Homeschool Thankfulness -- Choosing our Methods

Yesterday I talked about how much Addison enjoys getting to chose her favorite subjects when she picks her homeschool classes.

One thing I enjoy as a teacher is that I get to choose how to teach my student and that I can adjust our methods and materials to fit each child's temperament and learning style.

Addison loves to read and therefore uses a curriculum that includes lots of great books and has lengthy reading assignments. She reads historical fiction books to get an overall picture of a specific time period and loves reading great literary works. Brennan, on the other hand, is not as enthusiastic when it comes to reading assignments. He does better with a simple American History textbook.

I'm still not sure where Lauren will fall in terms of her dominant learning style. For now, I'm doing lots of read-alouds while her reading skills are developing. Thankfully, I'm able to try different learning approaches until I figure out what works best for her.

I rely on traditional science books and curriculum for the majority of our science lessons, but I try to squeeze in a few experiments too. Now that I'm looking through all our pictures, maybe I should pay more attention to the hands-on activities and worry less about the written assignments.

We have appropriate sized desks that everyone could use, but it seems like everyone finds other places to work instead -- on the couch, on the floor, on a bed, on the giant beanbag, or sometimes even in the car. I think all of us would go crazy if I tried to get everyone to sit still and work quietly all day long.

When looking at our homeschool assignments, I sometimes realize that the material doesn't necessarily need to be taught using the assigned worksheet. A lot of times just as much learning comes from games or art projects.

One of the reasons I'm most thankful that we homeschool is that I have the freedom to make homeschooling work for our family by tailoring our lessons to each individual child.


This post about Homeschooling Thankfulness is part of a larger Blog Hop sponsored by members of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew. I've included the links to eight of my friends who are participating this time around. If you'd like to read even more homeschooling related posts, you can click on the button below to find the links to all the participants.

Dawn @ Guiding Light Homeschool ~ Homeschooling with Excessive Energy
Lexi @ Lextin Academy ~ The Homeschool Dad, CEO
Lynn @ Ladybug Chronicles ~  Organizing Your Home and School
Cristi @ Through the Calm and Through the Storm ~ Homeschooling Thankfulness
Melissa @ Mom's Plans ~ Historical Field Trips
Karen @ Tots and Me ~ Making Geography Fun
Adena @ AdenaF ~ Mnemonics 
Amy @ Homeschool Encouragement ~ Lego Learning
Erin @ For Him and My Family ~ Record Keeping

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