March 22, 2025 • 24 mins
Are you ready to pull your teens and kids from public school to start homeschooling, but don't know where to start!? This mini-series is the place. In this episode, we discuss homeschooling philosophies, rhythms, & routines for your family and homeschool! This is the 4 episode of 5 in this mini-series. For a deeper dive into the homeschooling transition, check out Episode 1: Beginning the Journey of this podcast.
A Few Books to Learn More About Various Educational Philosophies:
The Classical Education:
The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise
Charlotte Mason:
A Charlotte Mason Companion: Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning by Karen Andreola
Home Education (The Home Education Series) by Charlotte Mason
Philosophy of Education (The Home Education Series) by Charlotte Mason
Parents and Children (The Home Education Series) by Charlotte Mason
For the Children's Sake: Foundations of Education for Home and School by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay
Montessori Method:
Waldorf Education:
Understanding Waldorf Education: Teaching from the Inside Out by Jack Petrash
Waldorf Education: A Family Guide by Multiple Authors
Unschooling:
How Children Learn by John Holt
How Children Fail by John Holt
Unit Studies:
Unit Studies Planner: Brainstorm, Organize an Plan Out 100 Homeschool Unit Studies
Please note that some of the links included in this article are Amazon affiliate links.
Homeschooling 101 Part 1: Laws on YouTube
Homeschooling 101 Part 2: Deschooling on YouTube
Homeschooling 101 Part 3: Creating a Vision on YouTube
Homeschooling 101 Part 4: Philosophies Routines & Rythms on YouTube
Sign Up for the School to Homeschool Newsletter
School to Homeschool YouTube Channel
Private Mentoring with Janae: Schedule a Free Discovery Call
Etsy Store: Shop for Homeschooling Swag
*Please note that some of the links included in this article are Amazon affiliate links.
CONNECT with US
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Homeschooling does not have to look like
you're replicating a classroom.
As a matter of fact, it's probably best if
it doesn't, because we're at home.
This is video number four of our five-part
miniseries on Homeschooling 101, crash
Course in Homeschooling how Do you Start
Homeschooling?
In this video, we are going to discuss
(00:21):
eight major educational philosophies that
you could do for homeschooling, as well as
how do you set up routine, rhythms and
structure in your home.
So let's get started.
When we started homeschooling, I literally
thought all homeschoolers did was
traditional school or school at home, and
what I found very quickly is that it caused
(00:43):
a mutiny with my kids.
What I've discovered is I was not alone in
that.
That's a very typical response for most
children because they're at home.
And then when you try to bring school into
your home, kids don't like that very much.
Now some kids like it, some kids like this
doing school at home philosophy, but most
(01:06):
kids I found with as I've talked to
hundreds of parents over the last four and
a half years since we've been homeschooling
most kids don't like it and they don't do
very well.
I want to share with you the eight major
philosophies um, that homeschools look,
homeschoolers look to.
Now there are other philosophies?
Um, we're not going to touch on foresties,
we're not going to touch on forest
schooling.
We're not going to touch on wild and free
(01:27):
or Thomas Jefferson education or Amelia
Reggio and there's a myriad of others but
fabulous philosophies but those aren't
really considered major philosophies in the
homeschooling world.
So we're going to touch on the eight major
ones.
Okay, philosophy number one is traditional
school at home.
So school at home mimics the structure of
(01:48):
traditional schooling.
You've got textbooks and workbooks and
curriculums, you have a schedule and often
it uses box curricula that you can purchase.
So when, again, when I started
homeschooling, that's what I thought
homeschooling looked like, that we would
literally replicate the classroom at home
and that is a philosophy you can follow.
(02:09):
But, as I mentioned before, most kids don't
like it because it becomes very rigid.
When we first started homeschooling, like,
I had a strict schedule where I was like
from 8 am to 8.45 am we're going to work on
language arts, and from 8.45 to 9 o'clock
we're going to have a 15 minute break, and
what I found is it was very, very
(02:31):
restrictive for my family.
Now there are families that do like that
much structure, but I found for me it was
very, very suffocating, and I had been a
middle school teacher and I still found it
intensely difficult and suffocating, and my
kids also found it suffocating.
So that's the first educational philosophy
(02:52):
most people think of, who are not in the
homeschooling world, is the traditional
school at home.
Like I said, you get boxed curricula and
you go to town with a set schedule and you
do all the things and you have tests and
workbooks and all that.
That's one philosophy.
The second philosophy is the classical
(03:14):
philosophy.
Some of the major tenets of the classical
philosophy is based on the trivium, which
divides learning into three stages.
The first stage is grammar, which is facts
and memorization.
The second stage is logic, or reasoning and
analysis, and then the third phase is
(03:34):
rhetoric, which includes expression and
debate.
