What's
Wrong with Textbooks?
Textbooks
don't work with all students. The public schools
achievement tests scores speak for themselves.
Seventy five percent of students using text books
require more to retain the material. (McCararthy)
The
easiest way for the state to teach is to divide
everything into subjects (from the Greek's philosophy).
Then they divide each subject into 180 hours--36
weeks of 5 days of 45 minute one hour classes.
In this manner they can teach from text books
to 30 to 50 children at a time. Surprise! Not
all children will learn a subject to the same
degree in 180 hours. Some need much more, some
need much less. Some children can learn the material
twice as fast using a different method. Instead
of measuring 180 hours we should be measuring
the end result.
There
are many, many more effective ways to teach about
God's world. Be sure to choose curriculum from
a source that starts with the Bible (not one that
only adds a few Bible verses).
A
few of my favorite books explaining alternatives
to text books are You
Can Teach Your Child Successfully
by Ruth Beechick, The
Language Wars and Other Writings for Homeschoolers
by Ruth Beechick (anything written by Dr. Beechick
is profitable),
Educating The Whole Hearted Child by
Clay Clarkson and Sally Clarkson.
Home
schoolers have the advantage of choosing the curriculum
that suits their child. They can use a variety
of approaches and a variety of levels if necessary.
Books
that explain the different approaches and different
materials available are:
Christian Home Educators' Curriculum Manual :
Elementary Grades,
Christian Home Educators' Curriculum Manual :
Junior/Senior High , and The
Big Book of Home Learning by Mary Pride
(Includes: Getting Started, Elementary, Jr. Sr.
High, After School)
Unit
Studies
A
unit study is an in-depth study of a topic examining
all areas of the topic including geography, science,
writing, literature, history, art, etc. It is
a complete immersion into the topic takes advantage
of the child's natural curiosity and works with
the natural learning processes to produce real
education that's also fun! Student see things
as a "whole" instead of bits and pieces.
Unit studies allow teaching several ages together.
This saves the parent time and money, instead
of having to buy, assign, teach, and check separate
workbooks and text materials for each child. See
Heart
of Wisdom Unit Studies.
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