Update on the unschooling experiment

I had decided to unschool for the rest of Holly's K year. I don't think I actually did. As I have read more about unschooling I have discovered varying thoughts on what unschooling is. It seems for much of the general homeschool world "unschooling" means not using planned, scheduled curriculum, but learning through opportunities in everyday life and according to a child's interests. But a large segment of the unschooling world only considers the strict philosophy of completely child led learning to be unschooling. So if you are teaching anything to your child that they have not requested to learn you are not unschooling, even if they are willingly and happily participating.

I am incapable of following the strict definition of unschooling. I love to teach, I love to share new information I am discovering. I love to open people's eyes to new ideas. And I really appreciate when others teach and share new ideas with me. Strict unschooling would require withholding part of my personality from my children.

I am not sure who really "owns" the term unschooling. I believe it was coined by John Holt. But I have not yet read enough of him to decide what he would have the term mean. However in order to be clear, I guess I can't really call myself an unschooler.

I think I can safely call my prevailing educational bent "interest led learning". This sometimes involves pouncing. For example yesterday, I said "Get in the car Babe" to my girls. Heather pointed out that I should have said "Babes". So I started a fun conversation about plurals. The girls had fun and were learning, because I had pounced on an opportunity to teach some basics of grammar. Other times I have to stop and engage. Today Holly said she wanted to learn about flamingoes. So I took a break from cleaning the kitchen and we took out the animal books. We also plan to look for more flamingo books at the library next week. This then led to reading about other animals, and practicing writing the names of animals.

While my educational philosophy is still in a state of metamorphosis, it is beginning to form into something like this:

There are many things I think it would be useful for my girls to learn. But it is best for them to learn these things when they are interested and open to receiving the information. There is no rush. There will be things my girls want to learn I have never considered. I need to listen and be open to helping them pursue those interests. Many times pursuing their interest will cover those "useful" things on my list. But more importantly, those interests can take us on wonderful unexpected learning adventures together.

A story - not just about math homework

I was good at math. In fact in 10th grade I got 100% on my Course 3 (trigonometry) math final. But I got a B in the class. I was good at math, but I wasn't good about doing math homework.

My teacher that year seemed practically addicted to assigning math homework. And not only did we have a long list of problems from the book each night, she had precise regulations - homework must be on college ruled loose leaf notebook paper. Most days I did turn in something for math homework. I usually completed the hardest problems, but most often it was incomplete and messy. Sometimes I didn't have a piece of college ruled loose leaf paper handy. So even with 100% on my final, my overall average was 89.5% because of my homework grade.

I hesitated to share this story. I am opening up my behavior and attitude about homework to criticism. I suppose some would argue it was my job to do what my teacher assigned and I wasn't respecting her authority. But then I could argue that it actually was my job to learn trigonometry and my teacher did not respect my time. I did learn trigonometry. And I spent my time planning a mission trip to New York City, applying for and starting a job at the library, reading, volunteering at the hospital, and even sleeping.

My consequence for not meeting the homework expectations was a B. This was acceptable to me. I was not disrespecting the teacher, I was making a value judgement. My time was more valuable than an A. Although I admit to being a little annoyed that my friends who had a different teacher, with a more lenient homework policy, got A's even though they had lower final exam scores. (My teacher did not give out a single A in the class.)

So my principles:

First of all, grades don't necessarily reflect level of mastery. Grades are relative.

Second, repetitive drill is not always required to achieve mastery.

Third, authority has it limits. My math teacher's authority truly did not extend beyond the 40 minutes I was in her classroom. Even as a parent my authority only extends so far.

And lastly, it is important to consider the goal. I understood trigonometry. Understanding trig has been useful in my life and profession. But I still don't have much use for college ruled notebook paper.

A story - not just about Penmanship...

I never got straight A's in elementary school. I often received almost all A's except for 1 subject, penmanship. My handwriting was readable, but so very ugly. So my otherwise perfect record was marred by B's and sometimes even C's in penmanship.

