Sunday, October 31, 2010
Cindy Gaddis' Collaborative Learning Process
A few years ago I made acquaintances with Cindy Gaddis's blog Applestars. I really liked the method she has developed in homeschooling her children. You might enjoy reading it too!
Universalis
My husband fixed it so that my browser automatically goes to this page. I love it! You can pray first thing when you sit down to the computer and I always know what day it is in the liturgical calendar. I showed this site to my then 17 year old. He prays lauds every day when he gets up (which may be in the afternoon, since, you know, he's a teenager!).
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Mother Teresa and Unschooling
You know that beautiful quote that they found by Mother Teresa's bed after she died? It goes like this:
My problem was I was impatient. I wanted to see my kids immediately pick up whatever I was strewing, and with joyful enthusiasm become absorbed in that particular thing. Then I could feel reassured about how knowledgeable they were without being taught formally.
Only this didn't work. Instead the kids, who knew I was watching them like a hawk, felt manipulated and this made them resentful of strewing. So I stopped. I decided my kids were different. They didn't respond to strewing! If I wanted them to learn something I just had to be straightforward and say: Kids, I think learning _________________ (fill in the blank) is important. Therefore I am going to read this to you or have you work on this particular thing. This actually cleared the air of all the manipulation. However, I could see how much more open to learning my kids were when they followed a natural interest. Still, I told myself, no matter how much sense unschooling made to me, I'd given it a fair try but it just didn't work for us.
So we continued to homeschool. I jumped from one approach to another. I loved learning about different educational theories and trying them out. I am an insatiable curriculum junkie. I loved researching different products, browsing through catalogs, searching the library for books I'd seen recommended on various lists. I'd spend hours planning out lessons. I adored the planning part of it! It was the implementation that didn't work out. My plans that looked so thorough on paper would transmogrify into something greatly reduced as I attempted work my kids through them. I always had to qualify myself as 'lite' or 'relaxed' to others because I knew we didn't do nearly as much as other homeschoolers seemed to do. This troubled me greatly. I felt horribly insecure and inadequate. Then, as my junkie habits built up over time, with the accumulation of books and other implements of learning, I noticed something. The kids would gravitate to these things in their own time. Once I had lost the emotional investment of strewing and didn't look for a timetable that the kids needed to follow, strewing started to work.
So back to Mother Teresa. Here's my take on that quote: If you strew resources around your house and try to create a joyful, stimulating atmosphere that inspires learning, and it falls flat, do it anyway. It never was between you and them. In the final analysis, It's between you and your mothering conscience that wants your children to bloom beautifully in their own time. And it's between them (the kids) and their own developing minds as to when they learn something.
Once I got to that point, (and actually I lose that point often and then have find my way back again!)I let go and miracles started happening. Strewing started to work. I call it serendipitous learning. Maybe it's the Holy Spirit. I don't know. But once I got to a certain place emotionally. I mean really got there, where I was not expecting anything from my kids but instead just focusing on my own love for good literature and interesting, well-presented materials, things somehow changed for the better.
So instead of seeing strewing as baiting your child with tempting things that will teach them, which is how I viewed it at first, it is more like cultivating a garden where you the gardener make sure the plant is properly watered, fed and is growing in good soil. It is up to the plant to do the growing!
Mother Teresa's Anyway Poem
People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
This quote really helped me when it came to strewing. You see, when I first heard of the concept of strewing, I tried it out and it failed! I very carefully got these wonderful recommended resources, like books and kits and such and I strewed them around and my kids, by and large, ignored them. I was so frustrated!
My problem was I was impatient. I wanted to see my kids immediately pick up whatever I was strewing, and with joyful enthusiasm become absorbed in that particular thing. Then I could feel reassured about how knowledgeable they were without being taught formally.
Only this didn't work. Instead the kids, who knew I was watching them like a hawk, felt manipulated and this made them resentful of strewing. So I stopped. I decided my kids were different. They didn't respond to strewing! If I wanted them to learn something I just had to be straightforward and say: Kids, I think learning _________________ (fill in the blank) is important. Therefore I am going to read this to you or have you work on this particular thing. This actually cleared the air of all the manipulation. However, I could see how much more open to learning my kids were when they followed a natural interest. Still, I told myself, no matter how much sense unschooling made to me, I'd given it a fair try but it just didn't work for us.
So we continued to homeschool. I jumped from one approach to another. I loved learning about different educational theories and trying them out. I am an insatiable curriculum junkie. I loved researching different products, browsing through catalogs, searching the library for books I'd seen recommended on various lists. I'd spend hours planning out lessons. I adored the planning part of it! It was the implementation that didn't work out. My plans that looked so thorough on paper would transmogrify into something greatly reduced as I attempted work my kids through them. I always had to qualify myself as 'lite' or 'relaxed' to others because I knew we didn't do nearly as much as other homeschoolers seemed to do. This troubled me greatly. I felt horribly insecure and inadequate. Then, as my junkie habits built up over time, with the accumulation of books and other implements of learning, I noticed something. The kids would gravitate to these things in their own time. Once I had lost the emotional investment of strewing and didn't look for a timetable that the kids needed to follow, strewing started to work.
So back to Mother Teresa. Here's my take on that quote: If you strew resources around your house and try to create a joyful, stimulating atmosphere that inspires learning, and it falls flat, do it anyway. It never was between you and them. In the final analysis, It's between you and your mothering conscience that wants your children to bloom beautifully in their own time. And it's between them (the kids) and their own developing minds as to when they learn something.
Once I got to that point, (and actually I lose that point often and then have find my way back again!)I let go and miracles started happening. Strewing started to work. I call it serendipitous learning. Maybe it's the Holy Spirit. I don't know. But once I got to a certain place emotionally. I mean really got there, where I was not expecting anything from my kids but instead just focusing on my own love for good literature and interesting, well-presented materials, things somehow changed for the better.
So instead of seeing strewing as baiting your child with tempting things that will teach them, which is how I viewed it at first, it is more like cultivating a garden where you the gardener make sure the plant is properly watered, fed and is growing in good soil. It is up to the plant to do the growing!
