In Which I Return to My Homeschool Roots

When we first started homeschooling, seven years ago, I was convinced that my children would learn naturally. I read John Holt and John Taylor Gatto, we joined an unschooling support group and we were off. Those were the days...

Six years ago, my husband started having health problems, our son was diagnosed with celiac disease, food allergies, and colitis, and life as we knew it started to unravel. Looking back, I realize that we went into crisis mode out of necessity. I had to take a full time job and I continued to homeschool. My husband, home often from work with illness, took the daytime routine with the children. Our lives changed drastically. As time went on and time and money were tight, our days took on more stucture. We used more "curriculum" options and assigned more work to make sure the children were exposed to a wide range of things. We read books in Doctor's office waiting rooms, we did Math in workbooks, and we SCHOOLED. The children were learning things. We were surviving.

Fast forward to today - alot of things have changed for us in the past two years. My husband is doing much better health-wise. My son has had his best year yet, and life is better for all of us. I was able to go part time at work with the return of my husband's health. More time for homeschooling, more time for everything...and then, the middle school panic set in.

I think this must be a well traveled trail in the homeschool world. As the 6th grade year starts, parents panic and the "what-if's" set in. What if I haven't done enough? What if they can't get into the college they want to? What if...? This year, the middle school panic caused me to do some pretty crazy things, like sign my children up for two homeschool co-ops/class days. We have always been relaxed homeschoolers with plenty of time at home for reading, crafts, and hanging out together. Since we have never really done the class thing, I thought this would be a good year to try it out. It all sounded so reasonable and organized when I did it. The children could try out the class thing and I would have a guideline to follow for the year.

In reality, things have turned out differently than I expected. We have learned so much - just not what I thought we would learn. For one thing, all the classes, co-ops and clubs got out of hand quickly. Suddenly we were running around too much, too much hurrying, too much gas in the car, too much of too much! When we had a ripple in our home life (a few rough weeks with various things breaking down and causing repairs to cars and home), things really got out of hand. My stress level was high, the children weren't getting enough sleep, and our cozy homeschool world was seriously out of balance. The children talked about the "things we used to do", like take morning walks together and light the "morning circle candle" before singing together at breakfast. Now we didn't have time for these things, we were packing in cereal before running to the car. We were too busy chanting latin verbs to sing and too busy getting ready for weekly presentations to take walks.

Somewhere in all of this madness, the thought came to me that the children had never even asked for a class or co-op. They were quite happy with our old homeschooling ways. It is certainly true that they were being exposed to new things and learning things that we hadn't covered yet at home, but I had to wonder if the trade off was worth it.

In the end, I came to my senses and did what I should have done from the start. I actually asked my children what they thought. I asked them what was working for them and what they liked or enjoyed about their new schedule and what they didn't. I also decided to re-read the books that I had enjoyed and that had originally shaped my homeschooling philosophy. I decided to return to my homeschool roots. Instead of cramming facts into my children, I gave them a few weeks off and tried homeschooling myself instead. I also decided to let them decide for themselves what they wanted to keep, change, or do away with.

I started by reading one of my favorite John Holt books, "What Do I Do Monday?". I was struck again by the wisdom and common sense of listening and trusting the children. Radical trust used to be the name of the game at our house, how had things gotten off track? I followed this book up with David Albert's, "Homeschooling and the Voyage of Self-Discovery: A Journey of Original Seeking". Both of these books are beautiful, insightful and lovely to read and ponder.

Returning to my roots infused our homeschool with a freshness and vitality that put us back on the right track. Now the children are, once again, in charge of their own educational journey. After several weeks of pondering and decision making, we dropped a few clubs and support group activities, had one child who dropped one morning of classes but kept the other, and one child who, for the moment, chooses to keep attending both days of classes and co-ops. So, our experiment this year with co-ops and classes was educational for all of us. While we may have learned new facts in history and science, Latin and Spanish, the most important lesson was to trust the children and to do what is right for your family as well as for each child. Now we light the "morning circle candle" once again, and we have taken back up those family walks as well.

Addie's Owl

Here is a photo of the owl Addie painted on canvas. It is a large work of art and hangs in our living room.
I love the use of color and the different shapes she used!

2009-12-20

Click here to view these pictures larger

Of Homemade Dolls and Creative Writing

One of my favorite books as a child was, Hitty, Her First Hundred Years, by Rachel Field. The book is an older one, but holding a Newberry medal has assured it a place in the hall of fame for children's literature.
I tried to interest my daughter in the book a couple of years ago, but it didn't seem to take. I think she read a chapter and then put the book down.
I was delighted when she became interested in reading it recently. I am constantly reminded that if we let children come to things in their own time, we will not be disappointed.
She read the book in a relaxed way - curling up with it at night and biting off a chapter or two at a time. She finished the book yesterday. I don't know when I have ever seen this much of a reaction about a book! She loved the story. She is calling it an all time favorite, which is interesting for a child who has devoured Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, etc. (A fantasy child)
Today she pulled out instructions for making a historical doll (from our trip to Williamsburg) and worked all morning on sewing a doll and dress. She has named the doll, Rachel, after Rachel Field. She has also started a story from Rachel's perspective, trying her hand at writing in the style of Hitty. We had our "Monday meeting" this morning and planned some activities for the week - all based around the book. She is very excited and spent most of the afternoon plotting out her story and getting ideas down on paper. I was a little surprised at her level of excitement for Hitty. She is now asking about Heidi and other stories that I loved from my own childhood. Three cheers for Hitty!

Of Lizards and a Wish for Spring

My children went outside today to enjoy the sunshine. It has been unseasonably cold for S.C. this winter. The sunshine on the balcony was bright and warm, even though they are calling for sleet tomorrow.
As I was in the kitchen tidying up from lunch, I heard my youngest start to shout, "Mom! The first one! Quick Mom, it's the first one!" I hurried to the back door to see what first one we were referring to. There was my six year old son pointing to two little lizards on the brick wall. "The first lizards of spring, Mom, they are here!"
The excitement of both of children was infectious. Indeed, the first lizards of spring are here! Dare I hope they brought warmer weather?
So, with no offense meant to the groundhog, I think the lizards have beat them to it!

Adventures in Science

After focusing on history last semester, we are delving into science with a passion.
Last week the children used marshmallows, a styrofoam base, and fettuccini noodles to build structures. Then they made a hypothesis about what type of "quake" it could withstand. They measured the space on the mat, gave the base 6, 3 cm quakes (shakes) and recorded results. They loved the whole experience. It was actually in my 5th graders lesson plan, buy my six year old was right there too. They built several styles of buildings, had multiple quakes, and recorded the data.
My 5th grader read about earthquakes in her book prior to doing the experiments.
Sadly, the Haiti quake occurred just days later. The quake experiment helped my children to have a grasp on what an earthquake is and how it effects people.

This week we simulated an oil spill in a pan of water. The children then used different items to clean the water to see what was most effective. They tried a medicine dropper, paper towels, cotton balls, a spoon, and dish washing detergent. We also read books and looked at photos of oil spills. My 5 year old nephew was visiting that day, so even he got in on the action. The oil spill experiment sparked lots of discussion about how oil spills could effect wildlife and how hard it could be to clean up the environment again.

Yesterday my oldest dissected a crawfish with a friend. Our semester of science is up and running.

Christmas Around the World (and at our house)

Here is my first attempt to post shutterfly pics to this blog. Here are some photos of the children as they worked on our "Christmas Around the World" unit in December.