HOD vs. Textbooks (Managers of Their School)

[MommyInTraining]

Hi Ladies,

I have started reading Managers of Their Schools by the Maxwells. In it, they advocate using textbooks for instruction. I have been contemplating switching to that method. Could anyone share with me the benefits they see in using HOD over that method? I really like the idea behind HOD but am now wondering if something else might work better for our family. I would really like to hear your insight in to why you think HOD is a superior method of instruction compared to textbooks like Bob Jones and Abeka, especially for a large family.

Carrie, I would love to hear your response too .

Thanks all!

Terri in WA

[MamaMary]

Terri, I am so glad you asked this question. It's a good one and I will share my ponderings on this.

I have always been a textbook gal for many of the reasons the Maxwell's state. It does prepare my child educationally, it does help me stay on track schedule wise, it does simplify the process of bookkeeping. It will make you feel better about what your children are learning because it seems to be more measurable as far as immediate feedback. I've done it all Terri. I've done unit studies, literature based, full text programs, you name it. For different reasons and different seasons all of these have been a good fit at one time or another.

How does HOD fit in with this philosophy? Well, HOD is a balance of both worlds. HOD uses incredibly rich literature and pairs it with the top of the top textbooks. Many programs are all or nothing. All relaxed, literature, notebooking OR all text. HOD thinks about your time as the mom and everything is schedule to allot maximum learning, maximum fun, maximum efficiency. I love textbook/worktext programs for all of the reasons I listed above, but the two things textbooks don't offer us are...,

1) Those warm forever memories of reading, snuggling and doing projects together. I don't want to be so efficient that I miss out on those memories I only get one shot to make.

2) Ownership of information being learned. When my son did the textbooks he did fine academically and I stayed on track, but unit study and literature allows him to own what he's learning. Rather than filling in a blank, he does a notebook page where he is responsible for the WHOLE thought. Textbooks only make students accountable for partial thoughts. When we read and they narrarate back to me what they heard, what they learned then they own it. Rather than answer questions the textbook manufacturer thinks they should take away.

I love textbooks for my math and english and even some other basic subjects but though it does take more effort for me to fit in projects and reading I find that these are my fondest memories of the past 11 years. Believe it or not Steve Maxwell and I had a conversation about this last fall. I believe with my whole heart God has given the Maxwell's a specfic purpose in their life. Their memories are not made up of snuggly reading time. They play music together, travel together, minister together and textbooks allot them that lifestyle. Textbooks are a PERFECT fit for their family. The heart behind Managers of their schools, is to give moms permission to use textbooks if they so choose because many are afraid to use them because of what others say. It's very specific to each family.

Whatever makes mom happy is what I say works best! (smile) I personally would love the efficiency but in a couple of weeks I would feel the loss of the relational experiences HOD allots our family. Blessings to you..., Mary

[LeAnna]

Hi Terri!
Sounds like you have some decisions to make! I don't know how much "insight" I have, but I will tell you what I think from my experience. I was homeschooled, back in the day, with the "textbook" method. I used all of them... Abeka, Bob Jones, you name it. While it was okay for some... I didn't feel like it was very exciting. It was hard for me to read history through a textbook... too many problems for math... etc. Just a really long drawn out day, in which I felt like I didn't really have that much fun, and was frustrated with so many problems and questions. I remember my mom being frustrated too with all the planning.
The thing with HOD is that you have shorter lessons, so that the kids stay engaged in what they are learning. How much more exciting to read history from a living book as opposed to a dry textbook! I myself am learning so much, just by reading stories with my children!! HOD is set up specifically for homeschooling. Everything is planned out perfectly, and it's just open and go. With the textbook method, you HAVE to plan ahead and sort out what you want to do and how to do it, because it is set up for the classroom.
Another thing with HOD, there is notebooking, which my kids love! They get really creative in their drawings and are really proud of their work and what they have learned.
I also love HOD, because I know that my kids are getting everything they need to succeed! And, I know that they are having fun doing school. Many times the kids tell me that they can't wait to do school in the morning! It's wonderful to me, because from the very beginning I felt like I would be totally burnt out if I was to homeschool with the textbook method, with three kids. I didn't want to do it. I knew all the work that I would have to do... on top of my housework and meal planning, etc. I was completely overwhelmed! I had really told my husband, "I can't do this!" Then, I started searching and searching for other ways to homeschool, and discovered Charlotte Mason. At first, I was a little intimidated, but the more I looked into it, the more I really believed that this is the kind of learning that was meant to be! I kept searching, and through a forum somwhere else, someone mentioned HOD. I looked into it and just completely fell head over heals! What an answer to prayer!!! My mom too loves it! She said, she would have totally used this if she had to do over!!:)
If you have never tried it, I would definitely give it a try! You will be completely amazed at how much your kids are learning, how much fun they are having, and how stress free it is for you, as the teacher and mom!
Not sure if I have been much help, but I hope it helps a little bit.

