101 Reasons to Homeschool Creatively without Curriculum
Homeschool without curriculum? Yes, it can be done! Have you been struggling to find the right homeschool curriculum? Frustrated with the results, or lack thereof, and your child’s lack of enthusiasm for learning? Maybe it’s time you tried homeschooling without curriculum.
Homeschooling without Curriculum
My daughters are creative. They are constantly making crafts, writing, singing, drawing, acting, and creating. They soak up knowledge through the experiences of hands-on learning and living books. That’s why I tailor our learning methods to delight-directed lessons beyond the conventional textbook approach. They just aren’t content with dry textbooks because they know there has to be more to it — they want to know the why behind the who, how, and what.
This was a mindset shift for me in education. I’ve heard from other moms who are hesitant to step outside the confines of the textbooks, for fear of learning gaps or other insecurities. I know how they feel because I needed that kind of reassurance at one time, so I want to offer encouragement to anyone who might be considering homeschooling beyond those textbooks. You can safely ditch the prescribed curriculum and take a more eclectic approach.
Take a deep breath and get ready to homeschool creatively with 101 reasons to homeschool without curriculum!
Why Homeschool without Curriculum
1. All ages can more easily be included in studies that aren’t curriculum dependent, such as the morning basket routine.
2. You have the time and freedom to do a deeper study on a subject or book of particular interest (great delight-directed or literature-rich activity).
3. It allows for artistic creativity, which is essential to critical thinking development and self-expression.
4. Ideas are more easily retained and expressed with living books rather than rote textbooks.
5. Without the restrictions of following a set curriculum, you can encourage your children to pursue their interests.
6. The freedom to teach your child in a way that they learn, not being limited to one teacher’s point of view or lesson plan.
7. Adopting new techniques and adapting based on your child’s needs, learning style, and the subject matter.
8. A completely customized and individualized educational experience.
9. The freedom to experiment and do what works best.
10. It creates a relaxed and natural learning environment.
11. It fosters a lifelong love of learning.
12. Children will learn that education can be self-directed, rather than prescribed.
13. It encourages resourcefulness.
14. Lessons can be more hands-on and engaging.
15. It offers flexibility.
16. It prevents the feeling that you’re “behind” in your studies.
17. It can help prevent boredom and burnout.
How to Homeschool without Curriculum
18. Explore, Discover, & Create with Notebooking
19. Following your Own Path through Delight-Directed Homeschooling
20. How to Encourage Your Child’s Talents through Delight-Directed Homeschooling
21. 10 Reasons to Love Lapbooking
22. 10 Reasons Why We’re Eclectic Homeschoolers
23. 7 Ways to Spark Creativity in your Kids — Even if You’re not Artistic
24. 7 Reasons Why Crafting with your Kids is Important
25. Our Favorite Hands-on Homeschooling Projects
26. How to Start Notebooking in your Homeschool (with free printables)
27. Refresh your Homeschool with Delight-Directed Learning
28. 10 Reasons to Love Unit Studies
29. What is a Unit Study and How Do you Make One?
30. Encouraging your Children to Pursue their Purpose
31. Why Delight-Directed Homeschooling Works for the Middle School Years
32. A Day in the Life of Delight-Directed Homeschooling
34. Nature Study for Beginners
35. Little Passports geography
36. Learning about Ireland unit study
38. Creative Geography Games and Activities
39. Sensory Bins for Hands-on Learning
40. Hands-on Learning with Lapbooks
Quotes to Encourage Learning Beyond Curriculum
42. “We can best help children learn, not by deciding what we think they should learn and thinking of ingenious ways to teach it to them, but by making the world, as far as we can, accessible to them, paying serious attention to what they do, answering their questions — if they have any — and helping them explore the things they are most interested in.”
― John Holt
43. “Self-education is the only possible education; the rest is mere veneer laid on the surface of a child’s nature.”
― Charlotte M. Mason
44. “Whatever an education is, it should make you a unique individual, not a conformist; it should furnish you with an original spirit with which to tackle the big challenges; it should allow you to find values which will be your roadmap through life; it should make you spiritually rich, a person who loves whatever you are doing, wherever you are, whomever you are with; it should teach you what is important, how to live and how to die.”
― John Taylor Gatto, Dumbing us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling
45. “What is most important and valuable about the home as a base for children’s growth into the world is not that it is a better school than the schools, but that it isn’t a school at all.”
― John Holt
46. “The primary goal of real education is not to deliver facts but to guide students to the truths that will allow them to take responsibility for their lives.”
― John Taylor Gatto, A Different Kind of Teacher: Solving the Crisis of American Schooling
47. “Learning is not the product of teaching. Learning is the product of the activity of learners.”
― John Holt
48. “Any child who can spend an hour or two a day, or more if he wants, with adults that he likes, who are interested in the world and like to talk about it, will on most days learn far more from their talk than he would learn in a week of school.”
― John Holt
49. “It is worth while to point out the differing characters of a system and a method, because parents let themselves be run away with often enough by some plausible ‘system,’ the object of which is to produce development in one direction—of the muscles, of the memory, of the reasoning faculty—were a complete all-round education. This easy satisfaction arises from the sluggishness of human nature, to which any definite scheme is more agreeable than the constant watchfulness, the unforeseen action, called for when the whole of a child’s existence is to be used as the means of his education.”
― Charlotte M. Mason, The Original Home School Series
50. “And all the time we have books, books teeming with ideas fresh from the minds of thinkers upon every subject to which we can wish to introduce children.”
