Blogging Through the Alphabet: Eclectic Experiential Education

This week's letter is E, and we have three of them for you!

Eclectic

Experiential

Education

This is what I've come up with over the years to describe our style of home education to outsiders. If you've been around us, or read the blog for any length of time, you have probably come to realize that we are not what most people think of as a typical homeschooling family. Kurt and I both work, and we as a family would much rather experience something than just read about it, so our girls' educational journey has been filled with field trips!

Eclectic - because while we use a basically Charlotte Mason methodology, we like the freedom to experiment with other learning and teaching styles, plus we like to mix and match curriculum choices across various subjects. While we don't usually do unit studies, there have been many times when we were studying the same thing or time period in two or three subjects at a time. We do not mind being different. :)

Experiential - because if you experience something while you are learning about it, it goes from being A story to being YOUR story. I think the very best choice we have ever made was to let the girls get hands-on as often as possible while learning. Let your children get messy, let them climb trees, turn over rocks, take apart old appliances...let them experience life! Our girls have both volunteered for many years at a living history museum. Besides learning more about Indiana history while they were there, they have also learned: acting, character development, theatre skills, textile skills like dyeing, spinning, and weaving, public speaking skills, animal husbandry, group dynamics, teamwork, delegation of tasks, and time management.

Education - because learning doesn't just happen from 8-3 each weekday, we have made it a point to instill a love of learning in the girls. Kurt and I both have subjects that we continue to study and learn about ourselves, and that has shown the girls that they are never too old to learn something new. I think when you stop learning, you get old. I may be maturing in body, mind and soul, but I don't want to get old. It sounds boring to sit and learn nothing every day. No thanks, we will keep learning new things!

If you're looking for ideas about how to add some E3 learning into your child'd education, start with watching what they do in their free time. Find something they are interested in learning more about and go do something about it. Take a field trip (at least a virtual one) or visit the library and find a documentary, visit a local museum, or go volunteer somewhere. It still fits under "home education" even if you're out there on a field trip every week!

You can also click on some of our past articles for ideas, especially the ones with the tag of: Road Trip!

See you next week for the letter F. 

In the meantime, stop by and read the other Blogging Through the Alphabet posts!