Blessings,
LeAnna

[Candice]

Terri,

Although my experience is limited as far as actual implementation, I have done much (too much really!) research and have viewed (and implemented some) plenty of curricula. But more importantly, I have finally quieted down and have allowed God's urging to have me follow His lead in this area, to direct me completely. Admittedly, I had a terrible problem of continually waffling between different teaching philosophies and various methods of schooling. I simply drove myself (and my poor hubby) nutty, spinning circles looking for the "perfect solution" for our homeschool. Anyway, bottom line is that I finally wised up and let go of the craziness and let myself quietly settle into the gift of HOD as God presented to me.
I would love to share with you my personal experiences and in doing so I hope that you are able to find something helpful.

As far as making a distinction between HOD and "textbooks", for us it comes down to the philosophy of education and the inclusion of the Lord into our daily lives. When I consider how education fits into the big picture of our lives, I find it essential that education be a natural and enjoyable extension of our lives, not an added activity or obligation that must be satisfied to ensure that we systematically cover A, B and C. When comparing the "textbook method" to HOD, I believe that HOD aims to inspire my daughter, to invite her to think on her own,to be creative, to interpret the material from her very own unique perspective. As Mary said, to own it. To me that is so valuable because my daughter will be able to make some wonderful connections and conclusions about the world around her, the world that God has created. To me this means that education will become a natural, enjoyable extension of her life because she is able connect with the ideas and concepts that are presented in her own unique, God given way, and they will naturally become part of who she is, who God plans for her to be. For me, using the "textbook method" felt as if I was spoon-feeding the material to my daughter. It was too scripted, to rigid, uninspired and dry. I completely respect that style of schooling and believe much of the curricula to be of very high quality, but it just did not fit what I envision for our family.

I guess a simple comparison/analogy would be like giving a child two options when it comes to creating with art supplies and paper. Option one (HOD), offers plenty of crayons, colored pencils, markers, paint. All of the tools are available to the child. Option two, (scripted textbook style), offers the crayons, pencils, and markers and paint as well. The main difference between the two however, is that HOD would provide a huge, blank (unspoiled) canvas that the child can then have the freedom to create and design that which the child chooses. She is free to express her thoughts and ideas as she sees fit. She chooses to express herself in her own unique style.
The textbook approach, on the other hand, would offer the child a pre-printed, pre-selected, color in the lines format. There tends to be more of a need/inclination to conform and to simply respond to what is presented. Imagination and inspiration is not drawn upon to its fullest.
Another very important aspect of HOD is the inclusion of the Lord in every detail of the material. The focus on Him is repeatedly shining through all that we do in HOD. I can trust that as we make our way through the HOD programs, my daughter's relationship (and mine) will continually grow with the Lord.
Also, I don't like making a distinction, or drawing a line, between God and home/life education. Around here, they are all wrapped up in one. How perfect then, that I can have the absolute assurance that when we open our HOD program for the day, we are inviting Him in once again to our hearts. HOD is so very rich beyond a typical checklist of what should be covered in schooling. We get the whole ball of wax with HOD and most importantly, in our home, it comes with His blessing!

Okay, I have completely used up my "allotted HOD computer time" today, gotta run!

Candice

[8arrows]

For us, I would be lost in a sea of grading and checking up on everyone with textbooks only. We have learned more and retained it better with the HOD type approach. We have more fond memories and the notebooks are very personal keepsakes to read through and review. Who reads through and reviews workbooks (although it could work)? HOD clearly uses some textbooks. However, they also schedule in all the fun things I would never get to with just textbooks. Clearly, textbooks are an option, and they have clearly worked for the Maxwells. We have not chosen that as the best road (or the easiest) for our family.

