Feb. 27, 2008 - Relaxed or Eclectic Homeschoolers?

As much as I like the concept of Unschooling, I've mentioned before how it is difficult for me to give up all reigns and let Ariella and Kaylah decide what they want to learn. There's still things that I think are important to learn and if I don't push it, I doubt that any of my kids would want to learn them or have the opportunity to learn them through unschooling (such as multiplication, spelling, penmanship, and other concepts). Well, I found a new term...Relaxed Homeschooling...this is what I think would describe our philiosophy best. I would feel most comfortable with letting my kids explore and learn on their own with much guidance from their father and me. With that, I would be able to teach math, grammar, spelling, history, and science.

I use mostly living books and no text books when it comes to teaching most subjects (Charlotte Mason). Although I do refer to a math text when needed. We also go off on themes every once in a while (would that be unit studies?). Say, slavery. For a while, my daughter was very interested in this. We got books out of the library and watched some films. I'm still wanting to get to the Underground Railroad Museum in Philly one of these days.

The way I see it, we're still young in our homeschooling journey and still trying to find what works for us. I'm so glad that I listened to those that said to not purchase any curriculum in the first year. It was probably the best advice I read regarding homeschooling.

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Feb. 22, 2008 - Time

Time allows children to discover and develop skills and talents. "Mom, look at what I can do." I'm seeingthat when my kids are bored, they seem to come up with creative ways of entertaining themselves. Of course, the first question is can they watch a movie, but upon being denied that choice, they usually can occupy themselves with something worthwhile, whether it be playing with toys, making a puppet show, building a fort out of chairs and blankets, or riding their bikes in the driveway. They always seem to get theircreative juices flowing when they're bored!

 

Our schedule is very freed up now and our children can actually enjoy their childhood. I can enjoy their childhood too, which is totally awesome. Seeing them planning, gathering materials, acting out scenerios, laughing, and having fun together is great. Sure, they still have the occasional bickering, but the mojority of the day is spent with them working together. And it's even more awesome when they are able to include the babies in their play. I give the credit for all of this to Time! Because without it, they'd only be together about 5 hours a day (and that's not including time spent apart for extra-curricular activities, bathtimes, and homework). Take them into account and we're talking that as a family, we would be spending less than three hours togather every day. No wonder families are falling apart!

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Feb. 22, 2008 - Deschooling

Ariella is in the midst of deschooling. Both of us are. It could take up to a year, according to some of the books that I read. Her questions "What can I do?", "Should I color the duck yellow or orange?", and "Can I have recess now?" all have to do with what she found to expect at school. In the fall, I felt almost like I was in competition with her first grade teacher. I was constantly being challenged with "That's not how Miss so-and-so did it".

 

We've changed a lot since we started and we're still adjusting and trying to find what works for us. I'm figuring once we hit the point of finding what works for us, then we can enjoy all the luxuries of homeschooling. We've tried school at home, required daily work, and weekly work where Ariella chose what days to do which subjects. At one point, we came up with a schedule so that Ariella could physically see that she got a recess and if she got done her work, she could have free time and lots of it. After a week, we gave up on that. It still felt too much like school to me and I needed the flexibility that homeschooling is supposed to provide. For a while I let the girls sleep in (thinking that why should they be forced to get up when they don't have to go anywhere), then I decided that they should at least be up and being productive. Now, they both get up on their own around 7:30 or 8, most of the time well rested.

 

Ariella, especially, is used to being told exactly how to do things, to sit down, to be quiet, to draw a straight line, to color the sky blue...School does this. I remember not wanting to raise my hand to risk looking and sounding dumb and I remember doing things just like the teacher wanted to get a good grade (even in college, I wrote papers based on what I knew the professor wanted to hear). In school, no one is allowed to think outside the box.

 

I'm just thankful that I started homeschooling when I did, because if it's taking this long to deschool after only 3 years of traditional schooling, I would think it would take longer is a child had been in school longer.

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Feb. 22, 2008 - Not Taking the Easy Way Out

Homeschooling for me is refusing to take the easy way out. It is my responsiblity and my pleasure to teach my children. I am ultimately responsible for what happens to each and every one of my kids. I could take the easy way out and pass the buck to teachers or to the school system, but why should I? How could I? I've done it for the past three years, but I refuse to do it anymore. Homeschooling is a tremendous task to undertake, but I really believe that it will be worth it. We're in the deschooling phase still, but already I can see the difference in my children, a positive difference that I feel homeschooling has caused.

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Feb. 10, 2008 - Playing versus learning

Ariella bragged to my folks yeaterday that she loves homeschooling because now all she does is play all day. Then she told them about our trip to the aquarium. They quizzed her on what she learned and I was quite impressed. Although, they still poked fun of her. The way I see it is that Ariella and Kaylah learned more at our day at the aquarium than an average school child would learn on her field trip. How many teachers actually take the time to read and explain the information beside each exhibit? Teachers would never let their class spend a half hour at one display to draw and color a picture of what they were seeing.

 

I bet if I were to ask any student that was there on a field trip the day that we were there, chances are that he or she would not be able to name one interesting fact about any of the animals. Field trips are about being able to sit next to your friend on the bus, getting a special snack and lunch, being able to wear something comfortable (rather than your uniform), taking pictures with your disposable camera, and having fun with your friends without getting reprimanded by your teacher.

