A growing number of homeschooling families are members of the
preparedness community and vice versa. Some families choose home education and
are introduced to emergency preparedness and homesteading concepts by others in
their local homeschool groups and co-ops; some are already involved in prepping
and decide homeschooling is the best option for protecting their children
during a time of school shootings and political upheaval.
As well, many families who love their public or private schools
are very interested in resources for teaching children prior to their school
years, during school cancellations, or in a neighborhood one-room schoolhouse
post-collapse. Whether you’ve considered dipping your toe into homeschooling or
just want to know more about how homeschooling works, there are plenty of great
resources out there if you’re willing to look.
#1) We
all homeschool to some extent
First of all, it’s important to understand that every involved
parent is actually homeschooling part-time, whether they realize it or not.
Offering support of your children’s passions and interests, stocking your
shelves with great literature, heading out on family field trips, and involving
children of all ages in the work of the homestead are key factors in “life
schooling”.
There’s so much to learn if your family practices a back to
basics lifestyle, and there are always ways to integrate each family member’s
talents and innate skills as both an educational experience and something that
serves the whole family. The young child planting beans beside you today may be
the one whose farm supports an entire community twenty years from now. The
mechanically inclined child (you know, the one who is always taking apart the
lawn mower) is the one to involve in research about solar and wind power to
make your homestead energy-secure.
Watching for these interests and talents doesn’t just help us
understand our children’s learning styles, which is vital for choosing a method
of homeschooling. It also helps us find ways to empower each child as they
contribute to the family’s preparedness efforts and as they find their way into
adulthood and the job market. These habits help lots of families, regardless of
children’s school attendance.
#2)
There’s no “right” way to homeschool
Secondly, when examining home education, please understand that
there is no one “right way” to homeschool. Every family – and every child – is
different, so even two families who use the same curriculum from the same
publisher will have days that are unique. Just a few methods of homeschooling
include:
·
Traditional
textbook method, which could just mean a pre-packaged curriculum for each
child, completed on the couch with a flexible schedule, or a dedicated school
space and firmly set schedule and a parent teaching lessons at a whiteboard
while the children work at their desks.
·
Unit
studies, where the entire family can join together to study all subjects via a
focus on a specific topic, theme, or book/series. These studies can last a few
weeks or an entire school year. One example of this is the Prepare and Pray curriculum,
which is based on a study of The Swiss Family Robinsonand
is meant specifically for families who wish to learn survival skills while
studying other cultures, learning about farm animals, and reading great
literature.
·
Waldorf
(or Waldorf-inspired) programs, which incorporate the teachings
of Rudolf Steiner into both education and lifestyle. Families who practice
permaculture, biodynamics, and handcrafts, and wish to focus less on formal
lessons at a young age, as well as those who eschew media such as television
and smartphones for littles, may be interested in Waldorf resources.
·
Delight-directed
learning, or unschooling, often appeals to homesteaders because
it creates lots of space for the pursuit of individual interests and the
routines of daily life. Pure unschooling would mean letting children pick up
skills as they need or want to know them, but many unschoolers, including
myself, do not hesitate to bring in a few more formal lessons in certain
subjects, especially math for the higher grades. (Daisy unschooled her daughter,
too.)
·
Classical,
or Trivium, method – This method focuses on the great books of
Western civilization, learning logic and critical thinking skills, and
classical languages such as Greek and Latin.
·
The
Principle Approach appeals to those looking for a
Biblically-based method that focuses on the divine hand of God in American
history.
·
The
eclectic method, where parents pick and choose between a variety of resources,
lessons, field trips, and more to make each subject best work for their
children’s learning styles.
Visit your local library to gather more information about
educational methods, both specific to homeschooling and used more generally
throughout schools of all types; there are so many philosophies to choose from!
A helpful text to request at the library or your local bookshop is Homeschooling
Methods: Seasoned Advice on Learning Styles (Suarez, 2006).
You may also want to try to attend a local homeschooling
convention so you can listen to lectures and peruse booths with publishers who
run the full gamut of methods out there. If you choose to homeschool, you may
find that your family doesn’t fit in one specific method, or that you need to
change methods every now and then to find the best fit. Don’t sweat it if that
happens – just call yourself an eclectic homeschooler and keep going!
#3)
Check your local laws.
Third, if you are looking to begin homeschooling long term, as
opposed to as a supplement in an emergency, be sure to check into the laws for
your area. Homeschooling is legal in both the United States and Canada, but it
is important to note that if you live outside of North America, homeschooling may
not be legal in your country. Several cases from Germany provide a perfect
example of how homeschooling can create legal troubles for families who buck
the standard education system.
