When I began homeschooling 32 years ago in Germany, my curriculum options were extremely limited. As far as I know, there was only one book fair in the entire country. I drove 3 hours on the autobahn one night to a small gymnasium where homeschooling expatriates offered boxes of used books. I pawed through the tattered selections, grabbed a very thorough-looking pre-K program to teach my four-year-old (already you can see my mistake, eh?), and climbed back in my van for the 3-hour trek home.
Our daughter hated that curriculum. I hated it, too. I realized I didn’t need written instructions to talk to my four-year-old and show her the world. So we ditched it. Other than a few workbook pages we did for fun, our daughter never saw that expensive curriculum after the first month of preschool.
With my budget blown, I had to come up with something else. I used the program as a guide to what skills we should cover. Then we had fun following her interests using real books, taking nature hikes and field trips, and working on skills that came up in the course of everyday life. We just talked a lot and had fun learning…and that’s how I created a life-changing homeschool experience by accident.
There are many approaches to homeschooling. All of them have strengths, but they also have weaknesses. What’s ideal for one family doesn’t work well at all for another, and within a single family what works well for one child is not necessarily ideal for their siblings.
Hands-on experiences became the glue that held our educational journey together. Our goal-oriented daughter enjoyed seeing how the skills she learned could be put to practical use. Our adventurous son enjoyed learning while he was active. Our brand of eclectic, hands-on learning offered:
- the security of a textbook approach,
- the richness of great literature,
- classical Socratic discussions,
- the cross-disciplinary connections of unit studies, and
- enough excitement to hold a child’s interest without seeming like “school.”
End result? Our children became enthusiastic lifelong learners. They approach challenges with confidence because they know how to teach themselves new skills and be productive in the process of mastering those skills.
If that sounds like your ultimate goal for your children’s education, no matter which method of homeschooling your family uses, a hands-on element can enhance everyone’s educational experience.
