Wow, we did it!
When we began our homeschool journey near the end of February of this year, we figured that it made more sense to set academic goals to reach in order to end the school year, rather than ending the school year on some arbitrary calendar date. Remember that tradition from public school? One of two things would always happen to me, it seemed. Either we would finish the material the teacher had planned, and we ended up in an endless loop of rather silly field trips, busywork worksheets, and assemblies as the teachers strove valiantly to fill the hours of required butts-in-seats time, or we would run out of school just about at the time when we were going to reach the chapters of the books that were finally starting to look interesting! It seemed that I NEVER got to get into the interesting last ten or so chapters of the books in the classroom. So, we decided to take a different tack-- school would be over for the year this year, early or late, when we met our goals. This occurred this past Thursday, with a final "clean-up day" (literally and figuratively, with DS 7 manning the vacuum cleaner and DS10 learning the ins and outs of the dust mop, as well as our usual Friday trek to the library). And so it came to pass that at the end of the day on Friday, we declared school year 2010-2011 over and a smashing success. We'll be taking a 1--2 week "First Summer Vacation" (one of a few) and then we'll open school year 2011-2012 for business. The kids are already excited about their new subjects and have been sneaking the books off of the shelves, particularly history.
So . . . what exactly did we do? I wasn't sure it was all that much, really. I mean, we're brand-new at this. We kept Fridays "casual" and put away all our regular books and took trips, went to the library, took classes unrelated to our usual science. We went out to lunch, enjoyed the park, snuggled the cats, and spent time at the athletic club (I am always surprised when I hear HS families don't prioritize athletics or physical education-- I end up thinking, "Really? Isn't the ability to get up, move, and play one of the reasons we do this?"). We ditched some attempts at learning and started others brand-new partway through. I refined my ideas about my approach to homeschooling, spent probably too much time on the various message forums (forae?) and definitely spent way too much money getting started up. With all of that, what did we actually do, throwing together a 7YO who happens to have reading and auditory and physical issues stemming from his extra X chromosome, complicated by being intellectually gifted alongside that frustrating mix, and a 10YO who is also academically gifted, but who has grown really comfortable by not being challenged at all by 5 years in the PS system?
I think we surprised the heck out of all of ourselves, is what we did.
History: Surprise #1: Everybody loves history, formerly my most hated subject in school. After much consultation with The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer and various friends, and following my DS10's heavy interest in the Greeks and Romans and their mythology, I struck out on my own here and created my own curriculum. I taught son#1 and son#2 together, using the Usborne Encyclopedia of the Ancient World* as the "spine," or guiding outline, from which we explored. Taking all of the end of February, March, April, and the first part of May to explore the Ancient Greeks and Romans, we: Read out loud Padric Colum's Children's Homer, a retelling of the Iliad and the Odyssey that I thought would be way over both kids' heads, but instead held them spellbound. We followed this with Penelope Lively's In Search of A Homeland, a retelling of the Aeneid, another hit, and then Geraldine McCaughrean's The Epic of Gilgamesh. We worked our way through the library stacks as we went through the Usborne pages; son#2 became fascinated by Socrates (What? A guy who asks questions all day long just like me??) and found a great biography, and son#1 began reading everything he could lay his hands on about Alexander the Great. We read books from the very silly (Die, Clawdius, Catligula, I Am Spartapuss) which inspired more serious study (DS#10 promptly began researching the real Spartacus) to age-grabbing readers such as Magic Treehouse and Time-Warp Trio books that helped form a minor miracle-- my reading-resistant DS7 ("Reading is too boring" -- ie, reading is so difficult it isn't worth the effort) has actually begun reading for pleasure! You Wouldn't Want to Live in Pompeii, by John Malam, et al, was another favorite.
We explored Greek architecture by visiting the local university campus, along with a field guide I put together ahead of time (thanks, Usborne!) and identified all the columns we spotted, photographing them and categorizing them as Doric, Ionic, or Corinthian. It was a fun way to spend an afternoon, and we got to talk to a lot of interesting, and interested, people on campus, who were curious about our project. We also built a model coloseum, and used an online game to dress different gladiators with different types of battle armor and weapons. We each made a scutum, a shield with an identifying design on it, and we held them interlocked together as we marched through the livingroom in phalanx formation. We drew a giant map on the triple floor to ceiling glass of the sliding deck doors, covering the northern coast of Africa, southern Europe, and western Asia, and each time we first encountered a body of water, mountain range, or new city or tribe, we did our best to freehand it into place on the map, after locating it on the globe, on a wall map, and in a history book. We created a gigantic timeline on the wall, a good 4 feet long, out of several pieces of heavy posterboard, from long long long BC up to about AD400, and we added events, inventions, and people to it as we read about them, on separate lines for the Greeks and Romans. We have several blank lines available for future civilizations yet to be encountered. We practiced Roman Numerals, played a Roman version of chess, and created wax tablets and practiced writing in them. We talked about the Greek alphabet and how it's still used today, and both boys began studying Latin. We acted out plays from Greek mythology, and compared the Greek and Roman gods. Using the resources in the Evan Moor History Pockets, we played a game on the Appian Way, and now my 7YO can tall you all about the significance of that road. We summed up Ancient Rome by playing a game of Ancient Rome (you know the game, answer in the form of a question-- I don't want to say it, for heaven knows how they might enforce trademark laws) that I made up. But most of all, and what my kids tell me they enjoyed most, was the daily "lesson" in which we all piled up on the floor of the livingroom, sometimes in front of the fireplace, and I essentially summarized a few pages from Usborne. I re-told it like a story, and they loved it, and hung on every word. I didn't realize they were getting much out of it, until DS7 started popping out with comments such as, "Well, if Diocletian knew his history better, he'd have known what happened to Alexander's empire when it got divided up and then fell apart because it was weaker, and then he would never have made that mistake!" I figured if my 7YO with auditory processing issues could pull a thread from a lesson several weeks ago and relate it to a lesson from another culture, he was absorbing something pretty well. I also took some "separate" time with each boy, reading some easier books with the younger one (If I Were a Kid In Ancient Rome, Cobblestone Publishing) while my older one learned how to begin outlining some of the pages in Usborne that we did not discuss. Son#1 also started reading the "adult" history book by Bauer, The History of the Ancient World, jumping through the Rome chapters.
We spent a LOT of time on history, using it as a springboard for literature, writing, geography, and even some science, as DS#1 also read Jeanne Bendick's books, Along Came Galileo, Archimedes and the Door of Science, and Galen and the Gateway to Medicine (that last one made him say, "yech." DS#1 does not imagine himself becoming a doctor one day). Throughout all of this, we had some good discussions about the problems with understanding and interpreting history, thanks to the reliability--or not-- of different things we read. We talked about the differences between non-fiction, fiction, and historical fiction. We talked about historians who write "on the scene" but don't have a longer view, and historians who write decades or even hundreds of years after the fact, who have a bigger picture, but may get the details wrong. We talked about archaeological evidence versus tradition and beliefs and cultural tradition. History has been a happy time, if a little bone-crushing in terms of preparation and research for me. However, both sons now have a lively curiosity about the past, a desire to learn more, and a good foundation for understanding some fairly common literary references. We will encounter these cultures again in their education, but this was a strong beginning.
