How A School Day Goes

By Lynn, on February 18th, 2008%

I’m blogging now about our lessons.  We have a most definite unschooling bent here, and my son is in 11th grade, so I think it might help me (and maybe you).  I can type so fast, but writing is sloooooow sometimes.  Blogging is a good way to keep records.

This morning we began to work through:  Prentice Hall Literature The American Experience.  Joe and I have had several very long conversations in the past about early American writers, including the Southern plantation writers.  Think William Byrd. 

In fact, much of Joe’s education centers around long conversations, talking of US and world history, famous writers, battles, people, and so on.  He is such an extremely auditory learner.  He has a keen mind for remembering spoken details.  It’s amazing.  Written language, however, has always stumped him. 

Now that he’s reading 500+ page novels all the time, I don’t worry about it so much, though we are working on spelling and writing skills.  The fact remains, though, that much of his education has been one-on-one great conversation!  Document that, why don’t you?  How do I?

I’m working on it, and I’ll share it when it’s done.  :)

Anyway, Prentice Hall Literature The American Experience is a great way to teach US history AND literature.  (And I also happen to like the choice of literary works put into the book.)

Today’s Lessons:

  • Independent reading — 2+ hours
  • Read pages 2-10 in Prentice Hall Literature The American Experience
  • Printed timeline for our wall (1490-1740) – (this book has great timelines, by the way) :)
  • Spent about two hours talking about Native Americans, Pilgrims, and Southern Planters
  • Somehow got into a discussion about J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis
  • Talked about the Navajo language and the movie Wind Talkers
  • Had a discussion about the Salem Witch Trials and how much influence writers have over the thinking of their day.  This led to a talk about J.K. Rowling. 
  • Talked about how it’s probably just as difficult to write a good screenplay as it is to write the original good novel that the screenplay comes from
  • Looked at the United States map and talked of the different climates of the south and north and reminded ourselves of where Plymouth is, Cape Cod, the Mason-Dixon line, etc
  • Ended up talking about The Civil War and Robert E. Lee and the fact that Arlington is on land that was Robert E. Lee’s
  • The map led to a discussion of Ungava Bay and our long-ago study together of Very Last First Time (thanks to FIAR)
  • Practiced cursive writing by beginning an outline of early American literature
  • Talked about his own ideas for a fantasy book we wants to write
  • Talked of religion and some things he heard spoken last night that touched his heart
  • Math sheet
  • Read the newspaper  — or at least skim through it :)

As you can see, we have spent MUCH time doing home education this morning.  We have had a wonderful depth of ideas and facts discussed.  Paperwise, however, there’s not much to show.  No large stack of boring worksheets, but we have a mind full of ideas on what to write in his own book.  Our relationship has grown.  I think that is worth something.

I have to go to work, so he’ll do more on his own today, i.e. math. 

As Joe worked on his cursive, I looked out the window and saw this really cute squirrel.

He seemed pretty relaxed, but then we he saw me he sat up, ready to take off.  He has something in his mouth.

Have a great Monday,
Lynn

2 comments   Homeschooling, School Lessons 11th grade, Unschooling

Unschooling Voices

By Lynn, on February 1st, 2008%

This month’s issue of Unschooling Voices is out!

There’s a lot of good stuff there.

As well, my book review of Mary Griffith’s The Unschooling Handbook: How to Use the Whole World as Your Child’s Classroom is mentioned.

Lynn

Leave a comment   Unschooling

Microscope Fun

By Lynn, on January 15th, 2008%

So tonight we did like most families in the USA do (I’m sure) and gathered around the microscope for clean, family fun!  I won’t tell you what all was donated to put under the lens, but some of the donations, once magnified, did cause mouths to fall open…

and eyes to pop…

Someone (it might have been me) suggested we go out with the flashlight and get a plastic spoonful of dirt from the compost.  We put it on the glass slide and WHOA, there were little white creatures that could crawl and jump.  Really jump.  They looked to the naked eye like pieces of dandruff, but under the microscope, they looked like this:

Needless to say, we all panicked and rushed the compost dirt back outside, but I think tomorrow we’ll have to get brave and bring the dirt in again and take another look.

Lynn

PS – Thanks to Steve Hopkin for the awesome collembola picture.

2 comments   Homeschooling, Unschooling

Review of The Unschooling Handbook by Mary Griffith

By Lynn, on December 29th, 2007%

Okay, here’s the next review.  Another book that we got for Christmas:

The Unschooling Handbook : How to Use the Whole World As Your Child’s Classroom

There’s a lot to like about this book–namely, validation that, yes, I am doing enough.

I have mixed emotions about homeschooling:  I love many of the subjects heralded as “classical,” but that did not come from having received a “classical” education myself.  I love nature and a gentle approach to teaching, which has always led me to keep a variety of Charlotte Mason “help” books on my bookshelf.  Life, however, continues to throw me curve balls and I have confidence that my children are smart and capable, so I’ve often found myself “settling” for an unschooling approach.  Somehow, though, unschooling has taken a liking to our family, and I have truly taken a liking to unschooling, and I find myself thinking that it is the only real way any of us truly learn.  

In the future I’ll write more about our unschooling adventures, but for now I just want to give you a short review of the book.

I think unschooling is misunderstood because it is so hard to define.  It’s different for every family.  There are, however, similarities that all unschooling families seem to have:  they do what feels right to them, they trust that all children have a natural drive to learn, and they choose not to force a curriculum on the family.

Some things you’ll get from this book:

  • Personal accounts of what unschooling is for about 30+ families.  There are first-hand statements throughout the book to complement the topic at hand.
  • Information and thoughts about how T.V. and modern technology fit in.
  • Resources at the end of each chapter, including information on the three R’s.
  • How various families record what they are doing to create a portfolio or transcript.
  • How to deal with your children as they begin to change from child to adult.

