The Montessori approach to Education is an alternate educational method developed by Maria Montessori during the 1900s. This approach is specifically suited for younger children at elementary school levels and is based on self-directed activity by the child and clinical observation by the teachers. The Montessori approach places emphasis on adopting the child’s learning environment to suit the needs of the child. Normal learning in the Montessori approach involves lots of physical activity that helps in absorbing abstract concepts as well as practical skills.

Historically, the Montessori approach began as a post graduate research paper by Maria Montessori on the intellectual development of children with developmental disabilities. She began developing an environment that would typically help these students. Her approach towards the intellectual development of children with disabilities was a huge success. She immediately began moving her research towards children without disabilities. Her techniques in creating a learning environment was extremely effective and helped children learn faster and grasp new knowledge and skills easily. The Montessori approach is self-directive, interactive and material oriented. The key feature involves a teacher observing the children performing the selected tasks.

The main idea of Montessori approach towards education is based on the following premises:

• Children are capable of self-directed learning.
• By using teachers more as ‘observers’ than ‘lecturers’, key areas of development of a student can be identified.
• Learning a skill (even sitting, walking, reading and counting) is natural in a particularly sensitive period. Beyond this period it gets difficult and frustrating.
• Children aged below 6 have a better capacity to absorb concepts.
• Children should be the masters of the school room environment.
• Children learn better when they ‘discover’ things themselves.
• Children learn alone during periods of concentration. They are not to be disturbed by teachers at this time.
• Children learn better if they touch and feel real material objects. This also aids in better development of the brain.

Implementing the Montessori approach as a part of homeschooling would first require the creation of a good study environment. Children should be in a pleasing classroom that would encourage them to study at their own pace. They should have easy access to outside environment. It is considered good if the classroom has plants, windows and small pets, if possible, to have an experience of the natural world while studying.

The studies in this approach are divided into distinct areas. ‘Practical life’ would allow the children to develop a sense of care for themselves, others around them and nature. Children learn how to perform daily activities like using basic kitchen utensils, dressing up, doing chores, cleaning up and so on. The ‘Sensorial’ area concentrates on training the senses. This is done through visuals, audio and other methods. Shapes, colors and sizes are taught. The Montessori approach emphasizes on learning the exact terminology for things being taught. The ‘Cultural’ area covers topics on cultures all over the world. Pictures of other nations, festivals, maps and other helpful materials can be used for this. The ‘Science’ area is meant to develop the natural questioning ability of the child. The children are encouraged to wonder about the way things work in nature. The ‘Language’ area concentrates on teaching the basics of language. The Montessori technique has developed an excellent way of using shapes for parts of a sentence to make things easy to understand. The ‘Math’ area is all about math. Here again, there is a lot of overlap with the sensorial area as visual aids are often used to make the understanding of numbers and operations simpler.

Many homeschoolers enjoy the benefits of using dynamic unit studies to maintain a high interest level in their course of study.   Here are the common types of unit studies you may wish to consider.

Integrated Unit Studies

Integrated unit studies organize the content of multiple subjects (such as English, Science, Social Studies) around one theme.  For instance, if the unit was "Russia", the study might include stories from Russia (Reading), Animals in Siberia (science), Geography of Russia, history of the Cold War (Social Studies).  Multiple academic subjects can be pursued with this type of study: art, music, dance, theology, philosophy, poetry, etc.   It takes multiple resources and either a lot of planning or the purchase of a curriculum that includes the different resources.

Literature Based Unit Studies

This type of homeschool unit study is great for children and families who love books.  Often the unit is developed around a historical period or around a theme.  Quality books and classical literature are read throughout the unit.  Families using this type of unit study often construct time lines to display the big picture.

Hands-On Unit Studies

Hands on unit studies provide students with plenty of hands on projects.  This is great the kinesthetic learners or young learners particularly.  They can build models, write poems, create posters, and develop games and puzzles to reflect what they have learned.  The completion of their unit study often includes a scrap book or unit study book which reflects their projects.

