Naming My Method

Last month, I talked about why we take a summer break from school and I promised I would also talk about my homeschooling method.   I never thought much about my "method" at all until this year.  Well, let me clarify.  I'd given it thought, but I never thought about what to call it.  It wasn't until I had conversations with two different friends who were trying to settle on their own family's homeschooling method that I said, "What do I call our method?" 

I was stumped. 

Before we began formal schooling five years ago, I knew that it was important to me that the majority of our learning be done together so that it eased the pressure of me trying to direct multiple kids while still caring for younger ones.  I also wanted most of our learning to be done from "real" books, not textbooks.  I also felt it important that our learning be natural and not forced.  I wanted to guide my kids by their ability, not by what they "should" be learning at a particular age.  I wanted them to love learning. 

Much of what we do can be considered Charlotte Mason method.  We draw in nature journals, we study works of art and beautiful music, we read poetry, and  we read scads of living books. We do a bit of narration in lieu of grades and  quizzes, though I have one child who thrives on letter grades (and will put a grade on his own papers if I don't). Sometimes we do projects or activities like you would do with unit studies and sometimes we take a topic and run with it like with unschooling and sometimes we even use a textbook.  

I still don't have a name for our eclectic jumble of methods, but I'm not sure it matters.  Maybe doing what works for us and being willing to adapt when a change is needed doesn't need a official moniker. 

Do you use a homeschooling method...or do you mix it all up like I do?