Homeschooling 101 - August 16, 2018

Thanks to all the homeschoolers who provided information on various styles of homeschooling! The following information is not exhaustive but simply notes from the discussion that happened at this particular Mug-N-Muffin. Please see our Homeschooling Basics page for more "Getting Started" information.

Resources from the session:

Homeschooling Law Info in Georgia

There followed a discussion on various Homeschooling Styles. The notes for Montessori, Charlotte Mason, Waldorf, and Unschooling are accessible via the tabs to this section.

Montessori is a child-centered approach to education.  Every child is eager to acquire knowledge.  With Montessori, the teacher (guide) provides an environment that facilitates the child’s learning. Montessori in the home does not have to look like it does in the classroom.  You can educate your child with the Montessori philosophy without purchasing all the materials.

If you are interested in this style, it is important to read about the philosophy and have an idea of scope and sequence.  Manuals are extremely helpful.  There are some free ones.

If you like the Montessori philosophy, but feel it is too overwhelming to use all of it, try using just the math and the “Great Lessons”.

Elementary Resources (Ages 6-12).  There are so many resources!  These are a few of the ones I’ve used.

Facebook Groups

1. Montessori 101 (lot of members are focused on primary; but the admins are trained and often answer questions related to older children)
2. Montessori Homeschooling
3. Tackle Box Montessori – Guided DIY Materials – Homeschooling & Parenting (Suzanne provides a lot of free printables and she also has a website.)

Blogs

What Did We Do All Day (began Montessori-inspired, now Charlotte Mason)

Elementary Manuals

1. Montessori Teachers Collective (free albums) 
2. Wikisori.org (free albums)
3. Garden of Francis Montessori -- (She is a person of faith, but her academic manuals are secular.) 
4. NAMC (North American Montessori Center) – Expensive but very thorough.  Sets of manuals cover 3-4 years at a time.  There is a homeschool discount, but you need to call and request it. 
5. Montessori Research and Development – Cheaper alternative, not as many photos as NAMC, but very thorough. 

Printables

1. Montessori for Everyone 
2. Montessori Print Shop 
3. Montessori Materials
4. Livable Learning Montessori – this site is affiliated with Tackle Box Montessori

Training

There are online courses available.  If you are interested in being trained in person, there are local Montessori training schools and they may offer one-off courses for different subjects. Here are three in the Atlanta area.

1. International Montessori Training Institute
2. Montessori Institute of Atlanta
3. Montessori Teacher Education Institute of Atlanta

Books

1. Literary Education: A Charlotte Mason adaptation for modern secular homeschooling by Emily Cook

Websites

1. AmblesideOnline
2. Ursa Minor Learning

Oak Meadow Waldorf Curriculum is a great way to use Waldorf at home. Can be used either as a stand-alone curriculum or in conjunction with an Oak Meadow teacher.

Main websites:

1. John Holt - Growing Without Schooling
2. Peter Gray - Unschooling Advocate - Alternative to School and his blog, Freedom to Learn Blog 

Other blogs/websites:

1. Joyfully Rejoycing
2. The Natural Child Project
3. Sandra Dodd - Great guest articles 
4. Alliance for Self-Directed Education 
5. Unschooler Blog
6. Living Joyfully w/ Unschooling
7. Childhood Redefined Summit
8. GAUnschoolers - Yahoo group that includes local unschoolers?
9. No-Woo RU - Facebook group (Tama is an admin for this group. Freethinking/Science Based Radical Unschoolers. This is a closed group)

Books:

1. The Book of Learning and Forgetting - Frank Smith
2. Reading Without Nonsense - Frank Smith
3. How Children Learn - John Holt
4. Teach Your Own - John Holt
5. The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education - Grace Llewellyn
6. The Unschooling Unmanual - Jan Hunt
7. Parenting a Free Child: An Unschooled Life - Rue Kream
8. John Taylor Gatto - Dumbing Us Down, The Underground History of American Education (I included these because of their message against forced schooling)

Youtube Videos:

1. Unschooling: making the world our classroom
2. Hackschooling makes me happy 
3. Learning Through Unschooling
4. Skipping School 
5. How will I educate my children
6. New experiments in self-teaching

Real world resources that can be used for education:

1. PBSKids 
2. Starfall 
3. Roblox
4. Open Culture 
5. Carschooling 
6. DIY 
7. HarvardX - (Free online courses from Harvard)
8. Open Learning (Harvard)  
9. Khan Academy
10. Meet Up 

Unschoolers take advantage of the MANY other resources in the community! Museums, the Zoo, Botanical Gardens, History Center, Aquarium, etc. Many of these offer Homeschool Days and educator discounts.

Children’s choirs, art lessons, dance studios, climbing gyms, martial arts, gymnastics, library classes or meet-ups, etc. offer children experience finding and/or following their passions.