Then I had a wonderful 5th grade teacher. Mrs. Y pulled me aside one day and asked me if I wanted to work on my handwriting. She gave me a handwriting book and had me start doing the exercises on my own. I was delighted to learn it. I discovered all these interesting things. I still remember the revelation that all letters were supposed to be the same proportion. For example o's, a's, b's etc... should be the same width, and the "round part" should be the same height. Those lessons, which were ungraded and unforced revolutionized my handwriting.

By my junior year in high school my penmanship was so precise that I quickly took notes in tiny writing. In the interest of saving paper I put 2 to 4 lines of notes per 1 college ruled notebook line. I still can write that small and neatly today. In the rare occasions where writing might be publicly displayed I often am told - "You write it, you have the best handwriting."

So my principles:

First of all, having bad handwriting at age nine was not a predictor of my future handwriting abilities.

Second, when I was developmentally ready (about age 10) I learned quickly and easily, and thoroughly retained what I learned.

Third, I was blessed with a teacher who was in tune with my needs and respectful of me as a person. My peers didn't know I was working on handwriting. She presented the option to me as a way to improve myself, not a need to fix something "broken"

Fourth, unrequired and ungraded work can be completed with excellence, if it meets a felt need.

Thoughts on relaxed homeschooling/unschooling.

I have intended to write this post for a while. I have been doing lots of research on unschooling and education in general. But I don't feel that my thoughts have yet come to a coherent conclusion, or even a pausing point. However as I read and grow through this search I keep thinking of lots of stories, stories from my life that have shaped my educational paradigm, stories that demonstrate the truth of principIes I have been discovering.

So instead of sharing incoherent opinions, I thought I would share a series of stories. Stories that are not just about an event in my life, but are also about a principle. These principles are influencing the metamorphosis of my educational philosophy.

Metamorphosis Part 3: How we are doing school now...

As I look back at this week and the last several weeks I see a progression of how we are "doing school". I shared in my last 2 posts about how my homeschooling philosophy is developing.

This past summer I printed out our local school districts curriculum targets for K. (Dad is not yet committed to this homeschooling thing) I read reviews and carefully chose curriculum. Holly had asked to "do school" 2 to 3 days a week in the summer so we even started some of our books.

When we started kindergarten in the fall Holly immediately became resistant to handwriting. She had taught herself to write capitals but she didn't want anything to do with lower case. She also balked at phonics. Although she was more compliant when I replaced the boring primer with some garage sale workbooks. But she loved math. She did math with delight. She was half way through 1st grade math by December.

In January she suddenly became interested in handwriting. She pulled out a handwriting book I had set aside and worked through all the lowercase letters in a couple weeks. At this time she disliked doing any math in her workbook and she whined about doing phonics workbooks as well.

At the end of February she was officially 5 1/2 years old. I started to look at the big picture. She had met most of the K targets already. Although she isn't a fluent reader, her handwriting and math skills are well into later 1st grade level. But she often resisted school time. She made the most progress when it was her choice. So I decided to experiment.

I haven't been making her work in specific curriculum for school. I have read the curriculum so I know in my head some of the things she needs to progress. For example, in math she is learning place value and adding and subtracting 2 and 1 digit numbers. I have been delighted to see how often this actually comes up in real life, if I pay attention. I try to make sure we do some reading, writing, and math every day. This is not a problem. Reading and writing and math come up naturally every day, even Sunday.

Yesterday I had to work and we had a dentist appointment. I was not thinking about school. But I discovered lots of learning went on.





The girls were running out of their special toothpaste. So Holly took it upon herself to write it on my grocery list (whiteboard on the fridge). She copied the brand name, Toms, and told me she wrote "toothpaste". We had a fun little lesson in how to spell toothpaste. Diagraphs, long vowels, and compound words just happen to be things she is working on.

At the dentist office we counted our teeth, adding the top and bottom teeth together.

