[ High School and Self-Education Board ]
Posted by JennW in SoCal on 22:09 Apr 17
In Reply to: Is there any hope for a reformed unschooler? posted by Melanie
I started steering away from unschooling at a slightly earlier stage, but we are still relaxed classical homeschoolers. I also have a ds with some learning issues, so I've always tried to be as creative and flexible as possible in my approach.
My kids balked somewhat at first at having to do "real work", but now, with college looming on the horizon, they see the need to be prepared.
I think you might be pleasantly surprised if you really look hard at the "basic body of knowledge" your kids actually have. My kids had naturally absorbed huge amounts of history and science during our unstructured unschooling years. They simply needed to brush up on some basic skills, then they started to learn how to think about and analyze all that information.
Some things that worked for us:
Using the Story of the World books to cover history, and to use in practicing narrations, or even for copy work if need be. I did this with my oldest when he was 12 and 13, and it really worked wonders in cementing basic writing skills. I'd edit his work, discuss grammar rules, and he'd correct it. He is now a 9th grader and has decent essay writing skills.
Fallacy Detective is an entertaining book of informal logic, so enjoyable to read that it almost doesn't need to be assigned. It is helpful in beginning to identify faulty reasoning.
Sequential Spelling from AVKO was mentioned already and I heartily second that recommendation.
Audio books have been great as my kids could listen to books that were far above their reading level. Sometimes I'd have them read a print version while listening to the audio books. I read aloud to them also, or listen with them to the audio books, and of course we discuss the books together quite a bit.
Math U See, with it's video presentation and manipulatives is good, though I abandoned it in Algebra for Jacob's Elementary Algebra. I like the the sequence in Jacobs and its more story-like presentations.
I still allow LOTS of time for my kids to pursue their own interests, and I gear much of their assigned reading around their interests. For my high schooler, who is a theater geek with some learning disabilities, it has meant studying lighting design and the science behind it, reading biographies of playwrights and reading plays. I tie in history and literary discussions into his readings.
My only other piece of advice is to start slow with the structured study time. Going from a loosely structured day to a 6 hour day might cause a mutiny!! Start with the 3Rs for a couple of hours per day, and build from there.
Hope something from my experience is helpful!
Jennifer