Science:
Oh, I love science. I love to teach science, and I love to get my kids hands-on messy with science! Oh, how I dreaded these past few months of science, because this one topic is the one topic I personally have no use for (though I'm glad OTHER people do) but I tackled it anyway, because I knew it was high interest for my boys. As with the history choice, Instead of "deschooling" the boys, I decided to go with subjects of intense interest to them so they would want to dive on in, and it really worked. So off we went into the wonderful world of astronomy and earth science. Once again, I plunged off the deep end, just grabbing a science encyclopedia (Usborne again!) and tackling a few pages a day. For experiments, we studied the properties of light with the help of a Science Wiz Light Kit, and I have to admit, that part was pretty fun. We also made a couple of trips to the planetarium at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, PA. We distilled water, placing food colored salt water in a huge measuring cup in the sun, with a shot glass inside, then covered it with plastic wrap and placed on a rock on top of the plastic wrap over the empty shot glass. Instant water cycle-- or at least in several hours. We made a cloud appear in a bottle (put a bottle with just a little water in it in a pan of warm water, then place a dish of ice cubes on top of it-- or wrap a bag of frozen peas around the top. Cloud forms). We discovered the series, "How the Universe Works," and I don't care what anybody says about TV, my kids will discuss what they learned on that show for weeks afterward, and it now dominates the dinner conversation instead of Pokemon. We discussed volcanoes, mapped tectonic plates, looked at the layers of ocean and the layers of the Earth's crust, and more. As with history, no tests are given in science-- I hear my kids discussing the topics, picking them apart, asking questions, theorizing and coming up with possible ways to test their theories, and making connections. I am content. And the new school year will soon begin, with a subject I am FAR more comfortable with-- and excited about!
Latin
The big shocker-- Latin. I was expecting mild resistance, or at best, Lukewarm acceptance. Instead I have gotten great enthusiasm from both boys. Son#1 is using The Big Book of Lively Latin, and he is loving it. He completed up through his first major unit test, and scored well into the 90's. Son#2 is super enthusiastic about Latin, and looks forward to that time each day, and hustles to get out his Prima Latina book from Memoria Press. He also did well on his first unit test. Both boys can't wait to learn more of it, and we have copies of Harry Potter books in Latin waiting for them as a reward. Latin is again a surprise for Son#2, as it would work against most of his disabilities, but never, ever him out when he really sets his mind to wanting to do something! I am beginning to feel that we are well on the road to helping him put those "disabilities" in the category of past tense items. Some things are with you for life, but you can become so skilled at dealing with them that they can become invisible to others in a practical sense. That is management.
Grammar
Both boys worked through an Evan Moor grammar workbook over the course of the last few months. I was looking at this exercise as more diagnostic and review than forward educational, and I kept notes about what topics are locked down, and which ones will need more of my direct attention when they come up during the year. Both boys completed the books in good time, and actually did improve, despite my low expectations. I was able to slot them into an appropriate grade and program for the coming year. Mission accomplished.
Math
Son#1 had a challenge in math: Could he complete all of Life of Fred: Fractions to end the school year, and not just complete it, but truly demonstrate mastery of fractions? Indeed he did. He passed the final bridge in that book this past Thursday, and I used his pencil to knight him on into the 5th grade. Son#2 was simply to work as far into the Singapore 2A book as possible before we halted for the year, and he did fantastically well. He may just be able, without much stress, get through the end of 3B by the end of the third grade if we stay on track. We shall see. I'm not going to crush him into it. Considering one of the major things he has had to work on is not writing his numbers backwards, or reversing his digits entirely, which makes writing math down exhausting (sometimes we will dot the text portion of the book orally, just to give him a break) he did an awesome job, and the reversals are starting, with patience, to slow down. Interestingly, the more intensely he concentrates on the actual math, the more number reversals there are. He can't seem to do both at once. We keep working on writing as a separate skill from the academics to relieve the pressure, and that seems to be working. Both boys love Khan Academy, both for practice, and for the freedom to explore new math topics not yet introduced by their main programs. And Math Mammoth has been a terrific help to both of them in shoring up some glaring holes in their backgrounds from public schools, where the scope and sequence just doesn't match up with their current programs.
Music
Someone gave me the tip to start downloading the Classics For Kids podcasts, and I could not be more grateful. We have been studying Mozart, and I have learned nearly as much as the kids, despite a pretty extensive music background. Just 6 minutes long each week, these podcasts are short enough to hold their attention, well-narrated, and just pretty cool. And the kids remember the information weeks later. We've also been listening to Beethoven's Wig, which is pretty addictive, and also programs created just for kids such as Profkiev's "Peter and the Wolf." We also started recorder lessons. Maybe next fall, we'll begin instrumental or voice lessons with an outside teacher, but for now, I'm competent to give the recorder lessons and teach the beginning music theory. Both kids can identify several pieces by different composers when they hear just a snippet of it, and know the voices of several instruments of the orchestra, and are becoming familiar with the ideas behind tempo and rhythm. Not a bad few months work in music.
Writing
Writing remains a work in progress, and much like grammar, our work to date has largely been diagnostic in nature. I now feel confident of a direction to head and placement for both boys. Both made consistent progress in spelling.
Art
I convinced Son#1 to not hate art. Mission accomplished. We have made mosaics out of rocks, made swords out of clay, and used a formal drawing book to draw Pokemon, among other projects.
Physical Education
I am always flabbergasted when I hear that homeschoolers don't put a priority on physical fitness. Having time and space to move your body is one of HS's big advantages, and kids are such natural wigglers! Son#1 has loved the gym class we enrolled in just for homeschoolers at the local Hockessin Athletic Club, where he also takes karate and swim team conditioning. My husband takes the boys for "the big hike" every weekend, sometimes logging up to 4 miles. We have daily outdoor time, at least twice a day during school time, on days we don't go and do school at a local park. Our back yard is stocked with soccer, baseball, football, frisbee, swords, guns, rock wall, open grass for running, jump ropes, basketball, you name it. Most of it is pretty inexpensive, and they can do a lot with just their imaginations. Most of the neighborhood likes to congregate at our house on the weekends. Son#2 is also in the HS gym class, gymnastics, and swim lessons, to augment his physical therapy. He sits on a hippity hop for his lessons to work on core balance and strength, as well as for comfort. This arrangement has vastly increased his work output and ability to concentrate. I should probably add that neither of my kids is what most would call a 'natural athlete.' We're so lucky we found an environment that truly encourages ALL kids to enjoy participating!