Learning Tree Unit Studies

This unit study uses a tree as its model.  The student diagrams a tree with its roots as the resources used to study the topic (the trunk of the tree).  The branches are the main objectives to be accomplished.  The leaves are the books read; and the fruit are projects completed.  Before the unit starts, parents set a minimum number of resources and projects that the student must complete.  They are rewarded for doing more work than the minimum.

Interest Focused Unit Studies

This is a method of motivating a particular student in their study of difficult subjects by allowing them to focus on a favorite topic.  For example, you have a student who struggles with reading and writing but is fascinated by dinosaurs.  What kind of books do you want to get from the library?  As you introduce any topic: geography, writing, science - tie it to dinosaurs.  Students will be more interested in completing the writing assignments, learning geography, or studying the digestive system if it is tied to their interest.  A topic of interest is often studied anywhere between 3 and 9 months.

Advanced Unit Studies

The advanced unit study takes the interest focused unit study to a deeper level.  If a student has a long term interest in a particular topic, they can combine that topic with another topic to produce an in-depth study.  For instance, a student who continued a fascination of ballet for years, might do a study on dance during the Renaissance, including costumes and music for different periods and nations.  This type of unit study takes a lot of time and energy to pursue, but is a great way to culminate a long-term interest.

The available definitions for Eclectic Homeschooling are as wide and varied as the possibilities it provides.  Many non-homeschoolers imagine homeschooling to be very similar in structure to public schooling, although at home.  They assume that homeschooled students sit at a desk all day, working their way through a set curriculum, as well as completing assignments and exams.  Indeed, this is the way that some families choose to homeschool, and it can work very well.

Eclectic homeschooling, however, involves utilizing resources and information from anywhere and everywhere.  Rather than be restricted to one set curriculum, they may utilize a variety of text books.  But, eclectic homeschooling certainly doesn’t stop there. Eclectic homeschooling also includes using a variety of methods, tools and even locations, to educate your children, as well as letting their needs and desires determine what is taught and how. Many parents of special needs children homeschool their children in an eclectic fashion.

Eclectic homeschooling is a form of homeschooling that is simply bursting with potential, because your family’s educational journey is only limited by your imagination… and, perhaps, funding.  Many parents will take a child interests and turn it into a fun school subject or use a variety of books to teach literature instead of buying a program or a boring anthology of works. Eclectic homeschooling families are often very talented at discovering what works. While some parents will buy a curriculum and persevere, following it to the letter, even if their kids are struggling, this should never be the case in homeschooling. Don’t be afraid to change!  If the kids are struggling, and there is little progress, maybe its time to look into another way to doing things.  This is where eclectic homeschooling really comes into its own.  If it’s broke, definitely fix it.  It’s your kids and their future, and they are the reason we are homeshooling in the first place!

Unschooling

Somewhat closely associated to Eclectic Homeschooling is the concept of unschooling.  This method of education takes advantage of the fact that children are natural learners.  Instead of setting a rigid structure, unschoolers allow their children’s interests to direct their education, with the parents, as homeschool teachers, acting as facilitators of the learning process, rather than directors/writers/dictators.

Unschooling can be surprisingly effective when well-guided, allowing the child to maintain an interest and some influence over his/her own learning materials, utilizing real life activities, as well of books and standard resources.  Orthodox unschoolers believe that learners self-determine what is important to know in the world and, as there is more to learn than can ever be learned, the skills learned in self-directed learning will keep students in good stead throughout life.  Also, they argue that there is no such thing as particular topics of study being critical to know, or more important than other subjects in the grand scheme of things.  Therefore, whatever direction of study the student chooses is the right one for them.  Critics of unschooling, however, express concern that unschoolers may avoid topics that are not of interest, and may therefore be lacking in particular aspects of education and/or social skills, including those deemed important for the workforce.

Regardless of the style of homeschooling adopted long-term, many homeschooling families make good use of unschooling as a transition from government schooling to homeschooling, allowing the child to create new educational associations, and slip into the new freedoms that homeschooling allows.

Our 7 and 9 year old boys were memorized every minute as I read Robinson Crusoe, they actually balked when I stopped reading  (the reading took three nights).

Classics: Should You Read the Originals or Adaptations?

Literature for the masses or literature for the lazy? Does it matter? We used a children's adaptation to read Robinson Crusoe (apologies to Charlotte Mason - she prefers the originals).