In the classical philosophy the emphasis is
on history, literature and philosophy.
There's heavy focus on reading, writing and
often critical thinking.
Latin and classical languages are also
often included and it uses Socratic
(03:55):
discussion and original sources.
So kids read a lot of the original source
documents as part of the classical
philosophy.
Now, in my opinion, other than the school
at home philosophy, this is one of the
strictest of the homeschooling philosophies
and there's even all throughout the country
there are classical conversations which are
(04:16):
um, which are groups you can join to
facilitate in the learning and, and a lot
of people, instead of going to other
enrichment programs, they choose to do
classical conversations.
When I first started homeschooling, one of
the first books that I read was a book
(04:37):
about the classical philosophy and, like I
said, for me it was really restrictive,
much like the traditional school at home
method.
Restrictive, much like the traditional
school at home method.
Um it it my kids.
I tried implementing some things with my
kids and it just didn't fly very well.
But those who do the classical philosophy,
and do it well, really really love that
(04:57):
philosophy.
So if you tend to be a lot more like you,
love a lot of structure, um, classical
might be a great option for your family.
Okay, the third philosophy is the Charlotte
Mason philosophy.
Charlotte Mason was an educator in the 19th
(05:17):
century, late 19th century.
Some major tenants of the Charlotte Mason
philosophy include literature, a
literature-based approach, which is
focusing on living books rather than
textbooks.
She believes in doing really short lessons.
That children's attention span was short
and so you want to do short, little lessons
and then focus on nature study and then do
(05:37):
narration, dictation and copywork.
A lot of people do the Charlotte Mason
philosophy.
I find with all of the philosophies I find
beauty in all of them, and even with the
classical philosophy like I have a son
studying rhetoric and logic right now,
which is very classical, but the other
aspects that he does are different.
(05:58):
With Charlotte Mason, I love how she would
teach writing with narration, dictation and
copy work.
But her whole thing was like that children
are born with their own personalities, with
their own, their whole persons when they're
born and you want to be able to educate the
whole child and so they emphasize high
(06:18):
quality, really good literature.
They call them living books.
They use again narration, dictation and
copy work to teach writing which is
literally like copying out of really good
literature.
They call them living books.
They use again narration, dictation and
copywork to teach writing which is
literally like copying out of really good
books, verbatim.
That children learn by literally copying
out of good books.
As they start to write they start to see
the sentence structure.
As they narrate back, they learn how to
(06:42):
tell the story.
And then dictation is when they listen as
you read and they write down what you've
read to them.
And she believed that through this way they
learn proper writing, by example, by
looking and listening to good living books
and good literature.
She also encouraged a lot of outdoor
(07:03):
exploration and nature journaling, where
you take a journal and you draw things from
nature and then you write down observations
of the things from nature and you, you know,
measure, measure it, and so that's nature
journaling.
And then she emphasized heavily on
developing good attitudes and good
character and good moral, having a strong
(07:25):
moral compass.
So there's a lot of beautiful, beautiful
things in the Charlotte Mason philosophy.
That's not as strict as the others but
there is definitely more of a rhythm to
Charlotte Mason.
Same with classical it tends to be a little
bit stricter but again, with every
philosophy you've got to figure out what
works best for your family.
(07:46):
Okay, next philosophy is Montessori, which
most of you probably have heard of Maria
Montessori.
Montessori focuses on that.
It's child-centered, it's a hands-on
approach with a focus on independence,
practical life skills and learning through
exploration.
Life skills and learning through
exploration it's very self-directed, real
world experience, multi-age groupings to
(08:16):
encourage peer learning and then really
have an emphasis on life skills and sensory
experiences, with touch and things being
tactile.
With this philosophy it's a prepared
environment with very, very, very
structured choices.
Now, I am not an expert in all of these
philosophies.
By any stretch, this is just a taste of
each philosophy.
So if you want to learn more, I have
(08:37):
included in the show notes um links to
resources if you want to learn more about
any of the philosophies and those books are
by experts in each of the philosophies Okay,
next philosophy is Waldorf, which is funny
because as a child I went to a Waldorf camp.
The Waldorf philosophy emphasizes a
(08:58):
holistic approach to integrating the arts
music, storytelling and movement and it
actually delays formal academics until a
little bit later.
For children, the focus is really on
creativity, imagination and the arts.
It's very hands-on, very experiential
(09:18):
learning and storytelling, a lot of play,
strong daily rhythms with natural materials.
Montessori and Waldorf are similar in that
way Like, very like.
Everything's wooden and natural and organic
and you know linens and silks and
everything is tactically feels good to the
(09:41):
skin.
Also, there's a limit on screen time and a
huge limit on formal academics in the early
early years.
Okay, so that's Waldorf.
