When we made the decision to homeschool our children, we did not make it lightly. There were very concrete reasons for doing it including the lack of faith and security in the public school system. As serious as we were about doing it, we did not have a strategy either. I did not even know there were "different" ways to approach homeschooling. I had absolutely zero experience or knowledge of it. Montessori, unschooling and everything in between was very foreign to me. So, like any good homeschooling parent would do, I did my research.

We were originally blessed with the K-12 program. Then we found it extremely lacking. There was nothing wrong with the curriculum, it was well written and thorough, there just wasn't enough there. My children would blaze through a "weeks worth" of Language Arts in a single morning. We also were asked to use a pilot program called "Math-U-See". This, I thought after using it for six months, was a really good program. I never saw a K-12 math curriculum and have had nothing to compare the Math-U-See.

We had some communication problems with the State on the materials they were sending us compared to where my children "tested out" at. My 7 year-old who would have gone into the 2nd grade in public school performed as a 3rd grader. My daughter, who would be going into the 3rd grade performed at the public school level of a 4th grader. In the beginning I was proud of these statistics. However it did nothing but create a murky view of where we were supposed to start our children in the homeschool program. They sent us the books for a third and fourth grader. For example, history started at Julius Caesar, and I immediately had a problem with that. They had very little, if any, history taught to them in the public school system, and we were supposed to start at Caesar?

I say homeschool "program" because this is what I originally thought it was. I thought that you would teach the same subjects taught in public school at relatively the same pace. Boy, did I have a lot to learn. I searched out information on the internet and realized how huge and diverse homeschooling was. Montessori vs. Unschooling, competing curriculums and homeschooling groups; all with differing opinions or wanted your business.

I had been exposed to Montessori methods of teaching in the past, but had never heard of Unschooling. Through my own research and reading I really found them to be similar in many ways. Both have elements that I incorporate in my homeschooling and home. However, one-hundred percent child led learning was really a reach for me. I am a critical thinker and was falling into a trap of "deciding which philosophy I would teach my kids under," which seemed the opposite of what both categories preached.

Like most everything, I took from them what I wanted to incorporate. I am not on the band-wagon of either. My greatest fear when considering homeschooling was missing something. How do I make sure I teach everything they need to know? If you were to ask an "Unschooler", they .....Read More Here