Breaks
We also managed to take some breaks in that chunk of time-- including a spring break.
Looking back, it seems incredible how much the kids accomplished in a 2+ month period of time. Planning for the upcoming year is pretty much done, and we're pretty excited about what lies ahead. We have a few changes in store, but they should be good ones. The biggest and best change has been seeing everyone so excited about heading to "school" in the morning!
Thanks for Reading!
Showing posts with label Hockessin Athletic Club. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hockessin Athletic Club. Show all posts
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Too Much Togetherness? (Or, Have I Lost My Mind Yet?)
One of the many excuses that I used to not homeschool for as long as I did was that, as much as I absolutely love my children, adore spending time with them, and think that they have fantastic personalities, creative minds, and unique perspectives on the world, they can be really exhausting at times. In short, the idea of spending all day, every day with these two beautiful, short people scared the you-know-what out of me. I enjoyed my walk with them to the bus stop every morning, and I smiled every morning as the bus drove away. I came home, sometimes still wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt, made a cup of cocoa or chai, curled up in front of the fireplace with a book, and relaxed for the first 45 minutes or so of my day before starting any chores or heading to the gym. I never ran the television during the day, savoring the quiet. And when time came to start watching for them to return from the bus, I'd put the garage door up, secretly watch through the curtains or "just happen" to collect the mail 5 or 6 times until they came home, and be ready for the chaos to resume. Homework, snacks, hugs, chattering about the day, friends from the neighborhood arrived and the TV turned on while I made dinner (sometimes; other times that didn't happen until my husband got home and did the cooking) or else we'd jet off to karate or swimming or gymnastics. Boys & noise, that's what a healthy house is all about! But when the boys are home, somebody needs something about every minute and a half-- did I really want that 24/7 with no vacations? No. I LIKED my quiet time each school day. Nobody in the house was more enthusiastic than I about the arrival of each new school year.
So. Now we're homeschooling! Have I lost my mind yet? After all, it's been seven weeks of blissful togetherness with both of them, and eight with my litigator 7YO! And the verdict is . . . we couldn't be happier. Okay, maybe we could be a little happier. The 7YO has just been nearly as sick as he's ever been in his life, which has led to us being nearly sequestered for the last 2 weeks or so, which has led to the 10YO going a little crazy and getting a little case of the lonelies and me going just a little nuts (for those of you who are a little behind, "homeschooling" is a bit of a misnomer for the vast majority of us who are not doing this for primarily medical reasons, and much of the experience is often conducted away from the home and around other human beings). But except for these two weeks, we couldn't be happier. And I am most definitely not going crazy (these past two weeks excepted, just a little; I've gotten used to use being able to go whereever and whenever we want).
So, where did my hypothesis go so far afield? It turns out that . . . school is fantastically cool when a) you are being challenged academically and b) the subject matter is interesting and c) you are free to move around and get into a comfortable position and take motion breaks as often as needed while working and d) you can think and discuss your ideas as you study. So the kids are happy, enthusiastic, and excited about subjects they thought they would dread. They are getting themselves out of bed at 6am just so they can start their day and see what is awaiting them. For the teacher, I'm discovering that my kids are fantastically exciting all over again; I always used to wonder, during the day, what they were like in school, and now I get to see it. I get to watch the lightbulbs go off, when my 7YO says, "Hey, shouldn't that Roman (Diocletian) have known he was doing something not smart by splitting the Empire in half? I mean look what happened to the Greek Empire when Alexander's generals did the same thing after he died-- that's when the Greeks started to lose their power, too! If this Diocle guy had studied history, he might have known better!" I get to hear my kids say, "Turn off Spongebob! It's time to read Homer!" Even better, I get to watch my 7YO with mild learning disabilities finding his own rhythm as we work his therapies into his school day, and watch him improve daily. Instead of "Reading is boring!" I now find him curled up on the couch with a book. Instead of getting back reports from teachers that his recall of stories is behind schedule, I find he can analyze and draw comparisons between stories in very intelligent ways. My 10YO is discovering interests and abilities, and a new self-confidence that he never knew he had. And he finally has the time to explore extra reading on topics that pique his interest. During history he was fascinated by Alexander the Great, so now he is reading a biography about Alexander the Great, to round out the biographies of Herodotus, Socrates, Archimedes, and fictional works from a variety of series about the Greek and Roman myths and emperors.
Okay, that's fantastic, but it doesn't really answer the question, now does it? So, you're a selfish brat and want to keep all the fun of watching your kids light up to yourself? (Couldn't resist-- the "People homeschool out of selfishness is one of my favorite lines lately). Okay, so all that doesn't really answer how it is that I'm not going nuts.
If our school days were all like a typical weekend day or holiday back in our public school time, I would likely be certifiable by now. But . . . they aren't. Although we definitely don't just recreate school around the kitchen table, we do still have a certain amount of structure to our days. It is a flexible structure, to be sure, but there is structure. For each day, I look ahead at any appointments, pre-scheduled outside classes (science classes at the Delaware Museum of Natural History, gym classes at the Hockessin Athletic Club, science or literature or music at Longwood Gardens). I estimate how much time we should spend on school that day, and then allocate to activities such as science experiments, math, reading, history, geography, grammar, Latin, music, art, etc, and then I create a list of activities for each child and leave it on the kitchen table the night before. If they wake up before I do (a common occurance) there are things on there that they can do before I come downstairs and get that cup of chai into myself, such as silent reading. Each kiddo has a scientific lab timer, so if son#2 is supposed to read for 30 minutes, he sets his timer for 30 minutes, finds a comfy spot and curls up with his book and starts to read. Yes, reading longer than the timer is perfectly fine; that's a minimum time, not a max. If something interests you, you can pursue it, and adjustments can always be made if we run out of time later! Sometimes, we pack up and head to the park-- we might play for an hour or two, and then pull out some notes and do a history lesson in the shade while we cool off, sometimes attracting a few extra students to our "class." :) One little 3YO joined us on Monday, insisting to her mother, "Story!" The toddler Moms at the park were kind of smiling at the way the boys were jumping in with ideas, thoughts, and analysis of the fall of Rome-- both were really involved in the lesson, which was awesome.
Oftentimes, the history discussion spills over into dinner, as the kids are still processing what we discussed. Or sometimes the topic will be the music we're listening to, or the book we're reading together out loud (We've finished the kids' Iliad and Odyssey, and have moved on to the Aeneid).
They still have time for friends, Pokemon, chess, swimming, swinging a sword like a pirate in the back yard, and some down time on their DS's. But no longer is all of their time around me spent quizzing me incessantly about which thingamabob is a Fire Type or which one could defeat a Psychic. They have things to do, places to go, and things to read and think about, even during their free time when they have nothing assigned to them. In short, between the structure that gives them something to focus on, and the information that is actually occupying their minds these days, and, I believe, thanks to the degree to which I have gotten to know my children better, they have become more interesting people. And it's perfectly fine, at ages 7 and 10, that they still want to discuss Pokemon from time to time-- that is, after all, what 7 and 10 year olds are supposed to do. It just helps all of our sanity that they don't do it 24/7.
