Feeling somewhat overwhelmed. I want to homeschool at least for the primary years (I refuse to think beyond that!)
Do I need to go into all the background philosophies to choose what or how I will do it? I just want something I can do every week day, but not for more than half a day that develops my child and stretches her so she can use more of her potential but does not just lead to academic attainment but personal development (character) too.
Learning by rote does not appeal to me at all because (in my case anyway) the knowledge only lasts as long as it is being regularly applied. I did not like school but loved learning. I felt it restricted my interests and I was pressured to learn within school guidelines and not to ask questions or even let it be known I was doing further study. I can pass tests (yay, and so what?!). My degree was a waste of time because I don’t remember much of any of it, and left most of my knowledge on the various exam tables, except for the one or two units I thoroughly enjoyed. I don’t want my child to go through that and want her to have a full and wide curriculum (no gaps), but to be able to have time and space to develop and explore her own interests, to live life, and to become. I do not want something that will require loads and loads of preparation, but don’t mind some. I had tried to pick and choose programmes and books instead of using a curriculum or prescriptive path but KNOW I will need a structure and methodology or nothing will happen, and I don’t want to miss anything out. - if this description makes you think of a particular programme / curriculum / style please let me know
I am most comfortable planning and researching and preparing before moving forward with things but there is just SO much information and opinion that feels like I am going around in circles and not getting closer to a conclusion! Some people say children learn like this, and others say something else.
trying to find a UK curriculum has been pretty unfruitful too and I have no intention of following the national curriculum. I was / am pleased with my decision to homeschool but it seems frustrating more than anything now. Although the fact that it is gone 2 am might be adding to my despondency!
It’s frustrating because I don’t want my son to learn vast amounts of American history or literature, but there aren’t many alternatives for a complete curriculum. I get the impression that a lot of UK homeschoolers are actually un-schoolers and thus don’t need a curriculum.
Now I can’t say I’ve read more than a vague overview for Classical, so someone else can tell you why rote memorization is actually a good thing (or whether I’ve got it all wrong) but that is the impression I got and why I’m not really looking any deeper.
Personally, I’m using Saxon now and hope to add in MEP in a few months (since MEP requires a bit more brain activity than Saxon at the moment) and will probably alternate days for the early levels of the curriculum (I don’t really want to be doing middle-school work at age 4 which is where we would be heading otherwise). There is also Life of Fred, which is story-based but American, Miquon which is a great hands-on primary level course which goes to a lot of depth but not the breadth of the others, and IXL which is web-based and covers UK national curriculum. Rightstart was one of my favourite Maths curricula, actually, but it is expensive and has huge shipping costs.
whoops!