What kind of homeschooler are you?

I am writing this post because I saw a post What kind of homeschooler are you? on this topic over at Heart of the Matter. I will be using some of her paragraph headings and hopefully I will think of some of my own, too.

I am a laid back homeschooler. I believe children need time to be children. I allow them to play with Legos while I read. I let them count making their own computer games as "school" and "playing" with Lego Mindstorms robots as school, too.

I am an eclectic homeschooler. I choose things from all over. Literature based History, Living books and not twaddle for History and Science, experiments and K'nex kits for Science, Lapbooks for many subjects, Notebooking pages for some things, Picture Study and Composer Study like Charlotte Mason, Videos for Writing class (and sometimes Science and History), Games for all subjects, different things for Bible, workbooks for Grammar, and textbooks for Math (with CD's for upper grade math).

For High School ther is also Living books, CD's, and practical experience for: Building Life Relationships (character, dealing with siblings, courtship and marriage study), Home and Life Management (Home Ec, gardening,  home maintenance and car repair, and more), Educational Foundations (studying the how to of homeschooling to be prepared for being a homeschool parent and to see the worth of their own homeschooling. Also Computer class using the Internet and Typing class using a cd.








Serving the Community, too. Above left we were helping at an NGA meeting. NGA is Needlework Guild of America. They collect and distribute new clothing and sewn, knitted and crocheted items to needy charities. Above right is us singing as a family. In that picture we were singing at our support group Talent Night, but we also sing at Church and local nursing homes.

We love educational field trips to museums, historical sites and parks. And sometimes we meet a field trip while driving down the road.

I am a school at home homeschooler. First that means to me that we have to spend quality and a quantity of time at home, not always be running here and there. Also, it means that I have a home that facilitates our homeschooling, not one that is a showroom for the magazines. Not a home that no one would even feel comfortable sitting down in. I have a small white board in our dining room, I am on the lookout for a larger one (probably will be made with shower board). I use it to explain step by step how to complete certain processes in math and science. I draw examples. I write assignments. I instruct. We have maps on the walls. We have charts on the wall. We have bookcases everywhere but the bathroom! LOL

I am a life-schooler. We teach in and about real life situations. Their dad explains budgets and paying bills. I teach cooking and laundry. Their dad shows them how to change the oil and repair broken lawn mower blades. I teach about chores and housekeeping. They help change the alternator in the car. They change flats. They pull weeds. They unclog a stopped up sink and rip apart a misbehaving vacuum. They learn to deal with others buy learning to deal with their siblings. They learn about marriage by watching their dad and I.

I am a hands-on homeschooler. We use lapbooks, games, cooking, cleaning and K'nex kits. A Hands-on Equations set with blocks and pawns for learning about Algebra. When the kids were younger we used a lot more hands-on things, especially for Math.

I am a book-schooler. I think one of the best ways to learn is to read books. A lot of books. We read Non-Fiction, Historical Fiction, Fiction, and Biography. We read books individually and pass around the good ones til everyone has read them. And, even though the children are older I read aloud for school, and I read aloud to the whole family (even to my adult children and husband).

I am a child-driven homeschooler. If there is something we want to learn…we learn it. My older son reads and learns about his Mindstorms. One daughter concentrates on homemaking and crafts. One daughter likes writing and art. Both boys like computer games, making and playing them. One boy wants to learn wood working.

I am a Christian homeschooler. We talk about God in our daily life. Every day. Our basis for living is the Bible. We study the Bible each alone, in school, and as a family in family devotions. We strive to have a relationship with the Creator, Sustainer of life, Savior, and Lord. We try to be filled with the Spirit and not to grieve him. We pray to our Abba Father.

So what type of homeschooler am I? One that likes, and tries to follow, these sayings:

“You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives.”  ~Clay P. Bedford

The children should have the joy of living in far lands, in other persons, in other times--a delightful double existence; and this joy they will find, for the most part, in their story books.
(Charlotte Mason Vol. 1 Part IV--Some Habits Of Mind - Some Moral Habits, p.153)

He is educated who knows how to find out what he doesn't know. ~ George Simmel

“Let me also urge parents to see that in a child's leisure hours change of work is encouraged. How often one sees a child straight from the schoolroom huddled up in an arm-chair reading a book. The brain is still working in very much the same direction as it has been during school hours. Games, needlework, wood-carving, etc - many other interests might be substituted which would rest the brain, and help to develop the child in an "all round" way.” AH, Parents Review

What type of homeschooler are you?