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 be:
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. |
The
Multiage Classroom, by Sandra Stone