Jeopardy!
Watch Jeopardy with your kids. This does many things:
1. If you can answer at least one question that a contestant can't, your kids will think you are really smart!
2. This may spark their curiosity about a variety of topics. Days later my kids will come back and ask about a particular question and want to know more about it.
3. It is a fun bonding time with your kids.
We don't watch Jeopardy every night. We can go for months and not watch it. I record the shows and when we have some downtime we'll watch a bunch in one fell swoop.
1. If you can answer at least one question that a contestant can't, your kids will think you are really smart!
2. This may spark their curiosity about a variety of topics. Days later my kids will come back and ask about a particular question and want to know more about it.
3. It is a fun bonding time with your kids.
We don't watch Jeopardy every night. We can go for months and not watch it. I record the shows and when we have some downtime we'll watch a bunch in one fell swoop.
Enchanted Learning
I used stuff from Enchanted Learning a lot when my kids were younger. Now that my youngest is nine, I don't use it much (in fact it might have been a year since I've gone to their site). But when the kids were younger I found that it was a great resource. If a child was interested in a particular topic, I'd check out Enchanted Learning to see if there were any neat print outs I thought my child would enjoy. My youngest daughter likes cut and paste stuff and coloring. The boys liked puzzle pages and dot to dots better. I'd print out the pages and stick them on our breakfast table. Sometimes the kids would go right to them and sometimes they would sit there for a couple of days before being noticed. And sometimes they'd just get used for scrap paper! Sometimes there'd be something that I'd intentionally want to teach and then I'd use them as a basis for a short one on one lesson.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Unschooling Moments of the Week
I wasn't very good at recording things this week. I seem to only have some shots of thing my 9 year old did.
Can you guess what this is????
Nine year old noticed that I'd somehow gotten these Ziploc vacuum bags. I think my 18 year old son picked them up when he was running errands for me and remembered that we were out of bags. I never would have bought these particular kind. Well, Becky was fascinated by them. She decided that her Webkinz animals were getting too dusty, so she hauled out our vacuum cleaner and carefully hermetically sealed them in these bags! Becky's been getting into Webkinz a lot these past two weeks. She goes in and out with them. Her cousin introduced her to them and she likes to get on and play with her.
Becky also is enamored with woodworking. Her dad likes carpentry and she likes to be out in the garage with him when he is working on a project. So she begged and begged for an early Christmas present (!) once she saw a child-size toolkit in a toy catalog. What can I say? She's the youngest and spoiled! So I gave in and got it for her. She was so tickled. She's not allowed to use the tools unless it's under daddy's supervision. Here is Becky sawing her first board.
Here she is with the final result. Daddy helped a bit. It was a thick board and took longer than she expected to saw through with her little (but real!) saw.
Wow, you can see how incredibly messy my house is!!!! Yikes! I'll have to clean up more now that I'm taking pictures!
Becky, about midweek, and unbidden by me, decided to write some limericks.
Here are three that she dictated to me:
We also did some cursive, Latin and Math this week. And I am continuing to read aloud Jo's Boys, St. Elizabeth and the Three Crowns and this week, we started reading The Story of the Romans by H.A. Guerber (her older brother is listening in on this one as well.)
In Latin we reviewed the present conjugation of the verb to be. She learned this at Latin Camp this summer, but we've just now gotten up to this point in Linney's Getting Started with Latin. I wrote it out on the easel chalkboard so she could review whenever she wanted.
So much more went on this week and of course I haven't even included the other kids! This morning Becky, Sean and I are going on a field trip to an art gallery with our home school group. So I'm posting this early. Josh has his Biology test this morning but Will is going to drive him to class and back. I love having teen drivers!
Can you guess what this is????
Becky also is enamored with woodworking. Her dad likes carpentry and she likes to be out in the garage with him when he is working on a project. So she begged and begged for an early Christmas present (!) once she saw a child-size toolkit in a toy catalog. What can I say? She's the youngest and spoiled! So I gave in and got it for her. She was so tickled. She's not allowed to use the tools unless it's under daddy's supervision. Here is Becky sawing her first board.
Here she is with the final result. Daddy helped a bit. It was a thick board and took longer than she expected to saw through with her little (but real!) saw.
Becky, about midweek, and unbidden by me, decided to write some limericks.
Here are three that she dictated to me:
A Bumblebee
There once was an old bumblebee
Who made a wrong move and stung me.
His stinger fell off and he died of a cough,
That nasty old dead bumblebee.
A Man who Likes Moose
There once was a man from Kaboosh,
Who never ate anything but moose.
If you asked him why,
He would merely give a sigh,
That crazy old man from Kaboosh.
A Girl from the Street
There once was a girl from the street,
Who absolutely adored her meat.
But one tragic day,
She went out to play
And she never got the chance to eat.
We also did some cursive, Latin and Math this week. And I am continuing to read aloud Jo's Boys, St. Elizabeth and the Three Crowns and this week, we started reading The Story of the Romans by H.A. Guerber (her older brother is listening in on this one as well.)
In Latin we reviewed the present conjugation of the verb to be. She learned this at Latin Camp this summer, but we've just now gotten up to this point in Linney's Getting Started with Latin. I wrote it out on the easel chalkboard so she could review whenever she wanted.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
My Top Twelve Unschooling Books
1. Better Than School by Nancy Wallace
This was the first book I ever read about homeschooling. I was completely blown away! Wallace was friends with John Holt. It's her memoir of how her family came to homeschool.
2. Family Matters by David Guterson
This is such a reasoned, well thought out, well written and balanced book. I like the fact that the author is a public school teacher yet decided to unschool his kids at home.
3. A Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola
Charlotte Mason wasn't an unschooler by any means, if you read her writings and see the schedule she developed for her school. Mason was, however, a reformer, and much of what she proposes in her educational philosophy jives well with unschooling. Andreola's take on her has a very natural, delight-directed, cozy feel.