Long chapters and difficult language can overwhelm and obscure the richness of the story. i.e. my boys listen better and enjoy the story. My goal is first to encourage a love of learning. The original Robinson Crusoe included cannibals and was a bit daunting for younger children.

If you chose a children's adaptation be sure it includes Crusoe's religious experiences. Some adaptations will leave this out to meet the public school agenda.

The Book: Robinson Crusoe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson_Crusoe) is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published in 1719 . The book is a fictional autobiography of an English castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical island and documents Crusoe's spiritual journey as he comes to peace with God

The Author: Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Defoe) wrote more than 500 books, pamphlets, articles, and poems. Among the most productive authors of the Augustan Age, he was the first of the great 18th-century English novelist.

Robinson Crusoe Lesson Plans

• Religious Purpose in Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe - This book is a heavily religious novel. This is signified through three instances in which religion emerges as a major theme at pivotal points in the plot.
• Robinson Crusoe Island Adventure Lesson Plan from Crayola. Write original Island Adventures with detailed characters, setting, and plot, then construct an island environment using a paper bowl and Crayola® Markers.
• Island Survival - In this activity, students will participate in a simulation of life on a deserted island. They will be challenged to use their critical thinking skills and knowledge of islands to "survive" and ultimately return to safety. Grades 4-12.
• The Original Survivor - PDF. With this unit, students will understand the connection between classical literature and the human experience. Grades 4 & up.
• Robinson Crusoe Island of Despair Study Guide- PDF
• Robinson Crusoe Teaching Unit (Prestwick House) - A complete teaching unit and reproducible individual learning packet including a chapter-by-chapter study guide, topics for discussion, vocabulary, and a multiple choice and essay test with answer key.
• Robinson Crusoe Lesson Plan from Reading A-Z - Vocabulary, questions, grammar and other activities.

Classic Literature With Similar Themes

• Island of the Dolphin
• Treasure Island
• Kidnapped
• The Last of the Mohicans
• Swiss Family Robinson
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
• The Mysterious Island

Family Guides to Great Reading

Books with annotated lists of classics, Bible stories, biographies, and more.

• Honey for a Child's Heart
• Honey for a Teen's Heart
• For the Children's Sake
• The Read-Aloud Handbook
• For the Love of Literature
• The New Read-Aloud Handbook
• Books That Build Character
• What Stories Does My Son Need?
• Building Moral Intelligence

The general public is beginning to see homeschooling as more of a mainstream choice and not just an "on the fringes" movement thanks to national recognition gained by homeschoolers who have excelled academically, many of them from secular backgrounds. Much progress that has been made in the area of "acceptance" of homeschooling as a viable education alternative. Even so, when the term "Bible Based Homeschooling" arises, many people revert to their previous stereotypes (however wrong they may be) of mothers wearing denim jumpers and white sneakers. I proudly confess that my religious conviction is one of the main reasons that we homeschool and that we incorporate the teachings of the gospel into our daily lessons. Would I call our curriculum "Bible Based?" Yes and No. In our family, Bible Based Homeschooling does not mean that we have purchased a Christian based curriculum (not that there's anything wrong with that - we're just not using an specific program at all right now) or that we participate in a church-based co-op. For us, Bible Based Homeschooling means the following things:

1. We teach from a Biblical perspective - As we are studying any subject (the human body, earth science, even geometry) we also are studying our Creator and life-giver. As questions of "how" and "why" arise in daily conversation, we incorporate the knowledge of our Divine Creator as revealed to us through nature and through His Word. We are not restricted to teaching from a secular world view and we take the privilege of sharing "all truth as God's truth" very seriously.
2. We rely on God's Word for guidance - We use Bible verses for memory work, recitation and for handwriting practice. We do this not as busywork, but so that as a family we can be hiding God's word in our hearts. Often if an issue arises with behavior or if a conflict needs to be worked out, we can recall a recent memory verse that will lead us towards a good decision on how to solve our problems.
3. We learn in order to glorify God, not ourselves - There's a verse in the Bible that says that whatever we do, we should do it for God's glory. Are we homeschooling because we believe that we will provide a better education for our children than they could get elsewhere? Yes, that's part of it. But our primary concern with the quality of their education is not that our children can grow up and "make a name for themselves" but rather that they would bring honor and glory to God. Getting a good education is often touted as the way to a better life. While I totally agree that for many people, education is indeed a stepping stone to a better kind of life in the material sense, we believe that the only way to have a "better life" on the more important spiritual level is through a relationship with God. Education is important because it will empower our children to participate in society and impact the next generation for God's glory.