The next philosophy is probably the most
controversial philosophy, but I think it's
(10:03):
also the most misunderstood philosophy and
you've probably heard of it.
It's called unschooling.
Unschooling is also which is actually
unschooling is a terrible name for this
philosophy.
I just I kind of feel like it was misnamed
Because really what it is is child-led
learning, without necessarily a set
(10:26):
curriculum, but life experiences are the
primary teachers.
Um, um, but life experiences are the
primary teachers.
Now, um, with unschooling, again, the focus
is on what does the, what are the child's
natural inclinations and what are the
things they want to learn about.
And as a parent, you then provide the
resources for the child to learn that thing.
(10:48):
And as the child loses interest in that
thing, then you move on to the next thing
that they're interested in.
But it's it's definitely uh, more
controversial, because sometimes people go,
oh, I met some unschoolers once and they
didn't, they let their child do children do
whatever they wanted and they never had
(11:09):
boundaries.
And uh, and they were unschoolers and their
child, their children, couldn't read, they
couldn't do it, and you know, and really
those aren't unschoolers, those are like
not schoolers, like they're just not
schooling and or being parents, um, but
unschooling doesn't mean that you're not
parenting and it doesn't mean that you're
not providing resources for the children.
In some ways, I feel like, um, it is a
(11:33):
little bit more hands-on, because a parent
has to be very active about knowing what
their children are interested in, and then
finding the resources for the child to
learn those things, whatever they might be.
Again, parents are the facilitators in
learning rather than just the teachers, and
it respects the child's natural development.
Okay, so that's unschooling.
The next philosophy is unit studies, which
(11:53):
is almost a pedagogy too.
Unit studies is more of a thematic approach
where multiple subjects are integrated into
like a single or a single topic of study.
I remember when I was teaching middle
school.
I was a theater arts teacher in middle
school and we were going to be doing a
Christmas carol and I had this idea and I
(12:17):
went to my department chair and I was like
why isn't education more integrated?
And he's like, what do you mean?
And I said, well, here we want to do a
Christmas carol as a play and I want the
kids to do set design and costume design.
(12:37):
I want them to understand the history of
what was going on with Charles Dickens
during the Victorian era.
I wish we could get the math teacher
involved, and a lot of these kids that are
going to be doing the play are in
pre-algebra and I would love to be able to
take the stage and have the kids figure out
the measurements if they were to have to do
(12:59):
a scale model of the stage, which would
take math, and I'd love to talk with a
history teacher about the Victorian history,
and could we, all you know, get together
and do a whole study where it's an
integrated study using a?
(13:27):
And herein lies the problem with education
today.
And he's like I wish we could do that, but
the core teachers they can't.
They don't have the freedom to be able to
adjust their whole schedule and they've got
the standardized testings that they have to
prepare for.
And I talked to a couple of the teachers, I
talked to the language arts teacher and I
(13:48):
talked to the history teacher for the
eighth graders, and they were like we wish
we could, but there's no way that we could
do it because we have to prepare them for
the standardized tests and we have all of
these state standards that we are expected
to get through.
But ideally, it would be amazing if we
could do that.
And so I got shot down, which I understood
(14:10):
why.
Because the education system was not.
It was purposefully created to
compartmentalize and to put subjects in
silos.
That was done very intentionally, whereas
that's not how the world works With unit
studies.
It's an integration.
You choose a theme, such as ancient Egypt
(14:32):
or the American Revolution, and then you
study it across all the subjects.
As I mentioned, with A Christmas Carol we
might say, okay, we're going to study about
Victorian England for history and learn
some geography with England, and then we're
also going to learn about you know what
inventions were going on in Victorian
(14:54):
England during A Christmas Carol and what
were some of the other authors going on.
You know who were writing during Charles
Dickens' time real world experiences and it
encourages deep exploration into a single
(15:14):
topic rather than covering broad like we do
with most education.
And it's great for multi-age homeschooling.
So if you've got lots of kids and you're
like, oh, what are we going to do?
Choose a unit study and then have different
projects for the different ages, but you're
studying the same topic, right?
So that's called unit studies, okay.
(15:35):
And then the last philosophy I want to talk
to you about is what most, the philosophy
that most people follow, and that is the
eclectic style or the eclectic philosophy.
Eclectic homeschooling all that means is
like you pull from different philosophies,
you mix.
(15:56):
It's kind of a mix and match approach that
combines elements of all different
homeschooling philosophies based on your
child's needs, based on your capabilities.
Most homeschoolers are this like we.
I am considered an eclectic unschooler.
I do a lot of child-led learning, but I do
expect my kids to know how to read, write
(16:17):
and do math, and so I do use a math
curriculum online.