That evening I decided to pull up Starfall, an internet phonics program. I am realizing that Heather has a lot of reading skills. They both played with this for a while.

Holly decided to bake cookies. I was brave and let her do as much of it herself as possible. She cracked her egg perfectly. I dug out the recipe (I have it memorized). She practiced reading, and learned about fractions and measurement. She did 90% of the work and they turned out great!

So learning happens all the time. But I do have to be aware to truly capitalize on those opportunities.

Coming soon...thoughts on relaxed homeschooling and unschooling

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Metamorphosis Part 2: Things that made me go hmm...

So, I found that my initial method of homeschooling wasn't going how I planned. Things were going well, but more by default. I needed to evaluate so I had a clearer vision for 1st grade.

In an attempt to gain clarity I started reading some homeschool boards more carefully. Instead of clear direction, I ended up with a sort of thoughtful confusion, or things that make me go hmm....

1. Lesson Plans: I initially got this concept, sort of. I looked at my books, so many pages or lessons meant doing so many per week for the year. That whole idea was blown out of the water the first week. Holly did 4 to 5 lessons a day in her math book, but could barely eek out 2 lessons a week in her writing book, though she loved to write letters at other times. She was bored to actual tears by her phonics primer, but loved to do phonics workbooks I picked up at garage sales. Since she was progressing, albeit at different rates, this was all ok with me. But, when I got on the boards and saw these seasoned homeschoolers posting about finishing their lesson plans for the week or month or semester, it seemed odd to me. Is my daughter different? Is she the only one who doesn't learn at the same rate as the curriculum? I thought I was homeschooling to individualize my girls education...

2. Seatwork Supervision: Here again I knew what seat work was, or thought I knew. My daughter enjoys sitting and working on workbooks, writing letters etc... I often find her sitting at her desk "doing school". This would make me smile. So when I read many seasoned homeschoolers posting that they always supervised every moment of a Ker's seatwork I was shocked. Did they drop what they were doing every time their Ker decided to do a workbook? Did they prohibit seatwork if they were not available?
After inquiring I discovered that this was partly a semantics issue. Many only considered seatwork to be pages assigned specifically for "school time". For the most part children were allowed access to pencils and paper throughout the day. Some did forbid school-like activities for fear their children would develop bad habits. But I discovered a more disturbing sentiment. More than one person felt that if schoolwork was sufficiently challenging, during schooltime, children would not want to do more of it. Someone even said if it was "fun and easy" it was not schoolwork. I thought I was homeschooling so my kids love learning and want to learn independently...

3. Grades: As I began to pay more attention to the boards I began to see comments about grading papers. Now I do understand that some who have multiple children will have to check the work of some children at a different time. But some people definitely spoke about grading. In fact confusion over grading seemed to be a popular topic. Now I know from high school that grades are very subjective. I got a B in a math class where I got 100% on the standardized final exam. Others, who had a different teacher, got A's with lower final exam scores. Course grades can really only measure how the teacher perceives you in comparison to others in the same classroom.
Of course regular schools give grades because there is a limited time frame to learn the material. I guess I would assume homeschoolers should always get A's because they would work until they mastered the material they needed to learn. Which leads me to my next hmm...

4. Finishing Curriculum: I frequently see posts concerning finishing curriculum too early or not finishing curriculum. The angst in this area confuses me. If you finish your curriculum "early" wouldn't you move onto learning something else? If you don't finish your curriculum on your preplanned time table don't you either keep working until you finish it, or reevaluate if it is working for you.

Now I am not dissing anyone who uses these practices or has these concerns. Rather these ideas that perplexed me have shown me that I look at homeschooling differently that a lot of seasoned homeschoolers I interact with. I think different is OK for me and for them. But I realize that due to many factors; philosophy, location, personality, learning styles etc... we interact with curriculum in our own unique way. Therefore I need to consider that we use curriculum different than maybe the authors' intended. Since I also have different methods than many seasoned homeschoolers I interact with, I need to consider advice and critique in that light. And, I need to see if there were other seasoned homeschoolers who share some of my perspective.

