A year in review

Our homeschool year for a 2nd, 6th, and 9th grader

I think it’s pretty common for the newbie homeschooler to want to nail down what “type” they are. You feel a lot of pressure to brand your homeschool:

“I follow Maria Montessori!”

“Charlotte Mason just speaks to me.”

Whether it’s unschooling, classical, Waldorf, or any number of other categories, homeschoolers love to have a defined idea of what they identify as and where that will lead.

I think that’s why my following statement will annoy plenty of educators:

I don’t firmly adhere to one style or method.

My educational pedagogy is eclectic and it works perfectly for our family; dare I say it has allowed my daughters to thrive in so many areas because we aren’t beholden to one specific way of learning, come hell or high water.

In general, we lean toward a classical learning style because, after-all, I find great value in classic literature and its influence on the best parts of culture that have stood the test of time. That being said, there are times in the past decade where we could easily have been mistaken for “unschoolers” (stretches where we were burnt out on workbooks and just needed to spend a semester in the woods or reading random novels.)

Basically, what I’m saying is this: I understand the primal urge to decide on a method and never abandon it. There’s comfort in that. However, what you’ll come to realize is that you will likely have multiple children with varying interests, passions, struggles, and personalities. To stick with one “way” of learning means you expect all of your babies to learn the same way and with the same effectiveness.

Isn’t that why we abandoned the modern-day classroom model?

Now that we’ve established that I’m eclectic, classical-leaning in our family approach to education, I thought I would give you a glimpse into what we accomplished this year by making three lists (one for each of my school-aged children) and a rough idea of what a standard day looks like.

Again, this can change and morphs wildly, especially this year as I had a baby in March. Sometimes everything gets thrown out the window and THAT IS OK.

Let’s start here: