7 Things I Love About Eclectic Homeschooling + Giveaway!

There are dozens of homeschool methods that you can use. We are an eclectic homeschooling family and here are 7 things we love about it.

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We’ve been an eclectic homeschooling family since the very beginning. Sometimes we’ve used big box curriculum for certain subjects, other times we’ve gravitated toward Charlotte Mason. Classical Homeschooling has a lot of wonderful methods and philosophies that we’ve also blended into our own take.

Many homeschool families find themselves using an eclectic approach, especially the longer they homeschool

Here are 7 things we love about eclectic homeschooling.

Contents hide

1 It’s Not Boring

2 Fits All Learning Styles

3 Works with Any Season of Homeschooling

4 Thrifty

5 Multiple Ages Work Together

6 Uses the Best of Each Approach

7 Easy to Plan & Implement

8 Listen to the Podcast

It’s Not Boring

I’m not saying that school is never boring or that other homeschool methods are boring – but, when using eclectic homeschooling, you can choose the most active, love-of-learning-encouraging resources that will resonate with your kids the most!

And, if something isn’t working for your family, you can easily change it up and even change up methods! No more feeling like you have to choose from a selected group of resources because you’re trying to be a homeschool-method-purist.

Fits All Learning Styles

My auditory learner can use resources that fits his learning style, while my visual learner might love textbooks with diagrams. Then, my kinesthetic learner has a love for creating folder books and doing lots of science experiments.

When you’re an eclectic homeschooler, you can use a different approach and method for each kid to make sure you’re customizing the education to fit their specific needs.

I’ve learned the value of this approach especially with my dyslexic learner. I can’t use the same approaches with him as I use with his siblings. The eclectic approach gives freedom to flex for each kid.

Works with Any Season of Homeschooling

Once you’ve been homeschooling for a number of years, you will start to see that each year is different and there are definite homeschooling seasons.

Having an eclectic approach means that your methods can change to fit in with your current homeschool season.

When you’re homeschooling elementary kids and still wrangling toddlers and feeding babies, your homeschooling might have to rely on more workbooks or teaching multiple ages together for efficiency.

But when the babies grow up, and you have a house full of teenagers, you will find new freedom to change up methods if you need to!

Thrifty

I’m thrifty through and through, some because of my personality and some because of necessity. If you’re a single income homeschool family – you’re in the majority! Most of us need to make the most of each nickel and dime.

I think that eclectic homeschooling allows you to save the most money.

Because if you go with a traditional boxed curriculum approach, you could be spending hundreds of dollars per kid per year – and that really adds up!

If you’re part of a classical education co-op, you will also be paying a tuition rate.

So, if you’re looking for the most economical homeschool style – it’s the eclectic approach of pulling together free, paid, and generally the best resources for your kids across all the methods.

Sometimes I do invest several hundred dollars in an amazing resource or curriculum that I believe in. But usually, this is something that I can use over and over for all my kids, and the investment will pay off with literally years of use.

Or, sometimes, for my sanity, I spend a couple hundred dollars to outsource a subject to an online course for my teen, because we both need a break from each other!

I still come out with a pretty tight budget each year, and I think this is because of our eclectic homeschooling style.

Multiple Ages Work Together

When I had a little tribe of four boys in the elementary years at the same time, we did as much as we could together – science, social studies, art, music, foreign language, Bible, read aloud, nature study. The only things they needed to do individually was math and language arts.

This is a benefit of using an eclectic approach. Because in a textbook-based approach, for example, your third grader would need to purchase third grade level everything – social studies, science, language arts, math, reading curriculum, and the list goes on and on.

Uses the Best of Each Approach

Each approach has its pros and cons. With eclectic homeschooling, you can use the best of each approach, and not even try to incorporate things that just won’t work with your family’s homeschooling style or season of life.

Easy to Plan & Implement

Eclectic homeschooling allows you to pick the resources that are the most user-friendly – that is, those that are easy to plan and implement!

I don’t have time to consult massive teacher planning books for each kid and each subject. I look for open and go resources that are easy for me and the kids to use. This is another top reason why we love the eclectic homeschooling style.

Listen to the Podcast

On episode 38 of the Homeschool with Moxie podcast, we covered the topic of Eclectic Homeschooling! Many parents move in the direction of eclectic homeschooling the longer they homeschool. Here’s what you can expect in this episode:

what is eclectic homeschooling?
what are the benefits?
what ours looks like now
how to plan for a year of eclectic homeschooling

Here’s a list of resources mentioned on today’s episode:

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