4. Homeschooling with Gentleness by Suzie Andres
This book is so inspirational. Suzie thinks things through on a spiritual level. A book to be reread often!
5. Children Who Are Not Yet Peaceful by Donna Goertz
This is a book about a Montessori classroom. Montessori believed in giving children 'freedom within limits.' This, to me, is echoed later when Pat Farenga defines unschooling as "giving children as much freedom in learning as a parent is comfortable with." To me, Montessori can be seen as a very sophisticated and developmentally aware form of strewing!
6. Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham
This is a wonderful book, aimed at young readers, that tells the story of self-taught Nathaniel Bowditch. It's fictionalized but based on fact. Bowditch was too poor to go to school. He had to work, so he studied in his free time and became a brilliant navigator and mathematician, eventually honored by Harvard. Very inspirational.
7. Homeschooling Our Children, Unschooling Ourselves by Alison McKee
I really like stories by parents who have unschooled their children successfully into competent adulthood. I love McKee's humility and honesty. She writes from the heart and she writes very well.
8. Homeschooling: A Family's Journey by Martine and Gregory Millman
I just read this book this summer. Another story by successful unschoolers. Very intelligently written. I found myself nodding a lot as I read it.
9. For the Love of Literature by Maureen Wittmann
This isn't really an unschooling book but it is a wonderful list of books on all sorts of topics for all sorts of ages. It is especially great for Catholics.
10. A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver de Mille
I liked this different twist on unschooling and I also liked that de Mille combines a classical education with a very unschoolish approach. I myself feel torn between classical education and unschooling and this opened up my eyes to how they could be woven together.
11. And What About College by Cafi Cohen
I don't know if Cohen is considered an unschooler but her kids definitely were educated in an alternative style. She researched how to get them into college and shares her wisdom with us!
12. The Joyful Home Schooler by Mary Hood, Ph.D.
Mary Hood is a Christian 'relaxed' home schooler. She doesn't like the term 'unschooling' because of the connotations that have developed that may seem to conflict with a Christian worldview. She's written other books too. They are full of practical advice on how to relax and let your child learn naturally.
This was the first book I ever read about homeschooling. I was completely blown away! Wallace was friends with John Holt. It's her memoir of how her family came to homeschool.
2. Family Matters by David Guterson
This is such a reasoned, well thought out, well written and balanced book. I like the fact that the author is a public school teacher yet decided to unschool his kids at home.
3. A Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola
Charlotte Mason wasn't an unschooler by any means, if you read her writings and see the schedule she developed for her school. Mason was, however, a reformer, and much of what she proposes in her educational philosophy jives well with unschooling. Andreola's take on her has a very natural, delight-directed, cozy feel.
4. Homeschooling with Gentleness by Suzie Andres
This book is so inspirational. Suzie thinks things through on a spiritual level. A book to be reread often!
5. Children Who Are Not Yet Peaceful by Donna Goertz
This is a book about a Montessori classroom. Montessori believed in giving children 'freedom within limits.' This, to me, is echoed later when Pat Farenga defines unschooling as "giving children as much freedom in learning as a parent is comfortable with." To me, Montessori can be seen as a very sophisticated and developmentally aware form of strewing!
6. Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham
This is a wonderful book, aimed at young readers, that tells the story of self-taught Nathaniel Bowditch. It's fictionalized but based on fact. Bowditch was too poor to go to school. He had to work, so he studied in his free time and became a brilliant navigator and mathematician, eventually honored by Harvard. Very inspirational.
7. Homeschooling Our Children, Unschooling Ourselves by Alison McKee
I really like stories by parents who have unschooled their children successfully into competent adulthood. I love McKee's humility and honesty. She writes from the heart and she writes very well.
8. Homeschooling: A Family's Journey by Martine and Gregory Millman
I just read this book this summer. Another story by successful unschoolers. Very intelligently written. I found myself nodding a lot as I read it.
9. For the Love of Literature by Maureen Wittmann
This isn't really an unschooling book but it is a wonderful list of books on all sorts of topics for all sorts of ages. It is especially great for Catholics.
10. A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver de Mille
I liked this different twist on unschooling and I also liked that de Mille combines a classical education with a very unschoolish approach. I myself feel torn between classical education and unschooling and this opened up my eyes to how they could be woven together.
11. And What About College by Cafi Cohen
I don't know if Cohen is considered an unschooler but her kids definitely were educated in an alternative style. She researched how to get them into college and shares her wisdom with us!
12. The Joyful Home Schooler by Mary Hood, Ph.D.
Mary Hood is a Christian 'relaxed' home schooler. She doesn't like the term 'unschooling' because of the connotations that have developed that may seem to conflict with a Christian worldview. She's written other books too. They are full of practical advice on how to relax and let your child learn naturally.
Bas Bleu
This is my favorite book catalog. I'm thinking of just handing it to my husband and saying: "Here! This is my Christmas list."
Sometimes I pretend that there are no other homeschool resource catalogs and we'd have to survive by only using books from Bas Bleu. You could do it!
Anyway, have fun perusing and dreaming about books!
Sometimes I pretend that there are no other homeschool resource catalogs and we'd have to survive by only using books from Bas Bleu. You could do it!
Anyway, have fun perusing and dreaming about books!
Foreign Exchange
One way to enrich your family life is to host foreign exchange students. I think one reason I like doing this is that since I can't travel myself, I can do it vicariously through foreign exchange. Now, I'm not up for it every year because so much is often going on, but we've managed to host 4 different times over the last 13 years.
The first two times we did this, it was through a program our church was involved with, the goal of which was to promote peace in Northern Ireland. This program took one Catholic child and one Protestant child from Belfast and brought them together for one month in the U.S. This was a pretty structured program. We had to agree to attend certain events held in our area for the Irish kids. These events were actually quite fun for my children to join in as well. They were things like a big fair that a local country club held for the kids or going to a water park as a group. Initially we didn't know where we were going to put the kids in our house. We lived in a very small rambler at the time. However, it had a damp ugly basement. The basement had been finished off by the previous owners. The decor was a 1970's Italian Wine Bar. Oh my, was it ugly! Fake brick, exposed particle board which I think the former owner thought resembled cork. It didn't. Ugly dark wood paneling. Fake painted 'wooden' beams. The two nice things were that they put in really nice Italian tile on the floor. However, since it was chilly down there and my little kids played there, we wound up putting carpeting over it. There was a very ugly but very powerful wood stove, which I grew to love.