Of course, it also helps that my fantastic husband also facilitates me getting the heck out of dodge every now and then! My usual strategy is to go shopping with a friend for a few hours on a weekend day. Failing that, dinner out by myself on a weeknight will do the trick. This past weekend, we went with extreme measures, and even with son#2 rather ill, I stuck with my plans to attend a fantastic conference hosted by The Focus Foundation. Aimed at parents of kids with 47,XXY (an extra chromosome), it featured a fantastic lineup of speakers, including Dr. Darius Paducah, Dr. Alan Rogol, Pete Wright, Dr. Kenneth Rosenbaum, Dr. Laura Tosi, Carol Stock Kranowitz, and Dr. Carole Samango-Sprouse, EdD, head of the Focus Foundation. Okay, so I had a weekend escape steeped in information about my kid?? Yep! It was a fantastic weekend, and I spent it with some really great parents, pediatricians, and school administrators (yes, they were) who all showed up to learn more about this genetic arrangement and how it affects those eXtra special individuals who carry it-- and all of the people with whom I spent the weekend were adults :).Great information, and time with adults-- and I returned ready to spend more great time with my kids!
That leaves one missing piece-- exercise! Exercise I work in while my kids are taking classes at the gym. I can drop them off and then go work out myself, either karate or hit the cardio and weight machines and stretch. It's not as much time as I'd like, but it's time at least. And of course, if I take the kids to a playground or park, playing with them counts! Then I can put in some time at home while the kids join me and I can go at a pace where they can keep up. I am sure this will not last for long, and my older son will soon be giving me a run for my money. I do not let on that sometimes he already is.
So, looking back, it feels kind of silly now that I ever worried about spending time with my own children. I mean, they're my kids, and I really, really like spending time around them! They're neat people with neat ideas in their heads and interesting things to say. And really, home schooling is not just endless free time; whether we go on a field trip or set up with specific learning goals for the day, we generally have an agenda to get after; we're all on the same team, and they're learning how to relate and negotiate in age-appropriate ways. As long as I can honor that-- and as a mother, how could I not-- we are ready to succeed!
--Thanks for reading!
So. Now we're homeschooling! Have I lost my mind yet? After all, it's been seven weeks of blissful togetherness with both of them, and eight with my litigator 7YO! And the verdict is . . . we couldn't be happier. Okay, maybe we could be a little happier. The 7YO has just been nearly as sick as he's ever been in his life, which has led to us being nearly sequestered for the last 2 weeks or so, which has led to the 10YO going a little crazy and getting a little case of the lonelies and me going just a little nuts (for those of you who are a little behind, "homeschooling" is a bit of a misnomer for the vast majority of us who are not doing this for primarily medical reasons, and much of the experience is often conducted away from the home and around other human beings). But except for these two weeks, we couldn't be happier. And I am most definitely not going crazy (these past two weeks excepted, just a little; I've gotten used to use being able to go whereever and whenever we want).
So, where did my hypothesis go so far afield? It turns out that . . . school is fantastically cool when a) you are being challenged academically and b) the subject matter is interesting and c) you are free to move around and get into a comfortable position and take motion breaks as often as needed while working and d) you can think and discuss your ideas as you study. So the kids are happy, enthusiastic, and excited about subjects they thought they would dread. They are getting themselves out of bed at 6am just so they can start their day and see what is awaiting them. For the teacher, I'm discovering that my kids are fantastically exciting all over again; I always used to wonder, during the day, what they were like in school, and now I get to see it. I get to watch the lightbulbs go off, when my 7YO says, "Hey, shouldn't that Roman (Diocletian) have known he was doing something not smart by splitting the Empire in half? I mean look what happened to the Greek Empire when Alexander's generals did the same thing after he died-- that's when the Greeks started to lose their power, too! If this Diocle guy had studied history, he might have known better!" I get to hear my kids say, "Turn off Spongebob! It's time to read Homer!" Even better, I get to watch my 7YO with mild learning disabilities finding his own rhythm as we work his therapies into his school day, and watch him improve daily. Instead of "Reading is boring!" I now find him curled up on the couch with a book. Instead of getting back reports from teachers that his recall of stories is behind schedule, I find he can analyze and draw comparisons between stories in very intelligent ways. My 10YO is discovering interests and abilities, and a new self-confidence that he never knew he had. And he finally has the time to explore extra reading on topics that pique his interest. During history he was fascinated by Alexander the Great, so now he is reading a biography about Alexander the Great, to round out the biographies of Herodotus, Socrates, Archimedes, and fictional works from a variety of series about the Greek and Roman myths and emperors.
Okay, that's fantastic, but it doesn't really answer the question, now does it? So, you're a selfish brat and want to keep all the fun of watching your kids light up to yourself? (Couldn't resist-- the "People homeschool out of selfishness is one of my favorite lines lately). Okay, so all that doesn't really answer how it is that I'm not going nuts.
If our school days were all like a typical weekend day or holiday back in our public school time, I would likely be certifiable by now. But . . . they aren't. Although we definitely don't just recreate school around the kitchen table, we do still have a certain amount of structure to our days. It is a flexible structure, to be sure, but there is structure. For each day, I look ahead at any appointments, pre-scheduled outside classes (science classes at the Delaware Museum of Natural History, gym classes at the Hockessin Athletic Club, science or literature or music at Longwood Gardens). I estimate how much time we should spend on school that day, and then allocate to activities such as science experiments, math, reading, history, geography, grammar, Latin, music, art, etc, and then I create a list of activities for each child and leave it on the kitchen table the night before. If they wake up before I do (a common occurance) there are things on there that they can do before I come downstairs and get that cup of chai into myself, such as silent reading. Each kiddo has a scientific lab timer, so if son#2 is supposed to read for 30 minutes, he sets his timer for 30 minutes, finds a comfy spot and curls up with his book and starts to read. Yes, reading longer than the timer is perfectly fine; that's a minimum time, not a max. If something interests you, you can pursue it, and adjustments can always be made if we run out of time later! Sometimes, we pack up and head to the park-- we might play for an hour or two, and then pull out some notes and do a history lesson in the shade while we cool off, sometimes attracting a few extra students to our "class." :) One little 3YO joined us on Monday, insisting to her mother, "Story!" The toddler Moms at the park were kind of smiling at the way the boys were jumping in with ideas, thoughts, and analysis of the fall of Rome-- both were really involved in the lesson, which was awesome.
