We at DSA have many opinions about family based education. We encourage parents to research the many different methods available and then tailor the curriculum to the child.

Often, because we ourselves come from a Public School mentality, we see "school" as something we DO to our children. We can actually have a hard time accepting that learning is something our children do for themselves. We, as parents, should provide resources and opportunities for learning and watch them grow. Children are too precious to waste time forcing them to learn when learning is as natural to them as breathing and as sought after as love.

"Hitherto the plans of the educationalists have achieved very little
of what they attempted, and indeed we may well thank the beneficent
obstinacy of real mothers, real nurses, and (above all) real children
for preserving the human race in such sanity as it still possess." 
~~  C.S. Lewis

Each of us must learn that there is a difference in teaching and learning. We must also acknowledge the very personal nature that learning is for each person no matter the age. To teach we assume we must give the child information that they will parrot back in some form or fashion. We believe children can't Learn anything unless someone "teaches" them and the only way to make sure of this is to test and grade and give smiley faces or stars. Learning on the other hand is what a person does on their own time. 

They begin a Journey with interest, curiosity, zeal for new things and quickly find paths of their own to take. Given freedom, they create their own small roads to obtain information they need. Like puzzle pieces and people who put them together — they all do it differently. Some build a frame of corner puzzle pieces, then work on the sides and then work in. Others like to match colors, shapes and then work outwards. Still others don't even like puzzles and stay far away. Learning things is like this—each of us put the pieces of information into the pattern that we need to make sense of it. Noone can do this for us because if they do we lose the sense of the whole thing, we lose ourselves on a trail not of our own creation and thus become lost and dependent on others road signs.

Children enjoy learning, parents enjoy their children and learning is done by all. We don't measure learning by grades or tests or books completed but by months, by abilities and by 

EUREKA!!!!!!!  I GOT IT MOM!!!

The best thing we can do for out children's education is give them confidence, trust, respect and love. They will and can learn the rest.

We believe learning must be more then rote memorization and test taking skills.
It must be relevant to the whole child—the intellectual, physical, and spiritual sides.
It must be family based because only the family knows the child well enough to allow learning in a non stressful non demanding natural way.