Reaching Higher
Homeschool News
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More Freedom than School-At-Home |
| | Choosing learning materials can be quite a daunting undertaking as there is so much to choose from.
Because it’s a huge responsibility to take on the education of your children yourself, instead of delegating it to a school, new homeschoolers very often choose a very highly structured, all-in-one curriculum package which is very like what they experienced at school:
1. a text book for every subject
2. a time-table to stick to in order to get through the syllabus for each subject in a prescribed time
3. assignments
4. tests
5. constant assessment and
6. examination services
What they are in fact doing, is replicating the school system at home.
They choose something that is familiar to them because they feel insecure and a curriculum package that covers ‘everything’ and offers accountability gives them security.
Martie du Plessis of Dynamis, a homeschool consultant, reports that after two years, about 87% of homeschooling families are stressed out or burnt out and either put their children back into schools or decide that they need to change the curriculum that they use.
So what are some of the more fun, flexible and successful alternatives?
1. Unit Studies
Unit studies, also called thematic units or integrated studies, are very popular with homeschoolers. They often include a multi-sensory approach, including hands-on activities for effective learning.
The child learns by actually experiencing or discovering through different methods and tasks, rather than just reading a chapter from a text book. Studies show that children using unit-study methods retain 45% more than those using a traditional approach.
A unit study approaches a chosen topic from many academic disciplines—geography, science, history, art, etc. It is a complete immersion into the topic so that the student will comprehend the study as a "whole unit" instead of as disjointed bits and pieces learned throughout his education.
“Unit studies encourage the use of imagination, creativity, and analytical thinking. In a typical textbook curriculum, the “facts” are simply memorized and regurgitated, only to be forgotten soon after the test. Unit studies teach children how to find the answers to their questions of how something works and why it is that way. They learn to seek the information that satisfies their need to know. They learn how to learn.”
For example a unit study with a history emphasis could be about The Great Trek:
• Reasons for the Great Trek (History)
• Clothing worn by Trekkers (History)
• Mapwork of the routes of the Trekkers (Geography)
• Food on the Trek (Cooking)
• Medicinal herbs used (Natural Science)
• Jukskei (Sport)
• Vocabulary e.g. wakis, voorloper, outspan,
• Writing skills e.g. a day in the life of a Trekker
• Stories of the Great Trek (Literature)
• Draw and label a picture of a wagon and its parts (Art)
• Calculate the distances travelled by trekkers (Maths)
One of the many advantages of using a unit study is approach is that it reinforces other academic skills, such as reading, writing assignments, copying, dictation, journal writing. Thinking skills mature through hands-on activities and problem analysis.
A unit study can be anything you want it to be. It can be short or long, filled with lots of reading aloud, lots of research or practical activities or just a few. It can be something you do as an add-on to your other studies or a full blown unit study that takes several weeks. The key is, you get to decide.
Another advantage of unit studies is that they can be used by the whole family, teaching children of multiple ages the same subject-matter simultaneously. Only the assignments should be varied based on each child's abilities.
In this way, unit studies saves the parent time and money and simplifies her life as she does not have to buy, assign, teach, and check separate workbooks and text books for each child.
Unit studies are ideal for the homeschool scenario!
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| 2. Lapbooks
A
lapbook is a portfolio or collection of mini-booklets of various shapes
and sizes. These are displayed in a coloured cardboard folder (or two
or more folders joined together) so that it can easily be folded up and
stored and that it can fit on your lap when you review it. Lapbooks are
ideal to use in conjunction with unit studies. Read more about Lapbooks
here.
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Footprints On Our Land
Our Footprints programmes will allow you to be
part of the 13% who are enjoying their homeschooling experience without
trying to follow the teacher + text book + classroom model, with all
its limitations! By means of the student guide, we will guide you into
delight-directed learning that is more suitable for the home education
scenario.
Our programmes include South African historical fiction, which are the basis for the multi-subject unit studies and learning activities included.
Our South African homeschool curriculum programmes are
created by two homeschooling moms like you, to SAVE YOU TIME and ENERGY,
simplify your life, build your confidence and minimize the stress
associated with educating your children at home…and we don’t just sell
you the books and then leave you to get on with the programme.
We offer after-sales support.
Children
LOVE stories and with our literature-based unit studies, plus optional
lapbooks, you will have a winning combination: fun, flexibility and
FREEDOM to learn without the stress of school!
Choose the one for your family:
Contact us for more information or visit our site using the links above.
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FOOTPRINTS ORDERING INFO
It would be wise to order your Footprints curriculum package as soon as you can to avoid the Back-to-School rush in the New Year.
Please note that we will not be sending orders from 16 December to 5 January due to the Christmas queues.
Due to the postal strike, we are currently using the courier services of PostNet, whereby your order will be sent to the nearest branch of PostNet within 2-4 working days. This is the most economical alternative we have found.
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