“The reasons the basics are the basics, are because they are in everything. So everything becomes a vehicle for teaching the basics, you don’t have to teach the basics from the standard curriculum”– Hannah Frankman
The sixth episode of the Success Without School series covers a very important question: How do we design the K-5 homeschooling environment?
It’s hard for parents to find resources that provide guidance on where to begin, and parents are often intimidated by the problem. Co-hosts Hannah Frankman and Deb Fillman of the reason we learn put their minds together to answer some of the frequently asked questions about the topic, as well as provide effective strategies to overcome the most commonly faced problems.
The duo cover topics such as the kind of physical space required, the recommended structure of a homeschooling program, and the pace at which a child should learn through these grades.
As always, the concepts have been explained by a variety of case studies both from Hannah’s life, and the people that Deb and Hannah have observed.
This episode covered:
- Choosing the “right curriculum” for your kids (3:09)
- Choosing the “right pace” for your kids (7:10)
- Letting your kids’ curiosity flourish (10:45)
- Knowledge vs exposure in traditional schools (13:29)
- How to think about curriculum standards in K-5 homeschooling (16:03)
- The different types of homeschooling systems and how they can be combined (21:05)
- Why you shouldn’t rush to cover state standards while homeschooling (23:35)
- Why learning as you go along as a homeschooling parent is valuable in more ways than one (26:56)
- Why siloed learning is not necessary until middle school (36:00)
- Designing your physical K-1 homeschooling classroom (And do you need to?) (47:48)
Resources
The Best Math Apps for Each Grade (By rebelEducator): Hannah recommends this article as one of the resources you can check to find math teaching apps that suit your need.
Interesting quotes
“You don’t actually need a curriculum to educate your kid and you certainly don’t need just one. You’re not trying to bring the classroom to your home and replicate what they’re trying to do at school. You should actively try to avoid that” – Hannah Frankman and Deb Fillman (5:03)
“Aside from the myth of one curriculum is the myth of one pace” -Deb Fillman (7:10) (referring to the different speeds at which different children learn)
“There’s a lot to be said about letting your kid’s curiosity drive (especially) their early education. Honestly, it’s such an important foundation to build for the rest of their education because if they learn how to let their curiosity drive them, they are just going to get curious about more and more complex things as they grow older.” – Hannah Frankman (10:45)
“You can have a curriculum wrapped up in the phrase “I don’t know, let’s find out.That is the curriculum. “I don’t know find out” is a curriculum in itself”– Deb Fillman and Hannah Frankman (14:19) (referring to how parents dont need to know everything when starting to homeschool their kids)
“Don’t feel like you have to research everything about designing the perfect curriculum before day one. It’s okay to go in there with a plan of what you want to do the first day, or what questions you want to answer/ ideas you want to explore the first week, and let your own learning be the guiding force behind your curriculum design”– Hannah Frankman (26:56)