Anyway, I digress. There was a sort of room at the back of this that we used for storage. When I impulsively decided we should host some Irish girls, we wound up cleaning out that room, scrubbing, vacuuming and dusting it. We had my husband's childhood bed in storage and we borrowed another one. I bought an old dresser with a mirror from a used furniture shop, hung up some pictures we had in storage from my old apartment, and finally bought some new matching comforters and a couple of cute throw rugs. Voila! We had a passable guest room. So the girls stayed there.
It was a wonderful experience, not without some strain and inconvenience. But the benefits far outweighed any of that.
The next foreign exchange student was some years later. We had moved to a bigger house but one that didn't have a finished basement. So we finished it. One reason why I was excited to have a guest room down there was so we could host again. This time we hosted a 15 year old French boy for three weeks. A desperate call came out over the yahoo list of a local homeschool group begging for someone to take this boy! Apparently the time was drawing nigh, when he was supposed to arrive but no host family had been found. So we volunteered. Charles-Hubert was a funny kid. His parents were desperate to get him into something other than videogames. However, my kids were huge gamers at the time so he pretty much played videogames over here. Occasionally I'd drag him out to do some sightseeing, only problem was, he absolutely wilted in the heat here. Poor thing. But it was still a good experience. It's neat to see your corner of the world through someone else's eyes. I was very nervous cooking for a French kid, assuming he was used to much better fare, but the truth is American junk food seems to appeal to all teenagers, even ones from France!
This past summer we hosted an Austrian student through 4H. This gentlemen was a 20 year old university student and spoke English very well. He was absolutely delightful!
So if you can swing it, I highly recommend opening up your home to foreign students. It is such an enriching experience in so many ways. We plan to host again in the future.
The first two times we did this, it was through a program our church was involved with, the goal of which was to promote peace in Northern Ireland. This program took one Catholic child and one Protestant child from Belfast and brought them together for one month in the U.S. This was a pretty structured program. We had to agree to attend certain events held in our area for the Irish kids. These events were actually quite fun for my children to join in as well. They were things like a big fair that a local country club held for the kids or going to a water park as a group. Initially we didn't know where we were going to put the kids in our house. We lived in a very small rambler at the time. However, it had a damp ugly basement. The basement had been finished off by the previous owners. The decor was a 1970's Italian Wine Bar. Oh my, was it ugly! Fake brick, exposed particle board which I think the former owner thought resembled cork. It didn't. Ugly dark wood paneling. Fake painted 'wooden' beams. The two nice things were that they put in really nice Italian tile on the floor. However, since it was chilly down there and my little kids played there, we wound up putting carpeting over it. There was a very ugly but very powerful wood stove, which I grew to love.Anyway, I digress. There was a sort of room at the back of this that we used for storage. When I impulsively decided we should host some Irish girls, we wound up cleaning out that room, scrubbing, vacuuming and dusting it. We had my husband's childhood bed in storage and we borrowed another one. I bought an old dresser with a mirror from a used furniture shop, hung up some pictures we had in storage from my old apartment, and finally bought some new matching comforters and a couple of cute throw rugs. Voila! We had a passable guest room. So the girls stayed there.
It was a wonderful experience, not without some strain and inconvenience. But the benefits far outweighed any of that.
The next foreign exchange student was some years later. We had moved to a bigger house but one that didn't have a finished basement. So we finished it. One reason why I was excited to have a guest room down there was so we could host again. This time we hosted a 15 year old French boy for three weeks. A desperate call came out over the yahoo list of a local homeschool group begging for someone to take this boy! Apparently the time was drawing nigh, when he was supposed to arrive but no host family had been found. So we volunteered. Charles-Hubert was a funny kid. His parents were desperate to get him into something other than videogames. However, my kids were huge gamers at the time so he pretty much played videogames over here. Occasionally I'd drag him out to do some sightseeing, only problem was, he absolutely wilted in the heat here. Poor thing. But it was still a good experience. It's neat to see your corner of the world through someone else's eyes. I was very nervous cooking for a French kid, assuming he was used to much better fare, but the truth is American junk food seems to appeal to all teenagers, even ones from France!
This past summer we hosted an Austrian student through 4H. This gentlemen was a 20 year old university student and spoke English very well. He was absolutely delightful! So if you can swing it, I highly recommend opening up your home to foreign students. It is such an enriching experience in so many ways. We plan to host again in the future.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Discovering Music
We are currently watching this DVD lecture series. We are on Unit 9 (out of 17 units). I am absolutely enthralled by it! I'm watching it with my 18 and 11 year old sons. My 11 year old claims he does not like history. He does however love all things musical, so when I stumbled across a mention of this course at The Well Trained Mind board, I eagerly checked it out. It's perfect! Dr. Carol Reynolds is so cute and quirky, intelligent and enthusiastic. I've studied lots of history in my day, but I'm learning a lot from this course.
If you have a music lover or a history lover, you may really enjoy this course. I'm a little sad that we aren't using the workbook that comes with it. I initially looked at it and saw all the fill in the blanks and thought ugh! I knew the 11 yo would never consent happily to such things. So we decided to just watch the lectures. The lectures are so rich though, I feel the need for reinforcement. I'm kind of thinking of just watching all the lectures all the way through this time, but later on, maybe when my 11 year old is high school age, going back and doing the whole course. Now that I'm looking at the workbook more closely, I can see that it adds a lot to the course.
Anyway, we all give Dr. Reynolds an enthusiastic two thumbs up!
