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In this post I am going to be discussing with you the specific ways you can use modern materials and technology of today with the most amazing materials of the past to create the ultimate learning plan for you and your children.
I’m Sherry Hayes, and I’ve come to the conclusions I’m sharing with you here as I’ve been homeschooling our 15 children over the past 37 years.
I’ve probably tried just about every approach out there, and I’ve decided that learning just isn’t that scarry. It’s mostly taking things in, talking about them, practicing skills, then sharing and applying what’s been learned.
Easy. Fun. NOT crazily stressful.
Since I like to take complicated things and boil them down to their essence, I have done the same with the idea of learning, and here is what I’ve come up with:
The Four Pillars of Excellent Learning:
- Gaining Favor With God and Man
- The Tools of Learning (reading, writing, and arithmetic)
- Content (history, science, the arts, et al)
- Application (doing real life outside of books)
And this is what I’m going to use as the skeleton for what I am going to show you today.
Now, if you are going to do a full-blown curriculum with online stuff it would be best if you had some basic office supplies on hand.
While you probably own most of these items, to purchase them new I don’t think would cost more than $30, even if you have more than a few kids.
- Paper (in the form of loose-leaf or as a composition book)
- A three ring binder or two, or maybe some pocket folders (to put the loose leaves into so they are kept tidy)
- Pencils
- Crayons, colored pencils and the like
- Some index cards and glue sticks
- A highlighting pen
(You probably already own most of these items.)
With these materials, you and your children will be:
- Practicing handwriting (basic and advanced)
- Doing some copywork
- Drawing
- Forming original sentences from vocabulary words
- Doing drawn and written narration
- Doing dictation
- Essay writing
- Creative writing
- Calculating math problems
- Creating charts
- Drawing maps
- Taking notes
- Creating notebooking spreads
How will you go about this?
Glad you asked. Here are some suggested practices:
- Do the dailies. These are the things we should put first to make sure they get done, including Bible reading with discussion, reading a work of prose or poetry aloud, and doing some math.
- Language arts. This consists of reading instruction, reading practice, literature reading and studying as well as writing exercises, grammar, and handwriting practice.
- Content areas. We want to work ourselves out of a job with this one. We lead our children into the enjoyment of learning about history, science, and the arts as a group, but then give them loads of time to continue the exploration of all of these subjects on their own.
- We give our children regular chores to do and assignments which develop a good work ethic and the ability to care for and get along with others. This includes cleaning house, taking care of the grounds, gardening, childcare, elder care, cooking, etc.
Scheduling:
- Begin the day with personal hygiene, morning house cleaning chores and breakfast.
- After this sit down and do your “dailies.”
- Next, add in some of the other areas, such as reading instruction, literature, and the content areas.
- Try and get this done before lunch.
- Besides keeping the environment clean and everyone safe, clean and fed, allow your children time to explore on their own.
With this understanding, here are some of the suggestions for digital materials I am making according to the Four Pillars:
No. 1:
Gaining Favor With God and Man
If you think about it, the Bible is the best “vintage” book we own; yet to true believers it is not old; it is new every time we read it.
This is where we start. We simply READ the Bible with our children, pray about it and according to it, and then discuss it with them. (For online learning, I like to use the Bible Hub app.)
Where do we start?
Here are some general suggestions:
- You don’t need a Bible story book; the Bible itself is fascinating for children. If your children are young, pick out the specific passages where there is a clear narrative, such as the creation story in Genesis, the story of Daniel in the lion’s den, when God led the children of Israel across the Red Sea, or when Jesus fed the 5,000.
- If you have older children, simply read through the Bible. To begin with, read a chapter from the Old Testament, then a chapter from the New Testament, then a chapter from the book of Psalms and/or Proverbs.
Our favorite practice is to split up an entire chapter according to how many readers there are and then have each person in turn read their passage aloud.
- Make sure and have some lively discussion afterwards. While we as parents are ultimately in charge, it’s a good idea to create an atmosphere of safety where the children can share freely, even their questions and things they don’t quite accept or understand.
Along with the Bible straight-up, make time for apologetics. Our children are going to live in a world that is opposed to the Truth. Don’t send them out as naïve lambs for the slaughter. Equip them by openly talking about the different ways the devil deceives and give them solid answers. There are a number of books out there which can help (one of our favorites is But Don’t All Religions Point to God? (affiliate) by Michael Green, as well as The Case for Christ (affiliate) by Lee Strobel, and Evidence That Demands a Verdict (affiliate) by Josh McDowell, all of which can be accessed via the Kindle app).
Also, make sure and read aloud copious amounts of biographies of heroes of the faith. There are so many in the public domain for free or on Kindle. I am including a post from the Kindred Grace website that includes a number of possibilities with links: https://kindredgrace.com/missionary-heroes-stories/
No. 2:
The Tools of Learning
I have talked a number of times on this podcast channel about the genius of the original McGuffey readers for teaching reading, I know there are still questions in people’s minds. While owning physical copies of these wonderful books is best, why not give the McGuffey’s (and other worthy readers of the same era) a try via online sources?
