The quest for the perfect method
Over the years I've read about and tried most kinds of home-education on offer, from Montessori to Mason to Classical, from 'Unschooling' to 'Tidal' to 'Eclectic'. When you look online the choice can be overwhelming, and devotees of each different approach will do a pretty good job of persuading you that if only you adopt the particular approach on offer, your home-educating will suddenly fall into place: your kids will love to be taught and you will be able to sit back, stop tearing your hair out and really, finally enjoy home-educating.
I chased that particular holy grail for quite a long time (if you are keen, you can read my reviews of some of them on the Further Reading page). There were phases when things did improve, and I can honestly say that I learned a bit of wisdom from each one of these approaches. However, in one very real sense they did me more harm than good: they made me feel perpetually that if things weren't going swimmingly (if, for example, my boys didn't come running into lessons every morning with beaming faces, or if I found myself occasionally getting a bit strung out as I juggled teaching an eleven year old, a nine year old and a seven year old, whilst engaging meaningfully with a five year old, a three year old and a new baby)...well, I must be doing something wrong. These websites convinced me that the problem was with me, and if only I could find the right method, it would all be a breeze. I scoured bookshelves and the 'Net, spent money we couldn't afford on materials and programmes which offered the promise of solving all my problems. And sometimes, with the promise of a fresh approach, things did seem a little easier for a while. But at the end of the day I was always left with what seemed an almost impossible task - educating this growing brood of bright, energetic, noisy, spirited little men (and one day their little sister too!) both effectively and cheerfully, just like a mom from all those blogs I was reading. And each time a new method failed to deliver, I was left feeling more convinced than ever that I just wasn't up to the job. Cue lots of discouragement and negative feelings, which is just about the last thing you need when you have to wake up to face your brood every day (probably, like me, without make up or a hair-do or even in a fit state to meet the postman...).
That's why my general advice on how to approach all these different ideas about how to teach is to look at them, try them out and learn what you can from them, but don't feel you have to totally immerse yourself in them, don't feel you have to adopt one particular method at the expense of all the others, and - unless money is no object - don't spend a fortune on curriculum materials which may turn out to be unsuited to your child's way of learning. Finally, as I said above, if you try a method and it really doesn't seem to work for you, don't beat yourself up about it. Just move on! As I mentioned on the page Having a really bad day?, the best way to work out which approach is going to suit you is to sit down and take time to look at your own strengths and weaknesses and preferences and those of your children.
Personally, I love using Montessori's methods (loosely) in the first three/four years, and I like Charlotte Mason's narration method for primary school age. But probably the most important thing of all, no matter what type of teaching you use, is to talk with your child and discuss the work. Simply by conversing with your child you can make sure you know exactly where he/she is in his/her learning, correct errors and fill in gaps, focus on strengths and weakness, draw out hidden talents and do a myriad other things which no textbook (and few over-worked classroom teachers) would be able to manage. It's important not to let the textbook or schedule become so dominant that you can't find the time to discuss the work with your child. Much has been written about the importance of conversing with children (not least by Laura Berquist in 'Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum'). If you want to read more on this subject, have a look at the articles on Catholic education on the Further Reading page.
Over the years I've read about and tried most kinds of home-education on offer, from Montessori to Mason to Classical, from 'Unschooling' to 'Tidal' to 'Eclectic'. When you look online the choice can be overwhelming, and devotees of each different approach will do a pretty good job of persuading you that if only you adopt the particular approach on offer, your home-educating will suddenly fall into place: your kids will love to be taught and you will be able to sit back, stop tearing your hair out and really, finally enjoy home-educating.
I chased that particular holy grail for quite a long time (if you are keen, you can read my reviews of some of them on the Further Reading page). There were phases when things did improve, and I can honestly say that I learned a bit of wisdom from each one of these approaches. However, in one very real sense they did me more harm than good: they made me feel perpetually that if things weren't going swimmingly (if, for example, my boys didn't come running into lessons every morning with beaming faces, or if I found myself occasionally getting a bit strung out as I juggled teaching an eleven year old, a nine year old and a seven year old, whilst engaging meaningfully with a five year old, a three year old and a new baby)...well, I must be doing something wrong. These websites convinced me that the problem was with me, and if only I could find the right method, it would all be a breeze. I scoured bookshelves and the 'Net, spent money we couldn't afford on materials and programmes which offered the promise of solving all my problems. And sometimes, with the promise of a fresh approach, things did seem a little easier for a while. But at the end of the day I was always left with what seemed an almost impossible task - educating this growing brood of bright, energetic, noisy, spirited little men (and one day their little sister too!) both effectively and cheerfully, just like a mom from all those blogs I was reading. And each time a new method failed to deliver, I was left feeling more convinced than ever that I just wasn't up to the job. Cue lots of discouragement and negative feelings, which is just about the last thing you need when you have to wake up to face your brood every day (probably, like me, without make up or a hair-do or even in a fit state to meet the postman...).
That's why my general advice on how to approach all these different ideas about how to teach is to look at them, try them out and learn what you can from them, but don't feel you have to totally immerse yourself in them, don't feel you have to adopt one particular method at the expense of all the others, and - unless money is no object - don't spend a fortune on curriculum materials which may turn out to be unsuited to your child's way of learning. Finally, as I said above, if you try a method and it really doesn't seem to work for you, don't beat yourself up about it. Just move on! As I mentioned on the page Having a really bad day?, the best way to work out which approach is going to suit you is to sit down and take time to look at your own strengths and weaknesses and preferences and those of your children.
Personally, I love using Montessori's methods (loosely) in the first three/four years, and I like Charlotte Mason's narration method for primary school age. But probably the most important thing of all, no matter what type of teaching you use, is to talk with your child and discuss the work. Simply by conversing with your child you can make sure you know exactly where he/she is in his/her learning, correct errors and fill in gaps, focus on strengths and weakness, draw out hidden talents and do a myriad other things which no textbook (and few over-worked classroom teachers) would be able to manage. It's important not to let the textbook or schedule become so dominant that you can't find the time to discuss the work with your child. Much has been written about the importance of conversing with children (not least by Laura Berquist in 'Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum'). If you want to read more on this subject, have a look at the articles on Catholic education on the Further Reading page.