There's more than one way to butter your toast

I've been homeschooling my children for over 11 years and I've seen a lot of very successful methods to allow kids to learn. Some methods involve actual teaching, some involve discovering your child's interests and responding accordingly, and some are a little both.

My method involves a lot of teaching, although I watch my kids intently to see what works and what doesn't. I have three children, ages 11, 9, and almost 6, so the method I'm describing is mainly for my 11 year-old, although I'll also talk about the changes I've made to fit the other two.

I would call myself a Classical Homeschooler. Within that designation, there are a couple of different schools of thought, and I tend toward the more traditional type of classical education. After a lot of research and debate, I started out using the book The Well-Trained Mind, by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise. It's a fantastic resource for curricula and other publications to use. It's kind of a "how-to" book on how to homeschool your child in the classical method (they also describe ways to supplement a schooled education as well). The authors warn the reader not to try to implement everything they recommend. I, however, made the rookie mistake of trying to do everything the exact way the authors told me to. I discovered, by trial and error (0f course), what worked for my oldest as time went on. I don't think he's too terribly damaged by my attempts at super schooling! For reasons I will describe in another post, I now think of The Well-Trained Mind as a neoclassical curriculum.

I was introduced to a more traditional way of education when I attended the HENA Conference last year (2007). I met Drew Campbell, who wrote The Latin Centered Curriculum, and spoke to him and some other homeschoolers who were following his method of teaching. It's a much simpler way, I think, to cover all the bases. I continue to use The Well-Trained Mind for its incredible history resource list.

So here's the basic curriculum for 11 year-old Iulius (not his real name -- he chose this as his "Latin name").

• Math -- I am lucky enough to have married a man with a Master's Degree in Applied Mathematics. He's currently teaching Iulius geometry.
• Latin -- Iulius has just finished the Latina Christiana series, which worked very well for him, although we often discussed the Christian implications of the program and put a secular spin on it. It uses ecclesiastical pronunciation, which Iulius is going to have to unlearn, although I don't think he'll have too much trouble with that. What's good about this program is that you can purchase a DVD instruction set, which is good for parents with limited Latin exposure. This is not the program I'm using with my other two children. I'm getting ready to start Iulius in Lingua Latina by Hans H. Oerberg. I'm not sure how this is going to work, but I've bought all the books I can think of, so I'm hoping for the best.
  
• Greek -- We're working on the first book of Elementary Greek, by Christine Gatchell. This is a Koine Greek (sometimes called "New Testament" Greek) program, so I'm also looking at Athenaze, which is an Attic Greek program. Athenaze supposed to be more difficult and for older kids than Elementary Greek.
• Classics/Literature -- Iulius and I have just finished reading Homer's Iliad and Odyssey in translation. I'm researching the different translations of Virgil's Aeneid for our next epic.
• Writing/Grammar -- I must admit we're floundering a bit in this. I'm trying to teach Iulius, who happens to be a very good natural writer, in the progymnasmata method of writing. I'm trying to use the ClassicalWriting program, but I'm having problems implementing it. It has too much "busy work" for my or Iulius' taste, so I'm trying to streamline it a bit.
• History -- Iulius uses the history resource list for 6th and 7th Grade from The Well-Trained Mind. He's currently reading The Story of the Renaissance by Suzanne Strauss Art.
• Handwriting -- We use the Getty-Dubay Italic Handwriting Series.
• Science -- We generally "unschool" science. My husband will demonstrate or talk about whatever scientific interests the kids show. We also like to do a lot of nature walks, which open scientific discussions.

For 9 year-old Lucretius, reading has been a little bit of a struggle. He's quite a good reader now, but lacks confidence, so that's what we're mainly working on. I won't start Lucretius on a writing/grammar program until the summer and he won't start Greek for another year or so. Otherwise, if I don't mention a subject, then I'm using pretty much the same thing with Lucretius and Aemelia that I'm using with Iulius.

• Math -- My husband works off of the Spectrum Math program for the younger two children.
• Latin -- a friend with a degree in Classics turned me on to The BigBook of Lively Latin, by Catherine Drown. You pay for access to the website and then print the chapters as you need them. I think at some point, the website will be published as a regular book. The website also has mp3 files for pronunciation (both ecclesiastical and classical) and has some games to play. Lucretius is just starting with Latin and we're going very slowly.
• Classics -- I'm reading D'Aulaires Greek Myths to them and referring to the Memoria Press guide to help round out the program.
• Reading/Literature -- I have Lucretius reading graded readers about things he's interested in. Right now, he's reading two pages a day in a DK "proficient readers" level book about the Trojan War. I've also implemented a 10 minute a day independent reading time, where I sit close by, so he can ask me questions. He really seems to enjoy this time.
• History -- We use Story of the World, by Susan Wise Bauer. Lucretius is in the 3rd volume right now. We also get outside books if there's something particularly interesting that we want to research.
• Spelling -- We use Spelling Workout from Modern Curriculum Press. Iulius used the series through the beginning of this year and really seemed to get a lot out of it.
  

Almost 6 year-old Aemelia gets the benefit of everyone else's lessons as well as her own. Her two most important lessons are reading and math.

• Reading -- She's zipping through Phonics Pathways by Dolores G. Hiskes. I'm also reading the Winnie-The-Pooh books to her as well as nursery rhymes and other fun poetry.
  

We're usually involved in a couple of read-aloud books, too. I'm reading them The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff and their dad usually reads a chapter of a Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys book before bed.

I know this looks like a lot, but the kids are usually done with all of their lessons, including their piano practice, by lunchtime. Afternoons are spent at park day, art class, ice-skating, or just hanging out. It's important to me for the kids to have a lot of open time to do whatever they want.