The Three “Knows” of Curriculum Choices
A report by Vickie Bjornsen on Beverly Stalwell’s presentation at the
Alberta Home Education Association Conference 2008
When choosing the appropriate curriculum to use in your home school,
there are three things you should know:
1. Know who you are (as an individual parent and as a family)
2. Know your children (what type of learner is each child?)
3. Know the various educational approaches/philosophies that
determine each type of curriculum.
As Beverly Stalwell addressed each of these “knows”, she drew heavily from
Cathy Duffy’s 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum: Choosing the Right
Curriculum and Approach for your Child’s Learning Style and Clarkson’s
Educating the Wholehearted Child.
Each home school parent must know who she is: her personality,
principles and plan. She must be aware of her own unique and complicated
personality. For a home school to run smoothly, it is important that parents
acknowledge ways in which their own personalities differ from that of their
childrens’ personalities as well as the personalities of their spouses. It is also
vital that each family identify the principles by which it will function. These
principles define “who we are” as a family unit. Establishing your own principles
and writing them down takes time, but this overt activity keeps each member
accountable to those principles when conflicts arise. Having a clear set of family
principles laid out in advance helps the family make clear, consistent decisions
as opposed to being vague in a crisis or appearing to “waffle”. Finally, it is
imperative that each home school develop individual and family long-term goals.
This plan will overlap with your principles. Knowing what your goals are helps
you develop perseverance and patience through the home schooling process.
Next, a home school parent needs to understand the mode through which
each of her students learns best. Typically, there are three basic learning
modalities. There is the kinesthetic learner who needs body stimulation in order
to connect ideas. This type of student is usually more physically active and
retains new information better if the learning process includes physical
movement or the permission to touch a concrete object that is being studied.
Second, there is the visual learner. This student learns best when there is a
visual connection to the information being processed. This is the student who
takes copious notes and likes to plan, doodle and organize while taking in new
information. Finally, there is the auditory learner who retains information he
hears with his ears more readily than by what he sees or touches. This learner
responds well to lectures and books on cassette or compact disk. Cathy Duffy
combines these different modalities to identify certain common learning styles
found in children. She labels these styles as “Wiggly Willy”, “Perfect Paula”,
“Competent Carl” and “Sociable Sue” (see pages 42 – 54 of 100 Top Picks for
Homeschool Curriculum: Choosing the Right Curriculum and Approach for your
Child’s Learning Style).
It is vital that a home school parent take into consideration her unique
qualities as a parent, her family’s identity as a unit and what types of learners her
children are so that she can find the curriculum best suited to all of these
characteristics. Curriculum choices vary widely because each one is created
according to a certain teaching philosophy. Beverly Stalwell identified seven
different educational philosophies or approaches that drive the development of
curriculum.
1. Curricular or Traditional Approach – this approach is structured, agegraded and employs the use of workbooks. It is the curriculum most likely
to be accepted by public schools.
2. Classical Philosophy – this curriculum teaches children how to think. Its
study is focused on classical literature, the Latin language and logic.
3. Unschooling Approach – also known as delayed academics. The
learning in this approach is unstructured by theme or grade level.
Movement through the skill levels/information taught is geared by the
child’s interest alone.
4. Independent Study or Computer Based Learning – these programs
provide self-directed lessons that require little instruction from the home
school parent. The computer-based programs involve soft ware that can
be monitored inside the home as opposed to ‘virtual classrooms’ that are
monitored on-line by an outside source.
5. Unit Studies – usually theme-based and easily adaptable to multi-age
teaching. These units can integrate multiple subjects (math, reading,
writing, science, etc.) at varying ability levels while exploring one theme.
6. Charlotte Mason – known for allowing room in a child’s education for
“spontaneity and personal initiation”, the Charlotte Mason approach
stresses the need for outdoor activity and ‘free-spiritedness’ amongst
children if they are to learn well. The Charlotte Mason philosophy does
acknowledge the importance of traditional book studies, but balances that
with frequent breaks for play, exploration, artistic expression or to simply
switch subjects for awhile.
7. Eclectic – this approach gives the home school parent the freedom to
mix-and-match curriculum choices as she endeavors to match her unique
needs with the learning styles of her children.
Cathy Duffy’s 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum: Choosing the Right
Curriculum and Approach for your Child’s Learning Style identifies eight
approaches to learning that are very similar to the ones listed above. Duffy
provides an extensive chart diagramming the best curriculum approaches for
teaching children of each learning style. She further intersects these choices
with the approaches that work well with the individual teaching styles of home
school parents.
In addition to the above-mentioned resources, Beverly Stalwell
recommends Personality Plus for Parents by Florence Littaur, The Way They
Learn by Cynthia Tobias and Raising a Right Brain Child In a Left Brain World by
Jeffrey Freed. Beverly’s personal philosophy of home schooling is reflected in
her statement: “No one should be able to dictate to you what you will be
teaching and how.” It is important for each home school to identify for itself who
it will be, what its learning styles are and which curriculum choices best suit those
qualities. For this reason, no two home schools should look alike. The program
designed for each home school should be as delightfully unique as each one of
its participants.