The Case for the Homeschool Dad

As much as I would like to be, I am not that roll-up-your-sleeves-and-get-messy mom.  Thankfully (I think!), my husband is.  Therefore, the kids get some great hand-on learning experiences!  The most recent has been homemade root beer!

The first night, they mixed the brew.  The next day, we watched it begin to carbonate and the kids calculated the carbonation in order to determine the best time to bottle.

Watching air bubble through this air-lock allowed them to figure this out.  And allowed us to stop the bubbling before we ended up with beer!

They worked together to clean all of the bottles.

Teamwork!

Then Andrew patiently showed them how to fill the bottles with enough brew.

Christopher declared himself the official "taste tester".  It passed his sensitive palette!

After the bottles were filled, they were capped and sealed and put in the fridge.  Please say a prayer that fermentation stops before they explode all over my fridge!

Dad's are great in the zeal for the messy, exciting, and sometimes even educational!

Co-op Day One -- Survived!

Today was the first day of the homeschooling co-op in which my kids have participated in the last couple years.  Despite the fact that we have been involved on and off since the begining, this is the first year I have taught a class.

Last night, I started wondering what was going on in my head when I volunteered!  Not that I wasn't not really looking forward to it -- I was!  What I had trouble understanding was why, exactly, I thought I could sew well enough to teach it!

After today's adventures in co-op, I still doubt my amateur sewing skills, but I must say, teaching those kids was a blast! 

Last night I finished up sewing each student a 98% finished bag.  Each bag had a little ribbon loop for a button closure, but no button.  So lesson number one -- sewing a button (as well as how to thread a needle and knot the thread).

And the kids got a kick out of the funky buttons Andrew made!

We also spent today's class learning a little bit about the history of sewing.  We started sewing a small needle holder as well, but ran out of time.  In the next couple weeks, we will finish up the small projects in the bag and each child will have a complete made-by-me (as in them, not me) sewing kit.

It was great fun and I am really looking forward to the year.

(If you think these made-by-me sewing kits are cute, I am pretty sure that after a little tweaking, they'll make an appearance in my Etsy Store as well as the  Craft Lafayette! craft fair in November)

The Way We Learn

Since this post has been so popular over the past year, I thought I would take a moment to share how our schooling has been tweaked and changed as the kids have gotten older.  I still fully believe in the unschooling philosophy, but it is interesting to see how different it can look for each child and in each given year.

Grace is a voracious reader.  She would read every moment of the day if I let her (and often times I do!).  Because she reads so much, I have a hard time being aware of what she is reading and how much she is internalizing.  (To be clear, I only keep quality books on hand [thanks to my wonderful mother who keeps a steady flow of books coming our way!] and carefully watch what she gets at the library, so this isn't a question of content so much a quantity!) To help me keep up and to help her better understand the outlines of story writing, she has started keeping a "Reading Log."  This has also been a fun way to see just how much and how quickly she is reading!

Math has not come as easily to her (genetics!!), so we have been using the wonderful "Math-U-See" program.  I highly recommend it for a strong math basis and for the more hands on learner.  As far as unschooling math goes, I must say that Grace is great at practical application.  She can do well multiplying a recipe or counting her money.

A rather unconventional thing I am doing is trying to morph a more classical education ( I really like Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum) into the unschooled life style (we love John Holt!).  Some people claim that the two methods are mutually exclusive, but I actually think they blend quite nicely!

We are starting Story of the World history this year, as I love the read aloud format.  I also love how you can expand on the areas that really interest the child, while skimming areas that aren't of such great interest.

We are also starting Prima Latina this year.  Latin is the root of much of our language as well as being the language of the Church, so I think it is important to learn.  When I went to college, I was determined to learn Latin, but I failed miserably because I had no foundation.  I was so surprised by the (mostly homeschooled!) students for whom Latin was practically Kindergarten work!  They had started at an early age and had a real, working knowledge of the language.  I really want to give my kids that foundation.

Grace really loves workbooks.  She flies ahead in her lessons, because she thinks filling in the answers is so fun!  She has the Wordly Wise workbook set as a vocabulary builder and is having fun with that.  She also has Maps, Charts, and Graphs book which she enjoys looking through and answering.  I have been surprised by how much she enjoys these and since they work so well for her, we will keep at it!

Since she loves workbooks so much, I got her the Getty-Dubay handwriting series.  I like the look of their writing and she enjoys the book, so it is perfect for us!

When all written out, this seems like a large amount of work, but in reality, it is not at all.  She works on her school work in the morning and is finished by lunch time.  She is free in the afternoon to pursue whatever is interesting her.  Usually, she can be found with her nose in a book or we walk to the library for a new stack of books!  We are looking forward to many field trips with friends and our co-op this year.