If you have a music lover or a history lover, you may really enjoy this course. I'm a little sad that we aren't using the workbook that comes with it. I initially looked at it and saw all the fill in the blanks and thought ugh! I knew the 11 yo would never consent happily to such things. So we decided to just watch the lectures. The lectures are so rich though, I feel the need for reinforcement. I'm kind of thinking of just watching all the lectures all the way through this time, but later on, maybe when my 11 year old is high school age, going back and doing the whole course. Now that I'm looking at the workbook more closely, I can see that it adds a lot to the course.
Anyway, we all give Dr. Reynolds an enthusiastic two thumbs up!
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Official Yet Alternative
Here's two resources that probably lots of people already know about but I thought I'd mention them anyway.
Clonlara - Clonlara had been around for ages. We've never actually used them, though once I enrolled one of my kids and got all the information. I loved reading through all their stuff and learning how they approached unschoolers. However, I am ashamed to say I never followed up. We are basically Clonlara drop outs! I found that I didn't need what they offered. I didn't feel I needed that reinforcement or security net. However, other unschoolers or unschooler wannabe's might really appreciate it. If you have a spouse or parents who are very nervous about your educational philosophies or if you live in a state where having an official person guide you with your teen's education will make it doable or much less stressful, or if you've got the willies and you need that extra hand-holding to buoy you up and say: Yes! We can do this! then Clonlara might be a very good option for you.
Collegeplus! - my 18 year old son is using this program as an interim thing. He's hoping to audition and get into a music conservatory but since he really didn't start studying music seriously until he was 15, he felt he needed to get some more time under his belt before trying out. I've been very impressed by Collegeplus so far.
Clonlara - Clonlara had been around for ages. We've never actually used them, though once I enrolled one of my kids and got all the information. I loved reading through all their stuff and learning how they approached unschoolers. However, I am ashamed to say I never followed up. We are basically Clonlara drop outs! I found that I didn't need what they offered. I didn't feel I needed that reinforcement or security net. However, other unschoolers or unschooler wannabe's might really appreciate it. If you have a spouse or parents who are very nervous about your educational philosophies or if you live in a state where having an official person guide you with your teen's education will make it doable or much less stressful, or if you've got the willies and you need that extra hand-holding to buoy you up and say: Yes! We can do this! then Clonlara might be a very good option for you.
Collegeplus! - my 18 year old son is using this program as an interim thing. He's hoping to audition and get into a music conservatory but since he really didn't start studying music seriously until he was 15, he felt he needed to get some more time under his belt before trying out. I've been very impressed by Collegeplus so far.
Bedtimes
I believe in bedtimes. Especially my own! Oh how I love the feel of finally getting into bed and curling up with my book! But I wasn't really talking about my own bedtime. I was referring to bedtime for children. I know that in unschooling circles this issue can quickly become polemical and I hate polemics! They make me lose sleep! So I'll just simply state that while I think the unschooling movement has many wise and wonderful things to share that I have embraced with joy, lack of bedtimes is not one of them!
When it comes to family rhythms, I am far more influenced by ideas found in Charlotte Mason and Waldorf educational/child development theories. Especially Waldorf. I hesitate to recommend Waldorf because I'm Catholic and there is a real problem there with Catholicism and Rudolph Steiner's views on things. Steiner, if you don't know, developed Waldorf schools based on Anthroposophy which is his own bastardization of many Catholic ideas combined with ideas from Eastern religions. So one must tread very carefully if one is Catholic or another variety of Christian or Jewish or Muslim or even Pagan because there are elements of Steiner's faith woven into his Waldorf approach to childhood and education. But I think if you are already confident in your faith, you can probably pick out what you find useful and leave what doesn't sit well. Often the practice that Steiner recommends is fine but his reasoning behind it is not.
There are a couple of resources out there though that have done a fine job of secularizing Waldorf so that you don't have to worry about the religious aspects. And they really resonated with me when it comes to how to be a parent.
The first is the beginning book that Oak Meadow uses. It's been years since I've read this book and I don't even have it anymore. I gave it away, but I remember how much it influenced my thinking. I don't know if you can get this book separately or if you need to enroll. Maybe there are used copies floating around the world wide web. Anyway, this past year I read another book that has the same approach and that I found very helpful and this one you can probably find at your local library or bookstore. It's called Simplicity Parenting. Put into very rudimentary terms, this approach calls for the parent to cultivate loving, cozy, beautiful, gentle rhythms in a child's life. And I think that's a beautiful way to parent! I fall short very often, but that's my ideal.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Nitty Gritty Grammar
Have a child come down with the Swine Flu. Have him laid flat out on the couch, sick as a dog, for almost two solid weeks. Have him grow bored with everything. Bored with TV, bored with videogames, bored with life. Bored, bored, bored! In the meantime, decide impulsively to reorganize your books. Begin like gangbusters and take great piles of books and stack them around the family room thinking you'll be able to sit and organize them better there. Lose steam almost immediately. Have books sit in stacks on the floor for days, causing everyone to have to step over them as they go in and out of the room. Feel defeated. Kick yourself for not having your act together. Vow to yourself every night that you will make yourself do something about those books. At the top of one of the stacks have there be a book you bought on impulse some years ago but never really read or used. Have bored to death son spy it and start to read it. While you cook things for him to try to get him to regain his appetite, have him talk to you enthusiastically about the book. Have him laugh at the funny parts. Have him discuss aspects of grammar that you never thought a 10 year old would find fascinating. Thank God for the silver lining that came with the dark cloud of sick kids and chaotic housekeeping.
Plumfield
One wonderful and unforeseen benefit to having children is that I get to read classic literature that I missed somehow growing up. This seems, perhaps, to be a silly thing to count as a benefit, but truly this aspect of parenthood has enriched my life and engendered so much joy! While I did read Little Women when I was young, I never went any further than that with Louisa May Alcott's books. I just finished read Little Men out loud to my 9 year old and we are thoroughly enchanted by the idea of Plumfield Academy. We found ourselves comparing our little home "academy" to Plumfield.
Museum - The kids of Plumfield converted the barn (or maybe it was some other out building) into a museum where they could store their collections and their new microscope, we just use the credenza in our dining room. The microscope is in storage. I'm thinking of getting it out again.