― Charlotte M. Mason
51. “Therefore, the selection of their first lesson-books is a matter of grave importance, because it rests with these to give children the idea that knowledge is supremely attractive and that reading is delightful. Once”
― Charlotte M. Mason, Charlotte Mason’s Original Homeschooling Series
52. “One more thing is of vital importance; children must have books, living books; the best are not too good for them; anything less than the best is not good enough; and if it is needful to exercise economy, let go everything that belongs to soft and luxurious living before letting go the duty of supplying the books, and the frequent changes of books, which are necessary for the constant stimulation of the child’s intellectual life.”
― Charlotte M. Mason
53. “Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life.”
— Charlotte M. Mason
Inspiration from Homeschool Moms
54. “Games incorporate learning AND fun, and that’s exactly how learning should be… FUN!” Katrina Oldham, Rule This Roost
55. “We rarely use textbooks…….I think the last time we had one was 14 years ago when homeschooling was new and scary. I feel that a lot of the ones out there kill naturally curiosity!” Erin D, How to Teach any Subject without a Curriculum
56. “Because relying on textbooks segments life from learning – I mean, WHEN will you ever use a textbook again after you graduate, right? Plus, some of the most important lessons just don’t lend themselves to that medium…” Pat at Breakthrough Homeschooling
57. “What you need to learn next is not always on the next page. And what you want to learn might not be in a book at all.” Ashley Fox, The Homeschool Resource Room
58. “When you choose to use real books in your homeschool, you can teach multiple ages using the same resources. We loved writing assignments based on stories. They were so much fun!” Kay Chance, Cultivate My Heart
59. “My kids remember far more of what we studied while traveling than anything from a textbook.” Susan Landry, The Sparrow’s Home
60. “Some of the coolest discussions in our family come from movies and TV, not books!” Joan Concilio from Unschool Rules
61. “There is no perfect curriculum! There is no perfect answer that will work for you and your child and create total and perfect harmony in your home! It is an often painful process finding what works for each child and yourself. The most frustrating aspect is that after years of searching and experimenting, when you do find that golden nugget that just clicks… it is often not lasting. Your child is constantly changing and growing and maturing, your life is most likely flowing and shifting and circumstances change. What worked for you last year may be a total bomb this year! It really is the hardest part of homeschooling and can be one of the most discouraging things when you feel like you are failing and nothing is working. Just remember that if you are in this place… it isn’t you! It is not your teaching or failure that is causing this lack of connection with your child… you just need to find a different key. And you will! Give yourself time and grace to fall and get up and try again! Press on faithful mother, your child will thrive because of it!” Rebecca at The Homeschool Post
Lessons beyond the textbooks
62. How to Teach any Subject without a Curriculum by Erin D. at The Usual Mayhem
63. Smashwords: Homeschool while you Travel by Susan at The Sparrow’s Home
64. Developing Leadership Skills in Your Teen by Pat at Breakthrough Homeschooling
65. Think Outside the Book: 10 OTHER Ways to Get Your Child Reading by Ashley Fox at The Homeschool Resource Room
66. STEAM activity: Fall Leaf Art & Science Project at Savvy Schooling
67. The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling Disney by Susan at The Sparrow’s Home
68. Writing Lessons with The Three Little Pigs by Kay at Cultivate my Heart
69. The Ultimate Guide to Learning from Movies and TV Shows by Joan at Unschool Rules
70. How I Homeschool Math Without a Curriculum by Danielle at Blessedly Busy
71. How to Teach Art Appreciation without a Curriculum by Emily at Table Life Blog
72. How to Teach Geography Without a Curriculum by Ticia at Adventures in Mommydom
73. How To Use Project-Based Learning in the Homeschool by Cindy at Our Journey Westward
74. Teaching Grammar without a Curriculum by LaToya
75. Teaching Math Classically without a Curriculum by Kyle
76. Teaching Teens Life Skills – No Curriculum Required by Susan
77. Teaching U.S. Geography with Literature and Games by Cindy at Our Journey Westward
78. Teaching Writing Using Picture Books as Mentor Texts by Cindy at Our Journey Westward
79. The Power of Words: Unschooling and “Language Arts” by Joan at Unschool Rules
80. Why I Homeschool Math Without a Curriculum by Danielle
81. You Can’t Escape the Past: Unschooling and “History” by Joan at Unschool Rules
82. You Don’t Need That: Talking About Homeschool Curriculum by Karen
83. There’s Beauty in Everything: Unschooling and “Fine Arts” by Joan at Unschool Rules
84. Unschooling How we Learn Subject by Subject by Joan at Unschool Rules
85. Our Relaxed Homeschool: What We Do & How We Do It by Eva
86. It’s Not all About Numbers: Unschooling and “Math” by Joan at Unschool Rules
87. Make Your Own Homeschool Preschool Curriculum by Michelle
88. Exploring the World and How it Works: Unschooling and “Science” by Joan at Unschool Rules
Favorite Resources
89. The Unschooling Handbook: How to Use the Whole World as your Child’s Classroom by Mary Griffith
90. Dumbing us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling by John Taylor Gatto
92. How Children Learn by John Holt
93. Teach your Own: the John Holt Book of Homeschooling
94. Learning all the Time by John Holt
95. Living Joyfully with Unschooling by Pam Laricchia
96. A Charlotte Mason Companion: Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning by Karen Andreola
97. For the Children’s Sake: Foundations of Education for Home and School by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay
98. Educating the WholeHearted Child by Clay and Sally Clarkson
99. When Children Love to Learn: A Practical Application of Charlotte Mason’s Philosophy for Today by Elaine Cooper
100. The Unhurried Homeschooler by Durenda Wilson
101. Home Education by Charlotte Mason
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Homeschooling provides a safety net for kids. Rather than stifle or eliminate their creative energy, homeschooling encourages and nurtures it.
So true!