Those with large families often wonder, "How do we successfully
unschool my family when my state requires me to report?"
Schools, meanwhile, are trying to create a large-family atmosphere
at their sites so that young children may learn as if they were
in a home setting! Many advanced school systems are attempting
to copy what unschoolers have been doing all along; they just
use 'educationalese' to explain what they do. They call this
academic setup a "Multiage Classroom." We homeschoolers,
of course, recognize this immediately as a "homeschooling
family with two or more children." This is a review of a
book meant for teachers and parents of children in such classrooms
called Creating
the Multiage Classroom, by Sandra Stone The theory behind
this "new" educational technique seems to have been
lifted from Unschooling.com:
Children learn best in a family
setting. I recommend this book, especially to those trying to
unschool a large family with
a number of children ages 8 and younger. Make adjustments because
you are a real family in a real home. There are lots of good
tips for creating unit studies
that all your family will enjoy.
Here I paraphrase Ms. Stone's table about how to make the
"Multiage Classroom" succeed.
Foundations For Successful Homeschooling
|
This Works |
This Doesn't |
| Help
your children develop knowledge and skills in many areas and
learn how to learn. |
Focus on discrete
skills in primarily academic areas. |
| Focus
on your children's successes. |
Focus on your
children's deficits. |
| Have
different expectations for your children than the "norm"
for your community. |
Have same expectations
for your children as those in same grade in your community. |
| Value
every child, developing self-esteem and sense of competence. |
Evaluate children
by group norms where some succeed and some do not. |
| See
every child as unique with her own rate of development and allow
each child to move at her own pace. |
Expect your child
to reach arbitrarily set goals, such as grade level expectations,
irrespective of their learning rate or previous knowledge. |
| Provide
integrated learning experiences through learning centers and
projects. |
Divide curriculum
into separate subjects with a certain amount of time allotted
for each subject. |
| Provide
opportunities for your children to learn by doing; skills are
learned in meaningful contexts such as projects in appropriate
home or community spaces; involvement is active. |
Engage in predominantly
parent-directed learning activities with the whole group; pencil-
and- paper activities; children working quietly at the dining
room table. |
| Plan
learning environments for your children. Create workshops, music
practice rooms, a quiet library, in your home, for example. |
Plan lessons and
correct papers. Spend your weekends doing this instead of enjoying
a recreational opportunity with your family. |
| Support
your children as they work and play individually or in small
cooperative groups; promote social learning. |
Expect your children
to work alone, silently, at a desk; discourage them from helping
each other. |
| Provide
concrete, real, and relevant learning materials, such as typically
found in a home library, kitchen, workshop and garden shed. |
Limit learning
materials to primarily textbooks and workbooks. |
| Provide
opportunities for your children to play both indoors and outdoors. |
Limit play opportunities
to so children have more time for academic tasks. |
| Support
pro-social behavior by providing opportunities for children to
learn through actual social experiences in the home and community. |
Lecture on pro-social
skills, but provide little opportunity for social interaction. |
| Support
a high level of moral development by providing opportunities
for you children to develop self-control, grow through mistakes,
socially problem-solve, make choices, and take responsibility
-- all within meaningful social contexts and with positive guidance
from you, the parent. |
Limit your children's
opportunities for a high level of moral development by imposing
strict rules with rewards and punishments; make parental control
in your home more important than children learning how to control
themselves. |
| Encourage
intrinsic motivation: children learn because they see it as valuable
and self-fulfilling. |
Reward learning
with prizes or other forms of extrinsic motivation. |
| Support
your children as competent learners; never embarrass a child;
value each child. |
Embarrass children;
hold them up as examples of incompetent learners; devalue certain
children. |
| Model
empathy, caring, passion for learning, enthusiasm, love for each
child at all times. |
Limit your role
as "teacher" to the dissemination of information during
"school" hours. |
| Allow
children to achieve success as its own reward. |
Motivate children
through giving grades. |
| Use
authentic assessment such as portfolios. |
Assess children
through tests and worksheets. |
| Report
your children's progress through narrative reports or portfolios. |
Report your children's
progress through graded report cards or transcripts. |
| Never
resort to holding your child back, which can seriously damage
your child's self esteem; support your children by not referring
to their grade level at all. |
Repeat a grade
level because they haven't gotten one subject yet and you have
to buy curriculum in full grade sets. |
| Encourage
more distant family members to participate in the learning experiences
of your children. |
Limit homeschooling
to just Mom and Dad, vaguely reporting what you do to grandparents,
aunts and uncles. |
| Provide
community experiences that are relevant, enjoyable, and meaningful;
realize that children also need opportunities to play and enjoy
others outside the family. |
Sign your child
up for only academic community activities, and for so many classes
you must sacrifice playful family time. |