Literature-based Homeschooling

What is it?

Like the Charlotte Mason method, this method relies on real books as opposed to textbooks. In many ways, in fact, it’s impossible to distinguish between the two.

Literature-based curricula do not use textbooks. Students will read real books instead. This method tends to rely heavily on historical fiction for history as well.

This can be a very rewarding way to homeschool your child. Many parents think that a student that spends all of his time with a textbook or workbook will miss out on all the great children’s literature that is available. So instead of reading a dry story out of a reading textbook, a child may read Winnie the Pooh. Instead of a science textbook, the child may read library books on dinosaurs or electricity.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Snuggling up on the couch with great children’s literature is generally more fun than sitting at a desk answering questions from a social studies textbook. Some parents object to the use of historical fiction for history. They are uncomfortable with the blurring of the lines between fact and fiction. And though there are a few literature-based curricula, this generally requires planning time on the parent’s part search out books and resources.

Unschooling

What is it?

Parents that advocate unschooling wish to leave the classroom and its methods behind. The extent to which they do so varies from family to family.

Some unschoolers are opposed to any adult imposing on a child what they should learn and completely leave the child to his own devices, trusting that the child’s natural curiosity will take over. Most are not so radical in there approach. They simply follow the child’s interests, with the parent directing and coordinating the learning.

Advantages and Disadvantages

There are no “unschooling” curricula, as that would defeat the purpose of following the child’s lead. There is also the fear that there will be “holes” in the child’s learning. If a child never shows an interest in certain subjects, they may miss out on studying it. Most parents feel that studying a subject you may not be interested in is an important part of education and character development, something the unschooler may miss out on. But unschooling, if done well, can develop intensely curious and self-motivated students. And students that are allowed to follow their own interests are very unlikely to experience burn out.

Organization

When people ask me about homeschooling, the subject of organization inevitably comes up. People often say to me, “Wow, you must be really organized to do that!”

The truth is, I am not a naturally organized person. My mother, who is by nature extremely organized, would probably laugh very hard at the suggestion. She has a whole slew of stories about my messy room, my propensity to sleep late, and my tendencies toward procrastination. But everyone can change. And while I don’t think I’m quite ready to start a home organization consulting business, I’m certainly a lot better than I used to be.

Common sense

Almost everyone knows what one must do to lose weight: burn fewer calories than you take in. Sure, there’s always the person on television that lost weight with that fabulous herbal remedy, but the average weight-loss success story is a very unglamorous tale of exercise and eating healthy. In the same way, almost everyone knows what must be done to keep an orderly home. It’s not so much fancy steps or elaborate planning systems, but actually getting up and doing what needs to be done.

One of the steps I took in keeping up with the housework was not to leave dishes in the sink at night. Sounds simple, right? Well, have you ever decided to leave the dishes in order to watch television? And how is that greasy pan the next morning? On the other hand, if you cringe at the thought of ever leaving a dirty dish in the sink, keeping up with the housework is most likely not a problem for you.

Clutter

Have you ever heard someone described as being and packrat AND being organized. Probably not. Most people who struggle with staying organized simply have too much stuff. The problem with having a lot of junk is that it has to be stored. And every inch of storage space devoted to junk is one less inch you have to store the things that you need and use. A closet stuffed full of clothes nobody wears can’t hold the clothes that you do wear.

Get rid of what you aren’t using. Are you really going to have those broken appliances repaired? If they’ve been sitting around in you garage for a year, I would say probably not. What about that toy no longer works? Get rid of it. And if you have stuff that’s still good but you don’t need or use? Give it away. Or have a garage sale. But, you must REALLY have the garage sale. I kept boxes of junk labeled “garage sale” in my garage for five years before I admitted to myself that I wasn’t EVER going to get around to having one. I donated the stuff to Goodwill and was able to put more important things in my garage, like my car, for instance.

Routine, routine, routine

When you go to a concert or play, the first thing you probably do is look at the program. Why is that? Everybody likes to know what to expect. Developing a routine is the surest way to build this kind of security in your daily life.

Every household has certain chores that need to be done every day. Meals must be served, dishes must be washed, and children must be dressed and bathed. Doing these things at approximately the same time each day imbues these chores with a certain “automatic-ness” that seems to make their getting done easier.

I sort my laundry and run my dishwasher every night before I go to bed. Then, in the morning, I can get up and start my laundry without having to dig through a pile of smelly dirty clothes before I’ve had my morning caffeine. And after breakfast, I empty the dishwasher. I have done these things for long enough that I don’t even have to think about it anymore.

