Posted in Homeschool Fun
Okay...am I the only who thinks that saying this word sounds like someone sneezing? =oP Alright, that aside, here is my first attempt at haiku. I don't know if it follows the rules exactly, but here it is:
Crisp smell in the air
The crunching beneath my feet
I welcome autumn
Please, feel free to applaud mightily, and toss your accolades upon me. =oP
Feb. 19, 2007
Unschooling defined?
Posted in Homeschool Fun
I belong to a homeschool group for the state we live in, and of late, the topic of unschooling has been the focus. One of my fellow unschoolers posted a reply, and articulated so well the heart of unschooling! If her post doesn't define what unschooling truly is all about, I don't know that anything ever could! I hope everyone who read this, enjoys it as much as I do! I notified Kathy I would be posting this, and I do want to note that these are the words of Kathy Wentz, and copywrite of this post belongs to her. Thank you Kathy, on so many levels...thank you!
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-I also have this strong feeling that if I didn't have a curriculum my boys wouldn't just want to learn stuff on their own like math and grammar or history for that matter.
Most of us start out trying to compare apples and oranges though.
Some people might, for instance, only see learning in worksheets - and count on those worksheets to do the teaching. Most of us, when pressed into thinking back over our own misspent youths, can assure that worksheet lover though that even a huge stack of worksheets doesn't mean that anything was learned - nor that any knowledge entered long term memory storage in their brains.
Some others honestly think that you can't learn C until you have learned A and B but that doesn't make empirical sense either. So you say you can't learn division until after you have memorized all of your
multiplication tables. Ah, but then how did your little darling figure
out at 4 that if she had three friends over (so there were four people total) and there were 12 cookies that left only 3 cookies for each person? And how does that explain why we insist a child learn to read an analog clock before they have learned their 5 times tables? And how on earth can we possibly start learning history with the American Revolution (or, even worse, with the discovery of America by a person who never stepped foot on American soil and who discovered there were already people here anyway so how could he have discovered it first)????
Unschoolers see learning history in the field trip to the museum, the
love of the Little House book we are reading or the reenactment, or the fascination with castles and knights. We follow up on those interests and answer those questions and find more of those Little House books (heck we even cook with the Little House cookbook, get the recording of her favorite songs played on Pa's fiddle, or go on a covered wagon trip!).
Unschoolers see math as an endless series of math games and great math literature. Want to play Battleship (coordinate grid systems), Monopoly (adding and subtracting of large numbers, cash handling, percents), or Muggins (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division). Want to read Sir Cumference and the First Round Table (Geometry), A Gebra Named Al (Algebra), The Number Devil (Pre-Algebra) , or perhaps Calculus for Cats (Calculus)?
Unschoolers realize that you can't write well unless you read from the best and know how to follow their example. Mad Libs in the car and Editor in Chief books (or in my son's case correcting the newspaper and various books!) handle most of the rest.
When an unschooler finds they need to know what a past participle is
they can look it up - and are happy to do so because they want to know what it is. I bet you learned what a PP is but would still have to look it up today - so what is the difference?
As for gaps - we ALL have gaps in our education. Without looking it up - who can remember who fought in the Opium Wars? Without looking it up - who can remember where the U.S.S. Maine was sunk - or what war it preceded? Without looking it up - who can remember who has non-voting seats in the U.S. Congress (hint: there are 5)? Can you name three of the five?
When school first became mandatory in the 1850s in most states - school was mandatory for three or four years of a child's entire life. And then it was required for 16 weeks out of the year - whenever the family could afford to send them.
Most people graduated at 6th grade and spent the rest of their lives learning from books and newspapers. A rare few went all the way through 8th grade (which was equivalent to our high school). Wealthy families could hire a tutor after that for a Classical Education - in order to send their child to Harvard or William and Mary.
When WWII ended, however, we decided that we needed Rosie and Riveter and all the young men who had been working jobs to leave so that our service men could have those jobs. We came up with a mandatory plan called "High School" and sent all teens away for vocational education.
Math and grammar and reading that used to take three years to teach (and I have several 1850s era textbooks to prove this) now were stretched out over 8 years. They wasted our time with meaningless paperwork. They wrote about a bunch of things that didn't make any sense so we would be confused. They stopped teaching us ways to do simple math problems and gave us new, more complicated ways we HAD to do it or not get the question right - or in the case of New Math gave us no ways to solve the problems at all and made us figure it out on our own! They taught the
same things year after year only introducing a little more each year and
called it a "circular curriculum".
And this is what we have today and what we are too afraid to strike a
death blow too. Well, I and many others have struck a death blow to it
and have no regrets.
Even many of those who can't stop using curriculums entirely have
realized that the circular curriculum is no friend. That is why Thomas
Jefferson Education, Classical, Montessori and Charlotte Mason styles
have all gained so much popularity today. You don't have to go all the way to unschooling to get away from them.
> Are there support groups for addicts like me?
You are still deschooling. Give it time.
It took me several years to really deschool. (It is important as I tell
this story to know that I am a former high school Biology teacher.)
When it really struck home for me was once when there had been a lovely
spring rain there were worms out all over the driveway. My boys asked
me a question about them and I grabbed a handful of them and started
explaining (just as a good unschooling Mom should, right?). Well... I answered their question and then several unanswered questions before I realized their eyes were glazing over. Then... they walked away from me mid-sentence! LOL!
Trust the children. Yes, I totally killed their love of earthworms that
day. Sad too - because I think they are wonderful little creatures.