We strive to live our lives as a "Bible Based Family" and make our daily decisions based on the convictions that God has placed on our hearts. We homeschool based on those same convictions. We are able to have compassion, love others and forgive even when we don't feel like it because God has shown His love and mercy through His Son. (This supernatural ability comes in very handy on days when you're feeling like you want to run screaming from the house or throw someone out of a window, by the way!) "Bible Based Homeschooling" does not necessarily mean that you speak all of your lessons in King James English or that your children are studying Latin or Hebrew at age 5. For us, it means that our world view (and therefore our teaching) is anchored in God's Truth revealed to us through His Word, the Bible.

If you think your life is too busy to homeschool, you may want to think again.  Even if you have little time to prepare and actually teach the lessons that they need, there are still ways that you can successfully homeschool your children using some great independent programs.

Traditional Independent Homeschooling Programs

There are quite a few traditional independent homeschooling programs that will allow your kids to work independently of their parents. They provide the instructions to allow children to work at their own pace.   These programs cover the same topics as they would have learned in school.

Most parents using these programs spend less time assisting their kids one-on-one than they previously spent assisting with homework!

Computerized Homeschooling Programs

There are also some really excellent computerized homeschooling programs out there that will allow interactive lessons for children to learn with very little help from parents. Many of these programs provide excellent teaching methods with interactive games and quizzes to reinforce learning and make it fun.

They also have detailed lesson plans and automatic grading to help parents who have very little time. Computerized homeschooling programs are best for older students who can:

• Work independently,
• Follow directions in order to complete assignments
• Use a computer.

Homeschooling Online

Whether your child takes a single subject that you don't want to teach or their entire curriculum, even working parents can find a way to homeschool their children using online schools.

Most online schools are similar in schedule to traditional public or private schools, but allow children to work from home or anywhere else. Children are given assignment from a teacher and are instructed, graded and receive report cards just like children who attend schools in their local areas. Children are also usually on the same schedule as their peers in public schools.

So, if you are a busy parent who felt that homeschooling was not an option, you may want to think again. There are ways to homeschool even as a busy parent that will result in an excellent education for your child.

For more homeschooling help and information about the top programs to homeschool online, visit the site at Homeschool-Curriculum.org.

Save Over Half of  Your Preparation and Teaching Time!

Unit studies are especially beneficial if you are teaching more then one child. If you are teaching three children each seven different subjects using textbooks and workbooks - that's a WHOPPING twenty one subjects to prepare and teach.

A family with three children using textbook methods might have one child study the Civil War another learning about Ancient Rome while another is studying the American Revolution in history. In Science one child may be studying plants, another the planets and another reptiles.

In Bible, one child may be studying Moses, another studying Joseph and another studying Paul. With unit studies, history, geography, art, music, science and Bible can all be taught together to all ages. Each child studies the topic at his level.

All children can go on field trips together, many projects can be done together, writing assignments vocabulary words will be about the same topic, just on different levels.

For example, while studying animals a younger child may be able to classify birds, mammals and insects. While an older child would classify animals in much more detail such as: Arachnids, crustaceans, etc. The older learns and helps to teach the younger while the younger learns from the older child.

Delight Directed: Planning

Delight-directed learning, with a set plan like Heart of Wisdom unit studies, begins by allowing children to be a part of the planning process. During the planning phase, allow the student to participate in choosing the resources for that unit (fiction novel, colorful reference book, video, Internet site, interactive multimedia, etc.). It’s very possible that a child might balk at the unit as a whole but later find a spark in one of the individual lessons.

To continue with the food analogy, a child might, say, groan over something he sees cooking, but after a taste, finds it pleasing to his palate.