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| Carrying! |
Professor Bhaer's lessons - Father Bhaer does teach the kids formal lessons. We do that as well for essentials Mommy is too nervous to do without (the reasoning and history behind this are for other posts!) so anywhere from one to four times a week (depending on what else is going on) we do short lessons in penmanship, math and Latin for the pre-high school crowd. High schoolers are in their own orbit! (that's another post too!)
Animals - at Plumfield each child is encouraged to keep an animal. Since Plumfield is an orchard and farm, they keep chickens, ducks and pigs. Unfortunately we live in suburbia and can't raise farm animals. But we have had many pets over the years. Right now we have one dog, two cats and two aquariums. In the past we've also had hamsters, gerbils, turtles and hermit crabs. We've also hatched various insects from their cocoons, watched frogs metamorphize from tadpoles, and raised peeps for 6 weeks.
Gardening - at Plumfield each child gets a little patch of land where they grow whatever suits them. Rob is especially proud of his huge pumpkin, Nan grows herbs because she wants to be a doctor one day. Daisy grows flowers. Other kids grow vegetables. Alas, while we try to garden and have successfully grown some huge gorgeous sunflowers, a plethora of cherry tomatoes, some herbs, and a pretty Mary garden, we just don't seem to be good at sticking to gardening. Weeding seems to be a major issue! My husband even built us a very nice raised bed that somehow we never quite got around to seeding properly. So every couple of years I get a gardening yen and we start off all happy and energetic and then we fizzle out slowly. . . .
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| View of the pond |
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| Will practicing |
Plays - the kids at Plumfield love to put on shows. My kids do this as well. My youngest two have loved puppetry for a couple years now. Their dad built them a wonderful puppet theater. My older two kids both have been involved in various theater activities. My middle son is the one least into this, but he gamely goes along when needed.
Writing - I especially loved this from the book! The kids would meet once a week and take turns reading aloud something they'd written. It could be an essay on something they were interested in or a poem, any thing seemed to go. I loved that the ones who were too little to write were encouraged to get up and talk about something instead. Lately my three sons have decided to meet three to five times a week for 30 minutes to work on creative writing. Mostly they seem to like brainstorming ideas as opposed to actual writing, though some of that happens too. But I think this once a week meeting is a great idea that I'm going to suggest to my kids. We'll see how it goes over!
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| Cleaning the garage! |
Earning money - The children at Plumfield often were encouraged to try and earn money in some way, if they could. At least two of the boys gathered eggs and sold them. Other boys asked for chores to do around the school and farm to earn some spending money. We are really hit or miss about this. Kids around here can get paid for weeding or other special big jobs. Once they are willing to help out with chores more, they get paid as well, like for mowing the lawn, raking leaves, shoveling snow or cleaning out closets. Also when my teens can drive and begin running errands for me or giving up going out on a weekend night to watch the younger kids, we like to remunerate them for their work.
Surprisingly, one thing that I do not recall being emphasized at Plumfield was lots of reading. For us reading is a mainstay, especially reading aloud. Also, we've got all the audio-visual media going on here.
Anyway, I found Plumfield to be an inspiration. If you haven't read the book or it's been a long time since you have, I highly recommend it!
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Decorate with Maps
I think one of the main roles of an unschooling mother is to create an atmosphere in the home that encourages learning. One way to do this is by putting things on your wall!
For instance, maps!
These are both in our study or computer room.
Here's another U.S. map in our upstairs hallway. I just kind of stuck up there!
Then you can also get those shower curtains that have the map of the world on them. This one is kind of cool in that it is from a British Co. so some of the place names or the actual places they note seem to be a bit different from what an American publisher would use or show.
This is the globe in our family room. It's right under the TV. My husband got this for his birthday about 9 years ago. Before that we had one of those standard issue table top globes which worked just fine, too. We refer to this globe all the time. One of my kids once joked that if our life was a TV show we'd have a 'going to the globe' theme that would have to play every time we used the globe to find a place. Having the globe near the TV is actually helpful. For example, the other night some of us were watching a music history dvd and the professor was talking about how the fashion and music of Turkey became quite popular during the late 18th Cen. My 18 year old son immediately got up to look at the globe to see where exactly Turkey was in relation to Western Europe.
And to conclude the geography theme here, this is our atlas which has a permanent place on our (very messy) family room coffee table.
For instance, maps!
wikihow
My 11 year old continues in his fascination with various, funky wind instruments. So far he's been teaching himself: slide whistle, harmonica, ocarina and the jaw-harp (otherwise know as a jew-harp but he's uncomfortable saying that and really it doesn't make any sense any way!). We have a very old penny or tin whistle that we got ten or more years ago from some Irish girls who came to stay with us. He sometimes picks that up and fools around on it, trying to pipe out little tunes. Last night though he went at it in a little more earnest. He checked out wikihow and was teaching himself that way. When I entered the study where he was on the computer doing all this, I was surprised to find that the teacher is an Irish Catholic priest! Actually, I think he is a seminarian at Fordham University.
Anyway here's the link.http://www.wikihow.com/Play-the-Tin-Whistle
Anyway here's the link.http://www.wikihow.com/Play-the-Tin-Whistle
Saturday, October 23, 2010
The Importance of Journaling
The best advice I ever got from other unschooling moms was to journal all the learning that was going on in our home. Unschooling does lend itself to a particular type of anxiety because it is such a different approach to the way we've been brought up. One does tend to feel very insecure and out of step with the norm. Second guessing oneself is a very common problem (of course the school at home approach can also be rife with doubt, as can sending your child to school or, heck, just plain motherhood!).
But a wonderful way to prove to yourself that learning is happening is to journal. It can really open your eyes. In fact, I have found that it is impossible to record every moment of learning that goes on each day. I'm always leaving something out inadvertently!
The other thing that journaling does is keep you more aware of what is going on with your kids. Unschooling can feel very scattershot because it is not systematic in an institutional way. But if you are consciously observing your kids, you are better equipped to respond to their needs and interests.