But then I use various rich literature
based in history and we use that for
history, and I use the Charlotte Mason
approach to writing, with narration,
(16:38):
dictation and copy work, and so I'm
eclectic in that way.
And then the rest of the day they work on
the subjects that they're most interested
in.
So I have a child who loves the piano, so
he'll spend you know, he'll finish his, his
main subjects that I want him to work on,
(16:58):
um, also civics, civics and government.
That's another one that I'm feel like my
kids should know.
They need to know American history and
civics and government, like we need to nail
that in that they understand constitution.
But then beyond that, like he'll spend
hours on the piano.
Or I have another child who's very into
business, and so the bulk of his coursework
(17:20):
as a senior this year has been studying the
top business books, the top psychology
books and then interning with various
organizations and companies, because that's
what he wants to learn, and so that's the
eclectic approach.
Is you pull from multiple philosophies?
You're not.
You're not a purist in one philosophy.
(17:40):
You kind of do what works.
You might use a curriculum here, but you
don't use a curriculum there.
That's the eclectic approach and, like I
said, most people follow the eclectic
philosophy that I know.
Now, the other thing is, when you're
homeschooling, you don't have to have a
rigid schedule.
It's okay to be more relaxed, right?
(18:03):
We do have structure in our home.
Like my, children have expectations.
They get up, they have their list of things
that they need to do, um, and they have an
expected time period to do it in.
I'm not hard and fast about like you have
to spend an hour on math Once they finish
their math lesson for the day, then they're
done.
And if I see, like with my nine-year-old,
(18:25):
if it's taking longer than 15 minutes for
her to do her math lesson and she's getting
frustrated, I'll work with her on it and
then if she's still frustrated, we'll put
it away right.
Really, the rule of thumb is for each
child's age, the time that you want to work
on a lesson to be their age plus one.
(18:45):
So for my nine-year-old, 10 minutes is
really sufficient.
Now there's sometimes that she really loves
the subject that we're talking about and
she wants to keep going.
When we do read alouds, where you read to
your children, which is a thing that
everyone in the homeschooling world does,
and it's kind of amazing, even into teenage
years, um, that I'll start reading and my
(19:05):
kids want me to keep reading.
Or if we're listening to an audio book,
they will draw, they'll do something else,
and oftentimes they're like wait, don't,
don't turn it off.
Yet we're getting into a good part in the
story, and so if the kids are really
enjoying it, then, yeah, keep going.
Um, but it's important to set up like
structure and have rhythms, but it doesn't
need to have, you don't need to have a
(19:26):
strict schedule, and that's something that
I had to adjust to because I was used to a
strict school schedule.
From this time to this time we do this,
from this time to this time that we do this.
It doesn't have to be that way.
You can have like okay, in the mornings,
every morning we're going to have family
time where we're going to spend 15 minutes
and we're going to maybe sing a song, say a
(19:48):
prayer, if you're we are, so we might read
scripture, and then we'll have breakfast
and have read aloud and then go about
dividing up into this child is working on
their math.
While this I'm helping this child with
their reading and writing and their
personal reading, and then then the
expectation is they don't get to do
(20:09):
anything fun until they've finished their,
their work and their chores, you know.
And then and then we have lunch, um, and
then in the afternoon they have time to
work on the things that they want to work
out, want to work on.
Sometimes they get things done.
I have one child that gets things done
super duper fast, like he will knock out
(20:31):
his lessons and he does really well on them,
like he'll, he'll get on there, he's 12.
He gets in there, he gets his math done,
and the kids in geometry y'all, and he's 12.
Um, he'll get in, knock his math out.
He does like math.
Sometimes he'll take longer on math because
he's like oh, I wanted to do a few lessons,
not just one.
And it's totally okay to move forward, or
if you need to slow down with the child,
(20:58):
that's okay.
One of the things that you're doing is also
learning your child's learning style,
because all children learn differently, and
so it's important that you take that time
with your kids to discover, like, where are
their strengths and where are the things
that they struggle with, and if you need to
move forward.
If you are using a curriculum, it's okay to
move forward and move ahead if the child is
doing really well and wants to, and it's
(21:19):
okay to slow down if a child's struggling
with certain concepts.
That's totally acceptable.
You get to structure your homeschool the
way that best meets the rhythms, the
natural rhythms of your family, and that's
that's okay.
I know one family where the mom works in
the morning, so the kids get the free time
(21:39):
in the morning to work on their chores and
then hang out or or play, because she's got
a lot of littles where they can play.
And then, once one o'clock hits, she um,
she works from home.
And then one, once one o'clock hits, she's
um, she works from home.
And then one, once one o'clock hits, she's
with them and they're working on the
various lessons you know, and she pulls.
She's an eclectic homeschoolers as well and
(22:00):
so she pulls from various resources and
then that they spend the afternoon working
on their studies because that's what works
for their family.