 

So, if Ariella thinks all she is doing is playing all day, so be it. She enjoys what she's doing and that's one of my main reason for homeschooling. Why shouldn't she have fun while she's learning? Who ever said that learning has to be work? My children have the rest of their lives to live out and some day they may grown up and they may hate their jobs (hopefully not, but anything's possible), but right now, their job is to learn and I'm going to do all that I can as a parent and as a teacher to let them enjoy the process!

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Feb. 8, 2008 - Limited Time

The first time someone told me "Enjoy them while you can...they grow up before you know it" I was pregnant with Ariella, who's now 8. Four kids later, I lost track of the number of times I heard this said. The truth that this statement holds is by far my main reason for homeschooling. Maybe I'm being selfish. I want to be the one who is with my children. Every parent wants to be there when their child takes their first step or says their first word. Well, what about everything else? First times happen everyday. I want to be there when Ariella builds her first weather station and when Kaylah reads her first book and when Milana counts to 5 for the first time and when Jason catches a ball.

 

I want to be there when the children do their firsts and when they learn to fly. Why would I want some stranger to have that honor? I don't want to send them off everyday for 8 hours at a time. I want to spend time with them, teaching them, and learning from and with them. Is it wrong that I want to teach them morals and values consistent with our beliefs along with their ABC's and multiplication tables? If I don't know the answer, we can find it together. I want to instill a love of learning that will last a lifetime.

 

Our children are important to us. Jason works long hours and hard labor so that I can stay home with them. I want them to know that they are important to us and worth this sacrifice and that they hold a special place in our world. I homeschool my children because I love them and I want to give to them one of the best gifts that a parent can give to a child--time.

 

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Feb. 8, 2008 - Learning for the Sake of Learning

Ariella loved going to school. Kaylah saw Ariella's enthusiasm and was all set to have a fun year of Pre-K at her big sister's school. Why did Ariella love school? When asked, she replies that she liked recess and she liked seeing her friends everyday. Isn't school about learning? Of course she likes seeing her friends everyday--she's a social butterfly and enjoys hanging out with them. But couldn't she still see her friends at Brownies, story hours, bowling, and playdates? I think she can learn three times as much and retain the information if she wasn't so worried about Susy saying that Sally was her best friend today instead of Ariella because Sally brought a Barbie to school. Or that she didn't have a chance to study (or rather cram) for her spelling test and now she won't get a 100%.

 

I can't have an intelligent conversation about the American Revolution or anything really that happened in history. History was always very boring to me and I can't say I know much about it. It's no wonder why, I think I only learned history textbook-style. I can see when I start reading something to Ariella that has dry, textbook like feeling to it, she get preoccupied with playing and my own eyes become heavy. But there are some books (I've come to see them coined as Living Books) that make history come alive (hence the name).

 

We've read living books about the Underground Railroad, various stories about slaves, lives of American colonists and pilgrims, the times leading up to and about the American Revolution, and so many other interesting reads. Not just about history either. Both Ariella and Kaylah will come out with things that I know they learned from these books that we read together. I'm learning so much too. Ariella has actually done library searches to find more books of these mentioned topics. I wonder if she would have done the same had she been required to read a textbook chapter on the same information. I doubt it.

 

In school, children are required to know what the teacher wants them to know-- what she/he says or what is written in the books that are provided by the school. Rarely are they able to learn what interests them at any given time. I want my children to want to learn. I want them to learn in an environment where they feel free to ask questions when the questions come up. How many times have I raised my hand in school with a question, only to have to wait until the teacher's done talking? By then I usually forgot what I was asking. Or if I did ask, I was taking the risk that it was a "dumb question" (although there's no such thing as a dumb question...yada, yada, yada)..."dumb" in the eyes of my critics...my classmates that is.I want my kids to learn for the sake of learning and not for the sake of something that they need to know for the test.

 

 

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Feb. 6, 2008 - The decision

So, we've been thinking about moving to MT. This past summer ('07) I started looking into homeschooling. I knew my mom would never support it and I didn't think I knew anyone who homeschooled so I didn't even know how to start. I was considering starting when we moved to Montana so I looked up all the standards and support groups for that state. Ariella had been to preschool, a public kindergarten, and first grade at a local parochial school. Three schools in three years. Not that I was unhappy with any of them. If I hadn't picked up my first book on homeschooling, Ariella would still be at the parochial school and Kaylah would have continued right along and attended the preschool that I had her enrolled in to start in the fall.

It wasn't meant to be. I read a book and I was sold. The more I read (or should I say consumed since I read everything I can get my hands on on the subject), the more I knew I wanted to try homeschooling. Afterall, I was a certified teacher, why couldn't I teach my children?! Even though the books swear that you don't have to hold a degree to educate your own children. By the end of July, it hit me. Why wait until we move, why waste another year with the children attending school...I wanted to start now. I called up the school, told them I would like to try homeschooling and that was that. I had to do some stuff for our school district but it really wasn't that entailed. I also have to produce a portfolio to hand in at the end of June but since I'm pretty organized I have confidence that I can do that.

So, all I had left was to break the news to my family. My husband was easy. Jason, I guess could tell my enthusiasm and yearning to homeschool. His only concern was that it would mean no breaks for me, but no break versus an eight hour break from my children is a no brainer. I still manage to get out sometimes even if it's to the grocery store by myself. Al in all, he was so supportive, it totally boosted my confidence that I could in fact give my children a better education than they could get by someone else.

Ariella, being the social butterfly that she is, was the hardest to convince that homeschooling was the right choice. I'll get more into that tomorrow. I'm getting pretty tired and tomorrow's our long day...co-op and pajama story-time. It's the kids' favorite day of the week and my most exhausting!

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