I am not saying that you need to pencil in “breakfast dishes – 7:33 to 7:41 AM” on your calendar, but try to establish somewhat regular meal, nap, and bedtimes for your children. In our homeschool, we begin with Bible at around 8:30 each morning. My children know and expect this, so getting started with our school routine is not difficult. And if for some reason I don’t stick to the routine, my kids usually come to me, wanting to know what’s up. My two-year-old goes down for his nap at 1 PM every afternoon. He doesn’t fight me at nap time (okay, sometimes he does a little bit), because he’s taken a nap at 1 PM every day of his life. He expects it.

Also, try to get ready for the next day every evening. This sounds simple, but it works. I can’t tell you how often I have crawled into bed thinking, “I’ll get the kids’ clothes out in the morning,” only to discover all three children have somehow misplaced their shoes. It may not be much fun to spend fifteen minutes looking for them when you want to be in bed, but it’s less fun to spend fifteen minutes looking for them when it’s time to leave for that dentist appointment.

A lot of people seem to resist the idea of routines. They think it takes the fun and spontaneity out of life. My life used to have lots of spontaneity. Like that spontaneous load of laundry I did at midnight because we were all out of clean underwear. Or that spur-of-the-moment sewing session when the blouse I wanted to wear to church was missing a button. Yeah, those were some fun times. I’ll stick with the routine, thank you.

Do you remember when I said to set a regular bedtime for your children? Well, you need one too. No, you don’t need to go to bed at the same time as your kids, but everyone needs seven to eight hours of sleep at night. If your kids wake you up at seven, that means you need to bed by eleven. This is the hardest thing for me. But while I know countless proverbs about the success of people that are early risers, I’ve yet to encounter one that celebrates the night owl that sleeps late. I’m thinking there might be a connection.

You don’t have to do it all at once

If you’re home is in chaos, don’t expect to wake up tomorrow and be able to clean out all your closets, empty your garage of junk, and get your children on a schedule all in one day. Start slowly. Work on getting one drawer, then one closet, and then one room in order. If you work on it a little every day, eventually you will get it all done.

The same with your children. If your toddler’s nap time has previously been whatever time he falls asleep in the middle of the playroom floor, don’t be shocked if he kicks up a fuss when you lay him in his bed after lunch. But stick with it, and eventually your kids will start to go with the flow.

Accept that you will have setbacks

Let’s say you set some routines for your life. You clear out some clutter and you begin to stay on top of the housework. You’re feeling good about your life. You can do this! And then the entire family gets the stomach flu. Or your hot-water heater breaks and leaks water all over your family room carpet. Or a tornado takes out the trees in your front yard. Life happens. You may get behind. You may look up when the crisis is over and realize your house is a complete disaster. This does not mean that you are not cut out to be organized and need to throw in the towel. It just means that you got behind and need to get caught up again.

Do I ever get behind? You better believe it. In fact, it doesn’t take a crisis to get me off track. Sometimes I just get lazy. But as I go along, my lapses into my old ways get fewer and far between, and it takes me less time to get things back in order.

Yes, I know that I sound like a know-it-all. But I’m not. I’m a disorganized, procrastinating night-owl that does not find keeping house easy. But sometimes the hard lessons are the ones that we are best able to teach. I only hope that my experience will make your life a bit easier.

I didn’t figure all this out for myself. I’ve read more books on organization than is probably reasonable. Here are some links to some books and websites that I’ve found especially helpful.

Books:

Sink Reflections

Clutter's Last Stand: It's Time to De-Junk Your Life!

Managers of their homes: A practical guide to daily scheduling for Christian homeschool families

Websites:

Flylady

Managers of their Homes

Our School Room

When we moved into our home, Peter was a baby and every toy we owned fit into a small handbasket. Our family, and the number of toys we own, has grown quite a bit since then. It didn't take long until our downstairs family room became the toy room.

For our first year of homeschooling, we did our work at the kitchen table. It was fine, but I got tired of having to clear the table of school books every time someone wanted to eat. So one day last year I shipped the kids off to a friends house and cleared the toy room of a scandalous number of toys. I also cleared the adjoining storage closet of a shocking amount of junk. Now all the toys fit in the closet, and the family room/play room is now our school room.


See the desks? They're newly acquired. It was only after my parents delivered them that it dawned on us that they came from the school where my grandfather worked as a janitor. I wonder how many times he moved and cleaned them? They need a fresh coat of paint, but they're already very special.


Here is the couch where we snuggle and read books. You can't see it, but there is a world map above the couch. And yes, on the hearth is our (gasp) X-box. (Bad homeschooling parent. Bad! Bad!)


There's my desk again. And the treadmill. The louvered doors to the right of the desk is our walk-in storage closet. I would have taken a picture of it, but the shelves are really junky right now. The toys are supposed to be put back in the closet when they're not being played with. Let's just say we're working on that part.


The white board is wonderful for copy work and Latin vocabulary.


This picture is too dark, but I wanted to show you our white board, calendar, and alphabet train. Back in the corner, next to the ugly cords, is MY desk.

Thanks for touring our school room. It's been wonderful to have everything in one place.