I love being free to indulge the individual personalities of my children.  Grace is as happy homeschooling as Christopher is at school!

Our day in pictures

 Studying the recipes -- rewritten in her own hand, after the ingredients are assembled.

Grace is becoming quite handy in the kitchen -- she bakes cakes and cookies, almost unsupervised!

"Reading", drawing, eagerly awaiting finished cookies!

A Little Linky

This speech, by a public school valedictorian, is excellent. I relates to my previous post on unschooling. Go read it!

Unschooling

I was asked to be on a panel, representing various different methods of education, for discussion at this evenings CHOICES meeting. I was to represent the "unschooling" homeschoolers. Another mother represented conventional homeschoolers and the last woman was a veteran of the public school system. (There was supposed to be a fourth person, representing private school education, but she was absent) I think the talk and discussion went very well. The group was small, but very receptive. I thought I would repost my talk here for others to read.

Please note that I am in no way claim that this is the one and only way to educate your children, nor am I setting out to put down conventional schooling. I am simply outlining and defining what works for our family at this time.

“Unschooling” is the popularized, but not necessarily flattering name for a method of learning also known as “child-led”, “child-centered”, “holistic”, and “organic”. Unschooling differs greatly in appearance from the other forms of schooling, but not in its fundamental end – the acquisition of knowledge and skill. As unschoolers, we simply go about this acquisition in a radically different way. In unschooling, the student, not the teacher, is the primary agent of learning. Ultimately, unschooling is a gentle and natural method of learning in which the innate curiosity of the child is respected.

As Aristotle pointed out in his work Metaphysics, “all men by nature desire to know”. In unschooling, this desire is respected and allowed to grow and flow naturally. The absence of blocked learning times leaves room for the child to explore and learn in a natural way. If presented with an environment ripe for natural learning, a child is guaranteed to garner knowledge. Despite the popular blueprint, learning need not be separated from living. As John Holt, the father of unschooling, has told us: “Children learn best . . . not by being taught, but by being a part of the world, free to explore what most interests them, by having their questions answered when they ask them, and by being treated with respect rather than condescension.”

Children naturally learn at different and individual rates. Unschooling respects this and allows the child to set his own pace in learning. There is time to “follow the rabbit trail”, so to speak. A child may run after his interests until this interest has waned and/or the natural curiosity is satiated. An unschooled child will gain knowledge via primary resources and hands on experience, therefore making the knowledge his own, instead of filling his brain with facts to be spilled back onto a page come test time. An unschooler learns for love of knowledge, not for the attainment of good grades.

Another benefit to this method of education is that the family learns as a whole unit. While older children will come away from an event with different information than the younger children, all will come away different and stronger because of the experience. For example, a hiking adventure may teach an older child about different flora and fauna in a certain area, differing life cycles and differing terrain while a very young child may simply find joy in an interesting bug or the feeling of sunshine on her face. Both of these children came away from the hike changed and better, but in very different and age appropriate ways. This gentle and natural learning fosters and life long love of learning and a desire to continue to gain knowledge long after the child has passed “school age”.

The role of the parent in the home of unschooler’s is not that of “vessel filler” but rather that of “resource provider”. The parent lays out an environment conducive to learning and then quietly steps into the background. This is NOT to say that the parent slips away and leaves the child to his own devises. Quite on the contrary, the parent must be always ready and willing the answer questions, research more information, or jump into the car for an impromptu field trip. Unschooling parents are always learning alongside their children. They must be equipped and eager to seize the learning opportunities in everyday task and events.

Another key component to successful unschooling is trust in the child. Unschooling is very child-based and child-led. We as parents must trust the child’s innate desire for knowledge and foster it through that trust. We must encourage individual curiosity by answering questions and providing materials and experiences which will allow the child to develop his natural interests.

Everyday life provides us with a multitude of learning opportunities. Because of our classroom-tainted vision of learning and the breakneck speed with which we move through our days, we very often miss these opportunities. As unschoolers, we must open our minds and eyes to the world around us and gently put the brakes on life so that we can see and learn as we move through our days.

Let me provide you with an example of gentle learning in everyday activities. Children love to write letters to friends and family members far away (my kids also like to send email!). A simple handwritten letter provided lessons in spelling, grammar, handwriting, and creative writing, as well as the joy of written correspondence. It is much more natural and enjoyable to write a letter than to study an arbitrary spelling list and take an exam on it, fill out a grammar worksheet, complete a creative writing assignment on a given subject, and labor over a handwriting sheet. Not to mention far less time consuming!

As adults, we gain knowledge be reading and researching whatever interests us at the moment – that is why we are here tonight! We learn through everyday life and experiences. We develop an interest and run after it, gathering knowledge along the way. As unschoolers, we are simply passing that liberty on to our children.