Teaching Multi-Ages:  Sample Day

Mother is teaching Jenny (fifteen), John (thirteen), and Joseph (ten) a unit on the Middle Ages.

During the unit planning the three decide together on the resources. They look through the resources at Homeschool-Books.com or in the back of The Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach book at the Middle Ages Resources. The three choose Kingfisher Illustrated Encyclopedia, and Eyewitness Medieval Life from their home library. Mother orders a novel,The Door in the Wall (from the library or a vendor) to read aloud during the unit.

While reviewing the lessons the children show the most interest in knights, castles, and medieval feasts. Before the unit begins they will pick up books on these topics from the library. Several opportunities will occur during the steps in each lesson to bring into play the delight-directed methods. Let’s look at an example of how each of the three children might discover their own level of interest in the lesson on knights.

The sample below is a lesson based on Heart of Wisdom teaching methods (combination of organized 4-Step unit study, Charlotte Mason approach, teaching to all learning styles).

Unit: Middle Ages. Lesson: Knights

In Step One (Excite), Mother is watching each student for a spark.  Step One activities evoke feedback which shows how interested each child is in the topic and suggests the possible duration of the lesson. As they brainstorm to make lists,John and Joshua both show an intense interest in this topic.

In Step Two, Mother reads the provided text in the unit, and then turns to the resources chosen during the unit planning phase. She reads aloud from the suggested pages in the Kingfisher Illustrated Encyclopedia and Eyewitness Medieval Life. John and Joseph spend time reading through the suggested web sites and library resources,and print out several illustrations of a knight’s armor and weapons.  Jenny also browses the Internet sites and chooses an image of a knight to add to her portfolio,but she leaves the boys to explore the sites as she moves on to Step Three assignments.

In Step Three, Mother allows each child to choose an activity:

• John (13) chooses to complete a writing assignment. Mother encourages this assignment because he needs more writing practice and he enjoys this topic. John writes a separate draft paragraph for each of several topics: tournaments, jousting, suits of armor, crossbows, and the Crusades. He searches or uses the Internet to find illustrations for each summary.

• Joseph (10) chooses to create a shield with a coat of arms. He uses colored pencils to design a coat of arms similar to those he viewed from the resources. He the makes the shield from cardboard and pastes or glues the coat of arms onto the shield.

• Jenny is not as interested in this topic so she copies a paragraph from Eyewitness Medieval Life and moves on to a math lesson (more about Jenny later).

In Step Four, the students choose how they will share their work.

• During this step,Mother and John are busy revising and correcting John’s drafts .After the corrections John glues illustrations to the summary pages and includes them in his portfolio. He chooses to add more on this topic to his portfolio and shares it with his grandparents.
• Joseph shows his shield to his father and explains his coat of arms.
• Jenny adds her writing and illustrations to her portfolio and shares the work with her brothers.

In this example, all three children have learned about knights. John has obviously learned the most. We know all three have learned significantly more than they would in a typical school where the children would read perhaps one boring paragraph about knights.

John and Joseph will continue on this topic in the coming weeks by choosing a novel and/or illustrated reference books from the library on knights ,or by learning more from the Internet. Their wise mother will continue to fan the flame as long as the fire burns (weeks or months). If no spark had appeared during this lesson, the amount of time spent on this lesson would have been dramatically different.

Jenny did not do a lot with the lesson on knights because she did not have a spark of interest. Later, however, Jenny’s spark shows up in the “Food in the Middle Ages” lesson. She ends up spending several hours researching and planning an authentic medieval feast for her family. She designs an elaborate menu for her portfolio and reads the library book Medieval Feasts to Joshua.

Four-Steps Summary

1. During Step One, look for the spark.
2. In Step Two, the spark will be your signal to encourage your student(s) to go on to more resources. If the lesson ignites a spark for one child and not another (which will probably be the case) don’t force all the students into spending time on further study. Take a trip to the library, or order books, or allow computer time for Internet search.
3. In Step Three, allow each child to choose the activity in which to do something with what he or she just learned. This could be anything from simple copy work or an involved project.
4. In Step Four, allow each child to choose how to share the material.

