Ok ... changing my mind here!?

Question

Well, I have asked a couple questions about unschooling and from the answers I received on here I have decided that I'm going to eclectic homeschooling instead. I'm not able to let my daughter lead herself without some input from me. So now I'm changing sides and wondered if anyone had advice on eclectic homeschooling...thanks!

Thanks to everyone ... you have been very informative. I guess this is the style I have been using because I do much of what you all have listed! Thanks so much.

Answer 1

I'm also eclectic.

I generally let them choose their own topics to pursue for science, history, reading, writing and whatever classes they want to take and clubs they want to join-- they can do research on topics, read, experiment, watch shows about something, find educational software & websites, play games, make an exhibit, put on a play, plan a festival for their family and friends or some kind of speech or demonstration, do crafts, make puppet shows, or get as creative as they want with the units and the classes.

But, I require about an hour per day (just about every day, year round) that each child works on what we call "skills"-- which is math and language arts (or phonics, for the youngest one). That's just my preference and as long as they stick with that routine, I'm happy.

It's easier too for me because all of my kids have different learning stlyes.

MSB

Answer 2

I'm the same way. It is a possibility that unschooling would have been our style if we had started earlier but I believed the lie that he was better off with the professionals. We didn't start homeschooling until 8th grade.
Anyway, we are relaxed eclectic basically because of varied interests and because we are poor. (smile) Goodwill Store purchases are great. I have 3 biology books for next year and there are biology websites. The library has up to date books and videos. Total costs: $3.00 plus our monthly cable bill and gas money to go to library. That leaves a little money to order a frog from the science store.
We are flexible with our curriculum. If we have too much , we put some away for later. We have plenty of resources because we are always looking for things of interest.

Answer 3

I'm kind of on that path with my kids. I try to do a little organized reading/writing/grammar work and Singapore Math curriculum. Otherwise, we unschool all other subjects. When my kids get a lot older, we may add more structure to prepare them for college.

I figure if I can cover basic skills then all of the other concepts (history, science, social studies, etc) will fall into place. If there are other things that I think they should know the basics of eventually (like cursive), I figure we'll do that when they're old enough to understand that it's just something we need to touch on but not obsess about.

We use the library a lot, and you can also check out Cathy Duffy's Curriculum Review book and website to piece stuff together and see what you think will work.
http://www.cathyduffyreviews.com/index.html

Answer 4

I homeschooled my kids all the way. Both are graduating from college this year with honors. My advice would be to use some curriculum as a guide but remember you are the teacher. I would circle the math problems I wanted them to do for the day. I loved SAXON Math as it self teaches but to do all the problems would take over an hour a day...who wants that!? So you choose what areas they need the most reinforcement in. If it was a boring section in science we might cover the entire chapter in 10 minutes but if it was something the kids were interested in we could take weeks on the chapter. I thought of the books as guides to help me help the kids discover the areas they were most interested in. Our son is 19 and graduated with 2 engineering degrees from the University of Minnesota....with honors. Our daughter will be 18 when she graduates in December in Literature. She already has over 50 published articles.

Answer 5

Eclectic really just means you use a bit of this and a bit of that. Everybody's eclectic looks different. Some might be unschooly for science; others might follow Apologia for science but be unschooly for social studies. Others might follow Charlotte Mason for part, use an entirely different method for another subject...

Eclectic is a catch-all phrase to say "my approach can't really be defined". It's about going with what feels right, using what feels right, instead of following a specific approach.

There are some links on this site you can check out:
http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/methods/Eclectic.htm

Answer 6

i am homeschooled in 6th grade and i love it! i have to say, i dont call it unschooling but it is. i learn what i would like and i can do it morning noon or even inthe middle of the night. if you e-mail me i will help you out and give you some ideas for projects to do with her. anytime you need help i would love to be of some use to you. and just so you know, unschoolers are still taking in very much input from parents but the student and teacher choose lessons together and there is no role of "teacher and studdent" but more of "student helping student".