Oftentimes, the history discussion spills over into dinner, as the kids are still processing what we discussed. Or sometimes the topic will be the music we're listening to, or the book we're reading together out loud (We've finished the kids' Iliad and Odyssey, and have moved on to the Aeneid).
They still have time for friends, Pokemon, chess, swimming, swinging a sword like a pirate in the back yard, and some down time on their DS's. But no longer is all of their time around me spent quizzing me incessantly about which thingamabob is a Fire Type or which one could defeat a Psychic. They have things to do, places to go, and things to read and think about, even during their free time when they have nothing assigned to them. In short, between the structure that gives them something to focus on, and the information that is actually occupying their minds these days, and, I believe, thanks to the degree to which I have gotten to know my children better, they have become more interesting people. And it's perfectly fine, at ages 7 and 10, that they still want to discuss Pokemon from time to time-- that is, after all, what 7 and 10 year olds are supposed to do. It just helps all of our sanity that they don't do it 24/7.
Of course, it also helps that my fantastic husband also facilitates me getting the heck out of dodge every now and then! My usual strategy is to go shopping with a friend for a few hours on a weekend day. Failing that, dinner out by myself on a weeknight will do the trick. This past weekend, we went with extreme measures, and even with son#2 rather ill, I stuck with my plans to attend a fantastic conference hosted by The Focus Foundation. Aimed at parents of kids with 47,XXY (an extra chromosome), it featured a fantastic lineup of speakers, including Dr. Darius Paducah, Dr. Alan Rogol, Pete Wright, Dr. Kenneth Rosenbaum, Dr. Laura Tosi, Carol Stock Kranowitz, and Dr. Carole Samango-Sprouse, EdD, head of the Focus Foundation. Okay, so I had a weekend escape steeped in information about my kid?? Yep! It was a fantastic weekend, and I spent it with some really great parents, pediatricians, and school administrators (yes, they were) who all showed up to learn more about this genetic arrangement and how it affects those eXtra special individuals who carry it-- and all of the people with whom I spent the weekend were adults :).Great information, and time with adults-- and I returned ready to spend more great time with my kids!
That leaves one missing piece-- exercise! Exercise I work in while my kids are taking classes at the gym. I can drop them off and then go work out myself, either karate or hit the cardio and weight machines and stretch. It's not as much time as I'd like, but it's time at least. And of course, if I take the kids to a playground or park, playing with them counts! Then I can put in some time at home while the kids join me and I can go at a pace where they can keep up. I am sure this will not last for long, and my older son will soon be giving me a run for my money. I do not let on that sometimes he already is.
So, looking back, it feels kind of silly now that I ever worried about spending time with my own children. I mean, they're my kids, and I really, really like spending time around them! They're neat people with neat ideas in their heads and interesting things to say. And really, home schooling is not just endless free time; whether we go on a field trip or set up with specific learning goals for the day, we generally have an agenda to get after; we're all on the same team, and they're learning how to relate and negotiate in age-appropriate ways. As long as I can honor that-- and as a mother, how could I not-- we are ready to succeed!
--Thanks for reading!
Sunday, April 3, 2011
The Learning Curve: Spring Break, Attempt 1
One of the great things about home schooling, as opposed to our local school system, is that we can finally sync up our kids' schedules with my husband's schedule at the nearby university. Despite being a university town, the local schools obstinately refuse to use the same spring, fall, or holiday break schedule as the university, even though the university schedule is published long before the school board determines their schedule. Hence, in previous years, my husband would have his spring break, and we could not go anywhere because the kids were still in school. Then, the kids would have spring break and we could not go anywhere, because my husband had to teach. Wheeee. Now, I am the superintendent, so I get to set the break schedules, and I decree that my husband's schedule has a lot to do with the kids' school schedule when it comes to short-term breaks and travel (including conferences to cool locations when the budget allows).
Indeed, we were all terribly excited for our first round of Whole Family Spring Break this year! We could go visit Grandma! We could go visit Wellsboro, the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania! We could go visit Gettysburg! We could have fun! Yeeeeha! Spring break this year was the last week in March. My Mom and I watched the weather as the initial weekend approached. Plans changed at the last minute, as Mom has 12" of snow dumped on her, as did much of northeastern and north central PA, which also made Wellsboro seem kind of unappealing. We aren't exactly wimps, but this is the end of winter, not the beginning, and we're ready for warmer weather. Even walking around Gettysburg seemed like something we could postpone for better weather. Hmmm. Time for plan B. It sure would have been nice if I'd made one!
Monday morning arrives, and we are still in town. The boys have been dying to surprise Dad with the secret of the whispering bench at Longwood Gardens. It is cold, borderline rainy (read wet-feeling and threatening) and kind of miserable in the morning, but off we go. We do have a fun day, tricking a willing Dad with the acoustics of the whispering bench, and then exploring the indoor areas in the conservatories. Son#1 notes that for "break" this activity feels suspiciously educational. We smile, and after a few hours, we do take them to a local indoor play center for a few more hours of a good time.
Tuesday arrives, and we're still in town. During lunch at Bertucci's, we break out the Children's Homer and read two more chapters; as a treat, for once Dad gets to read-- he's usually at work when we do this stuff, and misses out on the kids' activities. Then we head into Philly and on into the Leonardo DaVinci exhibit, which is very cool, but once again, son#1 sees a trend developing, and mentions that for "break" this activity seems rather educational. After the exhibit, we go explore some parts of the rest of the Franklin Institute, including the new version of the walk-through heart. Kids agree they definitely want to come back and see more! But, son#1 points out, preferably on a school day. We finish up with a planetarium show about black holes, which, son#1 points out, is exactly what we're studying in science right now. He doesn't miss a trick, that one. Except we weren't trying to trick him; I just love planetariums. On the way out, both boys begged to hit the gift shop-- not for toys; they each wanted to buy a book. HAH! Who's being educational now?
On Wednesday, Dad snuck into work for a few hours of grading and lesson planning and even (gasp) research, while the boys and I stayed home and attempted to relax. We played some games, watched TV, and yes . . . read books. Sounds delightful . . . except by 1pm, both boys were surreptitiously poking at their school books, looking for something more structured to do. Thanks to the rainy weather, it was too cold and wet to go outdoors, and I was feeling really sub-par and not up to heading out to the athletic center to play. The boys were actually starting to miss school.
Thursday was more of the same, except we went to the athletic center for gym class at the Hockessin Athletic Club, at their request (I gave them the option, since it was technically their school break week). They love the gym class so much that they both wanted to go! Unfortunately, right afterward, son#2 collapsed and became very, very ill, sending us right to the doc with a probably strep infection, and home with an antibiotic. As of this writing, he's still a sick little boy and not eating, but at least he's awake now.
