Ruth Beechick Package

Excerpt

From Dr. Beechick's Homeschool Answer Book

Q. Please help me understand the different types of educational philosophies I hear about at homeschool conventions. Do I need to formulate my own philosophy of education as the speakers tell me to?

A. One reason there is so much confusion is that we use the word philosophy on tow different levels. Used technically in education, it refers to underlying beliefs of truth and knowledge upon which we base decisions about what children should learn. Used in its everyday sense, it can mean almost anything. People can take a "philosophical attitude," being calm in the face of trouble. Or they say their philosophy on raising children is to be strict with them.

To further confuse the picture, the term is often interchanged with educational psychology, which refers to the underlying psychological views upon which we base decisions about how to teach children—the methods and the best ages and such. Philosophy helps us decide what to teach, and psychology helps us decide how to teach it.

I see no reason why homeschoolers should study the various educational philosophies to determine where they fit in, and especially not before they begin teaching. I can tell you ahead of time, if you're a Christian, that you won't fit into any of the philosophies they teach in a standard course. They'll say that you're "eclectic," that you draw a little from each of the philosophies. But they've got it backward. You're the one who has the correct and whole view of truth and knowledge, and each of the philosophies draws a little from that view.

It's really quite simple to just say that you have a Christian philosophy of education. When you're shopping for curriculum, you'll want to put the Bible itself in your plans. And all the other subjects you want from a biblical perspective. This biblical perspective is more important in subjects like literature and history than in a subject like arithmetic, but you'll know that without me telling you.

After you have homeschooled for a year or two is a better time to try writing the kind of essay that some of the speakers mean. By this time you can better express some meaningful thoughts about your Christian philosophy of education. Tell how it affects your choice of long-range goals (yes, mention goals), and some of the ways you plan to reach the goals. These latter points are your methods, of course, but you can mix it all up on your essay. Just write a plain language , down-home statement of what you want to accomplish in your homeschooling, and how you'll go about doing it.

Q.What is the Charlotte Mason approach and what do you think of it? What about Raymond and Dorothy Moore's position that later is better than early for formal instruction? It is very confusing out there. Sometimes just buying a textbook and workbook seems to be the easiest answer to the curriculum questions I have!

A. Charlotte Mason had some good ideas for teaching children. If you like them you can try them anytime; it doesn't take special curriculum to do it. As I read her, she was writing to tell parents what they could do at home with their children, who were not strictly homeschoolers but who were also attending English schools of her time. Thus the ideas tend to be the more natural ones of enjoying stories, observing nature and such. The more systematic, structured teaching was left to the schools.

Raymond Moore's writings on beginning reading come from a good knowledge of the pertinent research. He is highly competent to evaluate the research, and one of he most experienced in modern times. Homeschoolers would do well to listen to him. I agree with him and Dorothy on this and on almost everything they write about homeschooling.

"Later is better" has come to be a slogan, and it sometimes is misused. I'd say that if you have a choice of starting too early or starting too late, it's better to start too late, since you won't damage eye development or something. But, actually, you don't have to make that kind of choice, and Dr. Moore's book doesn't say that. It mainly points out the dangers of starting too early. Your real problem is to find the optimum time for your individual child.

These writers, and others, can inform you on numerous aspects of teaching, and they can stimulate your thinking. But don't read with the idea that you have to get teaching all figured out before you know what books to buy. That's impossible. Your idea of just buying a book is okay while you still feel confused.

If you're just beginning, you may choose something more structured than you'll want the second year, so don't buy very much at first. You can use the books in many ways: you read or the child reads, a big chunk or a small chunk, and so on. But if you just can't make it fit at all, you won't be the first homeschooler to discard the early purchases and try again. I could add that even in the classroom some of this juggling goes on, especially at the beginning of a school year when the teacher is learning to know the pupils.

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