Moore Formula?

[VisionaryMom]

Does anyone use the Moore Formula method? It's basically a combination of work, service, and academics. I don't like that they push late academics (8-10YO), but I do like the idea of the triple focus. I'm just wondering if anyone has used this idea and whether it works.

[Lillian J]

I don't personally know anyone who has used their model as a program, but I've certainly known people who have operated with the general idea, not pushing early academics and instead involving themselves in play, projects, work, and a certain amount of service as a family, but with plenty of field trips and enrichment experiences. I think it's a fairly common way of homeschooling, except not with the strictness the Moores proposed. Their model is somewhat based on their own religious and parenting beliefs. And I was quite startled and disappointed to find that the business (at least since Dorothy and Raymond Moore have passed on) supports and sells the Pearls' mean spirited books on "child training."

As for the later academics, which they suggested starting at around age 7, and which makes a lot of sense from my own experience, they wrote two books in which they described the research behind that, Better Late Than Early, and the more scholarly one, School Can Wait. - Lillian

[VisionaryMom]

Thanks, Lillian. Ick on the Pearls' support.

Our library doesn't have any of their books, but I may put in an inter-library loan request. (I think if we're going to homeschool, I'm going to have to get a card at a nearby city's library.)

I don't want to do rote drilling, but I don't like the idea (on the Moore's website) of limiting children to 15 minutes of reading using a timer. That seems the opposite of the approach I want.

The thing that interests me more is incorporating the work side and service side with the academics.

[Lillian J]

Originally Posted by BrandiRhoades

I don't want to do rote drilling, but I don't like the idea (on the Moore's website) of limiting children to 15 minutes of reading using a timer. That seems the opposite of the approach I want.

That just has to do with vision hygiene for younger readers - making sure they get longer distance viewing mixed in after up-close focus. I don't think they meant for reading to be limited to only 15 minutes a day, but to be woven in with distant vision use. This excerpt (below) from the site is based on research they did when writing the first books. A seasoned vision therapist I knew told me she felt that some of the problems she was seeing in children stemmed from a lot of early reading, focusing up close for prolonged periods, and also from a lot of watching a TV screen from a set distance. She said it just isn't a natural way for the eyes to work - that young children need more variation in the distances they're focusing on. Another vision therapist told my teenage son he needed to stop his computer focus every so often and look into the distance - for the same reason.

"If your children are early readers, 15 or 20 minutes at a time is enough for children under ages 8 to 10. They can use a kitchen timer. Then take an hour or two for distant vision play. They can first use crayons or chalk on large paper or blackboards before developing finer muscle coordination required for pencils or detailed drawing or sewing. More on this in BLTE, SCW, and Home Grown Kids (HGK)." The initials above refer to Better Late Than Early, and School Can Wait.

Lillian

[Momma Aimee]

subbing to come back later and read