On Friday, son#1 and I head to the Delaware Museum of Natural History for a science homeschool class-- at this point, why not-- followed by lunch out together, and then time at the library reading and getting some great new books. He also started and read most of his book for book club next Wednesday night. By this point, he's so relieved to have something interesting to do, that he has stopped mentioning that these activities feel rather educational for a break week. I have not mentioned that a few of these days are actually going to be scored as school attendance days rather than break days at this point, based on the number of hours spent on educational activity. Why spoil it? He's had a lot of fun bragging to his friends that he's on spring break :). We'll take other days off in the future and do other cool stuff instead.
Saturday!! Son#2 is waking up more, and alert enough to play outdoors in the sun-- yes the sun-- for a short time, and we go play catch outside! Even indoors he's awake enough for Hungry Hungry Hippos and other games, so we stay busy. My husband installs a new clothesline for me, so I can hang clothes outdoors (yes, I am a modern female with not one, but two college degrees and my name on peer-reviewed journal articles in more than one academic field. And I am terribly excited by the fact that I now have an outdoor clothesline instead of just an electric dryer :D Thank you darling! ).
Sunday: the final day of spring break. Son#2 is still a sick little boy, but showing some signs of improvement. The sun is out again and it is even warmer, so we get him outside again. My husband takes on the job of planting blueberry bushes, and the boys both help, examining the quality of the soil ("Wow, there's a lot of clay here!") and the depth of the hole and the distance between bushes. They named the bushes (Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite, and Hades; they are saving Demeter for a planned raspberry bush). Again with the educational stuff, but again son#1 let it slide.
So, that's our first attempt at Spring Break. I'd say, looking at the weekday week, we need a little practice at this "vacation" thing . . . since at least three of those days could qualify as school days, at least for son#1, who thinks maybe Hershey Park or something similar would be a nice try next time. Gee . . . and I'd been thinking Williamsburg . . . But it wssn't all just me. I caught son#1 reading a copy of "If I Were a Kid in Ancient Rome," along with his book club book, and son#2 reading a book about Pompeii.
So . . . what did we learn from this?
1. Breaks during warm weather will be easier than breaks during cold/rainy weather. We can always do stuff outdoors when it's nice out. Parks, swimming, outside to play, whatever. Therefore, cold weather breaks need a PLAN so that we don't go crazy or just sitting around and waiting for school to start again. (And, we're homeschoolers, so if we want school to start again, we CAN, or we can go somewhere educational rather than having a normal school day-- field trip!).
2. I need to seriously consider boxing up toys and games, and only getting them out when we're "on break" at home, so that they'll be "new" and fun again. It'll also open up more space in the play room. Win/win.
3. I'm more convinced than ever that year-round schooling is the way to go, rather than the 9 on/3 off plan of the usual public schools. I cannot imagine what the point of "skipping" school for 3 1/2 months straight would be. Even though we're planning a real garden, taking care of it can be part of the curriculum. (that's a future blog post).
4. We're doing a lot right, but we still have a lot of stuff not figured out at all. Like how to take a freaking break properly!! After all the careful planning on how to do school, who would ever have figured that we'd have to think about how to take a break???? Whoops! Chalk that one up under "Lesson Learned."
--Thanks for reading!
Indeed, we were all terribly excited for our first round of Whole Family Spring Break this year! We could go visit Grandma! We could go visit Wellsboro, the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania! We could go visit Gettysburg! We could have fun! Yeeeeha! Spring break this year was the last week in March. My Mom and I watched the weather as the initial weekend approached. Plans changed at the last minute, as Mom has 12" of snow dumped on her, as did much of northeastern and north central PA, which also made Wellsboro seem kind of unappealing. We aren't exactly wimps, but this is the end of winter, not the beginning, and we're ready for warmer weather. Even walking around Gettysburg seemed like something we could postpone for better weather. Hmmm. Time for plan B. It sure would have been nice if I'd made one!
Monday morning arrives, and we are still in town. The boys have been dying to surprise Dad with the secret of the whispering bench at Longwood Gardens. It is cold, borderline rainy (read wet-feeling and threatening) and kind of miserable in the morning, but off we go. We do have a fun day, tricking a willing Dad with the acoustics of the whispering bench, and then exploring the indoor areas in the conservatories. Son#1 notes that for "break" this activity feels suspiciously educational. We smile, and after a few hours, we do take them to a local indoor play center for a few more hours of a good time.
Tuesday arrives, and we're still in town. During lunch at Bertucci's, we break out the Children's Homer and read two more chapters; as a treat, for once Dad gets to read-- he's usually at work when we do this stuff, and misses out on the kids' activities. Then we head into Philly and on into the Leonardo DaVinci exhibit, which is very cool, but once again, son#1 sees a trend developing, and mentions that for "break" this activity seems rather educational. After the exhibit, we go explore some parts of the rest of the Franklin Institute, including the new version of the walk-through heart. Kids agree they definitely want to come back and see more! But, son#1 points out, preferably on a school day. We finish up with a planetarium show about black holes, which, son#1 points out, is exactly what we're studying in science right now. He doesn't miss a trick, that one. Except we weren't trying to trick him; I just love planetariums. On the way out, both boys begged to hit the gift shop-- not for toys; they each wanted to buy a book. HAH! Who's being educational now?
On Wednesday, Dad snuck into work for a few hours of grading and lesson planning and even (gasp) research, while the boys and I stayed home and attempted to relax. We played some games, watched TV, and yes . . . read books. Sounds delightful . . . except by 1pm, both boys were surreptitiously poking at their school books, looking for something more structured to do. Thanks to the rainy weather, it was too cold and wet to go outdoors, and I was feeling really sub-par and not up to heading out to the athletic center to play. The boys were actually starting to miss school.
Thursday was more of the same, except we went to the athletic center for gym class at the Hockessin Athletic Club, at their request (I gave them the option, since it was technically their school break week). They love the gym class so much that they both wanted to go! Unfortunately, right afterward, son#2 collapsed and became very, very ill, sending us right to the doc with a probably strep infection, and home with an antibiotic. As of this writing, he's still a sick little boy and not eating, but at least he's awake now.
On Friday, son#1 and I head to the Delaware Museum of Natural History for a science homeschool class-- at this point, why not-- followed by lunch out together, and then time at the library reading and getting some great new books. He also started and read most of his book for book club next Wednesday night. By this point, he's so relieved to have something interesting to do, that he has stopped mentioning that these activities feel rather educational for a break week. I have not mentioned that a few of these days are actually going to be scored as school attendance days rather than break days at this point, based on the number of hours spent on educational activity. Why spoil it? He's had a lot of fun bragging to his friends that he's on spring break :). We'll take other days off in the future and do other cool stuff instead.
Saturday!! Son#2 is waking up more, and alert enough to play outdoors in the sun-- yes the sun-- for a short time, and we go play catch outside! Even indoors he's awake enough for Hungry Hungry Hippos and other games, so we stay busy. My husband installs a new clothesline for me, so I can hang clothes outdoors (yes, I am a modern female with not one, but two college degrees and my name on peer-reviewed journal articles in more than one academic field. And I am terribly excited by the fact that I now have an outdoor clothesline instead of just an electric dryer :D Thank you darling! ).