So you have to find what rhythms work for
your family, and children do need some
structure.
As adults, we need some structure, right?
There's nothing worse than going into a
place that's chaos, right?
(22:22):
So it's important that you structure it how
it best fits.
Maybe you set parameters and you're like,
from 10 to noon is when we do our studies,
and you're expected to get your studies
done during that two hour period, or or
maybe it's in the morning.
You know this is our family time and then
we're going to do this and then we'll take
(22:43):
a break and then you'll have the afternoon,
like you decide what that looks like.
Set the parameters, give them, give them
parameters to work within and then allow
yourself the freedom to work within those
parameters.
So with that, those are the eight major
philosophies.
If you want to learn more, look below Our
next video.
(23:03):
We will be discussing our next episode.
We will be discussing finding community so
that your kids are not unsocialized.
We'll see you in the next video.
You got this.
You're doing better than you think you are.
Homeschooling does not have to look like
you're replicating a classroom.
As a matter of fact, it's probably best if
it doesn't, because we're at home.
This is video number four of our five-part
miniseries on Homeschooling 101, crash
Course in Homeschooling how Do you Start
Homeschooling?
In this video, we are going to discuss
(00:21):
eight major educational philosophies that
you could do for homeschooling, as well as
how do you set up routine, rhythms and
structure in your home.
So let's get started.
When we started homeschooling, I literally
thought all homeschoolers did was
traditional school or school at home, and
what I found very quickly is that it caused
(00:43):
a mutiny with my kids.
What I've discovered is I was not alone in
that.
That's a very typical response for most
children because they're at home.
And then when you try to bring school into
your home, kids don't like that very much.
Now some kids like it, some kids like this
doing school at home philosophy, but most
(01:06):
kids I found with as I've talked to
hundreds of parents over the last four and
a half years since we've been homeschooling
most kids don't like it and they don't do
very well.
I want to share with you the eight major
philosophies um, that homeschools look,
homeschoolers look to.
Now there are other philosophies?
Um, we're not going to touch on foresties,
we're not going to touch on forest
schooling.
We're not going to touch on wild and free
(01:27):
or Thomas Jefferson education or Amelia
Reggio and there's a myriad of others but
fabulous philosophies but those aren't
really considered major philosophies in the
homeschooling world.
So we're going to touch on the eight major
ones.
Okay, philosophy number one is traditional
school at home.
So school at home mimics the structure of
(01:48):
traditional schooling.
You've got textbooks and workbooks and
curriculums, you have a schedule and often
it uses box curricula that you can purchase.
So when, again, when I started
homeschooling, that's what I thought
homeschooling looked like, that we would
literally replicate the classroom at home
and that is a philosophy you can follow.
(02:09):
But, as I mentioned before, most kids don't
like it because it becomes very rigid.
When we first started homeschooling, like,
I had a strict schedule where I was like
from 8 am to 8.45 am we're going to work on
language arts, and from 8.45 to 9 o'clock
we're going to have a 15 minute break, and
what I found is it was very, very
(02:31):
restrictive for my family.
Now there are families that do like that
much structure, but I found for me it was
very, very suffocating, and I had been a
middle school teacher and I still found it
intensely difficult and suffocating, and my
kids also found it suffocating.
So that's the first educational philosophy
(02:52):
most people think of, who are not in the
homeschooling world, is the traditional
school at home.
Like I said, you get boxed curricula and
you go to town with a set schedule and you
do all the things and you have tests and
workbooks and all that.
That's one philosophy.
The second philosophy is the classical
(03:14):
philosophy.
Some of the major tenets of the classical
philosophy is based on the trivium, which
divides learning into three stages.
The first stage is grammar, which is facts
and memorization.
The second stage is logic, or reasoning and
analysis, and then the third phase is
(03:34):
rhetoric, which includes expression and
debate.
In the classical philosophy the emphasis is
on history, literature and philosophy.
There's heavy focus on reading, writing and
often critical thinking.
Latin and classical languages are also
often included and it uses Socratic
(03:55):
discussion and original sources.
So kids read a lot of the original source
documents as part of the classical
philosophy.
Now, in my opinion, other than the school
at home philosophy, this is one of the
strictest of the homeschooling philosophies
and there's even all throughout the country
there are classical conversations which are
(04:16):
um, which are groups you can join to
facilitate in the learning and, and a lot
of people, instead of going to other
enrichment programs, they choose to do
classical conversations.
When I first started homeschooling, one of
the first books that I read was a book
(04:37):
about the classical philosophy and, like I
said, for me it was really restrictive,
much like the traditional school at home
method.
Restrictive, much like the traditional
school at home method.
Um it it my kids.
I tried implementing some things with my
kids and it just didn't fly very well.
