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Common Teaching StylesThe following is reprinted from the 1999 Elijah Company catalog. The Traditional ApproachIn the Traditional Approach, graded textbooks or workbooks follow a scope and sequence that covers each subject in 180 daily increments over a span of 12 years. Teacher's manuals, tests, and record keeping materials are usually available that correspond to each of the texts. Textbook curricula assume you will run your home school like an institutional school. Worktext programs present textbooks in consumable workbook format. The student learns his lesson, is given assignments, and is tested all in the workbook. The worktexts include tests or checkpoints to ensure that the material in each section is mastered before the student moves on to the next. Worktexts also allow more independent study and require minimal teacher preparation time and supervision. The Classical ApproachThe Classical Approach to education has produced great minds throughout history. The modern proponent of the Classical Approach was British writer and medieval scholar Dorothy Sayers. As the Nazis rose to power in the 1930s, Sayers warned that schools were teaching children everything except how to think. Because young adults could no longer think for themselves, Sayers felt they could be easily influenced by whatever tyrant came along. To remedy this, Sayers proposed reinstating the classical form of education used in the Middle Ages. In the Classical Approach, children under age 18 are taught tools of learning collectively known as The Trivium. The Trivium has three parts, each part corresponding to a childhood developmental stage. The first stage of the Trivium, the Grammar Stage, covers early elementary ages and focuses on reading, writing and spelling; the study of Latin; and developing observation, listening and memorization skills. The goal of this stage is to master the elements of language and develop a general framework of knowledge. At approximately middle school age, children begin to demonstrate independent or abstract thought (usually by becoming argumentative or opinionated). This signals the beginning of the Dialect Stage in which the child's tendency to argue is molded and shaped by teaching logical discussion, debate, and how to draw correct conclusions and support them with facts. The goal of this stage is to equip the child with language and thinking skills capable of detecting fallacies in an argument. Latin study is continued, with the possible addition of Greek and Hebrew. The student reads essays, arguments, and criticisms instead of literature as in the Grammar Stage. History study leans toward interpreting events. Higher math and theology begin. The final phase of the Trivium, the Rhetoric Stage, seeks to produce a student who can use language, both written and spoken, eloquently and persuasively. Student are usually ready for this stage by age 15. To learn more read: Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning and Classical Education and the Homeschool by Douglas S. Wilson. The Unit Studies ApproachA Unit Study is taking a theme or topic (a unit of study) and delving into it deeply over a period of time, integrating language arts, science, social studies, math, and fine arts as they apply. Instead of studying eight or ten separate, unrelated subjects, all subjects are blended together and studied around a common theme or project. For example, a unit study on birds could include reading and writing about birds and about famous ornithologists (language arts); studying the parts, functions, and life cycles of birds and perhaps even the aerodynamics of flight (science and math); determining the migration paths, habitats and ecological/sociological impact of birds (social studies); sketching familiar birds (art); building birdhouses or feeders (hands on activities) and so forth. Several find prepared unit study curricula are available. Alta Vista uses five divisions each year for its units: plants, animals, earth and space, man-as-individual, and man-in-community (1-800-788-0840). KONOS uses character qualities for its units (1-214-669-8337). Bill Gothard's Advanced Training Institute of America focuses on passages of Scripture as well as character qualities (1-630-323-7073). The Weaver arranges subjects around a chronological study of the Bible (1-888-367-9871). To learn more read: How to Create Your Own Unit Study by Valerie Bendt The Living Books ApproachThe Living Book Approach is based on the writings of Charlotte Mason, a turn of the century British educator. Miss Mason was appalled by several tendencies she noticed in modern education. (1) The tendency to treat children as containers to be filled with predigested information instead of as human beings. (2) The tendency to break down knowledge into thousands of isolated bits of information to be fed into "container" children. (3) The tendency to engineer artificial learning experiences. She believed in respecting children as persons, in involving them in real-life situations, and in allowing them to read really good books instead of what she called "twaddle" - worthless, inferior teaching material. She considered education a failure when it produced children able to "do harder sums and read harder books" who lacked "moral and intellectual power." Children were to be taught good habits, involved in a broad spectrum of real-life situations, and given ample time to play and create. Mason's approach to academics was to teach basic reading, writing and math skills, then expose children to the best sources of knowledge for all other subject. This meant giving children experiences like nature walks, observing and collecting wildlife; visiting art museums; and reading real books with "living ideas." She called such books "living books" because they made the subject "come alive" unlike textbooks that tend to be dry and dull and assume the reader cannot think for him/herself. To learn more read: For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay The Principle ApproachThe Principle Approach is an effort to restore to American Christians three vital concepts; the knowledge of our Christian History; an understanding of our role in the spread of Christianity; and the ability to live according to the Biblical principles upon which our country was founded. The Principle Approach is a way of living life, not just a way of educating children. Developers of the Principle Approach rediscovered seven Biblical principles upon which our country was founded and by which many of the founding fathers were educated. The seven principles are as follows: (1) Individuality (God has created distinct difference in people, nations, etc.). (2) Self Government (Government starts in the heart of man.) (3) Christian Character. (4) "Conscience is the Most Sacred of Property." (5) The Christian Form of Government. (6) How the Seed of Local Self Government is Planted. (7) The Christian Principle of American Political Union. Four emphases are unique to this educational approach. First, there is a recognition of God's hand (Providence) in history. Second, there is the understanding that God has ordained three governmental institutions (the home, the church, and civil government) through which He unfolds His purposes and manifests Christ on this earth. Third, each Christian is responsible for extending God's government. Fourth, the student assumes responsibility for learning and for applying discovered knowledge to his life. The Principle Approach may be applied to the study of any subject with the use of notebooks to record "the 4 Rs" (Researching God's Word; Reasoning from the researched Biblical truths/principles; Relating the truths and principles discovered to the subject and the student's character; and Recording the individual application of the biblical principles to the subject and the student.) To learn more read: Come Let Us Reason by Kris Bayer The Unschooling ApproachOn the one hand, the Unschooling Approach is defined by John Holt, a 20th century American educator who concluded that children have an innate desire to learn and a curiosity that dries them to learn what they need to know when they need to know it. Holt believed that both desire and curiosity are destroyed by the usual methods of teaching. In his book Teach Your Own, Holt wrote: "What children need is not new and better curricula but access to more and more of the real world; plenty of time and space to think over their experiences, and to use fantasy and play to make meaning out of them; and advice, road maps, guidebooks, to make it easier for them to get where they want to go (not where we think they ought to go), and to find out what they want to find out." On the other hand, unschooling refers to any less structured learning approach that allows children to pursue their interests with parental support and guidance, and lets children learn by being included in the life of adults. The child is surrounded by a rich environment of books, learning resources and adults who model a lifestyle of learning and are willing to interact with him. Formal academics, if pursued at all, are pursued when the need arises. In this approach, children are apprenticed or "discipled" by adults who include them in what they are doing. In the process, the child learns everything the adult knows, and possibly a great deal more. Christians who favor less structured schooling, but with definite goals, prefer to be called "relaxed home educators." To learn more read: The Unschooling Handbook by Mary Griffith |
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