One more caveat, I still think I can learn things from homeschoolers who make me go hmm. In fact the perplexed moments help me to investigate why I do what I do. I just need to weigh ideas considering my perspective and our situation.

Coming soon...how we are homeschooling right now.

Metamorphosis of a homeschool philosophy. Part 1

The last month or so my ideas and vision for homeschooling have been undergoing a metamorphosis. I like the term metamorphosis because I don't feel like they have undergone a mutation, but a natural maturing and development. I started out this year in the caterpillar stage, and now have moved to a pupal stage. It may take a long while for the butterfly to fully emerge and fly. But I am enjoying building my wings. So I want to share a series of posts about the process of my metamorphosis.

Like many I read lots of books, blogs, and message boards about homeschooling and started with a plan for K. I loved the book The Well Trained Mind. Classical Education resonated with me. Especially the emphasis on the integration of subjects.

Unlike some I wasn't particularly stressed about kindergarten. I have been blessed with a lot of favorable circumstances. Homeschooling is popular in my area, and OK with our extended family. My daughter has a very late birthday so easily could go to K next year if we wanted. But, she also happens to be very bright and enjoy academic type things. I love to teach, have a genius IQ, and feel comfortable with all things academic myself. Combine this with an almost no regulation state, and homeschooling was not daunting.

But, after we started I found that my daughters love of academics didn't carryover to daily mandatory lessons. I discovered that some of my carefully chosen curriculum didn't work for us, or didn't work consistently. It was a mix of being too easy, too boring, and too scattered (spiral). We tried some other curriculum and it had too many pieces etc... I loved parts of it, but not all of it. I still made it work, and we were learning, just not quite how I planned. Being frugal, it occurred to me to begin to reevaluate how I was doing this homeschooling thing. I didn't want to invest in the wrong curriculum, maybe there was a better way altogether.

To be continued...

Homeschooling philosophy experiments...

We started the week with a walk on Sunday. Heather had a blast tromping through the "deeper" snow in the ditch.




In addition to getting some exercise, we spend time observing nature as we go along. We fit many subjects into our walks; weather, geography, earth science, astronomy, nature study. We definitely have an unschooling bent to our science and social studies.
So this week I experimented in bringing an unschooling bent to math. This is a good time to experiment. Holly is good at math and has kindergarten math down, as well as much of 1st grade. Instead of mandating math time I thought I would see how we did if I took natural opportunities for math. I didn't necessarily think this would work. So imagine my surprise when the first day Holly started measuring her book shelf with a ruler and asked me to help her figure out how to add 12+12+6. We then proceeded to measure the rest of the book shelf and figure out all the dimensions. Day 2 she sat down with her mathbook and did some workbook pages. On one page she didn't understand the directions and just started copying numbers into the little squares. This initially bothered me until I realized she had done 30 problems, writing well formed little numbers in the boxes. For Holly to write 30 numbers in one sitting correctly is a feat in itself. (Writing output has limited her advancement in math curriculum recently)




Yesterday Holly decided to figure out how tall she was in Duplo blocks. When she started counting her tower block by block I suggested she think of a faster way. She knew just what to do and began grouping by 10's. She found she was 62 duplo blocks tall. Later I heard them measuring Heather and Holly informing her she was 51 duplos tall. They left the blocks out and she did her grouping correctly. I checked it later with a calculator (a duplo = 0.75 inches). They had Heather's height right!
I was very happy with the results of my experiment. My homeschooling philosophy is still in development, and likely always will be. But as I move toward more "official" schooling I hope to have a coherent plan in place. Right now, it looks like it is going to be a little bit classical, a little bit unschooling, definitely a little bit country, and maybe just a tiny bit rock 'n' roll. (Is anyone else out there old enough to remember Donny and Marie?)

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