But those who do the classical philosophy,
and do it well, really really love that
(04:57):
philosophy.
So if you tend to be a lot more like you,
love a lot of structure, um, classical
might be a great option for your family.
Okay, the third philosophy is the Charlotte
Mason philosophy.
Charlotte Mason was an educator in the 19th
(05:17):
century, late 19th century.
Some major tenants of the Charlotte Mason
philosophy include literature, a
literature-based approach, which is
focusing on living books rather than
textbooks.
She believes in doing really short lessons.
That children's attention span was short
and so you want to do short, little lessons
and then focus on nature study and then do
(05:37):
narration, dictation and copywork.
A lot of people do the Charlotte Mason
philosophy.
I find with all of the philosophies I find
beauty in all of them, and even with the
classical philosophy like I have a son
studying rhetoric and logic right now,
which is very classical, but the other
aspects that he does are different.
(05:58):
With Charlotte Mason, I love how she would
teach writing with narration, dictation and
copy work.
But her whole thing was like that children
are born with their own personalities, with
their own, their whole persons when they're
born and you want to be able to educate the
whole child and so they emphasize high
(06:18):
quality, really good literature.
They call them living books.
They use again narration, dictation and
copy work to teach writing which is
literally like copying out of really good
literature.
They call them living books.
They use again narration, dictation and
copywork to teach writing which is
literally like copying out of really good
books, verbatim.
That children learn by literally copying
out of good books.
As they start to write they start to see
the sentence structure.
As they narrate back, they learn how to
(06:42):
tell the story.
And then dictation is when they listen as
you read and they write down what you've
read to them.
And she believed that through this way they
learn proper writing, by example, by
looking and listening to good living books
and good literature.
She also encouraged a lot of outdoor
(07:03):
exploration and nature journaling, where
you take a journal and you draw things from
nature and then you write down observations
of the things from nature and you, you know,
measure, measure it, and so that's nature
journaling.
And then she emphasized heavily on
developing good attitudes and good
character and good moral, having a strong
(07:25):
moral compass.
So there's a lot of beautiful, beautiful
things in the Charlotte Mason philosophy.
That's not as strict as the others but
there is definitely more of a rhythm to
Charlotte Mason.
Same with classical it tends to be a little
bit stricter but again, with every
philosophy you've got to figure out what
works best for your family.
(07:46):
Okay, next philosophy is Montessori, which
most of you probably have heard of Maria
Montessori.
Montessori focuses on that.
It's child-centered, it's a hands-on
approach with a focus on independence,
practical life skills and learning through
exploration.
Life skills and learning through
exploration it's very self-directed, real
world experience, multi-age groupings to
(08:16):
encourage peer learning and then really
have an emphasis on life skills and sensory
experiences, with touch and things being
tactile.
With this philosophy it's a prepared
environment with very, very, very
structured choices.
Now, I am not an expert in all of these
philosophies.
By any stretch, this is just a taste of
each philosophy.
So if you want to learn more, I have
(08:37):
included in the show notes um links to
resources if you want to learn more about
any of the philosophies and those books are
by experts in each of the philosophies Okay,
next philosophy is Waldorf, which is funny
because as a child I went to a Waldorf camp.
The Waldorf philosophy emphasizes a
(08:58):
holistic approach to integrating the arts
music, storytelling and movement and it
actually delays formal academics until a
little bit later.
For children, the focus is really on
creativity, imagination and the arts.
It's very hands-on, very experiential
(09:18):
learning and storytelling, a lot of play,
strong daily rhythms with natural materials.
Montessori and Waldorf are similar in that
way Like, very like.
Everything's wooden and natural and organic
and you know linens and silks and
everything is tactically feels good to the
(09:41):
skin.
Also, there's a limit on screen time and a
huge limit on formal academics in the early
early years.
Okay, so that's Waldorf.
The next philosophy is probably the most
controversial philosophy, but I think it's
(10:03):
also the most misunderstood philosophy and
you've probably heard of it.
It's called unschooling.
Unschooling is also which is actually
unschooling is a terrible name for this
philosophy.
I just I kind of feel like it was misnamed
Because really what it is is child-led
learning, without necessarily a set
(10:26):
curriculum, but life experiences are the
primary teachers.
Um, um, but life experiences are the
primary teachers.
Now, um, with unschooling, again, the focus
is on what does the, what are the child's
natural inclinations and what are the
things they want to learn about.
And as a parent, you then provide the
resources for the child to learn that thing.
(10:48):
And as the child loses interest in that
thing, then you move on to the next thing
that they're interested in.
But it's it's definitely uh, more
controversial, because sometimes people go,
oh, I met some unschoolers once and they
didn't, they let their child do children do
whatever they wanted and they never had
(11:09):
boundaries.
