A Different Approach to Learning

Last night I did some reading in my book, “How to Homeschool : A Practical Approach ” by Gayle Graham. It’s one of those vintage old skool paper back books that has the basic homeschooling for dummies/101 level of information and just puts it to you straight on how to do everything from how to find time to wash clothes while you homeschool to how to develop a unit study. I picked it up at the 2012 Homeschool Convention from the hand-me-down shop. I like straight forward material and this book does just that. I was reading last night about the simplicity of homeschool and how you can tailor your day and curriculum based on your child’s interests, strengths, and ways to address their weaknesses. A unit study is defined as, A cross-curricular educational approach in which learning is focused around a central, common theme. For instance, a unit study on trains would teach the development and use of early trains (history), train routes (geography), different engine types (science), train-based literature (language arts), and so on. Unit studies allow children of different ages to study the same unit together but in different levels of detail. (http://www.time4learning.com/homeschool/homeschooling_glossary.shtml)

With a unit study you are able to teach a specific subject from varying vantage points. What dawned on me last night was how I was taught in the public school system using textbooks as the main source of the curriculum. Textbooks are designed to cover a lot of material at a very high level over the course of the school year. So, you learn at a broad level. Homeschooling provides the opportunity to go deep in a specific area from varying vantage points (art, music, history, science, literature, etc.). When you learn about a subject using multiple senses you would assume that it would “stick” with you longer.

When we built our home one of the first things I did was find a good resource that I could read that I could educate myself on the process. But, after a year and a ½ of studying the floor plans, developing a budget, hiring and managing multiple contractors, coordinating with the bank for payments, and seeing with my own eyes the full process step by step I believe I could teach a course on the home building process! If I had only read the book I’m not sure how thorough my understanding would be. Well, when you compare that to the homeschool education using a unit study approach, there is the ability to go deep within a specific area of study and learn from varying vantage points. I would think that this approach would also foster the strengths of research in a student as well.

Oh, the joys of learning!