Sunday: the final day of spring break. Son#2 is still a sick little boy, but showing some signs of improvement. The sun is out again and it is even warmer, so we get him outside again. My husband takes on the job of planting blueberry bushes, and the boys both help, examining the quality of the soil ("Wow, there's a lot of clay here!") and the depth of the hole and the distance between bushes. They named the bushes (Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite, and Hades; they are saving Demeter for a planned raspberry bush). Again with the educational stuff, but again son#1 let it slide.
So, that's our first attempt at Spring Break. I'd say, looking at the weekday week, we need a little practice at this "vacation" thing . . . since at least three of those days could qualify as school days, at least for son#1, who thinks maybe Hershey Park or something similar would be a nice try next time. Gee . . . and I'd been thinking Williamsburg . . . But it wssn't all just me. I caught son#1 reading a copy of "If I Were a Kid in Ancient Rome," along with his book club book, and son#2 reading a book about Pompeii.
So . . . what did we learn from this?
1. Breaks during warm weather will be easier than breaks during cold/rainy weather. We can always do stuff outdoors when it's nice out. Parks, swimming, outside to play, whatever. Therefore, cold weather breaks need a PLAN so that we don't go crazy or just sitting around and waiting for school to start again. (And, we're homeschoolers, so if we want school to start again, we CAN, or we can go somewhere educational rather than having a normal school day-- field trip!).
2. I need to seriously consider boxing up toys and games, and only getting them out when we're "on break" at home, so that they'll be "new" and fun again. It'll also open up more space in the play room. Win/win.
3. I'm more convinced than ever that year-round schooling is the way to go, rather than the 9 on/3 off plan of the usual public schools. I cannot imagine what the point of "skipping" school for 3 1/2 months straight would be. Even though we're planning a real garden, taking care of it can be part of the curriculum. (that's a future blog post).
4. We're doing a lot right, but we still have a lot of stuff not figured out at all. Like how to take a freaking break properly!! After all the careful planning on how to do school, who would ever have figured that we'd have to think about how to take a break???? Whoops! Chalk that one up under "Lesson Learned."
--Thanks for reading!
Monday, March 21, 2011
The "S" Word
New home educators (look, I flip-flopped again, now it's home education!) get a barrage of "queries" when their friends, families, co-workers, and acquaintances first learn of their new enterprise. Happily in our case, the vast majority of these queries have represented genuine curiosity, support, and understanding of what it means to educate one's children at home-- can you legally do that? (yes, in every state). Is it hard to get permission? (no, you don't even need permission; it is your legal right, but the requirements to register your school vary from state to state, and it helps all home educators if you comply with the law, but don't allow schools to bully you into providing more than the law requires). How can you spend all day with your kids without going crazy? (topic for another post). How can you be qualified to teach your kids if you don't have a degree in education? (a future blog post). How do you know what to teach? (It isn't hard-- what do you want your children to know? Or if you're really stuck, a trip to the library will treat you to a plethora of books such as Bauer's The Well-Trained Mind or many others that will provide terrific guidance to get you started). However, the questions most people really, really get Stuck on, is the "S" word-- Socialization. And for some reason, this "S" word really brings out strong opinions in many.
I cannot blame anybody for wondering about this "S word" in particular. Most of us who have always just assumed that the public option was the best solution have also always just assumed that the best social environment for our kids was to lock them in a room all day, segregated by age, regardless of academic achievement, athletic ability, or social maturity all day, at least for the first six (K-5th in many schools) years of their education, unable to talk directly to their classmates for most of that day-- in today's schools, even talking during lunch is now either forbidden or a practical impossibility due to the extraordinarily short time permitted to wolf down sustenance. We sent our children off to school assuming the same relaxed atmosphere we enjoyed as kids, including some social time in the classroom, at least two recess periods of some length, and a decent and noisy lunch lunchtime-- all things that have pretty much disappeared from today's schools. And today's recess periods, a paltry 30 minutes including time to line up silently, are often also segregated by grade/age, again regardless of maturity or athletic ability or interests or friendships. However, like most parents, we never questioned any of this-- everybody sends their kids off toinstitutions school, so it's what is normal and therefore the best environment, right? How can kids possibly develop normally outside of that normal environment? I started my wakeup call (see my first blog post) when I heard one of son#1's teachers yelling at the kids that their mouths were to stay shut during the school day unless it was recess time. That is socialization, right?
What I hear from many who do not like to hear that we are home educating, frankly, is fear and confusion, and with that I can definitely empathize. Fear of the unknown is a natural, normal human reaction. When we are fearful, we tend to attack, and socialization is the easiest thing, seemingly, to attack; nobody really feels the need of special expertise to discuss socialization-- most people went to school, and at some point, have had friends. What most people overlook, however, is that they associate friends with school, because since they went to school, it dominated their time.
Home education is wonderfully freeing. It means children are free to socialize with children across age boundaries. They are free to find kids with similar interests, across grade levels. They can take independent classes with kids from many different geographic areas during field trips. They interact more with adults, exercise more autonomy, and become more independent. If you pursue an alternate plan, you will make friends elsewhere, because people do exist elsewhere-- people of every walk of life, disposition, ability, interest, and background. These people are found everywhere, not just in schools.
Fast forward from the thought experiment to a snapshot of the past week's worth of my children's activities:
Tuesday night: went to see the Harlem Globetrotters with a group of friends. ages spanned from 7 to 12, five kids and three adults, kids from three separate schools, including our HS, a public charter, and a private school.
Wednesday morning: nature and poetry class at Longwood Gardens in the morning. Kids were broken into groups initially by approximate grade levels as assigned by parents by academic achievement. Demographics and geography from all over DE, PA, NJ, MD. Lunch and play together after in Longwood across age spans from 5-12.
Wednesday afternoon: Swimming lessons at the athletic club (HAC). Demographics and ages all over the map. Plenty of play time before/after with other kids.
Thursday noon: gym class at the HAC. mixed gym class for homeschoolers; 8 kids who meet regularly (same kids every week) ages 7-13 with an excellent coach. Group has time to play together spontaneously afterward.
Thursday evening: karate (son#1) and gymnastics (son#2) at the HAC with mixed age groups and a reliable cast of characters. Kids have friends there with whom to play after activity.
Friday morning: science class at Delaware museum of natural history, mixed age groups and demographics, same cast of characters every other week. highly interactive class.
Saturday afternoon: hike with Dad with the neighborhood kids. 5 kids from the neighborhood hiked through the local nature area.
Sunday morning: Sunday school at Skyline UMC. Mixed ages and demographics. Helped clean up the Sunday school room, lots of time to interact throughout the morning.