[water2wine]

Teri,

I love the Maxwells and everything they stand for and enjoy their ministry and read their books, except I have not read this one. They are an influential family and I know they published it to give insight to what has worked for them. I do see the value in sharing that and I have heard that they do not advocate this way for everyone it is just what has worked for them. It does make me sad though to see the doubt a lot of people seem to be having in a literature based program after reading the book. Hsing is so personal. It's really a call from God and not everyone is going to be called the same way. I know the Maxwells took great pains to make sure that was known in their books but as moms we are already fraught with doubt that we are giving our children the best sometimes. And sometimes hearing from someone we respect so much that they have chosen something different does cause us to doubt. On the other hand I think for some families text books are what works best for them. I do believe we are all called to use different things.

We are a fairly large family, not compared to the Maxwells but compared to many. We have six and we did do textbooks for a while. We did use them successfully but I did not feel that I had really grasped the call God had for us. In some ways you do at first feel like you are covering everything but using just one source like that does include it's own kind of gaps and eventually you start to realize that. And for us it showed to not be the best way to teach our children to love to learn and hunger for knowledge or to grow to love Him. No matter what you use there will be gaps of some kinds. Nobody can possibly teach it all and even if they could their is no child that could learn it all without some sort of gaps. When I realized that and saw the burden that textbooks was creating in all the correction and teacher intensive demand not really so much on teaching but more explaining and learning how the textbooks expect their material to be taught to get the most out of it, I also realized that we were not really accomplishing our main goals. For us our main goals are to teach our children to love and know intimately God's Word, His gift of salvation and the love He has for us in His Son as well as know well His nature to become more Christ like. In that I want to help them find and know the call God has for them each individually and teach them how to follow it. Then there is really only one other thing that is extremely important and that is that they would learn how to learn and love it to the point that they hungered for it, because the truth is you can't cover it all so you must teach them to love to learn. Yes I want them to have everything covered and hit all those important things so that they will be more than adequately prepared for any call God might have for them. True I could have everything covered well with textbooks academically but I was beginning to see that using textbooks we were not accomplishing the very important goal of building true intimacy with God in everything we studied and in that knowing him more and seeing in my children that real hunger for learning. The textbook taught knowledge in the context of God but it was not teaching how to learn or love to learn for that matter or how to love Him for us. To me that was to big a price to pay just to follow what might fit closer to a school or private school atmosphere.

I have a neighbor who love textbooks. She feels like she can really control her world that way and they are a great tool for her. She loves textbooks herself and really seems to know how to teach from them. I think HOD would really free her and from time to time she boroughs my books, one at a time and every so often, to read to her children. I think she sees that kids that read books to learn seem to tend to love school more and learning. Her kids like what they do but they also like the school day to be over. I know they like it to be over because they tell my kids all the time and even my kids can see that they do not feel the same way about school as we do. But for the mom textbooks are a blessing and the kids are learning and do well with textbooks. And in all honesty she has told me she wants school to be very separate from life so textbooks do that well for her. They are a great family and their kids are flourishing being homeschooled.

For me I love that my kids beg me to add just another book each time we sit down to read. They ask to do more in the notebooking or science sometimes because they are inspired by the foundation of what HOD asks them to do and they have ideas to embellish it. And many times when we are done with school I catch them in the school room reading or doing a craft that related to what they learned that day. It has become a habit and a way of life to learn for them. They love it and no matter how much you give them they almost always want more. We never had that with textbooks and that has definitely developed since we have used HOD. In fact when I realized what we were not getting out of textbooks I completely shut down from any textbook except for English and Math and did everything else Bible only for a while. In that time I saw that if my kids learned differently they would love it more and would actually grow closer to God in the school time. The more I saw how well it worked the more I included reading from the Bible and connecting it and just straight reading through the stories of the Bible and connecting them. I saw how well it worked. But I also saw how much work it was to do. What I found with HOD is Carrie does all that I wish I had connected ahead of time and now I can just relax and enjoy teaching my children. I see with HOD the goals I have with my children are being met and it compliments the studying the Bible we do on our own. I figure my time with my children is short. I do not want to miss so much of it correcting and planning if I can have peace and accomplish the things I feel God has shown me with HOD and inf through that they learn to love to learn the way they have to me that is it in a program. For us we could never have that in a textbook.

