4. If you are going to use textbooks as your primary curriculum source, you might as well put your kids in school.
In other words, there is no point to homeschooling if you choose curriculum that teaches in a similar format to the school environment. This is a straw man argument and is rather silly. I will address it anyway as I read a comment on The Bates Family blog that stated this as a question. You can read that comment here. The idea that a family using Abeka DVD may as well just enroll their children in school suggests that they only reason to homeschool is to "do school" in a format that is radically different from the format used in a public or private school. While some families may homeschool because they prefer their children to be educated in a format which is radically different from the schoolish format which presupposes the use of textbooks, this is not the only reason to homeschool. People choose to homeschool their children for many reasons. The use of textbooks, with or without DVD's, does not invalidate their reasons for doing so nor does it compromise the quality of education in their homeschool. In many cases it actually drastically improves the quality of education in the homeschool as stated my Mrs. Bates in the article referenced above and Mrs. Maxwell in her post about her switch from unit study style homeschooling to textbook style schooling here.
5. Textbooks do not integrate learning between the subjects.
This is generally true of most textbooks, but there are some exceptions. Something I do in our homeschool to try and mitigate this is to have a child study American Literature in the same year they study American History. If we were going to include some form of Art appreciation I would have the child use the portion of the book that applies to American artists. I do likewise with World History and Literature. A child studying the history of the Romans can be assigned to concurrently work on a bible curriculum that focused on the gospels and Acts, etc.
I will say that curriculums that do integrate the subjects generally rely on lots of teacher involvement and advanced planning on the part of the parent. Such programs will not be effectively taught without mom always being there to do lots of work to pull it off. They also tend to be very pricey. If you have the time and fortitude to pull all of this off as well as the resources, then by all means do so. Such programs I have found (at least in our experience) seem to be most effectively taught by an outside source like an online course or co-op like Classical Conversations or Veritas schools. This is true for me due to time restraints with 6 children.
6. Textbooks alienate the student leaving them to work alone.
I was reading a discussion thread on a forum several months back about Rod and Staff textbooks I was interested in purchasing. The reviews and opinions were mixed which is to be expected. One comment in particular was quite disparaging not only of Rod and Staff but also the traditional textbook/workbook instructional method. The reviewer talked about how she used this curriculum with her child and felt like it was geared in an alienating manner. She said that you explain the lesson to "Orkie" and then send "Orkie" to the table to do his work. The tone of her review showed a disdain for sending children to work independently on a lesson in a book at the table once they understand the concept taught in the lesson.
"Orkie." Really? "Orkie" is going to sit at the table and complete his work on his own and this is viewed as bad? I think a child working on his coursework diligently and independently is a wonderful thing. Why would anyone condescendingly refer to a child who works on this program as "Orkie?" Why not Johnny, Jimmy or Sally?
What do we as homeschooling moms think we are withholding from our children by teaching them to learn to work as independently and diligently as they are able without interference from us? Yes, I am calling it interference. When a child does not understand something and comes to you with questions, this is help. When he understands perfectly fine, yet you think you need to be involved every step of the way lest he be lonely, this is interference. You see, now Johnny is distracted and he may begin to think he should never have to work alone. Mom should keep him company and entertain him during his school hours.
I really wonder why independent seatwork is viewed so poorly throughout the cyber homeschooling community. How well can a child function as an adult if they always rely on mom's involvement in order to get things done--in order to learn? Many children have gone on to succeed in life without feeling scarred or neglected during their school years by the lonely experience of completing workbooks independently.
7. Textbooks will cause students to "miss out" on the richness provided in a "living books" or "great books" education.
The assumption behind this objection is that students educated with textbooks will not read "living" books. They will only read textbooks. While this may be true in some homeschools, it is certainly not true in all. It is also not true of all public or private schooled children. While I did not read nearly as many books as I wish I would have in school, I was required to read three Shakespeare plays in their entirety and many novels. The use of textbooks does not prohibit or dissuade one from including a healthy dose of living books into a students curriculum. Some textbook users choose to require summer reading of their homeschooled students. This is a time when many living books may be read for pure enjoyment.
On the other hand, if a mom is so busy that she begins a school year with literature based studies and good intentions yet the intentions never pan out, textbooks would provide a much richer education for her children.
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