And uh, and they were unschoolers and their
child, their children, couldn't read, they
couldn't do it, and you know, and really
those aren't unschoolers, those are like
not schoolers, like they're just not
schooling and or being parents, um, but
unschooling doesn't mean that you're not
parenting and it doesn't mean that you're
not providing resources for the children.
In some ways, I feel like, um, it is a
(11:33):
little bit more hands-on, because a parent
has to be very active about knowing what
their children are interested in, and then
finding the resources for the child to
learn those things, whatever they might be.
Again, parents are the facilitators in
learning rather than just the teachers, and
it respects the child's natural development.
Okay, so that's unschooling.
The next philosophy is unit studies, which
(11:53):
is almost a pedagogy too.
Unit studies is more of a thematic approach
where multiple subjects are integrated into
like a single or a single topic of study.
I remember when I was teaching middle
school.
I was a theater arts teacher in middle
school and we were going to be doing a
Christmas carol and I had this idea and I
(12:17):
went to my department chair and I was like
why isn't education more integrated?
And he's like, what do you mean?
And I said, well, here we want to do a
Christmas carol as a play and I want the
kids to do set design and costume design.
(12:37):
I want them to understand the history of
what was going on with Charles Dickens
during the Victorian era.
I wish we could get the math teacher
involved, and a lot of these kids that are
going to be doing the play are in
pre-algebra and I would love to be able to
take the stage and have the kids figure out
the measurements if they were to have to do
(12:59):
a scale model of the stage, which would
take math, and I'd love to talk with a
history teacher about the Victorian history,
and could we, all you know, get together
and do a whole study where it's an
integrated study using a?
(13:27):
And herein lies the problem with education
today.
And he's like I wish we could do that, but
the core teachers they can't.
They don't have the freedom to be able to
adjust their whole schedule and they've got
the standardized testings that they have to
prepare for.
And I talked to a couple of the teachers, I
talked to the language arts teacher and I
(13:48):
talked to the history teacher for the
eighth graders, and they were like we wish
we could, but there's no way that we could
do it because we have to prepare them for
the standardized tests and we have all of
these state standards that we are expected
to get through.
But ideally, it would be amazing if we
could do that.
And so I got shot down, which I understood
(14:10):
why.
Because the education system was not.
It was purposefully created to
compartmentalize and to put subjects in
silos.
That was done very intentionally, whereas
that's not how the world works With unit
studies.
It's an integration.
You choose a theme, such as ancient Egypt
(14:32):
or the American Revolution, and then you
study it across all the subjects.
As I mentioned, with A Christmas Carol we
might say, okay, we're going to study about
Victorian England for history and learn
some geography with England, and then we're
also going to learn about you know what
inventions were going on in Victorian
(14:54):
England during A Christmas Carol and what
were some of the other authors going on.
You know who were writing during Charles
Dickens' time real world experiences and it
encourages deep exploration into a single
(15:14):
topic rather than covering broad like we do
with most education.
And it's great for multi-age homeschooling.
So if you've got lots of kids and you're
like, oh, what are we going to do?
Choose a unit study and then have different
projects for the different ages, but you're
studying the same topic, right?
So that's called unit studies, okay.
(15:35):
And then the last philosophy I want to talk
to you about is what most, the philosophy
that most people follow, and that is the
eclectic style or the eclectic philosophy.
Eclectic homeschooling all that means is
like you pull from different philosophies,
you mix.
(15:56):
It's kind of a mix and match approach that
combines elements of all different
homeschooling philosophies based on your
child's needs, based on your capabilities.
Most homeschoolers are this like we.
I am considered an eclectic unschooler.
I do a lot of child-led learning, but I do
expect my kids to know how to read, write
(16:17):
and do math, and so I do use a math
curriculum online.
But then I use various rich literature
based in history and we use that for
history, and I use the Charlotte Mason
approach to writing, with narration,
(16:38):
dictation and copy work, and so I'm
eclectic in that way.
And then the rest of the day they work on
the subjects that they're most interested
in.
So I have a child who loves the piano, so
he'll spend you know, he'll finish his, his
main subjects that I want him to work on,
(16:58):
um, also civics, civics and government.
That's another one that I'm feel like my
kids should know.
They need to know American history and
civics and government, like we need to nail
that in that they understand constitution.
But then beyond that, like he'll spend
hours on the piano.
Or I have another child who's very into
business, and so the bulk of his coursework
(17:20):
as a senior this year has been studying the
top business books, the top psychology
books and then interning with various
organizations and companies, because that's
what he wants to learn, and so that's the
eclectic approach.
Is you pull from multiple philosophies?
You're not.
You're not a purist in one philosophy.
(17:40):
You kind of do what works.
You might use a curriculum here, but you
don't use a curriculum there.