Throughout the week, we also had opportunities to eat out at lunchtime, using our assertive voices to order properly, our good manners when interacting with the adults around us, practicing patience and conversation while waiting, and making good choices. Also throughout the week there was ample opportunity to play with the kids in our neighborhood after they returned from school, since our kids have no "homework" once they have finished their work for the day (though they often choose to continue reading about topics that interest them)!
Somehow, I'm not seeing the social deprivation. In fact, I'm seeing far better social opportunity and social interaction than my kids ever got in school, including chances for repeat interaction with set groups of kids. I believe that interacting across age groups and a wider variety of social and geographic boundaries with both semi-structured AND unstructured time built in will result in greater empathy and more maturity in the long run than would result from being locked in a can all week with same-age peers. Naturally, the opportunities we choose will need to evolve over time as the kids grow, as well, and they will have increasing say in what they choose to do.
So . . . if you are one of those watching either us, or someone else you care about home educate and fear is gripping you, or you wish you dared home educate, but you just cannot, all because of . . . the dreaded "S word," I offer you this advice. Fear not. Have confidence. Home educating does not mean locking the children in the basement, or shielding them in any way from social interaction. In most cases, home education means boosting childrens' social experiences in a very rich, meaningful way. There are entire books about homeschooling that list dozens of primary references citing not only the social adjustment of homeschooled children, but interviews with college counselors and admissions officers who have tracked home educated individuals, noting how easily they have adjusted to college life, as many have already been exposed to practical life skills, mixed group social settings, and independent learning situations unfamiliar to the conventionally schooled students. Instead of just imagining your way through the situation, pick up some reliable reference material at your local library, and do yourself and those you care about a favor and educate yourself on the subject, and you may well be surprised that in addition to a fantastic education, the "S word" may well be one of the home educated student's greatest strengths!
--Thanks for reading!
I cannot blame anybody for wondering about this "S word" in particular. Most of us who have always just assumed that the public option was the best solution have also always just assumed that the best social environment for our kids was to lock them in a room all day, segregated by age, regardless of academic achievement, athletic ability, or social maturity all day, at least for the first six (K-5th in many schools) years of their education, unable to talk directly to their classmates for most of that day-- in today's schools, even talking during lunch is now either forbidden or a practical impossibility due to the extraordinarily short time permitted to wolf down sustenance. We sent our children off to school assuming the same relaxed atmosphere we enjoyed as kids, including some social time in the classroom, at least two recess periods of some length, and a decent and noisy lunch lunchtime-- all things that have pretty much disappeared from today's schools. And today's recess periods, a paltry 30 minutes including time to line up silently, are often also segregated by grade/age, again regardless of maturity or athletic ability or interests or friendships. However, like most parents, we never questioned any of this-- everybody sends their kids off to
What I hear from many who do not like to hear that we are home educating, frankly, is fear and confusion, and with that I can definitely empathize. Fear of the unknown is a natural, normal human reaction. When we are fearful, we tend to attack, and socialization is the easiest thing, seemingly, to attack; nobody really feels the need of special expertise to discuss socialization-- most people went to school, and at some point, have had friends. What most people overlook, however, is that they associate friends with school, because since they went to school, it dominated their time.
Home education is wonderfully freeing. It means children are free to socialize with children across age boundaries. They are free to find kids with similar interests, across grade levels. They can take independent classes with kids from many different geographic areas during field trips. They interact more with adults, exercise more autonomy, and become more independent. If you pursue an alternate plan, you will make friends elsewhere, because people do exist elsewhere-- people of every walk of life, disposition, ability, interest, and background. These people are found everywhere, not just in schools.
Fast forward from the thought experiment to a snapshot of the past week's worth of my children's activities:
Tuesday night: went to see the Harlem Globetrotters with a group of friends. ages spanned from 7 to 12, five kids and three adults, kids from three separate schools, including our HS, a public charter, and a private school.
Wednesday morning: nature and poetry class at Longwood Gardens in the morning. Kids were broken into groups initially by approximate grade levels as assigned by parents by academic achievement. Demographics and geography from all over DE, PA, NJ, MD. Lunch and play together after in Longwood across age spans from 5-12.
Wednesday afternoon: Swimming lessons at the athletic club (HAC). Demographics and ages all over the map. Plenty of play time before/after with other kids.
Thursday noon: gym class at the HAC. mixed gym class for homeschoolers; 8 kids who meet regularly (same kids every week) ages 7-13 with an excellent coach. Group has time to play together spontaneously afterward.
Thursday evening: karate (son#1) and gymnastics (son#2) at the HAC with mixed age groups and a reliable cast of characters. Kids have friends there with whom to play after activity.
Friday morning: science class at Delaware museum of natural history, mixed age groups and demographics, same cast of characters every other week. highly interactive class.
Saturday afternoon: hike with Dad with the neighborhood kids. 5 kids from the neighborhood hiked through the local nature area.
Sunday morning: Sunday school at Skyline UMC. Mixed ages and demographics. Helped clean up the Sunday school room, lots of time to interact throughout the morning.
Throughout the week, we also had opportunities to eat out at lunchtime, using our assertive voices to order properly, our good manners when interacting with the adults around us, practicing patience and conversation while waiting, and making good choices. Also throughout the week there was ample opportunity to play with the kids in our neighborhood after they returned from school, since our kids have no "homework" once they have finished their work for the day (though they often choose to continue reading about topics that interest them)!
Somehow, I'm not seeing the social deprivation. In fact, I'm seeing far better social opportunity and social interaction than my kids ever got in school, including chances for repeat interaction with set groups of kids. I believe that interacting across age groups and a wider variety of social and geographic boundaries with both semi-structured AND unstructured time built in will result in greater empathy and more maturity in the long run than would result from being locked in a can all week with same-age peers. Naturally, the opportunities we choose will need to evolve over time as the kids grow, as well, and they will have increasing say in what they choose to do.
So . . . if you are one of those watching either us, or someone else you care about home educate and fear is gripping you, or you wish you dared home educate, but you just cannot, all because of . . . the dreaded "S word," I offer you this advice. Fear not. Have confidence. Home educating does not mean locking the children in the basement, or shielding them in any way from social interaction. In most cases, home education means boosting childrens' social experiences in a very rich, meaningful way. There are entire books about homeschooling that list dozens of primary references citing not only the social adjustment of homeschooled children, but interviews with college counselors and admissions officers who have tracked home educated individuals, noting how easily they have adjusted to college life, as many have already been exposed to practical life skills, mixed group social settings, and independent learning situations unfamiliar to the conventionally schooled students. Instead of just imagining your way through the situation, pick up some reliable reference material at your local library, and do yourself and those you care about a favor and educate yourself on the subject, and you may well be surprised that in addition to a fantastic education, the "S word" may well be one of the home educated student's greatest strengths!
--Thanks for reading!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)