I remember a few years ago my three-year old wanted to do school like his big brother. Even though he wanted a real math book (the cheap math books from the Dollar Store did not satisfy him), I knew he wasn’t ready to begin formal schooling. What was I to do with a preschooler who wanted to do school, but wasn’t ready? How was I to include my him in our homeschooling? Family style learning was my answer.
I guess I could have purchased a preschool curriculum, but that’s a lot of work. Plus, the more I homeschool, the better I think it is to wait until they are close to 5 or 6 before any formal schooling needs to take place. Three-year olds need to spend most of their time playing, being read to, singing songs, and playing outside. I found the answer to my problem when I learned about family style learning.
Family style learning is when everyone participates in the same lesson, but at their own level. It involves multiple ages, so the older kids will grasp onto more complex ideas, while the younger ones will learn basic concepts. This type of structure is helpful with subjects such as science/nature study, history, Spanish…etc… Other subjects, such as math and phonics, need to be taught at a student’s level. Family style learning wouldn’t work well for those subjects.
Once I found a curriculum that had a family style learning structure, it changed our days so much. My three-year old wasn’t doing math or reading, but he was doing a nature study that functioned as preschool for him. It gave him a special time of the day when he knew that he would be included in our homeschool. Since then, I have kept that structure for subjects like Spanish, nature study, and geography.
Family style learning is different in that children aren’t given individual textbooks and sent off to read them on their own. There’s nothing wrong with that approach, but it isn’t my style. I also like how family style learning can simplify a mom’s crazy homeschool day. You don’t have to do two or three separate history or science lessons. As long as your kids are reasonably close in age, they can study the same subject matter. Below are some of my favorite family style learning resources.
Treehouse Schoolhouse Nature Study
This is the nature study that I first used with my two boys. What I love about this study is that it includes a wonderful booklist. Every week we studied a new topic. That meant we had a new stack of books to read that centered around the moon, apples, worms, dirt, seasons, or storms. Some of the books were fiction and some were nonfiction. Each week also featured a song, a poem, a finger rhyme, and portrait to observe. There was a project or experiment that went along with each topic for the week. My oldest kept a notebook where he would draw a picture and write a sentence or two about what we learned. My three-year old would only draw a picture about what he learned. Sometimes I would write a sentence for him. It was simple and lots of fun.
Niños and Nature: Spanish in the Wild
This is a nature study in Spanish, and it was a lot of fun. It was hard for my kids because the vocabulary was sometimes difficult, but despite that, they all learned more Spanish. All three of my kids did these lessons together. The nature study included a topic for each week, flash cards, a poem or song, and an activity or experiment. There was also a nature journal template, but I ended up having my kids keep a nature journal like they had done the year before with Treehouse Schoolhouse.
My daughter, who was then two-years old, would follow us around as we observed things in the backyard, or she would do an experiment with us. I’m not sure how much she really learned, but even if she didn’t learn any academic material (because I don’t care about that at that age), she learned that she’s included in our homeschool day.
Beautiful Feet Geography: Picture Books Around the World
We have been doing geography from Beautiful Feet for about six weeks now, and we love it! Right now, my kids are seven, five, and three, and they all participate in this subject. It is centered around reading high-quality fictional picture books that take place different countries. I know my older ones are understanding the stories far more than my daughter, but she still benefits by being read aloud even if it’s above her level. They also keep a travel notebook where they color the flag for each country, a map, and some animals. Yes, my daughter scribbles in her travel journal, but she’s proud of her scribbled messy notebook.
There’s also an ethnic meal to make after studying each country. This has been a good opportunity to have my kids help in kitchen. Sometimes their help is more work for me, but it’s still fun.
I am also currently doing Flip Flop Spanish with all three of my kids. I guess you could say all four of my kids because the baby is often in my lap listening. The cover says “ages 3-93.” How does that work, you wonder? You use flash cards to teach the vocabulary words. Then you use those cards to build sentences. You flip them over and read the sentence in Spanish. Non-readers can just listen and practice speaking. It’s very interactive, and the cards keep busy hands moving during most of the lesson.
Conclusion
One tip I will give before I finish is that all of these curricula have a large age range. Look for curriculum that says “K-3” instead of “grade 2.” That means in can accommodate different ages. My favorite part about using a family style learning in my homeschool is when I tell the everyone to come and start school, their little sister knows it means her too. I spend time doing math, phonics, and reading with her brothers. It’s good for her to feel included and not left out.