Re-discovering eclectic learning

If there is anything I have learned over these last 22 years of homeschooling, it is that teaching children is not as difficult as we have made it out to be the last 100 years or so. Familiarizing myself with the methods and texts from the 19th century, the century which produced the entrepreneurs, explorers, inventors and the like that built up our great country has confirmed this for me. The problem lies in taking a mind, such as mine, which is used to being fed like a baby penguin with pre-digested food, and training it to obtain, chew and swallow whole ideas that need to be broken down and digested without being overly influenced by the interpretation of others.


The Pilgrims knew how to obey God and trust Him to show them the next step. The founding fathers relied on the Almighty to aid them as they laid the foundations for a nation such as the world had never seen before. The pioneers left their homes in the East fortified only with self-education and the family Bible.

The Eclectic Series of Learning, and others like it from the same era, were widely used by teachers who may not have been no more than 16 years old themselves, yet were in charge of classrooms filled with students of all ages, abilities and backgrounds. Amazingly, I have heard it said, that the entrance requirements for college in those days were more stringent than the graduation requirements of college in our present times.

So how, indeed, am I utilizing these old texts?


First, I am reading and studying them for myself. I am taking the simplest approach in my perusal of them by allowing the "teacher helps" to suggest the things that are most important to teach my children. By beginning this way, I aid myself in discovering the things I must re-learn. The same is true as I reacquaint myself with math as Ray’s presents it. I have been snatching minutes here and there to prepare myself to teach in this way--reawaking my own discovery instincts. This seems to be most difficult in the primers, since there is so little information per lesson, but there is a reason these are short and sweet. Reading the same material over and over to a small child, as long as it is done with a heart of love, interest and enthusiasm, is an effective way to help him in assimilation—I am thinking here of how many times I have read the same Dr. Seuss books repeatedly to the same child until they have been memorized by the both of us!


It is important to remember that children of the past did not spend as many hours in school—they had families to be a part of, and work to do. I once read that Livingstone, the same physician-missionary-explorer who discovered the head of the Nile River in Africa, attended school for a few hours after work each night, and “got his lessons” in-between attending the spools in a cloth factory during the day.


Real learning should never conflict with real life, and so this system is not meant to be an end in itself, but the means to an end. Everything presented has a practical purpose (even learning how to honor God and live a noble life is woven throughout these materials). This is why the lessons are not filled with useless information and are devoid of seat-work. We are so used to workbooks and the like that we feel unsure of ourselves without them, but as long as the material is presented well, and then mastered through repetition and oral recitation, we can rest assured that nothing further is necessary!


This works well with our family motto “Homeschooling is everything, and everything is homeschooling”.

I have also come to the conclusion from literature I have read from the era that “getting one’s lessons” meant reading and memorizing information so that it could be recited before the class. My reading children will be required to practice reading out loud and to have the suggested spelling words memorized for oral recitation. The same goes for the math facts in Ray’s Arithmetics.


Enlightening ideas I have gleaned from numerous homeschooling authors are being confirmed to me—treating each child as a scholar, not a dullard; small, consistent lessons are better, especially at young ages; work, exercise and play are important; working at one’s own level and pace for mastery is best, etc. For instance, in the preface of one of the primers I noted a very important quote, "To awaken noble sentiments, and to sow seed for good in the hearts of children, should be the aim of ever teacher."


A great question is the requirements of the State. There should be no conflict here at all. I am convinced that any child beginning at the age of 6 with Ray’s and McGuffey’s should easily out-perform any public-schooled child in any standardized test by the age of 8—given he has had adequate time and resources for delight-directed studies and is familiarized with test-taking strategies. The methods employed here will give a better education in a few years than is given in 12 years in most modern schools.


My dear son can attest to this. He is a manager of employees with high school diplomas, several headed for college, who cannot perform basic math to run a cash-register. 8th-grade students of the 19th and early 20th century could do most figures in their heads!


Also, building a portfolio with these books would not be difficult at all. Ruth Beechick has created charts to keep track of such things as an educator would deem important and that would aid a parent in creating a proper presentation. It would not be difficult to create one without her help, however.


I have purchased composition books from Roaring Spring for the youngest set and steno books for the older set for practice and copywork. I will also be creating rings for memorization of certain basic facts (more on this later). Our wipe-off board should be employed regularly as well. I have also become sort of a public-domain junkie and have been downloading and printing and comb-binding more books (more on this later, as well). The children are begging me to get started on our new, old “program”, but I’m just not quite ready—I need more time to prepare and familiarize (I am having so much fun!). My husband is just as excited as I am, and it was at his suggestion that I took a break to write this post so that you could become encouraged, too.

If a 16-year-old young lady could teach a whole classroom using these old texts, it can’t be “rocket science”, just a different way of approaching learning; a better way.

I will be posting my discoveries as we continue this journey together.