04+APRIL+Intro+to+Ed+Philosophy

=Intro to Educational Philosophies=

A great initial meeting! Below is a rough outline of what we talked about. I've added more words to hopefully help Shannon/Susan know what we talked about.

Introductions:
Thought it might be helpful to have all of your written introductions in one spot so you can go back and to remember your initial comments and worries. I didn't add anything from the discussion -- just what you wrote. Fiona and I think that knowing more about where people are coming from as far as their journey to homschooling gives a better understanding about some of their paradigms so it was great to hear everyone's "homeschooling birth stories."



This is the approximate framework we're working through (from Linda's blog): []

The choice of educational philosophy and approaches can be compared to:
 * Choosing your clothes/color of shirt -- what looks great on someone else may not look great on you.
 * Decorating (or choosing your house decor/style) -- again, what works good for someone else may not work for you -- and, the wrong environment can "feel" wrong even when you do it well

On the other hand, you see what someone else is doing and if it looks really, really great, or they're really enthused about the great shirt that they found for a steal, it's very easy to think that it would solve all your problems as well. Easy, easy to do in homeschooling. Spelling out your educational philosophy and paradigms can hopefully empower you to feel stronger and more comfortable in your own decisions as a family and hopefully allows you to choose your approach instead of your approach choosing for you.

Benefits/vulnerabilties of homeschooling
(NOTE: Brainstormed the list as a group then each person chose their top 3 -- challenging to limit it to 3!)


 * **# of "Top 3's"** || **Benefit** ||
 * 5 || Flexible schedule ||
 * 5 || Holistic -- building a whole person, not just academics ||
 * 4 || Family bond ||
 * 3 || Time with kids ||
 * 3 || Fluid/dynamic/responsive ||
 * 3 || Maintains creativity ||
 * 3 || Positivity ||
 * 3 || Opportunity for Mom to learn ||
 * 2 || No academic pigeon hole ||
 * 1 || Tailor-made education ||
 * 1 || Not age-segregated ||
 * || Go with the flow ||
 * || Travel whenever ||
 * || No consumer culture ||
 * || Open-ended play ||
 * || Organic - non-structured ||
 * || Children can play ||
 * || Learning is realistic/concrete/lifelearning ||
 * || No limits/ceilings to learning ||
 * || No pressure ||
 * || No peer comparison ||
 * || Making friends/community ||

However, despite the benefits, everyone has vulnerabilities when they think of homeschooling -- again, brainstorm a list of vulnerabilities, biggest worries about homeschooling -- and pick the top 3 for you.

|| **# of**
 * "Top 3"**
 * **Vulnerabilities** ||
 * 8 || Self-doubt ||
 * 5 || Total responsibility ||
 * 5 || Guilt -- for all sorts of things ||
 * 3 || Time to do housework/other family essentials ||
 * 2 || Lack of space/alone time ||
 * 2 || Cooperation ||
 * 2 || Motivation/time to do education or engage children ||
 * 1 || Trust the process ||
 * 1 || Providing diversity ||
 * 1 || Providing the right opporunities/resources ||
 * || Time with kids (too much) ||
 * || Separating Mommy/Teacher hat ||
 * || Discord with children ||
 * || Achievement ||
 * || Comparisons with public school kids ||

Educational Philosophies
Who writes them? Education classes: a writing assignment On a teacher’s resume/portfolio/application From schools to give you a way to compare different private schools

Why homeschooling educational philosophies are different from school educational philosophies Not only academic/learning styles but actual life style choices and holistic education of children including life skills, character, values,etc. Many don’t get discovered until you talk things through with other people and uncover some paradigms you didn’t know you had Like constitutions – unwritten and written – but everyone has one

Workshop goals: Something written down so you can go back to it and remember what you have thought about now. Even if you change it later, the act of seeing what or how you’ve changed is valuable and helps form your revised approach. Format is up to you. Do you want to share it? (can be shared on the googlegroup or on the discussion page here -- or if you want time in the next meeting to share, we can add that to the agenda) Do you want it bullet points on the back of a napkin? Do you want to write it out in a 5-paragraph essay form? Up to you (we ARE homeschoolers here...)

Things to do before next month:
In the next couple of weeks (because we'll have some more questions in the couple of weeks before the next meeting), talk about the following questions with your spouse, your family, your parents who are involved in education (we have a lot of both of those in this group!), your friends. Post to the discussion group here.
 * What do you consider the role of “education” is? And this might vary by the "cultural definition" in the US vs. what it could mean theoretically. What do we mean when we mean "education"?
 * What is an “educated person”? And how do you know in an adult world if someone is “educated” or not? Does one need to be "educated" -- a good goal?
 * What is a “successful person” -- is it their wealth, whether or not one would like to be around them, their internal happiness, their parents' pride in the outcome?

Another Educational Philosophy Approach
Julie Bogart, author of Bravewriter, wrote a blog about Developing an Educational Philosophy. []

** Writing your own Educational Philosophy **
Great article about what's included and why it's important (NOTE: school-focused but some good pointers) []

Identifying a School's Educational Philosophy @http://www.aneducatedchoice.com/research-and-resources/educational-philosophies

Approaches and their philosophies @http://www.gecs.org/philosophiesandapproaches.htm

Good links to follow @http://www.squidoo.com/philosophy_of_teaching

(Added after meeting) Lots of good homeschool philosophy information: @http://www.home-school-curriculum-advisor.com/home-schooling-philosophy.html