The Art of Educational Balance

We have officially completed sixth grade and first grade this year (2010-2011) for my children. If you have read any of my other posts, you will know that we have unschooled, Waldorf homeschooled, sampled classical homeschool, dabbled at Montessori, and taken a helping of Charlotte Mason. We have led a nature-esque co-op for a year (last school year), that met at a local park on the river, we have tried a classical class once a week (last Fall), and we have been in Excalibur for this past year (the co-op hailed in my last post). Purist, we are not. One thing has remained steady throughout our eclectic curricula, and that is the element of choice. I have tried to keep my children on a path of their choosing. This has had its moments of faltering and its moments of triumph, but it is an educational value I still cling to.

This past year has been a season of balance for me. Balancing the needs and preferences of two children who are at very different places in their educational journeys. One is anxious to tackle the rigors of increased academic challenge and has a love for languages that astounds. She has completed a course in Spanish and in Latin this past year. She is attending the "Let's Speak Spanish" programs at the local library to "keep her Spanish up" before co-op classes start again in August. She has challenged herself to pick up the sign language her brother is learning and is making plans to add another foreign language in the next two years (she is thinking of French, Italian, or... Mandarin - go figure:). She is also working on the next level of latin over the summer. When the Summer Reading Challenge at the local library asked the students to read 25 hours over the summer, she quickly adjusted her personal challenge to 50 hours and told me that as a bonus, the reading had to be done in more than one language. I see a future as a translator or a teacher (in almost any country). Of course, she could suprise us and move on to other pursuits. I always like to leave the door open for change. I don't like to label the kids too early (or at all, actually:).

My other child has come to reading in his own way. After discovering this past winter, that he really does think way outside the box and has some challenges in the way he sees print and interprets it, we made changes in our approach. He has such a desire to be able to read, but has struggled to understand decoding and being able to see and hear differences in words. For him, personal choice has evolved into much more structure. He wants to be able to read well and this recquires a new way of learning for him. Enter the Orton Gillingham, multi-sensory approach. With the structured lessons of the PAF program, he has made more progress in three months than he had in the past three years towards learning to read. Does he love sitting down every day for "book work" and painstakingly printing out letters? No. I will be honest, it is hard work for him and for me. When he balks, I remind him of his goal (to read whatever he wants, including chapter books, informational books on wildlife, etc.), and he presses on with a good will. This has really taught me the place for workbooks and lesson plans. Still, it all comes down to choice. He wants to learn to read well. (He has been harping on it for years - when will I be able to read... (fill in the blank) . He has a very strong personal drive to get there.) So, this past semester has included more structured lesson plans. We follow a very regimented, scientific approach to his reading, and, it is working. He is delighted with his progress, which is huge, because it spurs him on when the work is hard and slow. I have also developed an appreciation for reading later rather than earlier. His observation skills are amazing. Most of us can read and so we rely on reading for the majority of our information input. We rely on signs that tell us where things are in public places, we read the headlines while waiting in line for coffee, we read brochures and instructions. When you can't rely on these things for information, you notice all the little details that clue you in on what is happening and how to respond. He is always the first to notice the details and has a crazy knack for remembering information. For instance, we pull up to the Chick-fil-A drive thru. As I scan the menu for our order, he says, "I wonder what is broken here at the Chick-fil-A?" "What do you mean?" I ask, looking around to see what is broken. "The repair man is here," he says and then adds, "Oh, it must the air conditioner." (I am still looking around for something broken, and now, the repair man. "Why do you say that?", I ask him. "Because there is a repair truck here that is not in a regular parking space and the lock on the ladder at the side of the building is off and open. So, someone must be on the roof, it is probably the repair man. The air conditioner is on the roof, I see part of it, so I bet it is the air conditioner that is broken." When we pulled forward for my order, it was confirmed by the girl in the window. The air conditioner was indeed broken and the repair man was on the roof.

From our unschooling roots to structured Orton Gillingham reading instruction, our homeschool path has led us on a scenic route. We find our balance as we go, adding and subtracting formal instruction and interest driven projects on the way. Homeschooling has been an exercise in trust; Trust that the children can live a life of meaning and substance now and not just when they are "grown up". I can see the fruits of our method. At first, it was our shot in the dark, but the light has dawned even brighter than I could have hoped and I couldn't be happier with the results. The varied interests, the determination to challenge yourself, the rich home life and relationships, and the ability to cater your education to your own ideas of success. The benefits we have experienced go on and on. As we plot our next phase of the journey, my daughter transitions into 7th grade and my son into 2nd. He has a present interest in antiques and wildlife. She is enjoying bohemian fashion and wants to try kayaking. I am reading up on homesteading and intentional communites and planning a sewing day soon. My husband is reading a memoir of 18 months of living in an Amish/Mennonite community and reading new books out loud to the children at night. Ahhhh... life is good.