Recently, I’ve shared a bit of the reasoning behind the alternative school schedule that we have implemented for years (this conversation happened via our Instagram community, you may want to follow along there if you aren’t already). Our school year runs year around, with the fullest schedule happening from May-September; a time when most are [...]
Tag: homeschooling
Homeschool chat: What is forest schooling?
Forest Schooling is outdoor learning which is learner - led and emphasizes self discovery, risk taking, and problem solving. The first official forest school was in Denmark. It started as what they called a “walking kindergarten” in the 1950s. Interestingly, the concept actually derived from the Waldorf approach. Soon the concept arrived in Sweden. They [...]
Homeschool chat: What is Unschooling?
John Caldwell Holt is often referred to as the “Father of Unschooling”. He was an educator in the 1950s who documented the glaring issues he saw in the school system through a total of eleven books. His ideas led him to be a consultant for many schools. But he then became an early proponent of [...]
Homeschool Chat: What Is the Montessori Method?
The Montessori Method is used in both classroom settings (in Montessori schools, led by certified Montessori teachers) and home environments. It was developed by Maria Montessori, an Italian physician, at the end of the 19th century. Here are some of the main tenets of the philosophy: • Mixed age learning groups. In classrooms, it is [...]
Homeschool Chat: What is the Charlotte Mason method?
Charlotte Mason was a British educator. She lived at the turn of the twentieth century. She believed that children should be respected as people and taught the motto: “I am. I can. I ought. I will.” She also believed that children were natural born learners and that the desire to learn need only be facilitated. [...]
Homeschool Chat: What is Classical Education?
For the final transcript posts from our most recent homeschooling chat, I will be providing a breakdown of the most common homeschool methods. None will be a completely exhaustive explanation, but they will provide some historical context and a basic framework of the main tenets for each method. We are starting with the Classical method. [...]
Homeschool Chat: Curriculum
This post will cover our own curriculum choices for this year, how to tell when a curriculum (or method) isn’t working, how to make a switch and the many ways that life can be a curriculum of its own. Much of what we do is pulled from multiple sources and then I compile it into [...]
Homeschool Chat: Balancing Lesson Plans and Life (Part 2)
You can find part one of this topic here. Question submitted to the homeschool chat: “How do you handle completing lessons that you have planned on days you have to actually live your life, go to appointments, run errands, etc?” My reply: We do some formal “sit down school” though we utilize unschooling as well. [...]
Homeschool Chat: Balancing Lesson Plans and Life (part 1)
Here we are with the first transcript of our August “Homeschool Chat”, a week long conversation that attempts to answer and discuss a wide range of questions submitted by parents. I give my thoughts and ask other homeschooling parents to contribute their feedback as well. It will likely take several posts for me to transfer [...]
Homeschool Chat: Extracurricular Activities, Socialization, and Thinking Outside of the Box.
Feedback from this chat included comments like: “I feel so relieved and encouraged!” “There is so much freedom in homeschooling.” “I learned that hobbies don’t necessarily have to be separate from extracurriculars.” “Homeschoolers are so well rounded!” When I asked the homeschoolers participating in the chat to list their kids extracurricular activities, several dozen different [...]
Emmy Goulet 
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