An Inside Peak Into Our Homeschool Schedule & Curriculum
I thought I would shake things up a bit and share the subjects and curriculums that we use in our family.
I spoke at a homeschool conference recently where there were quite a few families new to homeschooling, and a lot of people wondering what to do. This is NOT the only way to do homeschooling, of course. There are many curriculums out there! This is just the way we do it, and I’ll explain why we chose this path, in case anyone might find it helpful.
We use a classical education model.
I wasn’t raised using classical education. I felt totally lost when I started looking into curriculums years ago. And the classical education model was especially intimidating. It seemed so steeped in history, and more formal is the best way I can explain it, versus other options out there… The long and short of it was, I thought I couldn’t come to understand it.
However, the more I read about it, the more I became convinced of the merit of this type of education.
Not only does it have a 2,500 year history, but it has been the educational foundation of some of the greatest minds the world has ever seen.
Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Aquinas, Sir Isaac Newton, Shakespeare, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Martin Luther, and Benjamin Franklin are just a few of the countless influential thinkers and inventors who received this type of education.
I think there is something to be said for that, and that we should compare this to the new theories of education that have been around for maybe two or three generations at the most, and which are therefore not time-tested and have not produced even close to the number of high level thinkers and influential minds.
Not only is classical education a time-tested educational theory, but I also discovered (as I read about it) that I believed in the tenants of classical education. I have seen that the early years really are characterized by a child’s ability and desire to memorize vast amounts of information with ease (the “grammar” stage is what this is called in classical education). And I have seen that the middle school years really are characterized by a child’s innate desire to engage with facts and argue their points (the “logic” stage).
The root of what we do in our family with education is based on the belief that a rigorous education will benefit our children forever. We believe education is a gift. It is the greatest gift we can give our kids, besides knowledge of Christ Jesus.
Education provides knowledge. Knowledge is power. Knowledge gives the power to know truth from falsehood and good from evil—both in ideas, ideologies, systems of government, facts about nature, etc. Knowledge is a cyclical thing. It comes from a rigorous education which creates in children a lack of fear to continue growing in knowledge because they aren’t afraid to work hard to achieve it. They have grown accustomed to self-discipline and hard work precisely because of their rigorous education. They are spurred onward to greater and greater ideas and creativity, given the assurance that comes only from knowing the truth, and provided endless life opportunities as they accrue more and more knowledge to use to the glory of God and the furthering of His kingdom.
I’ve tried a number of programs in the process of figuring out exactly how our family wanted to go about teaching our children. I’ve tried Memoria Press, Charlotte Mason, Abeka, Veritas Press, and BJU Press, to name a few. Some of those are classical, and some are not, and I tried to weave various curriculums into a classical model. I was sorely disappointed by the lack of rigor in many of these curriculums.
One example of the disappointment was with Memoria Press, which is similar to Veritas Press but a much lighter program. For example, Memoria Press offers 4 books a year for Literature in 4th grade while Veritas has 10 books for the same grade. Memoria Press is a beautiful looking program, but it didn’t give us nearly enough to do or challenge the children enough to spark excitement and interest.
I won’t go through my thoughts about each curriculum that we tried right now, but I will say we landed mostly on Veritas Press. Veritas Press is Protestant and Classical. I’ve chosen our own Linguistics (spelling) book, Typing book, and Greek/Latin are done through a doctoral student at my alma mater for a very reasonable fee (FaceTiming once a week). I’ve also put together our own Literature class. I simply have my girls go through my Vetted Books List for Kids for literature, and they choose whichever books they want from the list. The goal is to make it through the list. My 2 oldest girls have finished the list of well over 300 classic books and I continue adding to it to keep them challenged. I’ve added things like typing as well (once they’ve learned cursive).
It is important to note that the reason we’re able to do so much from a young age is because the kids were enabled from a young age. Not because they are special. They learned to read when they were young which immediately led to inhaling material on their own and which made additional subjects much easier to integrate. It was like starting an avalanche. They learned to read fluently very young and that made their learning take off. They couldn’t be stopped.
And secondly, they can do all of this because their minds are not disabled by constantly using screens for entertainment purposes.[1] This schedule is not because they are brilliant. They are normal children. Normal children are capable. Normal children are smart. Normal children thrive off of challenges!
Irene (10 yrs. old):
Latin (A Progressive Latin Reader for the First and Second Years)
Greek (From Alpha to Omega)
Literature (see above),
Math (Saxon),
Linguistics (McGuffey’s Progressive Speller from 1838)
Typing (Dr. Fry’s Computer Keyboarding for Beginners)
Omnibus (a combo of history and Bible. Veritas Press self-paced course)
Bible- Genesis to Joshua (she has done this before and it is “for fun”—Veritas Press self-paced)
Grammar (IEW)
Writing (IEW)
Esther (9 yrs. old)
Latin (Wheelock’s)
Literature (see above)
Math (Saxon)
Linguistics (McGuffey’s Progressive Speller from 1838)
Cursive (Classically Cursive)
History (Veritas self-paced course)
Grammar (IEW)
Writing (IEW)
Bible
Clara (7 yrs. old)
Latin (Latin for Children Primer A)
Literature (my Vetted Books List for Kids)
Writing (IEW)
Grammar (IEW)
Linguistics (IEW)
History (Veritas self-paced course)
Bible (Veritas self-paced course)
Cursive (Classically Cursive)
Math (Saxon)
Mary (4 yrs. old)
Writing (Veritas Press 1st grade writing book)
Math (Saxon)
Literature (my Vetted Books List for Kids)
Bible (Veritas Press self-paced course)
Read to Joyce (her 2 yr old sister)
If you’d ever like to ask questions or explore further anything I’ve discussed in this post regarding curriculums, please do not hesitate to contact me through the “Contact Me” page. I’ll do my best to help! Thanks!
[1] https://academic.oup.com/cercor/article/25/5/1188/311796