The Homeschool How To
I don't claim to know anything about homeschooling, so I set out on a journey to ask the people who do! Join me as I chat with homeschoolers to discuss; "why are people homeschooling," "what are all the ways people are using to homeschool today," and ultimately, "should I homeschool my kids?"
The Homeschool How To
Curriculum Series: What Does an Unschooler Use To Fill In The Gaps in the Early Years?
Unlock the secrets to crafting a truly personalized homeschooling experience with our latest episode, featuring the insightful John Dale. As an advocate for unschooling and a successful author, John joins us to share his family's distinctive approach to education, emphasizing faith in one's abilities and a deep understanding of each child's unique needs. Through his engaging stories and practical wisdom, discover how to transform curriculum from a rigid structure into a flexible tool that enhances your child's learning journey.
Join us as John reveals his role as an observant guide in his children's education, highlighting the importance of nurturing a love for reading and recognizing those pivotal moments when a child is ready to learn something new. From utilizing resources like K-12, Starfall, Khan Academy, Math Mammoth, Brave Writer, and Life of Fred, to handling the challenges of homeschooling teenagers, John's experiences offer a treasure trove of insights. This episode is a testament to the power of personalized education and will inspire you to trust your instincts in creating a supportive and adaptable homeschooling environment.
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Welcome to the Homeschool How-To Find my Curriculum, a series where we talk all about curriculum. I've been interviewing homeschooling families for over a year now on my main podcast, the Homeschool How-To, but I really wanted to zero in on curriculum. There's so much out there. How do I know what would work best for me and my child? How do I know what works for one child would work for the other? I might like the curriculum I'm using now, but how do I know there's not a better one out there, especially if I don't know all the curriculums? And what about supplemental curriculum? Should I be using that too? This series is to help you decide just that. I'm going to interview parents who are using all the curriculums so that you can decide the absolute best way to unfold your homeschooling journey. The absolute best way to unfold your homeschooling journey. Welcome. And with us today I have John Dale. John, thank you so much for joining me.
Speaker 2:It is my pleasure.
Speaker 1:I know you did more of an unschooling approach and the walk talks that you discuss in your book but was there any sort of curriculum that you use that you particularly like?
Speaker 2:Okay, so, yeah, so curriculum is like having the right size wrench. I saw now in hindsight a lot of parents, a lot of homeschools use curriculum kind of like a crutch as a substitute for the faith that's required, I think, to alleviate the fear and so and not necessarily just in a religious sense have faith in yourselves. You can do this. You're the parents you brought these people into the world. You've already done the really, really difficult bit Just have faith and remember a couple of key principles.
Speaker 2:But occasionally we did get a curriculum. We got the K-12 curriculum with the individual courses and that was for like first and second grade and then they moved stuff online and we kind of looked at how they were doing things and my wife and I are like, well, we could probably come up with something here. Then we used a tool called starfall for screen time so that we didn't if we could help, we didn't let our kids descend down a youtube algorithm we used con academy to to fill, you know, those gaps in what we perceive to be their, their curriculum, their educational progress.
Speaker 2:We used math mammoth we have some of those textbooks Brave Writer, and then also we were gifted the Life of Fred by family friends, and so we've looked at integrating that a little bit as well and then eventually, once my wife really learned how to deliver phonics, it was just sort of became second nature for her to go through that process with a little human being and bring them to the point where they're actually reading and reading chapter books, and then they get an appetite for what's in there, and when they see mom and dad and older sisters reading, I'm kind of surprised our dog hasn't started reading yet.
Speaker 2:With our devotion to reading, we're big readers and we're big advocates for being able to read, and so, yeah, that's kind of. But we didn't, we didn't, we didn't like regiment our homeschool, we didn't set a schedule and we're doing math during this time, as one of my jobs as the administrator was to be observant, look for those moments when the light is on and they're ready to learn something, and then hammer that. Whatever you have to do, if you got to go, spend your last five bucks on a new ream of paper and some pencils. And you know, if you're letting them scribble on the paper, that's training their brain and that's practicing. It can be maddening. You're going to end up with thousands of pages of scribbles, but that's part of the process.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just being and then looking for when the light's on and when somebody's home and that's a good time. They're in the right frame of mind. And, of course, as the girls went into their teenage years, there were more fluctuations in those opportunities and so we had to look more closely at, you know, when those opportunities were there. Trying to force things always had negative effects and the curriculum was used sparingly to fill those gaps and we've made plenty of mistakes.
Speaker 2:But I think that well, you know, just trusting in ourselves and getting the diet right. If you don't get the diet right, it doesn't really matter what else you're going to do. And curriculum is good, uh, to kind of you know making sure that they can. They can do the basics. And if you have kids who just love to be on that computer and you have a little bit of skill with the firewall, you can just give them access to those couple of online resources we use.
Speaker 2:Starfall and Backpack Bear was one of Casey's favorites and she ended up that was one of her first sewing projects was. She made a Backpack Bear from this service. So parlay those experiences. And when you're there and present as a parent and administrator and homeschool teacher, you see those opportunities to kind of bounce off and riff off of what they're doing already and just look for those opportunities to bridge gaps. And how is math related to? You know, english literature and history? How's that related to logic? And you know there's you kind of you string together and tension everything together like you're lacing a wheel over time. And I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings again, but one of the stark realities is that parents are just caught up in our system and work in multiple jobs and just they have faith in our school system, which is I don't think you should have faith in our school system right now.
Speaker 2:You should have faith in individuals working within them, and I think that we could modify our educational economy to allow collectives or consortiums of homeschooling parents to specifically hire specific teachers in specific areas and to use those teachers, like we use curriculum, to fill in gaps in knowledge.
Speaker 2:One of the wonderful benefits of this is that the parents, too, get to learn. I've learned so much reviewing this material. Being present for a lot of these activities, it's reinforced my own intellectual fundamentals. There's so much value that comes out of this If we can just figure out how to grow food and defend our country without splitting up our families.
Speaker 1:Amen to that. Yes, that's something that we're working on and that's homeschooling right there. How do we grow our own food? How do we, you know, get the chickens, take care of the chickens, take care of the cow, the pig, and what is you know butchering them look like, and you know mating them, and it's a whole. Yes, I've learned much more in the one year that I have homeschooled my six-year-old through children's books mostly through children's books than I ever learned in the education system and four years of university. I say that all the time.
Speaker 2:I want parents to know that these beautiful gifts that they have are worth the time, effort and risk to do all that you can so that they can live fulfilling and meaningful lives of their own, while contributing to their communities at the same time.
Speaker 1:Fantastic. Thank you so much. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Thank you so much for listening. Please consider sharing this podcast, or my main podcast, the Homeschool How-To, with friends, family, on Instagram or in your favorite homeschool group Facebook page. The more this podcast is shared, the longer we can keep it going and the more hope we have for the future. Thank you for your love of the next generation.