I will begin by stating that I love living books. I love reading aloud to my children and I love to be involved as a teacher in my homeschool. That said, I have read numerous articles, catalogs and blogs disparaging the use of textbooks in the homeschool. Such articles insinuate, and sometimes overtly state, that the use of textbooks will leave homeschooled children wanting educationally. Their education will lack life and interest and be just as dull and boring and lacking as it would be if the child were put in public school. Homeschooled kids are supposed to have it better. If you read the average homeschooling blog or article you might begin to believe that textbooks just can't or won't deliver any better an education than the public school system has to offer. I am here to say that this is simply not true!
While I do not use a traditional textbook for every subject and every child in my homeschool, I certainly use textbooks and with great benefit. My children are not hindered by my use of textbooks. Their education is not lifeless and stilted as a result. I have some voracious readers on my hands as well as one who reads only when it is required. Using textbooks in my homeschool has not kept my children from reading "living books".
So, in this post I will outline what I believe to be the benefits of using textbooks. I will address the usual objections I have heard against them in my next post.
What benefits are there for those of us who employ the use of Textbooks in the homeschool?
1. Textbooks are easy to use.
With a textbook curriculum, I can quickly and easily plan what each child will do. Each of my children know exactly what is expected of them. This makes things run smoothly, especially as children become old enough to do the bulk of their work independently. This is a big deal when there are several children in the home. Once you hit four, you qualify as having several, in my opinion. The ease of planning with a high quality teacher's manual is wonderful. Mom doesn't have to run to the library every week or pay library fines because she didn't make it back in time. Tons of lesson planning and project planning can be avoided and children still get quality teaching from their books. This has become a huge deal in our homeschool as we now have 6 children of school age in our home. I have the time to do what I need to because I can let the books work for me and help my children when they need it.
2. Textbooks provide continuity.
My kids have been my guinea pigs in regards to curriculum choices and teaching methods, the oldest more so than the others as we have tread the waters of homeschooling these past 8 years. My eldest son has expressed preference for his textbooks over the mom directed "living book" curriculums. The main reason for this is that the textbooks provide incremental consistency and they allow him to move at his own pace without having to wait on me. He also has noticed that when we did "our own thing" and then went to a textbook in a certain subject that he had some holes in his learning that he had to close up, which he found "annoying". Sticking with a particular textbook for a particular subject over the years helps to avoid the issue of "holes" in learning.
3. Textbooks don't have to be "traditional" to be textbooks.
This may sound like an odd benefit to using textbooks in the homeschool. The wording is weird, but I think you will understand what I mean. We love and use Apologia Science in our homeschool. This is a science curriculum that teaches in a Charlotte Mason style in the elementary school years. Although it is meant to be used as a read aloud (which we have done), it doesn't have to be. This year, two of my boys are doing two different Apologia books with their Notebooking Journals independently. I help them with experiments when they come up, but the books are laid out in a way (with the schedule in the student journal) that a child able to read the books alone can do so. This allows them to pursue learning according to their own interests (one studies animals and the other botany). If we did science in a read aloud fashion this year, we would only do one book and one or both boys would be disappointed they didn't get to study the book they preferred. So, this textbook user can still take time for nature walks with her boys and make room for some fun Charlotte Mason style science by using this wonderful textbook curriculum (when time allows).
4. Textbooks provide a painless and honest way to keep records and make the high school transcript.
When my oldest was coming up on his first year of high school, I scoured the internet for information about high school record keeping and making a transcript. At the same time I was shopping around for curriculum for different subjects, namely history. I love using a narrative history book as a read aloud with my younger children and adding history based literature to that spine for the boys to read independently as a supplement to our read aloud. I do so love this. But with high school I was completely stressing out. I drooled over Veritas Press' Omnibus curriculum, but I knew that I didn't have the time to teach that to my son, nor did we have the funds to do the self paced course online. I had five younger children, four of which were school age at the time. My number one stressor was that I wanted to choose well so that I could reuse whatever I bought for the oldest with the youngers and not hop around. I looked around and found that different curriculum options that are living books or great books oriented are hard to know how to give an objective, fair grade to put on a transcript. Moreover said curriculums were through the roof in regards to price.
