We use a mish mash of classical education with a dose of the Charlotte Mason philosophy. We have curriculum for Math (Saxon), and language arts, but after that it is whole book learning (i.e. the library).
If we are going to study frogs, we get a book written by someone who is passionate about the subject. This tends to provide a more meaningful connection to the subject matter than a compiled biology textbook that clinically addresses the subject of frogs. In the former case you get someone who is completely jazzed by their subject matter, in the latter you likely have a textbook by committee.
Our child is a boy, and he is all boy. Instruction in the classroom tended to temper his natural learning patterns and behaviors. He did not excel in the environment.
Of course the only real drawback to homeschool is all the lost opportunity for socialization afforded by the GovCo schools...
These curriculums are good!
Public school is tending toward the feminization of our male children. “All boy” boys, those with healthy testosterone levels, are seen as problematic because they need authority in the classroom, a concept being “taught out” of aspiring teachers pursuing and education degree.
I remember my son’s first grade teacher. I had coached all the boys in her classes so I told her that she had better establish who is in charge right off the bat. I seldom had problems with these boys, but they knew who was boss, knew I loved their onery little hides, and they performed well for me gaining confidence in themselves.
Everytime I picked my son up for lunch that year the class was in complete uproar, kids out of their chairs, yelling and running around. This young teacher was doing what she was taught, walking around with her hands folded, speaking softly, “I’m looking for children sitting quietly in their desks.” Well, she wasn’t going to find them in THAT classroom!
They couldn’t even hear her! That teaching method comes from a “child rights” philosophy that says that authority should not be imposed upon children, and that you should never raise your voice above that of the children’s.
So, we diagnose our boys ADHD and give them amphetamines. Some kids do need meds but the diagnosis is not even clinical justified until the second grade. It is way over diagnosed.
this sounds like us... although we have been moving more toward a Latin-Centered approach... the less is more way of doing things... i love our homeschooling lifestyle and would not want to live any other way...
btw--there is a free online seminar, or "webinar" next Friday and Saturday... fantastic line-up of speakers... a kind of "who's who" in the Classical Christian education world... here is a link:
http://www.classicalhomeschooling.org/home.shtml
scroll to the bottom to see the list of speakers...