A valuable resource for those in the United States is the Home
School Legal Defense Association. They offer basic breakdowns of
each state’s legislation and contacts at the state level for more in-depth
information. Always make contact with state- and county-level advocacy and
support groups; try as they might, national groups may not be as up-to-date on
legislation that will affect homeschoolers as locally focused groups will be.
#4)
Parents can be ready to homeschool after a long-term disaster.
If you are pleased with the education your child is receiving in
a classroom setting, remember that in the case of a collapse, their education
could be left up to you.
Here are a few tips.
·
Electronic
devices are wonderful tools, but nothing beats paper. Thanks to archival
programs such as Project Gutenberg, owners of Kindles and
other devices have access to an amazing library of public works. However, you
can’t go wrong by investing in your own print copies of reference books and the
finest literature for all ages. No EMP is going to delete the complete works of
Shakespeare or Alas, Babylon from your bookshelf.
·
Make
sure you have several good dictionaries (for grade schoolers up to collegiate
learners), a non-electronic math program, and plenty of paper and pencils in
your emergency supplies.
·
Communicate
with your children’s teachers and keep up to speed on what they are learning.
That way you’ll know where to pick up (or where to leave off) if a large-scale
disaster strikes. Diagramming sentences or building toy tipis may have to wait
if your family is focused on purifying water, starting a fire, or learning
geometry through targeting that big buck in the woods.
#5)
Homeschooling can be an excellent supplement to conventional education.
Lastly, if your only interest in home education is to try to
bring resources into your home for supplementation, remember these tips:
·
Remember
that homeschool lessons do not take the same amount of time that “real school”
does. Professional teachers are dealing with so much in a day, such as larger
classes than even the largest homeschooling family, and administrators who
decide what and how they can teach. They also have to make accommodations for
lunch, recess, defined class periods, planning days, seasonal breaks, and more.
My own children have been able to dive into a subject and keep going if they
are incredibly interested in it; on the flip side, they disagree with my belief
that there’s no such thing as a snow day at our house.
·
Your
family is not required to sit at the table for eight hours straight to do
school – our current average, with a sixth grader and a high school junior, is
two hours of time together at the table (plus tons of free reading and
experimenting time).
·
As
you go about your day on the homestead, consider children’s chores and how they
would be categorized as subjects at school. For example, the care and keeping
of chickens is occupational education (making sure each animal is healthy and
well and treating an injured bird falls under farming and veterinary science);
science (understanding spread of disease and biosecurity, as well as nutrition
and reproduction); and math (counting the gathered eggs and using them in
recipes). This kind of pondering will help you see the many ways children learn
at your side, right there on your homestead – where they may or may not get
snow days.
·
Don’t
forget that entertainment can be educational. Consider grabbing some interesting
documentaries at the library or watching a survival reality series like Homestead Rescue or Survivorman together for family movie night. You
could even make a weekend of binge-watching a fictional series like Jericho and discussing what the characters did
right and wrong, and how your family should respond in a similar situation. My
family calls this sort of thing “edutainment” – educational entertainment.
·
Never
underestimate the educational benefits of community events, day camps, and
museum outreach programs! One of my daughters has gone through First
Aid/CPR/AED certification as well as Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)
training with me, which led to her interest in working in the medical field
after high school. My other daughter is an ardent fiber fan who knits, spins,
and knows how to wrangle sheep; if there’s a fiber festival, she’s probably
there! My son is working toward his first HAM radio license and is learning
everything he can about alternative energy production, which falls right in line
with his passions as a future engineer.
·
We’ve
tried to invest our time, money, and energy in introducing all of the kids to
useful skills through attendance at historical reenactments, mountain man
brigade encampments, wilderness camps, and classes at folk schools.
Preparedness fairs and homesteading festivals offer a wide variety of classes,
lectures, and vendors who will gladly share their wisdom with kids of all ages.
The wonderful thing about these sort of events is that they are usually
scheduled around the traditional public school calendar. Since they take place
on weekends and during the standard summer vacation periods, most families have
a better chance of attending and taking advantage of the learning opportunities
available.
You don’t have to homeschool full time to find incredible
resources that will open up a world of adventure, entertainment, and education
for your whole family – just keep your eyes peeled and you’ll find plenty of
ways to incorporate the concepts of home education to benefit your family.
How do
you teach your kids?
If you are a parent, how did you educate your kids outside of
the typical classroom? Share your ideas in the comments below.
About the Author: Melonie Kennedy is a military wife who has homeschooled across the
country and around the world since 1999. You can visit her online at http://www.MelonieK.com.