How you journal is up to you. You can keep a pretty diary. You can scribble down notes on stray pieces of paper as you move through the day and then collect them in a file when you think of it! You can blog every day. I tend to type up very cryptic notes on my computer at lunch time and then again after dinner/before bed. Sometimes I blog my notes. Whatever works for you! I don't journal as religiously as I used to. I go through phases. Keeping a journal can help you comply with your state laws especially if you need to submit records or attendance.
But a wonderful way to prove to yourself that learning is happening is to journal. It can really open your eyes. In fact, I have found that it is impossible to record every moment of learning that goes on each day. I'm always leaving something out inadvertently!
The other thing that journaling does is keep you more aware of what is going on with your kids. Unschooling can feel very scattershot because it is not systematic in an institutional way. But if you are consciously observing your kids, you are better equipped to respond to their needs and interests.
How you journal is up to you. You can keep a pretty diary. You can scribble down notes on stray pieces of paper as you move through the day and then collect them in a file when you think of it! You can blog every day. I tend to type up very cryptic notes on my computer at lunch time and then again after dinner/before bed. Sometimes I blog my notes. Whatever works for you! I don't journal as religiously as I used to. I go through phases. Keeping a journal can help you comply with your state laws especially if you need to submit records or attendance.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Unschooling Moment of the Week
My 11 year old got a new slide whistle. He got it Wednesday evening and recorded himself playing it Thursday morning.
Living Math
This is a very popular resource for homeschoolers. I love the book lists! That's really where I've benefited the most from this wonderful woman's efforts to share her love of math. Lots of ideas here. Enjoy!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Living Latin
If you are interested in unschooling Latin, one way to do this is to encounter it as a living language. Every day Catholics around the world pray the Mass and the rosary in Latin! This isn't as common as it used to be but Latin is definitely making a comeback in the Catholic Church. It never died out entirely, of course, but there is a resurgence in interest in it.
Here are resources developed by my Latin teacher! She's a lovely lady with years of homeschooling experience. She does this in her spare time (which isn't much!). These resources are really neat! Check them out!
Here are resources developed by my Latin teacher! She's a lovely lady with years of homeschooling experience. She does this in her spare time (which isn't much!). These resources are really neat! Check them out!
Loganberry Books
If you are homeschooling, you are probably reading a lot of children's books. Reading a lot of children's books, makes you remember books you've read as a child. Remembering books you've read may make you tell stories from them to your children. This makes you want to find these books from your childhood. Sometimes these books are not easily found at the library or Amazon. Sometimes you have only the vaguest recollection of them.
Have I got a site for you!
Go to Loganberry books and browse around. Then submit book stumpers and see if someone out there in internet land also read that book and remembers more than you do! Or just have fun reading through all the book stumpers. It's a trip down memory lane!
Have I got a site for you!
Go to Loganberry books and browse around. Then submit book stumpers and see if someone out there in internet land also read that book and remembers more than you do! Or just have fun reading through all the book stumpers. It's a trip down memory lane!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
NaNoWriMo
Many people already know about this, but it is fairly new to us. A couple years ago my middle son and I participated. We were kind of lame about it though. This year my three sons and I have decided to participate. It looks cool! We've got our thinking caps on trying to come up with what we'll write about.
So here's the link.
So here's the link.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Thoughts on Spelling
Here's some thoughts I've developed over the years when it comes to children and spelling:
1. Some kids are natural spellers; many are not.
2. The more reading and writing you do the better you get at spelling.
3. I read somewhere that spelling skills are usually about two years behind reading level. I believe this is true.
4. The study of the history of language helps you become a better speller. You learn why knock and know are spelled that way; why some words spell the 'f' sound with 'ph,' etc. This puts all those spelling rules in context and makes all the exceptions interesting instead of frustrating. A great book to introduce children to the history of English is this one:
5. Spelling happens. My husband was a terrible speller. He only did well on his weekly spelling quizzes at school because his dad paid him a dollar if he got an A. None of this ever translated into writing. He has a paper he wrote in high school where every other word is circled in red because it was misspelled. Yet somehow he made it through law school and even graduated near the top of his class. He didn't feel confident in spelling until he was 30 years old. Now he's a great speller!
6. Worrying about your 9 year old's spelling is like worrying that your 3 year old won't get potty trained before college. In other words, don't worry!
7. I admire Susan Wise Bauer (even though she's not an unschooler, I think she's tremendously cool and very wise in many ways!) but I disagree most vehemently with her advice to not let kids use the spell checker on the computer. I think having to stop and look up words when trying to write is actually counterproductive. I'll tell you why. It makes spelling and writing too labor intensive and overwhelming, especially for a child who does not take naturally to either of these two skills. They shut down and grow resistant to learning. The exception to this is if the child looks up a word on their own initiative; then it sinks in. For my kids the spell checker does three wonderful things: 1) It eases the spelling burden and frees them up to write. 2) When they spell a word wrong they get instant feedback on how it actually is spelled. 3) It teaches them the value of good proofreading. They soon learn to get someone else to read what they wrote; someone who can correct the things the spell checker can't catch, like accidentally writing 'there' for 'they're' for example. And this brings their attention to that particular problem word and becomes a good learning moment.
8. If you leave dictionaries lying around your house, you will catch your children thumbing through them and looking up words. Sometimes they might be words you don't want them to know quite yet!
9. My children pester me all the time with requests to spell words. I am often torn between just spelling the word for them and not turning every interaction into a little lesson or empowering them by teaching them spelling rules. You know that saying, if you give a man a fish. . . . . so I compromise! About half the time I give them the spelling rule and the other half I just spell it for them.
10. At some point my unschooled kids got discouraged about spelling. That's a good time to decide to devote some focused energy on teaching them the rules. See this for one possible resource that may help you!
