Many people talk about ‘classical homeschool’, but few actually know what it means.  Classical Christian homeschooling generally occurs in three stages: 1) the grammar stage (grades 1-6); 2) the dialectic stage (grades 7-9); the rhetoric stage (grades 10-12).  The grammar stage corresponds to the development of the brain that is soaking up as much information about ‘what is’ – very little interpretation takes place in this stage, because the mind is phisologically not developed for this cognitive area of learning.  The ‘what is’ part of the homeschool curriculum can be used as a base for future learning.  The ‘why’ and ‘how’ stage of classical homeschool education should occur during the 7-9th grades, but may be useful for advanced students in the 5th grade.  The final rhetoric stages includes in-depth learning of a variety of subjects, usually limited to: Arts, Literature, History, Language, Math, Oratory, Science, Philosophy, Writing, and Bible.

Curriculum christian, classical, dialectic, grammar, homeschool, homeschooling, rhetoric

One of the most frustrating things for me when I got to the US History part of my Christian homeschool curriculum was the terrible resources available.  The current trajectory of the dicipline of history is left-leaning historians writing revisionist history that goes too far in attacking Christianity’s role in the making of the United States.  I am not looking for a glossy portrayl of the situation, but every single textbook that I picked up was a little over the top in its condemnation or even worse subtle reproach of the role of Christianity in the making of the United States.  I didn’t want an entirely Christian view of the topic either, but something more balanced.  What I learned is that this was largely impossible.  This is one of the frustrating things of teaching Christian homeschool.  I am not looking to indoctrinate my children, but the unfortunately reality is that there are so few balanced curriculum sets for US History out there.  I eventually went with the Alpha Omega Curriculum
edition, just because of my luck with their works in other areas.  I cannot say that I was disappointed, but the whole experience made me want to develop my own history curriculum for Christian homeschools that provided a nice balanced approach.

Curriculum alpha omega, christian, christian homeschool, history, home school

One of the biggest trends in homeschooling is online instruction.  No matter how innovative and wonderful parents are as teachers, we cannot offer all opportunities to our children.  Online collaboration now offers a wonderful supplement to our existing curriculum.  One of the reasons you see the Alpha Omega ‘ads’ on this site is because I’ve had so much luck with them.  Granted, the stuff isn’t free, but it is top notch.  I tried to scrounge up my online homeschooling resources for free, but it took so much time and I often was using pure junk.  Part of the reason I created this blog was to help pay for these books .  In any event, I will be putting together my favorite books and pieces of homeschooling curriculum to help those just starting out.  I will also do a full review of some Alpha Omega products.

Curriculum alpha omega, books, christian, home school, homeschooling, online homeschooling

Welcome to my new blog, Christian Homeschooling Help.  I am a mother of 3 children, two of whom successfully completed their elementary and secondary school education in my Christian homeschooling program.  I have one more ‘student’ working to complete his high school degree and head to college.  In this blog I hope to provide help and resources for other Christian homeschooling families.  Best of luck with your own Christian homeschooling curriculum, if you have any questions, please post them in the comments.

General boks, christian, Curriculum, help, home school, homeschooling