That's the eclectic approach and, like I
said, most people follow the eclectic
philosophy that I know.
Now, the other thing is, when you're
homeschooling, you don't have to have a
rigid schedule.
It's okay to be more relaxed, right?
(18:03):
We do have structure in our home.
Like my, children have expectations.
They get up, they have their list of things
that they need to do, um, and they have an
expected time period to do it in.
I'm not hard and fast about like you have
to spend an hour on math Once they finish
their math lesson for the day, then they're
done.
And if I see, like with my nine-year-old,
(18:25):
if it's taking longer than 15 minutes for
her to do her math lesson and she's getting
frustrated, I'll work with her on it and
then if she's still frustrated, we'll put
it away right.
Really, the rule of thumb is for each
child's age, the time that you want to work
on a lesson to be their age plus one.
(18:45):
So for my nine-year-old, 10 minutes is
really sufficient.
Now there's sometimes that she really loves
the subject that we're talking about and
she wants to keep going.
When we do read alouds, where you read to
your children, which is a thing that
everyone in the homeschooling world does,
and it's kind of amazing, even into teenage
years, um, that I'll start reading and my
(19:05):
kids want me to keep reading.
Or if we're listening to an audio book,
they will draw, they'll do something else,
and oftentimes they're like wait, don't,
don't turn it off.
Yet we're getting into a good part in the
story, and so if the kids are really
enjoying it, then, yeah, keep going.
Um, but it's important to set up like
structure and have rhythms, but it doesn't
need to have, you don't need to have a
(19:26):
strict schedule, and that's something that
I had to adjust to because I was used to a
strict school schedule.
From this time to this time we do this,
from this time to this time that we do this.
It doesn't have to be that way.
You can have like okay, in the mornings,
every morning we're going to have family
time where we're going to spend 15 minutes
and we're going to maybe sing a song, say a
(19:48):
prayer, if you're we are, so we might read
scripture, and then we'll have breakfast
and have read aloud and then go about
dividing up into this child is working on
their math.
While this I'm helping this child with
their reading and writing and their
personal reading, and then then the
expectation is they don't get to do
(20:09):
anything fun until they've finished their,
their work and their chores, you know.
And then and then we have lunch, um, and
then in the afternoon they have time to
work on the things that they want to work
out, want to work on.
Sometimes they get things done.
I have one child that gets things done
super duper fast, like he will knock out
(20:31):
his lessons and he does really well on them,
like he'll, he'll get on there, he's 12.
He gets in there, he gets his math done,
and the kids in geometry y'all, and he's 12.
Um, he'll get in, knock his math out.
He does like math.
Sometimes he'll take longer on math because
he's like oh, I wanted to do a few lessons,
not just one.
And it's totally okay to move forward, or
if you need to slow down with the child,
(20:58):
that's okay.
One of the things that you're doing is also
learning your child's learning style,
because all children learn differently, and
so it's important that you take that time
with your kids to discover, like, where are
their strengths and where are the things
that they struggle with, and if you need to
move forward.
If you are using a curriculum, it's okay to
move forward and move ahead if the child is
doing really well and wants to, and it's
(21:19):
okay to slow down if a child's struggling
with certain concepts.
That's totally acceptable.
You get to structure your homeschool the
way that best meets the rhythms, the
natural rhythms of your family, and that's
that's okay.
I know one family where the mom works in
the morning, so the kids get the free time
(21:39):
in the morning to work on their chores and
then hang out or or play, because she's got
a lot of littles where they can play.
And then, once one o'clock hits, she um,
she works from home.
And then one, once one o'clock hits, she's
um, she works from home.
And then one, once one o'clock hits, she's
with them and they're working on the
various lessons you know, and she pulls.
She's an eclectic homeschoolers as well and
(22:00):
so she pulls from various resources and
then that they spend the afternoon working
on their studies because that's what works
for their family.
So you have to find what rhythms work for
your family, and children do need some
structure.
As adults, we need some structure, right?
There's nothing worse than going into a
place that's chaos, right?
(22:22):
So it's important that you structure it how
it best fits.
Maybe you set parameters and you're like,
from 10 to noon is when we do our studies,
and you're expected to get your studies
done during that two hour period, or or
maybe it's in the morning.
You know this is our family time and then
we're going to do this and then we'll take
(22:43):
a break and then you'll have the afternoon,
like you decide what that looks like.
Set the parameters, give them, give them
parameters to work within and then allow
yourself the freedom to work within those
parameters.
So with that, those are the eight major
philosophies.
If you want to learn more, look below Our
next video.
(23:03):
We will be discussing our next episode.
We will be discussing finding community so
that your kids are not unsocialized.
We'll see you in the next video.
You got this.
You're doing better than you think you are.
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