by Michael Leppert
The developers of this method are Dr. Raymond Moore and his wife, Dorothy. They partially homeschooled their two children and are pioneers in the homeschooling movement and responsible for many homeschooling laws in California. They began in the homeschooling movement at the same time John Holt did and were friends of his.
Raymond Moore is known worldwide for establishing highly successful work-study programs in colleges and universities. Dorothy is a child specialist and reading and curriculum authority. Their methods have been used by thousands of families, schools, and homeschools around the world that want to develop high achievement, social ability, and character in their students and children.
The delayed academic approach involves following the Moore formula (as quoted from a Moore Foundation manual): “1. Study every day, from a few minutes to hours. 2. Manual work, at least as much as study. 3. Home and/or community service, an hour or so per day. Focus on kids’ interests and needs; be an example in consistency, curiosity and patience. Live with them! Worry less about tests. With the Moore formula, if you are loving and can read, write, count and speak clearly, you are a master teacher.”
The Moore Foundation has conducted thousands of studies and paired them with studies from Stanford University and the University of Colorado Medical School. They concluded after observing children’s senses, brain, cognition, and so on that no evidence shows that children are ready or need formal study or homeschool before the ages of 8 to 10. Therefore, the Moores advocate reading, singing, and playing with your children from birth. They suggest that children will learn to read in their own time, if someone reads to them often. Some children are not actually ready until the age of 14! Dr. Moore claims that the older readers often become the best readers of all. They also experience less damaged vision, more adult-like reasoning, more mature brain structure, and less blocking of creative interests.
This is not an unschooling program; it is placing service and work interests before “book-ish” academics. Ω
Tags: Dr. Raymond Moore, Dorothy Moore, reading authority, older readers, John Holt, work-study programs,