Like I said, I already embrace unschooling.  We started out using it by default, but I really like the results I am seeing from it.  If you are tempted to unschool or wondering if you should continue unschooling, this book might be of great help to you.  It can, at the very least, settle some doubts.  If you don’t unschool but just want to know more about it, this book is very much for you.  It contains information beneficial to not just unschoolers but all homeschoolers.

Lynn

5 comments   Book Reviews, Unschooling

Stocking Stuffers

By Lynn, on December 22nd, 2007%

I walked into the thrift store on my break last night and I am so glad I did.  Yes, we buy some new stuff for our children for Christmas.  ~:-D  In addition, though, I always look for quality used items that would be good to stuff the Christmas stockings with.  We shop the thrift store year-round, why stop at Christmas?  As well, I refuse to go in debt for Christmas.  Debt is such a curse in this country, and I know first-hand how stressful it is to try and climb out from under it.  Credit is so alluring, but the consequences can be painful.

I found some nearly new T shirts that my boys will love – 1$ apiece.  I found four movies that Princess of the Universe will love.  I found a box of blocks that she will love, too.  Especially since they are getting three large (NEW — LOL) containers of Fiddlestix in Canister, 144 Pieces for Christmas.  I found them for an unbelievable price at Tuesday Morning.  We will build something out of sight!  But the best find was two awesome books.  The kids always get more books for Christmas to add to our homeschool library.

One book is My America: A Poetry Atlas of the United States.

 

The other is The Handy Science Answer Book (The Handy Answer Book Series).

 

I mean, we are unschoolers when it comes to science. I have Apologia Biology on CD, which we use as an excellent reference, but mostly we read books and learn science from real life. This new book, though…  If we learn just what is in this book, we will have enough knowledge to easily give a credit for all three sciences my son needs to graduate. (I already have a page on our website about our credit for biology.)

Anyhoo, I am so excited about my stocking stuffers.  For 16 dollars, I got probably 200 dollars worth of stuff for Christmas.

Happy Frugal Shopping,
Lynn

4 comments   Holidays, Homeschooling, Thrift and Antique Store Shopping, Unschooling

Me, The Homeschooler

By Lynn, on May 15th, 2007%

I wanted to write a bit more about my homeschooling tendencies, since I really do not consider myself fully an unschooler.  I have been pleasantly surprised though with what I have seen produced by a period of unschooling in my home and from what I have learned from reading up on unschooling a bit.

I would say my first love is Charlotte Mason by way of Karen Andreola’s A Charlotte Mason Companion.  It is so gentle, but there is structure.  That’s the way I like to be.  Life, however, is not always gentle and so it’s hard to always be gentle with everything, including school lessons.  

I don’t mean to say that I am “rough” with school lessons, but rather that there are seasons when we find ourselves needing to be very assertive with academics or even aggressive with problems that arise from life itself. At least that has been the case with me.

With children spread out in age like they are here, there are bound to be struggles. A “stubborn” teenager (to put it mildly) can rock the boat. Keeping order in the home (bedtime, chores done on time, lessons done, etc.), sometimes requires a match of wills.

Some teenagers would easily have you enter into a yelling match with them or watch you pull your hair out piece by piece while their younger siblings look on in astonishment. This does not make for a “gentle” atmosphere.  Lessons still get done – sure, but a parent’s stamina for creating the perfect Charlotte Mason day may run out sooner than they had intended.

Life is not fair. We all know that. I am not complaining, but making the statement here that we have to deal with it. It can interfere with school lessons, of course, but not with real-life lessons. Children learn a whole lot from seasons riddled with struggles for their parents. How we cope as parents helps them know how to cope.

I know how it feels to sit at the bedside of a dying parent, giving out school assignments to my children on the sidelines, all the while wishing we were on a picnic with one of the classics, but knowing it would have to wait. The children were fine and they ended up learning something bigger than a picnic could have taught them. I am not sure what to call this kind of homeschooling except real-life homeschooling.

In summary: My copy of A Charlotte Mason Companion will be falling apart by the time the kids are grown.  We will have done some nature journaling, but probably not as much as I’d have liked.  We have, for the most part, been a unit study school thus far. I am drawn to the continuity of a prepackaged curriculum, but life itself is not prepackaged, so that inherently does not make sense.  The classical approach interests me greatly, but I am not totally convinced that we could pull it off in this home. One thing I know for sure is that I want to raise good children who are able to love and embrace their own lives, be honest and kind and good citizens, and know that they are capable of learning anything they want to learn.

Leave a comment   Charlotte Mason, Homeschooling, Unschooling    

Me, An Unschooler?

By Lynn, on May 14th, 2007%

I’m not sure, but I think I might be a rebel, unschooling mom at heart.  (I need a smilie here for me laughing!)  It’s only because life threw us a few curve balls, in the midst of which I had to let my kids sort of do their own thing, and by golly they have learned quite a bit without me doing anything except making sure they had a safe place in which to learn with plenty of books and educational things to do!

I am currently reading The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education. I haven’t finished the book yet, but I am enjoying it and I can already say for sure that Grace Llewellyn is passionate about unschooling. This may be a good book to start with if you suspect you’re an unschooler, are standing at the jump-off, and want someone to give you a bit of a push.

I quote her from a chapter called School is Not for Learning: “The mind will be free, or it will be dead.” I know firsthand what it’s like to pull two nearly-dead kids from public school and bring them home. Not a pretty sight.

So far the book speaks of how public schools interfere with real freedom on so many levels.  I’ll post more when I’m done with the book.

One comment   Unschooling