How we chose a homeschooling method

Our adventure to determine what kind of homeschooling best fits our family started with looking at Arborbrook Christian Academy.  If we were to send Jonathan to school, we believe that this is the best option in our area right now.  But, private school is not in the budget… and not exactly what we feel is best for Jonathan.

Arborbrook is built on the Charlotte Mason model of education.  (Arborbrook has a great page describing the CM method as it applies to their school.)  They require that parents read For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay before applying for admission.  I'm always game for reading a book, so I found a used copy and jumped in.  It was a great introduction and overview of the basics of the Charlotte Mason / Living Books model of education.  The method just felt right and natural.  I'm a reader.  Jonathan loves to look at books and is starting to read a little.  Josh, given the right book, enjoys reading as well.  It just seemed to fit us from first sight.

(This post from a couple weeks ago gives an overview of the spectrum of homeschooling and the core of the CM method.)

Heidi, our elementary director at Southbrook, suggested that I look at Sonlight Curriculum.  She has been using Sonlight for a few years with her kids.  I found that it was based on reading good books.  It was structured yet easily adaptable.  I felt like I needed something with a lot of structure to help me get started with homeschooling – I'm not up for completely putting together my own curriculum!  We could drop or supplement as needed.  I was really drawn to this curriculum because it fit so well with the Charlotte Mason model that we were already exploring.  Back in late April, I purchased the P3/4 parent guide and started gathering books.  Jonathan and I have been making our way through those books and stories this summer.  We've loved our Sonlight journey so far and are excited about starting P4/5 in a few weeks.

My top gift according to the Strengths-Finder test is “Learner”.  So, I naturally didn't stop there.  I kept researching.  Online, at the library, talking to friends and acquaintances, etc.  That's how I found out about HINTS, one of our local support groups.

We went to the HINTS Book Fair last month.  I had an opportunity to hear from many homeschooling parents and experts.  I was introduced to the options and variety available in homeschooling.  Again, we felt more confirmation that the Charlotte Mason method was the direction we should go.

I'm not stopping with just that.  I've been continuing to research the Charlotte Mason model.  I took my next step by reading A Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreaola, which I purchased at the Book Fair.  It is 384 pages and I finally finished it this past weekend.  More confirmation that we're on the right path.  I'm not quite ready for Charlotte's original writings, but some day, I hope to work up to those.

As with just about anything in life, it is difficult to be a purist.  Though you subscribe to one model of doing something, there are often bits and pieces that you pick up from other places.  As I mentioned in this post, Jonathan loves workbooks right now.  Charlotte Mason would roll in her grave!  We now frequent the Target $1 spot to see if there's a new workbook on letters or numbers, or dinosaurs.  But as I said in that previous post, I don't think that this is something that Jonathan will enjoy long term.  On the other end of the spectrum is the “better late than early crowd”.  Jonathan happens to be starting to read and showing an interest in ready very early.  I'm not pushing that and I won't.  When he's interested, we work on it and when he's done, we're done.  I will very much follow the readiness signs that he shows me – I'll stretch him, but I won't push him beyond what he can handle.  So far, this is all about Jonathan, though it does fit our whole family right now too.  When the baby arrives and grows, we may find that we need to tweak some things for him.

That's how we ended up pursuing the Charlotte Mason/Living Books method.  This is a journey, not a destination.  We'll continue to adapt to the twists and turns along the way.