In all honesty though people are wired differently. I really want to encourage you to pray and spend some time in the Word asking God what it is He has for your children. When you get clear on that maybe you can then compare the textbooks way to HOD and see what helps you better accomplish that. God really honors this. And when you do this and find for yourself the answer He has for you there will be nothing that will seriously make you doubt again. I am speaking from experience. I used to be up until 2-3 Am every night looking for the perfect thing. In all honesty I think it made me physically sick worrying about covering it all and the stress of it all. When I took the time to really ask myself what is it that God really asks me to teach my children and how is it that He is asking me to teach I got a clarity I never had on what matters. Other than a few questions on highschool later on I am pretty settled and those things I do not know do not stress me out the way they used to. I am not spending every night searching and planing out the future. It is very clear to me where God is leading me to take my children and there is a lot of peace in that. I would love for you to have that peace as well whatever you choose. I hope you will really take the time to seek Him and ask Him what way He would have you go and what really matters and that it makes clear the path He has for you. I know He is really faithful on this.

Praying you find what is best for you! Sorry this is so long but brevity is not my gift and I could not find a few words to answer this question and really answer it.

[MommyInTraining]

Sorry this is so long but brevity is not my gift and I could not find a few words to answer this question and really answer it.

Oh, please don't apologize! This is just what I wanted....a good conversation about it !

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts!!!

[Carrie]

Terri,

The ladies on the board have done a wonderful job of pouring out their hearts, experiences, and ponderings with you. I am grateful for the women on this board every day, as their walk with the Lord and their homeschool journey encourages me on that same journey.

In the past, I have thoroughly enjoyed my copy of the Maxwell's Managers of Their Homes, and while I couldn't implement it exactly the way they did, I found many tidbits of information that I could use. Much of homeschooling is like that. In my early years as a public school teacher, I was still seeking and trying to find my fit philosophy-wise, so everything that I read seemed to make sense to me, and I wandered from philosophy to philosophy. As I taught longer, I learned by trial-and-error, which things fit me and my personality and which things didn't. Sadly, in those 11 years of teaching, none of those educational philosophy decisions had anything to do with spreading God's word or with sharing His plan of salvation to the kiddo's I was teaching. Being in a public school setting, the focus was on excellence in academics.

When I came home to homeschool our oldest, I started all over again looking for a different philosophy fit, and while I desperately wished for the focus to be on the Lord (when educating my kiddos), somehow He wasn't in much of our day (purely by my curriculum choices). That is when we began writing our own curriculum which would place the Lord highest on the list and would thread praising Him and learning about Him throughout our whole day. Now, I love how often we have the Bible out during the day. I love the heartfelt discussions we have time to have. I love singing hymns together and memorizing God's word. I love that my children's education is different, and personal, instead of the one every other child is getting.

Whenever the topic of textbooks comes up, I actually know exactly where I stand on that topic, as I've spent over 20 years as a teacher coming to this spot. I believe textbooks have their place in education, but they are best in moderation. I've discovered that they tend to take the personal part out of education. Textbooks view the child as the vessel and you as the vessel filler, with information to be poured into the child. This works well for subjects like math and English (with a finite body of knowledge to be learned). It doesn't work as well for inspirational subjects or for subjects that have far too much information to ever be "poured" into a child. History and science are ever-changing, so kiddo's vessels will overflow if we only strive to fill them with information. These subjects lend themselves better to inspirational material, or to research, or in seeing them come to life with living books.

I'll leave you with one last bit of information that will help you wherever you end up in life. Balance is the most important thing in all areas of life, both in our walk with the Lord and in educating our children. I often fall short of achieving balance in my life, but I know the Lord desires me to strive for this is my day-to-day. He wishes for me to balance my role as teacher within my children's education with my quest to glorify Him with my life. He desires for me to balance researching educational options with spending time at His feet waiting for His perfect leading. He wishes for me to balance enthusiasm for His call on my life to educate my children with a peace in knowing He will direct my paths. At HOD, we are all about balance. We look at your whole day, and strive to balance each area, so the only one that is more important than the others is time spent with our Savior. I pray for you to find balance in your homeschool journey.