Answer 7

Not sure what you mean by eclectic homeschooling.

Sounds like supervised unschool. Is it fair to call it that. Unschooling with a light at the end of the tunnel intsead of potential anarchy.

If so, you have to be the teacher. Sure hope you know how!

I was formally schooled in the public school system but VIRTUALLY all my skills were UNSCHOOLED by MY, MYSELF, I and help from my mother, but generally she didn't supervise.

For example, I learned programming by buying software.

I'd buy Quick BASIC and learn it.

I'd buy Visual BASIC and learn it

How good am I, I've made some bucks selling my original software.

My mother bought me a telescope and a few books and I learned planetary astronomy and I got published in Sky and Telescope at the age of 16

My mother bought me an 8mm movie camera and a tape record and I taught myself double system sound, synchronization, editing and I made some $$$ producing documentaries and TV commercials in 16mm stuff I bought my self later in life.

My mother sent me to electronics school at the age of 12. I learned it, but I never did much with it. BUT I can look at an electronic metromone and tell you EXACTLY how it works

I see the diode, I see the eletrolytic capactior, I see the pot, I see the speaker, I see the LED, I know EXACTLY how it works and how it keeps beat.

My mother taught me to type at age 6 (that's 1957) and that got me an A in Middle School typing.

That also started my writing career that started to blossom with publication in Sky and Telescope and then later other publications.

Now, I can teach electronics, simple plastics (learned that one in school, made my own color head for my enlarger 15 years later from that help), eletroplating, rudimentary chemistry, planetary astronomy, optics, computer programming, rudimetary algebra and geometry, even a little trig (never took those in school, but I do program), photography, cinema, audio recording, video, writing, physchology, a little bit of philosophy and religion, history, geography (I can find 65% of the countries of the world on a BLANK MAP, can you!).

I can get any child to first year highschool with NO problems, second year high school with a bit of taxating and after that we have to study in tandem and I might learn as much from them as they learn from me.

I do have the eqivalent of six liberal arts degrees, including the equivalent of a PH D in Mass Comm, Cinema and Cinema History and a MAsters in Music Theory (I play guitar,bass, keyboard, but I don't sight read, but I also produce and arrange and can write sheets, but not from scratch).

My pure math skills are shakey (I never learned the RELIGION or RITUALS, I use Ackum's Razor, which violates the rules) but I can do some Trig and Geometry. I once had to write from scartch the computer program formual to do a least squares stright line declining balance which I did by reserve engineering.

I wonder how many people I just left in the dust, including some teachers

Certainly NOT someone with an MA in math. You can probably show me a trick or two

Least squares, stright line, declining balance.

That's statistics folks. The stuff College Grads do to get jobs with the CIA.

And I did it by reverse engineering. That's where you take a C++ module or OBJECT that you can't dissabemble or don't have the code for, but you look at what goes goes in and what comes out and you experiemet with it and in your mind you say: Now, how did it do that! Then you experimetn with algebra until you have a program that emulates the object in peformance on a repeated basis. That's reverse engineering, something I unschooled myself to do. MOST people have to UNSCHOOL to do that one, because we call that HACKING in the real world and that's illegal. Schools do not teach hacking. SCHOOLS do not teach engineers to reverse engineer, that tends to violate PATENT LAWS.

I didn't know the math as I never took statistics. I never made it out of algebra 1, but I program computers. You can't program a computer without getting into TRIG and doing HEAVY algebra.

I know more about sine, cosine, tangent then most college graduates know. AFter all I work in cinema, video, electronics and computer programming where CIRCLES are made using that stuff and TV works using that stuff. So I'm FORCED to know it.

Now, ready for eceletic homeschooling!

Answer 8

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Answer 9

I was homeschooled for 2 years and heres the thing, public is better, so is private. (I've done all 3)