In order to help you do this, I’ve done hours’ worth of research tracking down the best versions of these books for you to use with your children. Along the way I discovered that it is nearly impossible to find the original, 1836 readers in digital form, but there are versions of the originals, which are nearly identical, from 1849 through about 1853, and they are called “Newly Revised” (not to be confused with the “revised” versions published in 1979 and later).
I am including a link to the Pictorial Primer from 1849, but I am also including a comparable reader from a different publisher for the first reader, since the only digitalized version I found of the first McGuffey’s reader was colored in and not very readable.
It is surprising just how easy it is to read this amazing little book on a tablet, and if you start with the free reading program from my website, MomDelights.com, you will be able to use this reader with ease, as well as the other readers I am suggesting, which are:
And here is a link to Harvey’s Elementary Grammar, in case you wanted to try it.
As for math, there are so many different vintage math texts to take advantage of!
Ray’s Practical Arithmetic is about the most straight-forward and easy to use, as you can see, and then there are a gazillion more!
For absolute beginning number learners, I suggest Number Stories, which has been reprinted by Living Books Press, but there are a number of other places you can read it online for free, including Internet Archive.
Then there are the Wentworth arithmetics, which you can find a number of places.
How can you use these?
Well, you could read the lesson along with your child and have them copy the problems, or you could read the lesson and put the problems on a chalk board or white board for your children to copy and do (during a time of unemployment when money was scarce, we used an old sixth grade textbook and a chalkboard to teach our children basic math). You could use the split-screen option on your tablet to work problems right there with your child.
Next, you will need to practice handwriting.
There are so many free ideas out there, but the simplest is to take a page of lined paper and a highlighter and write out circles, lines, and then simple letters for your child to go over after you.
Another idea is to take my free McGuffey’s cursive course and do it on a sheet of paper. At least you could try it out this way before you decide to print it out for your child.
Still another way would be to print out the free Palmer Method online.
No. 3:
Content.
This is where online materials are almost too abundant! My favorite place to find all sorts of vintage and modern free materials and suggestions is DIY Homeschooler.com. If you’re new to this type of learning, this is the place to go.
This site is basically meant to be a practical help for using the ideas of Ruth Beechick. There are instructions and links for just about every area of learning, including ideas for things to do each month with your children.
This includes reading, writing, math, history, science, the arts, life skills, etc.
Of course, there are podcasts and audio books and videos on all content subjects which can be accessed on a device.
After a good session of delving deeply, then doing some notebooking can really round things out and gives children a reason for practicing their writing skills! (This includes a well-written essay or two).
Oh, and don’t forget all of those read alouds that will help round everything out!
The Kindle app is terrific for this. We own a few Kindles, and I use the Kindle app on my tablet to access almost 300 Kindle books, mostly the free, public domain ones I have collected over the years, which include titles from G.A. Henty, Jane Austin, James Otis, Eggleston, Moody, Grahame, Dumas, Abbott, Dickens, and on and on.
If not accessible via Kindle, I also like to access vintage materials, both fiction and non fiction via these websites:
Baldwin Children’s Online Library (Gateway to the Classics)
Google Books (which you can access on an Android tablet via the Google Play app)
And, finally, there is
No. 4:
Life Application
There are soooo many ways to gain knowledge and real life skills online! The first place is YouTube, where you can find how-to videos on just about everything conceivable, such as how to fix a washing machine, how to build a cabin, how to hunt, how to fish, how to sew a quilt, how to create vintage costumes, how to bake a cake, how to host a party, how to make friends, how to do a good job interview, how to be a good spouse, how to be a good parent, and on, and on…
There are even some great vintage authors to help in this area.
William M. Thayer is one of these. He wrote the books Women Who Win, Aim High: Hints and Helps for Young Men, Ethics of Success, The Good Girl and the True Woman, as well as numerous biographies.
Beautiful Girlhood by Mabel Hale—you can access this one in its original form online, or enjoy it as Karen Andreola has revised it.
To sum up:
You can boil all I’ve said here into these simple points:
- Grab some books and materials online to read and experience on your device with your children.
- Talk about what you find.
- Write some things down.
- Create some things.
- Live life together.
- Give your children time to explore and learn on their own.
And they lived happily ever after. The end.
If you would like to listen to this post in a more informal podcast form, here are the links:
So appreciate this perspective! It is freeing and puts the emphasis where it should be: The Lord and relationships. Not expensive curriculums (they can be helpful tools, but aren’t the focus). Thank you!
You are so welcome–and such true thoughts!
Hi! I am struggling as I have a 3 year old boy. He knows all the sounds of the alphabet (I only taught him phonics) but when looking at a curriculum. Is too young? How do I know that he can and is ready to blend letters and read? When do I teach him to read and write and add and subtract? Do you have a recomendation of when to teach what or where to find this information? Considering the school system is different to homeschooling and how grades work. How can I know when is it time to learn the next thing and also enjoy childhood?