Blessings,
Carrie

[rni'smommy]

I love the Maxwells books and I purchased this new one also. For me the biggest benefit of the textbooks from the book is the efficiency. HOD is efficient it really does not seem like it takes long at all to finish the lessons. Also they mention that it allows the children to work independently however they mention that in the elementary grades most of the work is done with mom so independent work does not happen until around fourth grade even with textbooks. It is my understanding that Preparing is already having the child work somewhat independantly therefore accomplishing the same thing as the textbooks timewise. Because the lessons are so well planned in HOD you do not have to spend all the time looking for ideas and planning out the activities or worrying about missing something you just follow the plan. In my opinion HOD is just as efficient as a text book. It gives you the best of both worlds.
Furthermore, with textbooks you will not have the emphasis on Bible that HOD has (Carrie thankyou so much) even the christian textbooks do not have the same emphasis. This for me is the most important thing I want my children to grow up surrounded and saturated by the awesomeness of our Creator. I want Him to be involved in every aspect of their lives, including school. This is all just my opinion and I still am glad I purchased the Maxwells book because it does have a lot of beneficial information in fact it made me like HOD more because it made the point that every thing you do should be for the glory of God and I believe that HOD allows us to do that so I will be sticking with HOD. HTH

[deltagal]

Hi Ladies,

I would really like to hear your insight in to why you think HOD is a superior method of instruction compared to textbooks like Bob Jones and Abeka, especially for a large family.

Hi Terri,

Although we're not a large family -only 4 children - my experience with textbooks is my children get bogged down in them because they have a great deal of work and they often lack "spark". However, I do think you can use textbooks effectively if you reduce the workload required and find ways to interject a little creativity. Which, as a matter of fact, is why I like HOD. Carrie has already done that for you. If your concern is "time" I think HOD has a great deal of merit that is worth looking into. Carrie has been able to really focus the lessons into effective, manageable uses of your time and still allow creativity. My friends who use textbooks seem to spend ALL DAY doing school and having to drag their children through the processs. So, if you go the textbook route my one bit of advice is "don't drop your child off in a textbook and leave them there" wasting away hours of precious time that could be spent playing and living and enjoying time with you! You still need to interact and work with them and bring your passion and joy into the journey.

[Sandi_NC]

I'll leave you with one last bit of information that will help you wherever you end up in life. Balance is the most important thing in all areas of life, both in our walk with the Lord and in educating our children. I often fall short of achieving balance in my life, but I know the Lord desires me to strive for this is my day-to-day. He wishes for me to balance my role as teacher within my children's education with my quest to glorify Him with my life. He desires for me to balance researching educational options with spending time at His feet waiting for His perfect leading. He wishes for me to balance enthusiasm for His call on my life to educate my children with a peace in knowing He will direct my paths. At HOD, we are all about balance. We look at your whole day, and strive to balance each area, so the only one that is more important than the others is time spent with our Savior. I pray for you to find balance in your homeschool journey.

Carrie,

THANK you so much for sharing this! In fact, this entire thread has been a huge blessing to me! I am struggling greatly right now with knowing the direction our homeschool needs to take. And it needs direction! I feel that just about every area of my life is striving for balance and direction, and because I have messed things up so drastically, I find myself *fearful* of making yet another wrong decision.

We will be ready to start a new school year in April and I am praying wholeheartedly for the Lord to show me His will and His direction, not just for our homeschooling, but for our family as well.

Many months ago I was certain the Lord led us to HOD ~ but then I started to panic and over-reacted ~ and we've spent all this time since then bouncing around. I had a wonderful conversation with you last summer Carrie, you walked me through HOD and answered all of my questions, helping me to see my children's individual needs and how to customize HOD to fit our family. I still have my notes!

All this to say, thanks ladies for sharing your hearts and your ponderings!

[MommyInTraining]

Thanks so much ladies for your heartfelt replies. I really appreciate you all taking the time to share with me!

[Carrie]

Sandi,

If you need more specific help, feel free to post or to give me a call. I'd be glad to talk through whatever is needed. I pray for peace with your decisions and that you'll find balance in your life. I find I must strive for it daily, or it is quickly lost. I am a constant work in progress!

Blessings,
Carrie