Creating your own philosophy of education can be one of the most powerful exercises you do this year and will provide you with further encouragement and support throughout the years. Everyone has a philosophy of education, it just may not be articulated yet. It’s the way that we approach education in our home, it’s the reason we’re homeschooling in the first place and it’s why we continue on this journey. Getting your own philosophy of education into words and down on paper can help you in your planning for the upcoming year, bolster your confidence when you’re feeling overwhelmed, and help you deal with expectations from others.

A philosophy of education begins with the reasons that you began homeschooling. Those reasons may be reactive. Perhaps you pulled your child out of school because she was falling through the cracks or being bullied. In the case of reactive reasons it’s important that you turn them into proactive reasons. Homeschooling provides the opportunity for one on one instruction and individualized education. Homeschooling allows us to learn in a safe and nurturing environment. I’ve found that the longer I homeschool, the longer my list of reasons for homeschooling becomes. For example, I didn’t even consider the effect that homeschooling would have on sibling relationships in my house. Keeping our children close and allowing them to spend their days together has meant that they are very close. Now one of my main reasons to homeschool is to preserve the bond between my children. Try to list at least five reasons for homeschooling. This will become your foundational paragraph. Write up those five reasons into a powerful paragraph that addresses why you homeschool from a positive position of strength.

The next part of creating your own philosophy of education is to take a look at various approaches to homeschooling to see what you can learn from them. Some approaches will make more sense to you than others. I can honestly say that unschooling is not for me. However, I have learned so much from unschooling families. I’ve read numerous books on unschooling and I read posts on an unschooling messageboard. I’m glad that I was able to get over my initial bias towards an approach to education that I could never take and realize that there were things that I could learn from them. My home would be a lot different (and not nearly as rich, educationally) if I hadn’t bothered to crack open a book on unschooling. I recommend going to your library and checking out every book on homeschooling available. This is a great exercise to do over the summer.

There are a number of approaches, all very different, that I’ve found to be inspirational to me. I love the unschooler’s focus on creating an environment of learning and choosing resources that they feel will inspire their students. I’ve learned a lot from them about how easy it is for children to learn when they are inspired to find out more. I love how the Charlotte Mason approach stresses the importance of nature study (even if we’ve only cracked our nature journal once this year). The Montessori belief in children as active contributors has been an important part of my philosophy as well. Equipping my children to contribute in meaningful ways in the home has created a feeling of satisfaction in my children and has helped me to get the housework done. The Classical approach is the one that makes the most sense to me and so that’s where I get most of my inspiration.

After reading about various approaches you can start writing down which aspects of each approach you feel would work well in your home. Start this paragraph with the phrase, “I believe children learn best when…” This will become your educational philosophy in practice. You can then take what you’ve written in this paragraph and apply it to various subjects. How do various math resources fit into your philosophy of education? What about language arts? How would you approach social studies with your philosophy of education? Having a strong philosophy of education will help you to navigate the curriculum hall at a convention and will enable you to make curriculum choices that will best suit your family’s needs.

A strong philosophy of education can also serve as legs to stand on when you’re feeling overwhelmed. Everyone goes through periods of doubt. Re-reading your philosophy of education during those times can strengthen your resolve and help you to focus on why you’re doing what you’re doing.

Your philosophy of education can also serve you well when dealing with outside expectations. Maybe your mother-in-law isn’t a big homeschooling advocate. Getting back to your philosophy of education will remind you that your reasons for homeschooling are important and may even help others to understand why you’re homeschooling and what you hope to achieve. For anyone enrolled in a DL program, forwarding your philosophy of education to your contact teacher can help your teacher to understand where you’re coming from. That way your teacher will have a much clearer idea of your family’s learning style and will be able to make suggestions that may be helpful in your home.

Remember that your reasons for homeschooling will grow and change as the years go by. As you continue reading about various approaches to education you will have more to inspire you. Aim to rewrite your philosophy of education on a yearly basis. It will help to keep you focused on your reasons for homeschooling, no matter how overwhelming life can be sometimes. It will help you make good curriculum choices and it will help you to deal effectively with outside influences.