Thoughts on "schooling" (with random photos to make the post bearable)

Learning that sleep does not have to occur in a bed

Ginny over at Small Things wrote a post about food and how confusing it is deciding what one should eat. I am having this problem with homeschooling. There is so much information out there and deciding how to go about learning at home can be overwhelming. I am not interested in what terms to use, whether they are right or wrong, etc. For example, should we use the term "homeschool?" I really don't care. Why make it more difficult to communicate by arguing over these trivialities? The reason I even started thinking about all of this is because my 4 year old couldn't count to 10 the other day. She said "five, six, seventeen, eighteen...." I immediately thought oh crap, I've been too concerned with getting them outside that I've forgot to review things like letters and numbers (She has been able to count to ten for a very long time). Yeah, yeah, I know letters and numbers are not that important for a 4 year old. Getting them outside is more important. Blah, blah, blah. I'm just saying this is what got me thinking about homeschooling.

Learning how to prepare food from the garden

So today I've been going over what we will do starting in September on a daily/weekly/monthly basis. Nothing majorly detailed, but just some basic standards. For example, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we will at some point go over letters, letter sounds, etc. (yes I do think teaching them this at 4 is fine...and my daughter likes it). On Tuesdays and Thursdays we will at some point review numbers and shapes and how to write/draw them. We will read stories everyday. We will have family drawing time at least two times a week (taken from Amanda Soule), and we will go on at least one nature walk a week. The natural world, identifying plant and animal species, etc. will always be intertwined. We will unschool in the sense that everything else is determined by Eaden. I asked her what she wanted to learn about next year and she said elephants, giraffes, dragons, Indians, zebras, planets, stars, pirates, doll houses, and robots. In that order. So that is what we will focus on and I will insert some seasonal themes to go along with what month we are in. I have to have some sort of plan. That is just how I am. Not obsessive by any means, but I do need some sort of order. I do realize that kids learn naturally and my kids are certainly learning naturally. Nothing is forced by me. If they don't want to do something, we don't do it.

Learning how to catch a duck

I decided to stay at home and homeschool after being completely disgusted while student teaching at a middle school here in Texas. It was the most eye-opening experience I have ever had, the most shocking, and the most sickening. While working as a librarian, I was always thinking of ways I could spend more time with my children. I thought that teaching might be a good way to go. I could get off of work when they got out of school and I could have the entire summer to spend with them. This was not the first time I had thought about teaching. I also always had in the back of my mind this idea that I would get teacher certification not to work in the schools, but to work at my home and perhaps open my own "school." Well, while student teaching I conveniently came across A Different Kind of Teacher by John Gatto. I read it in class while I was supposed to be observing my mentor teacher. Everything I saw going on in the classroom was exactly as Gatto described it. These 6th graders could not spell words such as "the" or "up."

Learning how to relax

As I was witnessing kids learning nothing and hating being where they were, I was reading Gatto: "Is it just barely possible that forced schooling has something to do with so many people not being able to read at all these days, or understand what they read?...A little reflection should convince you that schools, as economic engines, are most successful when they run badly...No effect of compulsory mass-schooling is more resistant to remedy than the damage it has done to the American family by separating parents and kids...Think of the economic tragedy that would occur if schools taught critical thinking. If they encouraged individuals to be strong and think original thoughts. If they taught the philosopher's secret that nothing important can be bought...Who would crave the mountains of junk our mass-production economy distributes? Who would eat the processed food? Who would wear the plastic shoes? How could the mass economy survive without the trainings "schools" provide?...Kids and their families need tremendous amounts of pure choice in the way they come to the problem of growing up. There is no "one right way" to do it, there never was...and the phenomenal successes of homeschooling show at least one possibility that needs to be encouraged...To be educated is to understand yourself and others, to know your culture and that of others, your history and that of others, your religious outlook and that of others...Schooling separates people from the daily content of life, dividing the world into disciplines, courses, classes, grades, and teachers who remain strangers to their children in all but name...We shall change this thing (public compulsory schooling) in time if we deny it our cooperation, affirming what our hearts and history tell us is true...Now dumb people aren't just ignorant; they're the victims of non thought-of secondhand ideas. Dumb people are now well-informed about the opinions of Time magazine and CBS, the New York Times and the President; their job is to choose which prethought thoughts, which received opinions, they like best...Real knowledge has to be learned by hard and painful thinking; it can't be generated in group discussions or group therapies but only in lonely sessions with yourself. Real knowledge is earned only by ceaseless questioning of yourself and others, and by the labor of independent verification."

Learning that a little monster spray goes a long way when trying to scare away monsters

So, I quit student teaching after 6 of my 12 required weeks and started my life as a stay at home mom. At this point, all I know is that simply removing them from the public school system will do wonders for their growth. How to go about everything is still in question, but we will figure it out along the way. I do know that radical unschooling is not for us and neither is following any one homeschooling method. Independent thought is my main focus...I think. Confused....and yet not confused.

Learning how to paint