Who could imagine five little aortic arches until you see them - not to
mention their fascinating hermaphroditic situation.
I learned. If you listen to your children - so will you. They can teach you how to teach them. Honest.
Meanwhile though, look into Charlotte Mason or Thomas Jefferson
Education or Classical. You have a son who loves to read - and those
are styles geared for readers of living or "twaddle free" books.
There is a lot of wonderful grey in between the black and the white
here. You might find yourself at the opposite end of the spectrum some
day... but don't stress out over it when there are plenty of soft landings in between!
Kathy Wentz
Jan. 29, 2007
Of Patience
Posted in Homeschool Fun
I admit, somewhat ashamedly, that I am a hot-tempered person. Not to be confused with someone who flies off the handle at any given minute. However, I do have a temper.
My husband, on the other hand, is about as laid back as they come. Occasionally, I have to hold a mirror under his nose, to ensure he is still breathing. Okay, maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but he is quite the polar opposite of me, in regards to temperment.
RJ is a mix of both tempers, depending on what it pertains to. I d have to admit that he does seem to be more hot-tempered, however. Not something I am exactly pleased about, and is something I strive to change in myself, so he will follow that example.
So, how does patience come into this post? Well, being the unschoolers we are, we concentrate on whatever interests him at the moment. I feel that children learn and retain so much more, when they are interested in the subject, than when they are forced to learn about XYZ.
RJ has witnessed me crocheting on more than one occasion, and decided that it was something he wanted to learn how to do. I was a bit leary of this, but being as he showed interest, I felt I should be willing to put forth the effort to teach him. So, I attempted to teach him how to crochet. He was quite patient, but just was not "getting" it. He would suggest another attempt at it...we would try...and he couldn't do it.
Well, finally, a light bulb went off in this old head of mine. We made a trip to Big City, and bought a rather large gauge crochet hook, and some "fat" yarn. I figured if he was that interested in learning how to crochet, I needed to offer him the best tools for him to succeed, instead of expecting him to learn on the tools I was used to .
Upon our return home, he was more than excited about opening his new tools, to hopefully learn what he was wanting to, all along. He showed such patience! Maybe a bit more than I did, even. He was so very patient. He was putting forth such great effort; he wanted to so much to succeed. Before long...I would estimate about 20 minutes...he finally made his first crochet. To say he was elated, is a major understatement! He immediately had to run and show his Daddy what he could do...what he had finally mastered...and then he decided he wanted to teach Daddy how to crochet. RJ repeated exactly what I had instructed him to do, to his father. Daddy figured it out pretty quickly, which elated RJ even more. Not only had RJ learned something he had wanted so much to learn; he also took on the role of teacher, and succeeded there, as well.
RJ has crocheted some here and there since learning...his goal is to crochet a sleeping pillow for our cat. It may be a ways off...and I admit, I am tempted to do some of the crocheting for him...but after witnessing the look of elation and of "getting it" on his face, once he mastered crocheting, how dare I step in? This was his want, and his success. Just as I know that pillow will be for the cat...however long it takes.
Aug. 24, 2006
The Scrambled States 2
Posted in Homeschool Fun
I am so very selective when it comes to my giving reviews of products, but I have found one that I just have to share.
I had to make a trip to Big City today, to go to an unnamed discount store for some much needed items, that we can get inexpensively there...one income budget, ya know. Anyhow, while I was there, I checked the different clearance aisles, and came across a game by GameWright, entitled The Scrambled States 2. It is a geography based game, semi-similar to slap-jack. Sort of.
There are 50 state cards, and a die. You lay out 15 cards, face up, accessible to all. Then, in the center of the pool, you put the pile of remaining cards, and turn one card up (as you would in UNO). Then, you roll the die, and follow the directions. For example, if the die rolls the word state, you have to find a state of the same color as the one in the middle, and slap it. The first one to slap a card, gets to keep the card. The turned-over card goes into the pool, and another card is turned up. You can roll the following on the die: state, border/region (have to slap a card with the same colored border), pie/land mass, people/population. There is also a "2" on one side of the die, which means you have to find TWO similarities between the center state card, and a card in the pool. The last die face is that of a hand, which means you have to slap the center card. If, there are no cards matching, the first person to say "no match" wins the center card. However...if you incorrectly say "no match", or incorrectly match a card, then you are out for that hand.
It is pretty fast paced, and actually, a lot of fun! I was a little hesitent as to whether RJ would grasp the concept of the game, but he LOVES it! We played a few games of it tonight before bed, and I suspect we'll play more tomorrow. The one rule we've added, is that whenever you slap a card, you have to then name the state that is pictured/written. It is such a fun game to teach geography, as well as attributes of each state. And, it was only $3!!! Here's a picture of the game...if you see it, pick it up! Your wee ones will love it...I promise!
Aug. 22, 2006
The ingenuity of a homeschooler!
Posted in Homeschool Fun
This is probably really horrible, but dad gum, is it ever funny! Plus, it certainly shows ingenuity!
While I was preoccupied elsewise, my wee one was playing cars. he LOVES to play cars, and as usual, he built a castle out of Lincoln Logs. Once I finished doing what I was doing...took about 15 minutes total...I came back to where he was playing, and this is what I was greeted with:
Man (or, in this case, "boy") made snow! Nothing like a little baking powder snow to create a bit of cold weather atmosphere! LOL!! Pretty clever, if you ask me! Of course, he might not think it so clever when he has to clean it up, but for now, he's having a lot of fun! And, in truth, isn't that part of what homeschooling is about?
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