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This week we're talking about chapter 11 and the disciplined studies – how to homeschool the basic subjects.
There is simply no learning apart from the foundational skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic. pg. 193
The basics are the “three R's” – reading, writing, and arithmetic. These are the starting point for learning and studying any subject. The Clarksons state that a good education can be built on the three Rs, scripture, good whole books, and learning how to think.
These are a few things that I picked up from the chapter:
- Start reading to your children early and often. Use phonics to teach reading.
- Children naturally pick up language arts by being in a language rich home. Fill your home with good books and let your children see you reading.
- Required math: arithmetic, algebra, and geometry. Use real life to teach and enforce.
- Thinking skills: Try to let your child work things out rather therm always giving them the correct answer.
I like the theory of using little boxed curriculum like the Clarksons advocate, but I personally need more structure to teach from as I started learning how to homeschool. I try to keep my curriculum as simple as possible and as cheap as possible. Also, with a second child coming up, I also want my curriculum to be reusable and flexible. This is one of the things that drew me to Sonlight for starting out as a new homeschooler.
We used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons with Jonathan. We quickly moved on to Pathway readers and workbooks and have been very happy with those. I also like Spell to Write & Read. We're just starting more formal math. I'm using Math Mammoth in addition to every day math and math games. {See my homeschool curriculum page for more details.}
We're still in the early stages of this homeschooling journey so I'd love to hear from some families that are further along on this journey. How do you teach the three Rs?