1. Some kids are natural spellers; many are not.
2. The more reading and writing you do the better you get at spelling.
3. I read somewhere that spelling skills are usually about two years behind reading level. I believe this is true.
4. The study of the history of language helps you become a better speller. You learn why knock and know are spelled that way; why some words spell the 'f' sound with 'ph,' etc. This puts all those spelling rules in context and makes all the exceptions interesting instead of frustrating. A great book to introduce children to the history of English is this one:
6. Worrying about your 9 year old's spelling is like worrying that your 3 year old won't get potty trained before college. In other words, don't worry!
7. I admire Susan Wise Bauer (even though she's not an unschooler, I think she's tremendously cool and very wise in many ways!) but I disagree most vehemently with her advice to not let kids use the spell checker on the computer. I think having to stop and look up words when trying to write is actually counterproductive. I'll tell you why. It makes spelling and writing too labor intensive and overwhelming, especially for a child who does not take naturally to either of these two skills. They shut down and grow resistant to learning. The exception to this is if the child looks up a word on their own initiative; then it sinks in. For my kids the spell checker does three wonderful things: 1) It eases the spelling burden and frees them up to write. 2) When they spell a word wrong they get instant feedback on how it actually is spelled. 3) It teaches them the value of good proofreading. They soon learn to get someone else to read what they wrote; someone who can correct the things the spell checker can't catch, like accidentally writing 'there' for 'they're' for example. And this brings their attention to that particular problem word and becomes a good learning moment.
8. If you leave dictionaries lying around your house, you will catch your children thumbing through them and looking up words. Sometimes they might be words you don't want them to know quite yet!
9. My children pester me all the time with requests to spell words. I am often torn between just spelling the word for them and not turning every interaction into a little lesson or empowering them by teaching them spelling rules. You know that saying, if you give a man a fish. . . . . so I compromise! About half the time I give them the spelling rule and the other half I just spell it for them.
10. At some point my unschooled kids got discouraged about spelling. That's a good time to decide to devote some focused energy on teaching them the rules. See this for one possible resource that may help you!
Monday, October 18, 2010
Phonics Pathways
That's why I like this resource! I've used it with preschoolers to teens. Heck, if I can't remember if something ends with -able or -ible, I can use it too, as a 50 year old adult.
Spelling for my kids is a painful subject. They do not take to it easily. For my older kids, we did an emergency remedial spelling year when they were in 8th and 7th grade and were feeling very discouraged by their spelling struggles. We used this book off and on for a year. I thumbed through it until I got to a spelling rule they stumbled on. Then I'd write the spelling rule up on our white board. Then I'd dictate the list of words that went with that spelling rule. Sometimes they'd write them on the whiteboard too or sometimes they preferred to write on paper. Sometimes we just orally spelled the words. Then I'd dictate the sentences that contained the spelling words. This they usually preferred to write on paper.
Right now I'm using the book a little differently with my youngest three kids. I've got a space on my kitchen cupboard door that says SPELLING RULE OF THE WEEK. I've been posting a new spelling rule each week. The cupboard is right next to our kitchen table where we have most of our meals. At some point during the week, I remember to discuss the spelling rule and then I orally quiz the kids on words. Often the kids have already read the rule and list of words so my talking is just a kind of review.
It's simple! It's easy! It's relaxed! It works!
Conversations
Conversations are the number one way children learn in an unschooling environment. At least that's been my experience. Pay attention to conversations. Here's one I had with my 9 year old daughter last week:
We were in the car driving somewhere. She's in the back seat buckled in and I'm, of course, in the front driving. Apropos of nothing she says suddenly:
"There are sixty seconds in a minute."
"That's right," I say.
"And there are sixty minutes in an hour."
"Yes," says I.
"And there are 25 hours in a day," she continues.
"Actually, there are 24 hours in a day."
"Oh! Twenty-four!" She mulls this over for a second or two.
"And there are seven days in a week."
"That's right."
There's a bit of a silence and I wait for her to go into how many weeks are in a month, but her mind moves in a slightly different direction.
"There are four seasons in a year."
"Yes."
"And there are four months in each season."
"Well, there are twelve months in a year and there are four seasons, so. . . "
"Oh, then there are three months in a season!" She's a little excited that she puzzled that out.
Me, enthusiastically: "That's right!"
Again, she pauses to think a bit.
"There are ten years in a decade."
"Correct!"
"And there are a hundred years in a century."
"Correct again!"
"And is there a word for if you have a thousand years?"
"Yes, it's called a millennium."
Child tries out this new word by repeating it carefully several times. It's a fun word to say.
"Is there a word for a million years?" She wants to know.
"Gee, honey, if there is, I can't remember it right now!"
She laughs, "That's because we haven't been around very long!"
Unschooling can make one feel rather insecure about whether a child is learning. Noting conversations like this is a wonderful way to 'see' the natural learning that is taking place.
We were in the car driving somewhere. She's in the back seat buckled in and I'm, of course, in the front driving. Apropos of nothing she says suddenly:
"There are sixty seconds in a minute."
"That's right," I say.
"And there are sixty minutes in an hour."
"Yes," says I.
"And there are 25 hours in a day," she continues.
"Actually, there are 24 hours in a day."
"Oh! Twenty-four!" She mulls this over for a second or two.
"And there are seven days in a week."
"That's right."
There's a bit of a silence and I wait for her to go into how many weeks are in a month, but her mind moves in a slightly different direction.
"There are four seasons in a year."
"Yes."
"And there are four months in each season."
"Well, there are twelve months in a year and there are four seasons, so. . . "
"Oh, then there are three months in a season!" She's a little excited that she puzzled that out.
Me, enthusiastically: "That's right!"
Again, she pauses to think a bit.
"There are ten years in a decade."
"Correct!"
"And there are a hundred years in a century."
"Correct again!"
"And is there a word for if you have a thousand years?"
"Yes, it's called a millennium."
Child tries out this new word by repeating it carefully several times. It's a fun word to say.
"Is there a word for a million years?" She wants to know.
"Gee, honey, if there is, I can't remember it right now!"
She laughs, "That's because we haven't been around very long!"
Unschooling can make one feel rather insecure about whether a child is learning. Noting conversations like this is a wonderful way to 'see' the natural learning that is taking place.
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