Which homeschooling philosophy do you follow most closely?

Question

Would you consider yourself Unschooler, Classical, Charlotte Mason, Eclectic, Unit Studies, Traditional, or something else. Furthermore, why did you select the philosophy that you did.

Answer 1

Eclectic / Classical / Charlotte Mason / Unit Studies.

I usually just say Eclectic, since the meaning of the word (when used of homeschooling) is that you take what you believe to be the best of several methods and blend them, and that is what I do.

Answer 2

Eclectic and the philosophy was more of an evolution as children grow and their needs change. It will continue to change and adapt as we progress.  That is the beauty of REAL homeschool--it is totally responsive to the student.

Answer 3

Eclectic

Why?   Honestly, it is just cheaper that way.    We can use what we have available.

Answer 4

Unschooler.

It must be pointed out, though, that unschooling is merely education without coercion. If I ask for an 8-3 schedule, with 40-minute periods, and homework, that's as 'unschoolery' as reading Plato on a mountaintop.

Answer 5

Classical. I chose to use Sonlight as a curricula after borrowing my sisters for a year. I love the historical literature. My kids enjoy the way the material is presented and that is all that really matters. For them education is fun as it should be.

Answer 6

We're unschoolers (natural learners).

Unschooling best fits: our circumstances; our needs; our priorities - both now and in the future; our family's lifestyle; our parents' beliefs concerning the things that are most important and what they reckon 'getting an education' ought to mean and ought to be about...

Answer 7

We've been a mix of "school-in-a-box" meets unschooling for five years.  Now we're heading into more eclectic-meets-unschooling.

That sounds odd, but my son's formal curriculum work only takes about 3 hours a day.  The other 5-9 hours he works is all self-directed, independent study.  He lives to learn more and more.

We chose the method we did because we found a really great curriculum to use for elementary & middle school.  It has both breadth and depth.  My son likes a little bit of formal, spiraling scope & sequence for structured education.  But he also enjoys self-directed study of anything from solar weather to herpatology to sub-atomic physics - stuff the typical curriculum does not have.

Answer 8

I would say that we are eclectic, but heavily influenced by classical.  After I homeschooled my first through Kindergarten, I found the original Well Trained Mind book.  That really resonated with me.  We do follow the ideas presented in that book such as:  The overall trivium, history on 4 year cycles, the study of Latin and logic, formal grammar and writing,  etc.  We also love narrations.

From Charlotte Mason, we have developed more of a feel for Nature Studies, Art Study, and Tea Time.  We absolutely love teatime in our family.  From Charlotte Mason and Classical we have appreciated the focus on "living books."  All four of my boys adore reading.   We have also started to do more handicrafts which are very Charlotte Mason/Waldorf inspired.  The boys really enjoy nature studies, and in NH there are so many places to hike.

As a curriculum junkie, I do tend to also have a few Unit Studies.  I have all volumes of Konos, and I love the hands on projects.  We also have Tapestry of Grace, Winter Promise and a few others.  If carefully picked, they can really add to our course of study.

This year, we purchased a house from the 1700's with 12 acres.  We are approaching this as "unschoolers" if you will.  As the kids become interested in various areas:  (chickens, building fences/barn, vegetables, etc.) they become our resident expert and learn a lot in the area they are interested.  

We are currently in our third state that we have homeschooled in.  In our first state, we were with others in a Waldorf inspired homeschool group.  There, in addition to handicrafts, we came to appreciate the rhythms of the seasons.  A lot is done around that as well.  We also do this with our religion, and celebrate various aspects of the liturgical year.

We also go on a wide variety of field trips and participate in various classes.

Homeschooling has really worked for our family.  I have been doing this for quite a while, and we pick and choose what we like from the various methods, while at the same time holding to the academic rigors of the classical model.

Edited to Add:  There was one time we even did Calvert which is more a Traditional approach.  I was very sick, and unable to easily put together my own curriculum.  It was necessary at the time given my circumstances, but the kids truly did NOT enjoy it...LOL

Answer 9

Eclectic.  I chose it because it's what works best for my son - he really needs a little bit of everything.  In some subjects he works best with a structured text (traditional), and in others he needs the freedom to explore (unschooling).  He truly can't stand review and his brain rejects rote learning, so I tend to put a lot of his skills work into history or science units (unit studies).  That way, he still gets the practice, but doesn't balk at the review.

And of course, what is homeschooling without access to great "living" books?  Everything we do is supplemented with books that Charlotte herself would probably heartily recommend :)

Edit - with Azathoth's definition, I guess you could classify us as moving toward unschooling.  Ds now chooses every one of his texts based on what he wants to accomplish, lets me know what he'd like to study and helps pick the resources, and we confer every few months about courseload and schedule.  He's 10, so I don't really set him loose and tell him to learn yet (except in some subjects, for which he already knows more than I do), but he's heavily involved in the process and everything we study - whether it's oceanography or grammar - is pretty much by his choice.  

He has lofty goals, and he looks to me to tell him what skills he'll need to meet those goals.  For example, he wants to work on writing a novel next year, so he's chosen to do pretty intensive work this year in grammar, comp, research and creative writing, and lit analysis.

I still schedule a lot of it out for him, since he's young enough (10) that the overall scheduling would be overwhelming, but he has a strong say in everything we do as far as his education goes.

So...whatever you would call that, that's what we do :)