Teaching is much more than providing facts — real teaching means causing to learn. The delight-directed methods work when we provide opportunities for meaningful experiences,and then wait and watch for moments when children’s eyes light up. Then they’re off and running, determined and motivated to learn!

Shortly after my son started kindergarten in public school he said, "I hate school, and never want to go back."  Being a typical boy, he didn't want to discuss it further.  I was a little amused, and somewhat worried.  I felt it was a little early for him to have such a negative view of something as important as his education.

The next day we left for school a little early so I could ask his teacher why he would say he hated school.  My son greeted his teacher, and went to play with some of the other early arrivers.  His teacher was surprised to hear he was unhappy.  She told me that nothing had happened the previous day, but she would watch and let me know if she noticed anything out of the ordinary.

Days later my son continued to comment that he hated school.  This seemed unusual since I knew he liked his teacher, and was making friends with some of his classmates.  I chose to volunteer in his classroom for a few days hoping to see what the issue may be.  It became clear to me the first day.

1. There was a child in his class who clearly was a special needs child, and he was quite a handful for the teacher.  She was spending more of her teaching time just trying to "control" this one child.
2. The average age of the class was 4 going on 5 years old, my son was 5 going on 6.  His maturity level and ability to learn the lessons were way above the rest of the class.  He was bored and tired of waiting for the other children to "catch up".

I discussed my observations with his teacher, but she had no ideas for a solution to the problem.  So, my son finished the year with no enthusiasm for moving on to first grade.

I spent the summer break trying to find answers while encouraging my son to keep a good attitude about school.  Speaking with other homeschoolers in my area discouraged me from the idea.  They told me of the money they were spending on curriculum, and the hoops they were having to jump through for the state.  Taking care of my mother is a full-time job, and our financial situation would not support the idea of homeschooling.  Some people even criticized me saying my sons problems with public school may be a more valuable lesson for him to learn from than homeschooling would be.  I decided to give public school one more chance.

Things just went from bad to worse.  My once shy, reserved, not very outgoing son became the class clown, and was almost suspended the third quarter of first grade.  The discipline recommendations made by the principal for his "unruliness" were absolutely unacceptable to me.  I tried to explain why I believed he was behaving so inappropriately, but they didn't want to hear it.  Even his teacher became distant, and no longer wanted to work with me to resolve the issue.  Enough was enough.

It didn't take me long to find K¹², and I read everything I could about this program.  Going back to a "brick and mortar" school was out of the question, but with K¹² we would still be with the public school.  This meant the curriculum was free, the school provided a computer, and there was a teacher to assist when and if I needed it.  The Virtual Academy was not very strict on how the curriculum was implemented, which meant I could adjust it for our families' beliefs.  It seemed like a win-win situation.

I couldn't have been more right.  My son breezed through the second grade curriculum, and three months before the end of the year he started third grade curriculum.  He is now excited about learning again.  He has more confidence in his abilities, and our relationship is stronger than ever.

Some people don't understand my decision, others applaud it, and others still criticize the whole idea. For the most part the negative nay-sayers are either misinformed or just plain ridiculous in there opposition to homeschooling.  It is a personal choice, and as a parent I believe it is my right to have that choice. I hold nothing back, and am not ashamed to base my decision on my unconditional love for my son, God, and His guidance.

The Smithsonian Institution's recipe for genius and leadership:

1. Children should spend a great deal of time with loving, educationally minded parents;
2. Children should be allowed a lot of free exploration; and
3. Children should have little to no association with peers outside of family and relatives. --H. McCurdy

My husband and I have no qualms about our style of parenting, which is so tied up in home education. He grew up beside his father in a greenhouse. Our first apartment at 500 sq ft, had 31 houseplants in it. He now works as a landscape designer. So we understand this analogy: Children are like little plants. You take the seed and put it in a little cup of the best topsoil. You give it lots of light. You gently sprinkle it with drops of water so the delicate leaves aren't broken. When it gets a decent root system, you transplant it to a bigger pot. You protect it from the wind and the hottest sun. You bring it in when there's a freeze. You don't put it out where the dog will trample it or a deer will eat the buds. When its well-established, and the season is right, you can transplant it finally to its place outside your home. Then it will do well on its own in the downpours and coldest winters.

