Education: 0

Score for Traditional Education: -8

 

It seems pretty accurate to me. I am definitely Classical, but I tend toward a Charlotte Mason style of Classical with my younger kids.

 

Waldorf is higher than I would have thought, but I guess that's because we are pretty pro-nature/anti-screens.

 

 

[MinivanMom]

 

I find it completely bizarre that TJEd was my highest score, because my actual opinion of TJEd is like -1000. Whatever Thomas Jefferson's actual beliefs about education may have been, "TJEd" as packaged by Oliver DeMille is nothing more than a pyramid scheme run by a conman with fake degrees. I would not include it in a quiz with legitimate homeschooling approaches.

 

Except that there are lots of people who self-identify as TJEd homeschoolers. I think it's better to acknowledge TJEd and talk about the serious issues with DeMille than to pretend it doesn't exist.

[HS Mom in NC]

Except that there are lots of people who self-identify as TJEd homeschoolers. I think it's better to acknowledge TJEd and talk about the serious issues with DeMille than to pretend it doesn't exist.

 

I agree.  I'm not one, but I've been to a seminar and I've read the original book and the companion book. I prefer a more CM/Trivium mix myself,  but TJEd is a particular approach some homeschoolers choose to take regardless of what Thomas Jefferson might have thought of it or what degrees DeMille does or doesn't have.  Also, as I understand it, it's supposed to align more with the views of George Wythe (?) his tutor.  Again, whether it does or doesn't, TJEd is a legitimate part of the homeschooling community.

[mamaraby]

I took it again, and while my scores were about the same, I think the questions were more clear now.

I agree. My scores did change and the scores for CM and Montessori went up while my Classical score went down a bit. It's fairly spot on all things considered.

[Momto4inSoCal]

Intresting... I scored negative on almost everything. I guess I voted in the middle for to many things? I didn't know how to answer the logic and latin question. I agree with logic being an important subject and language study but we plan on doing spanish instead of latin so I wasn't sure what to vote.

Score for Waldorf Education: -3 
Score for Traditional Education: -13 
Score for Unit Studies Education: 3 
Score for Montessori Education: -12 
Score for Thomas Jefferson Education: -1 
Score for Unschooling: -6 
Score for Classical Education: 11 

Score for Charlotte Mason Education: 12 

 

[Momling]

I have a smaller range... between -5 and 10. The 10s being classical and unit studies and the -5 Waldorf and Thomas Jefferson. Everything else is 0-3. I think it reflects my opinion that there are lots of ways to learn, but I lean towards classical.