Life Learners we are (Yoda style)

Life Learners is the verb-age I prefer when speaking of our home schooling style. We do workbooks and daily school-y tasks but there are a very small part of our day.

we try to get things going by 9am but it does not always pan out that way. Sometimes I am a bit pokey or the breakfast conversation is too good to rush through to start stuff. Most times we are done in an hour and a half with the "stuff" then it is usually an open day for projects, play dates, books on tape, playing outside, hiking, running errands, etc.

We are not big on "teaching" our kids but rather learning with our children and living with our children. I believe that children can learning (at their own pace) without being taught if exposed to information. Yes, I believe workbooks like our Singapore Math workbooks are ways of exposing out child to math. But I do not test him on the information acquired. I do give him opportunities to apply the information in real life situations. Sometimes he loves it and sometimes it is overwhelming if he has not completely grasped a concept yet so we try again later.

One thing that I talk about with my kids is how it is not easy growing up and learning about the world and how things work sometimes. Along with "learning" kids are figuring out social structure, the ways of the world, and they are figuring out their own emotions in their fluctuating states among other things. That is a lot to take in and not all children take in that information in the same way on the same schedule. I do appreciate being able to pay attention to my child's emotional cues with learning. If he is not in a good space emotionally then it is not a good time for some things. Both of my kids will have enough time and opportunity in life to "toughen up", I hope I am giving them a good foundation to navigate difficult situations with mindfullness and empathy for others.

This is a blog by the woman who is the editor of Life Learning Magazine and Natural Living Magazine I agree with most of what she presents about life learning.

I was asked about statistics of home schoolers the other day. Being that I am not a big fan of statistics I did not know off hand what they were but here is a link to the HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association) about some studies done on home schoolers in the academic sense. Mind you the studies are 10 years old and even older but really how much can change with home schooling? Well since I asked here is a link to a more recent study from 2003 about the numbers of home schoolers on the rise.

There was also the question about the " repercussions" of my children not attending traditional high school in regards to their ability to go to college. At first I did not understand the question but stepping back I realized the question was asked from a place of misunderstanding the truth about home schoolers, of which there are many. Like that we are not right-wing bible thumping or move-to-the-country anarchist goat-herders, although the later is more likely. We approach our home schooling on a year to year basis and the kids are part of the decision making process. I am a firm believer in informed consumerism and consent which I try to apply in every aspect of my life and my families life. The monkey has taken classes at a local charter school one semester and has public school, charter school, private school and once schooled now home schooled friends of whom he has asked about their school experience. So in this light as we get into the high school years the kids will be a part of the decision to continue home schooling or not. There are many resources available to them for their education be it tutors, online high schools like Oak Meadow ,classes at local colleges, mentor-ships, apprenticeships, volunteer work, etc. For more information about college admissions and home schoolers I found this great link to the Journal of College Admissions from Fall 2004 . Two particular articles I will link to are Homeschool Recruiting: Lessons Learned on the Journey and Homeschoolers on to College: What Research Shows Us

In general I think it is hard for most to understand what we do everyday and why we do it. What we do everyday changes and why we do it is that it works for us. We are not super religious but we are spiritual seekers. We are not politically motivated but we do have opinions. We do not hole up everyday or shelter out children from the world, we encourage interaction with all different kinds of folks in all different kinds of settings of all different ages. We don't believe this is the only good or right way but it is working for us for now and we like it.

As the "stay-home" parent I have learned so much from my kids in this journey - my limits, my faults, my prejudices, how to be comfortable saying "I don't know, but maybe we can find out",my curiosity, that I can learn so much from my children and there are so many different ways to look at the world.

There are many assumptions that we have about much in life. I cannot count the number of times that the monkey or the bean have asked "why?" about something or other and my assumptions or ideas about things were challenged because I knew the "why?'s" would go deeper and deeper as I gave my answers. I have to stop and ask myself why do I think that way? Becoming humble and embracing my ignorance has been a wonderful gift.

All I ask is that you look at your assumptions and ask "why do I think that way?"

A wee update

I do find when I am off call it is a lot easier for me to focus in on the homeschooling part of our lives. There is something about the looming phone call that throws me off whack.

We are working on The Story of the World Vol. I. The monkey is working on his family history book. In this project it asks for pictures to be taped or glued on the information page of the family member but he like me cannot choose which picture to sacrifice to the project so we have decided to draw a portrait of the family member for now. He drew an absolutely awesome self portrait (unfortunately it was too large to fit in the box allotted in the book) I am also very into reading books by Audrey Wood at the moment. A very sweet one was When the Root Children Wake Up. I also loved Heckedy Peg.

The Monkey is also working on a landscape project - possibly for his playmobil but I am not sure. The base is a pizza box and other boxes are buildings. Yesterday at their recital the snagged those cone cups for trees.

Speaking of the recital - the kids had it yesterday. They were awesome! They were asked to participate in a project for students at the University of Michigan School of Music. It was a lot of fun. They were in the Christamas Carols group and even acted out T'was the Night Before Christmas. I was pleasantly surprised at the beans acting ability :) This winter the monkey will be old enough to do the local theater. We both are really excited for that. He has been wanting to do something like that for a long time. He is a super ham.

This morning we are off to swim at the A2 YMCA that I am considering joining but I am still on the fence. The kids love swimming and the more I get them in the water the better they will get. The monkey has until this summer to learn how to swim so he can take his scuba diving class. He is great under the water and can hold his breath for a long time it is just swimming on the water that flusters him.

Recently I was asked about homeschooling and our path. It brought up some of the misconceptions about homeschooling so in the near future I plan on talking a bit more on this topic.

But for now - We swim.