So we plan to raise our children, protecting them and ensuring they are firmly established before they go out into the world. It is our hope that they do much better at surviving their relationships and careers with such a secure beginning. Our family follows the Classical Education model. I use the book, "The Well-Trained Mind" as the base for our curriculum. The basic premise of the classical method is the breakdown of education into three sections which each build on each other. First is the Grammar stage, generally 1st-4th grades, in which a child's curiosity is encouraged by just stuffing them full of images and facts. The next stage is the Logic stage, generally 5th- 8th grades, where an adolescent begins to find the answers to the how and why of what they learned in the Grammar stage. Last is the Rhetoric stage, in which 9th -12th graders learn how to coherently express what they have learned. In Classical Education, all learning follows history as its base and the other subjects work around it. In addition, a student goes over the same material three times in his education (cycling through the material once in each stage).

An example of this is our reading material. Ideally, it should be exciting to entrance and interest the first grader, in-depth for the questioning fifth grader, and even more interesting and in depth for the ninth grader. In our home, I buy books on a fifth grade level to read to our first grader, and when we cycle back to the same material in the fifth grade, they read it for themselves, and in ninth grade they read source material. For example, I read The Trojan War and the 12 Labors of Hercules to my first grader. All of my children were enthralled. There were no pictures except those that streamed through their imaginations. Then, when we return to ancient history in the fifth grade, she will curl up on the couch and read about Hercules on her own. This time she'll learn that mom edited out the reason why he was assigned the 12 tasks: he killed his wife and children in a drunken rage. Then, when she returns again to the ancients in the ninth grade, she won't be intimidated by reading Homer's Illiad itself in the poetic original version. What's to be afraid of, when you're already familiar with the times and places? Also, when she was taught astronomy in the second grade, she already knew the story behind the crab-shaped constellation, from last year when she saw Hercules toss him into the sky in her mind's eye.

I was looking at a book from a series aimed at second-graders, called Junie B. Jones. It is listed on reading lists for this age group- yet it has sentences starting with conjunctions and fragments on every page. It has adjectives like bestest. It frequently says me and her. On a whim I looked up classical literature for this age group. I found rough breakdowns of classical literature by grade level. One example was The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams. The first five sentences in The Velveteen Rabbit had an average of 29.2 words in each sentence. The first five sentences of Junie B. Jones and her Big Fat Mouth had an average of 5.4 words per sentence.

An example of one of the more complex sentences which I found in JBJ & her Big Fat Mouth was "Eating things that you find on the ground is very, very dangerous." I gave it another try and found "That's because I had tingling excitement in me about Job Day." In addition to using more complex sentence structure, Williams does not pare down her vocabulary to meet the child reader. Look how this sentence from The Velveteen Rabbit teaches the meaning of the word superior: "The mechanical toys were very superior, and looked down upon every one else; they were full of modern ideas, and pretended they were real." JBJ is so full of incorrect grammar and simple sentences because it is written from the point of view of a modern first-grader, who would actually speak like that (unfortunately) and have simple interactions. However, there are quite a few older books, written in a different time, from the point of view of a five-year-old (Heidi, Little House series). They are also more complex and descriptive and are much preferred to modern books written for our young people.

Another difference found in the Classical Education model is the emphasis of the use of whole books instead of readers. In public schools today, segments of books are printed in textbooks with summary questions at the end. The publisher chops the most exciting or pertinent portions of a work out, puts it in the textbook, and asks directed questions which can be answered by that portion. Then we wonder later why kids can't dig through a whole book and find themes when it is not spelled out to them!

I encourage you to challenge your child's reading level by not feeding them Goosebumps or Sweet Valley High, Babysitter's Club, or such books. Yes, your child is reading, but she is not really being challenged when she only reads about familiar locales in familiar phrasing. Always read what is a little difficult, not playground conversation in written form. When I was in middle school I really enjoyed the Sackett series by Louis L'Amour. A few of them are written from the point of view of a young girl. They give excellent images of early backwoods Eastern America. They encourage determination, hard work, overcoming obstacles, honesty, trustworthiness, gumption, and a host of other excellent qualities.

