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By Root 336 0

more of my time “teaching” them. When we began, the oldest was in sixth grade and could work mostly on his own. The middle child was in second grade, and so he required my time and energy. The youngest was just three years old and learning her ABCs. As time has gone on, I have spent less and less time teaching and more time acting as a resource to my children. They prepare their own lessons every day. With Calvert, they are required to take a test every twenty lessons on the material they have covered during that period. The tests are sent to Calvert’s advisory service for grading, which gives me a good idea of what they have been doing. All of the high school curriculum is written directly to the student, although I do help set up a weekly schedule for my son so he knows what he needs to accomplish for the week.

Eclectics

Margaret and Michael live with their two boys in a Northern California city. Although Margaret holds a teaching credential, the boys have always homeschooled through a public school independent study program. Michael is employed outside the home; Margaret works from home part-time.

It took several years for me to really understand differences in learning style and trust a child who prefers textbooks with questions at the end of the chapter to make sense of information. We get our textbooks for the most part through the independent study program (ISP). We follow the subject pattern of the public school with lots of latitude for following interests as they arise.

We find we have to set aside a few hours during the week to work together. I write my weekly log, and we plan for anything we need or want more of, such as time for musical instrument practice or completing a writing assignment. We let Wednesday morning ice skating account for the bulk of physical education. The elder, who has more questions in math, works on it while I’m cooking dinner and available at a reasonable regular time (as opposed to when I am working, for instance). Occasionally we take advantage of organized activities like math play days, science classes, field trips, theatrical productions, Spanish classes, and creative writing classes. Many of these are opportunities to spend time with friends as well.

There have always been periods of self-directed study on the days I had my weekly voice class and days we worked around baby-sitting other people’s children. I can’t remember many formal lessons—one or two in long division or cursive as they came up.

We have lots of history books, political science books, historical fiction, some natural history, anatomy, Spanish and Italian textbooks, and dictionaries, but our biggest source of materials is the library. We also borrow from friends and from the ISP.

How could I forget ITV/PBS? We use it little now, but when the boys were younger they watched so much that one weekend I announced that there would be no more TV starting Monday. On that Sunday, the third-grade Sunday School teacher told me she’d never heard such a clear explanation of photosynthesis as my child had given in class that day. I had never discussed photosynthesis with them. When he confirmed he’d picked it up from TV, I decided to start watching ITV (instructional television) with them instead of doing other things during that time. They learned about decimals and numerous other math concepts from ITV.

Generally, I work with the two boys separately, except when reading aloud, which these days is usually related to history.

Both boys became noticeably more independent in setting and accomplishing goals when they were about thirteen.

Unschooling: Jumping into the World

Lillian and Ed live in a small Northern California town. Ed’s job requires frequent travel, so Lillian is usually the parent at home. Their son, now a teenager, attended a Waldorf kindergarten and another private school for first grade.

We now have a core that we try to maintain through chaotic times around here. Ethan has a basket with his math books, writing materials, pencils, and all the basic materials that he might