In “Three Simple But Significant Steps To A Classical Education,” I explained how David and I decided (after agreeing on our own home education philosophy) to strip away the idea of a 12 year, subject-driven schedule and all the trappings of a public school model (step one), teach the tools of the trivium (step two), and supervise the study of subjects (step three). A paradigm is a way of thinking about something. If you were educated in a public or private school, you probably approach home education from that perspective, but that’s not the only way. Consider…

Learning Happens All Over The House

When I first began homeschooling, I had dreams of creating a “school room” for the kids. I went to the local teacher supply store and looked at all those cute little banners and posters that elementary school teachers tack to the wall or bulletin board…ABCs, seasons, holidays, calendars…but then I began to wonder where in the world I would put all that stuff! I didn’t have a single room that I could dedicate exclusively to home schooling. I decided that my dining room would be okay if I could just use the china cabinet for books, but then I began to think about all the times we used our dining room to entertain guests. Did I really want my adult friends and neighbors to enjoy meals in the middle of a school room? I decided against the posters and opted for more books.

At first we did all of our “table” work in the dining room, but soon we started moving to the living room sofa for snuggly reading time. When the weather got warmer, we moved out to the front porch to the rocking chairs or the swing. Eventually, we began throwing quilts on the grass and reading in the front yard (I still felt a little anxious when the neighbors drove by, but not so much that I confined the kids to the interior of the house.) These days, the kids choose where to study: in the hammock, in the tree house, on the bed, at the kitchen counter…as long as they get their work done, I don’t worry about where they do it. I’m less uptight these days.

Learning Happens All Hours Of The Day

When we first started home schooling, I followed the public school daily schedule. When the other kids on the street were getting on the bus, we were usually getting started, too. We took longer breaks than they did for lunch and playtime, but we generally wrapped up the day about the time the local school bus drove by our home. At some point, though, I realized that the kids were more efficient with their time; that is, they could squeeze a lot of learning into a shorter period of time than the public school day. So we began to let them sleep a little later because we knew they would be able to complete their work in time to play with their friends after they got home from school.

Very recently (remember we have teens), we began to let them choose when to work. We exercise as a family in the morning and then read Scripture together around the breakfast table, but that’s the only structured time. They can choose to get started studying right after breakfast or postpone studying until later. They have to log a minimum of 5 hours a day, but I don’t worry about when they get the hours in as long as the quality of their work is good. I’ve noticed that they both want to have some free time before dinner, so they plan their study time accordingly.

Learning Happens All Year Long

I used to start and end the academic year when our public school neighbors started and ended the year, but that was mainly because our kids wanted to play with the neighbors, so it was most convenient to be off when they were off and work when they worked. But as the years have passed, we have found that there are opportunities to learn every day of the year. We learn during the work week, surely, but we also learn on Saturdays, Sundays, and during the summer break. There are opportunities to foster learning in the evening when the kids are practicing baseball or during the summer when they are selling lemonade to hot and thirsty garage sale customers. If you approach every occasion with a questioning spirit, you can find the gems of knowledge and teach from them.

Learning Happens In All Areas Of Knowledge

One thing we continue to discover is this truth: learning is not confined to discrete subjects. I understand that the state has a vested interest in making sure all children have a certain foundational knowledge like reading, writing, and arithmetic, and I want all of our citizens to master those basics. I also understand that when you have to manage and process so many children through the system to make sure they are learning those basics, you must find a way to carve up the necessary knowledge which is why most public and private schools today divide the day into periods and teach specific subjects.

We homeschoolers are not bound by those limitations. We can do so much more to ensure that our kids are learning all that the Lord has revealed through His creation. We don’t have to sit our elementary kids down at the table and compel them to complete a grammar workbook in 36 weeks. If we are using proper grammar at home in our conversations and reading excellent literature to them daily (or having them read if they are older), they will learn proper grammar without the grueling pain of workbooks and true/false tests. I’ve used workbooks and textbooks when it is best for our family, but I don’t use them as the primary learning tool anymore. If I find that they are missing an important point (punctuation for instance), I’ll usually schedule a week of intensive, deeper study in the area of need. I’ll talk more about this later.

 

All of life is learning…all over the house, all hours of the day, all days of the year, and in all areas of knowledge…if you’ll only relax and be creative in creating an environment where you foster love of learning.

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Up Next:

Step 2 - Teach the Skills of the Trivium

Step 3 - Supervise the study of subjects

Tags: Classical Education, home schooling, homeschooling, public school model, public school paradigm, trivium