Those are virtues I would hope that any parent would like to see cultivated in their child. But because educating at home is solely the responsibility of the parents, these are especially crucial. As homeschoolers, we have great freedom to:

• Do our schoolwork wherever we want
• Wear whatever we want
• Go at whatever pace we choose
• Drop work we already know
• Spend extra time on topics we love
• Do our work whenever we want
• Take breaks or work through

but these freedoms give us responsibilities that families with children in regular schools don't carry. They aren't held accountable for what is (or isn't) learned. They don't have to be personally disciplined to cover the material or lessons themselves. They have an outside authority taking care of all that, who will be held accountable in a public forum. As home educators, we have to force ourselves take care of the objectives. We meet the goals which we set for ourselves, or we don't. No one else will come in and check on us. We have to be responsible for our own education, and that means getting the work done and then doing the playing. So traits like persistence, responsibility, determination, honesty and the ability to do hard work are instilled in each work day, as much as math, science, history or English skills are. Unlike those who defer the education of their children to others, we are able and willing to drop the spelling lesson and address the poor attitude. We can put the multiplication drills on hold until the whining is under control. We can give time to grieve a lost grandparent before expecting academic performance to continue on uninterrupted. There are many, many reasons why we have chosen to educate our children at home. These are just a few.

The popularity of homeschooling is gathering momentum and starting to be a new revolution in the field of education. Many students are now shifting to homeschooling for reasons as varied as believing it to be a superior form of education; poor choice of schools locally; bullying at school; religious reasons; flexibility for older students to be able to work during the day and study in the evenings and weekends; the list continues.   As homeschooling is increasing it is becoming more established with several paradigms of teaching. Among these, unit studies is a method that has been successfully implemented and used by homeschoolers.

Unit Studies is a method of teaching where you incorporate several subjects like art, history, math, science, geography and theology into one topical theme. This way the student will be learning about several areas of education while learning one topic. This has two distinct advantages. Firstly, the student gets an exposure to many areas at the same time in smaller quantities. This gives the student options to find his or her area of interest. Secondly, this gives the child different perspectives on the same topic.

As an example, a topic of study such as “Native Americans” would make a good unit study, and could combine lessons in social studies, art, history, reading and sciences. Within this topic, social studies may include a comparison between tribal living and modern day living.  A study on the clothes Native Americans wore, their paintings and drawings, could be included within art.  Science may include the medicinal and spiritual use of plants (botany) by Native Americans.  Dates, timelines, and changes in cultural and living practices could be studied within a historical context, while fictional stories with historical and cultural relevance, could be used for English studies.

To create a unit studies plan, you need to first think of a topic. This is usually most effective if the topic is chosen by consulting the student. Any topic can be used to create a unit study, but you will have most success if the student is interested in the topic. Once you have a topic selected, find all the resources that are available to aid the unit study. You can use library books, online resources, videos, music, magazines and other such materials. Additional tools like field trips to museums, zoos and other such interesting places that aid the unit study make the learning experience more enjoyable and memorable. You can increase the effectiveness of the field trips by asking the student to maintain a journal.

You can brainstorm, with your child, new ideas to make your chosen topic more interesting.  As well as being a fun exercise, it also gives the student some control and responsibility over their studies.  If you were studying a foreign country, for instance, you may play with the currency to include math, talk about the history, and brainstorm other areas that will incorporate other subjects as well as giving the student a fuller picture of the topic of the unit study.  Unit studies can help make a subject ‘come alive’, and therefore more memorable and interesting to the student.

An added benefit of unit studies is that homeschooling families with more than one child can utilize the same topic of interest for lessons across several levels/ages.  Although children at different ages will cover some different information for their studies, there will also be significant overlap due to the topic itself, as well as opportunities for students to complete similar assignments at the same time.  This is obviously a simpler task for the homeschool teacher than creating two (or more) completely unique curriculums.  That being said, this approach will only be ideal for students with a shared interest.  Also, beware of trying to create unit studies out of every interest that the child expresses.  You may find them reluctant to share their interests with you if this method is overdone.

The unit study method is such a powerful teaching tool that several modern schools have started incorporating the technique in schools. Utilizing this method may even increase retention of information by up to 45%.