I went to a local bookstore similar to Half Price Books. I found used Abeka history books for $6.00 and the quiz and test booklets and their corresponding answer keys were $1.97 each! I flipped through the books and grabbed them. For $14.00 + tax, I had a complete World History curriculum for my son and it counted as a full high school credit! No more stress over what we will do for high school history. The tests and quizzes provided me a very easy way to record grades and give an honest and accurate grade on my son's high school transcript. We have happily used Abeka's Economics book and we have their American History and World Geography as well. My son's records are easy to keep. His grades are an honest reflection of his work and study habits.
5. Textbook learning prepares students for learning in a college setting.
We can have all kinds of philosophical discussions about the purposes and goals of education and this kind of discussion certainly has its place. However, one of the many things a homeschool education should do is prepare a child to do well in college. College classrooms across the country use textbooks without shame. If textbooks are harmful to children, college professors are apparently completely unaware and need to be informed! I know personally a young man who is incredibly intelligent. He was homeschooled and now has a Master's degree. This young man was not made to take tests growing up. His mom figured that they were a waste of time as she knew that he knew the information. She was right. He did know it. However, time came to take the SAT for college entrance and his did not do so well. What? This guy has the brains to blow the top off of that test! How is this possible? Well, he had never taken a test in his life. He most certainly never took a timed test! There is an art to learning to study for a test and do well on it. This is the main mode of learning and receiving credit for what one has learned in the college setting. I am not addressing whether or not this is the best mode of learning. For better or worse, it is THE mode of learning in college, and our college bound children need to be prepared to succeed in this environment. They need to know what it is to study a chapter or unit review and take an exam over it in a specified time frame. The young man above not only lost out on much desired scholarship money due to his SAT scores, but he also made lower grades in some of his college courses because he didn't always finish his exams by the time class was over. He missed problems due to running out of time. His homeschool never required him to get his work done in a certain time frame. Textbook learning helps prepare students to handle this aspect of the college environment well.
6. Textbooks are a joyful means of learning in our homeschool.
My children have simply not been informed that learning from textbooks would rob them of joy in their learning. They don't all like all of their textbooks as much as others, but this is the result of one subject being preferred over the other rather than a textbook killing their joy of learning any particular subject. My children enjoy lessons in their books when presented in manageable chunks and with adequate instruction to give them what they need to succeed and do well in their lesson. No child wants to do poorly. A good textbook that presents the material well so that my children, with proper effort, are able to succeed is a winner in our home. Every child likes to see an A+ on their paper with an encouraging sticker at the top praising his efforts.
7. Textbooks foster self discipline and independent learning in the homeschooled child.
The final benefit to present to you that textbooks bring into the homeschool is self discipline, which creates an independent learner. I know a family that used Abeka Academy for first through sixth grades. The children were enrolled in Classical Conversations in seventh grade for the Challenge program. These kids have and are still doing wonderfully. Abeka's textbook based elementary program prepared these students to excel in the very popular Classical Conversations program which is considered to be a heavy load by many. What did Abeka give these students to help them do so well? Self discipline that has trained these children to have good study habits and a strong work ethic. These students don't need mom to harp on them in the morning to get started on their school. They pull out their books and get to work. While other students in beginning Challenge programs struggle to get all of their work done, my friend's kiddos are excelling in Classical Conversations' Challenge program. They are getting a lot out of it and they are doing so independently for the most part. This is true of many textbook educated children. This discipline crosses over into other areas of life and grooms a child to be a responsible and hardworking spouse and employee. Let's face it, no one wants a lazy husband, wife or employee. Using textbooks and teaching our children to be as independent as they are able will pay many wonderful dividends as they get older for mom and for them.
In Conclusion, know that many families successfully use textbooks as the primary source of their homeschool curriculum material. I have also found that this method of homeschooling is put down and disparaged in many blog posts and homeschool articles. I am here to say that using textbooks will not harm your children in any way. Your children will benefit greatly from their textbooks when used consistently with proper supervision from their teacher. They will do well in college and in life.
Now it's your turn. What benefits have you reaped in your homeschool through the use of textbooks? Which textbooks have been your favorites and why? Feel free to comment below!
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