Teaching Methods

In the Classical Approach, children are taught tools of learning, collectively known as the Trivium. The first stage, the Grammar Stage, covers ages 6-10 and focuses on reading, writing, spelling, and Latin. Skills are developed in observation, listening and memorization.

At ages 10-12, children’s independent or abstract thought signals the Dialectic Stage. Instead of suppressing the child’s tendency to argue, the teacher molds and shapes it by teaching logical discussion and debate, and how to draw correct conclusions and support them with facts.

The final Rhetoric Stage, at about age 15, seeks to produce a student who can use language, both written and spoken, eloquently and persuasively to express what he or she thinks.

Hallmarks of the Classical Approach are the study of Latin from a young age and “conversation” with the great minds of the past through reading literature, essays, philosophy, theology, etc.

The Classical approach may appeal to you if:

• You believe that education is curiosity, inquiry, and the formation of the moral imagination through stories and great books.
• You want a strong emphasis on knowledge, reasoning, and written and oral communication.

Some examples of the Classical approach are:

Some advantages in using this method are that all ages can learn together, each at his or her own level. Planning time is reduced because subjects are not taught separately. Curiosity and independent thinking are generated. There are no time restraints. Intense study of one topic at a time is a more natural way to learn and because knowledge is interrelated, it is learned more easily and remembered longer.

The Unit Study approach may appeal to you if:

• You like hands-on learning centered around a central topic.
• You desire for all of the children in your family to learn the same topic at the same time.
• You want to easily follow your child’s interests in a structured way.

Some examples of a Unit Study approach include:

The Unschooling Approach is often defined by John Holt, a 20th century American educator who concluded that children have an innate desire to learn and a curiosity that drives them to learn what they need to know when they need to know it.

Unschoolers believe that children need access to more of the real world. Children should be given plenty of time and space to think over their experiences and to use fantasy and play to make meaning out of them. Parents should be on hand to give advice, road maps and guidebooks to make it easier for them to get where they want to go.

This method of schooling does not mean no education is taking place.  It means that parents are choosing to be relaxed in their homeschool structure. They rely on life experiences or specific interests of their children to direct most of their educational goals rather than traditional textbooks or even non-traditional written curricula.

The Unschooling approach may appeal to you if:

• You want ultimate flexibility in learning.
• You have faith that given the freedom to choose, children will be self-motivated to learn.
• You believe that children learn better when they are not forced or coerced, but instead are allowed to choose their own learning topics and methods.

Remember that Idaho education law does require learning in some form to be be taking place from age 7-16. No matter their education method of choice, parents should be prepared, if investigated, to show progress in math, language arts, science, and social studies.

Suggested resources: Growing Without Schooling, Homeschooling for Excellence by David and Micki Colfax, The Relaxed Home School by Mary Hood and The Unschooling Handbook by Mary Griffith.