Seasons of Homeschooling

I'm living in the southern hemisphere where it recently turned to SPRING and I know that the northern hemisphere is enjoying the FALL. Today it occurred to me that just as our year has seasons, so does our life, and so does homeschooling.

Is your family in the springtime of homeschooling?  Are you beginning to plant the seeds of confidence, curiosity, love of the outdoors, and love of learning? Are you playing in the dirt, in the creek, on the beach, in the rain? The springtime of homeschooling is full of lovely, warm days with occasional showers and storms! These are the tantrum years, the intense years, the years spent with a very close parent/child bond. These are the exhausting days of high energy and constant motion. The days when a single day can feel like a year and a year feels like a single day...  

Have you entered the summer of your homeschooling journey? The fruits of your labors are beginning to show. Your children have learned that they are free to enjoy any thing that they are attracted to. They begin to show their true colors, their unique personalities, abilities, and interests. 
The long, hot days of summer are very bright, seeking the cool places, seeking like-minded friends, expanding your circle, following the pathways of your bliss. You know that this the middle of childhood, those happy heydays! 
(Unless they are not!) Even if you are not enjoying every day, these summer days of homeschooling are the years when your child is blossoming inside and out, they are full of ideas, questions, interests, and they are about to spend long days focused! Nights are later and stars are dazzling. Your own homeschooling fecundity is on display.

The autumn of homeschooling is cool and colorful. Parents can begin to back away and let the brilliance of our children's selves be the show. They now create some of their own activities. They have subjects and activities that they have mastered. Their blustery ways have returned. They are dying to get outside on their own, but it's a bit too cool and they aren't quite ready; sometimes they still wear their summer things which are not quite appropriate for the upcoming chill. But greater independence is just over the next hill. Did we know they would dazzle us so? The autumn chill of our journey is a time when, suddenly, it dawns on every parent that the days are getting shorter and we're not ready for the longer nights.

Winter comes too soon, as we all know. This is the season where we wish to hold them closer, bundle them up in woolies, and share a mug of warm cocoa...but they are looking at the distant frosty hills...  We love the chilly activities even as we wonder how it got so cold so fast. Where did our little sprouts go? Can we preserve some of this snow? We celebrate as much as we can as we enter the darker months, the shorter days, the end of one year and the beginning of the next...

Welcome to the seasons, to the years of homeschooling!
And, as every parent knows, enjoy every moment of it!

A Special Greeting to all readers in France and Australia!

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Guest Post: Get Them To READ!

Cathy and Friend

 

 

A DEAR friend of mine and a fellow homeschool parent and blogger, Cathy Earle, recently posted this on Facebook and I asked her if I could just pass it along "as is" and she was happy to let me.  

 

For all of the parents who just want their children to PICK UP A BOOK, here is a wonderful story for you!

 

 

 

I was once asked to teach a voluntary after-school class for kids who go to public school and who were resistant to reading. They thought they didn't like reading, and I was asked to try to motivate them to read something...anything.

Of course one thing the kids in the class and I discussed for a few minutes was the idea that they did, in fact, read and enjoy reading -- when it was text messages and ____ [the kids filled in the blank with the kinds of things that they read as they pursued their interests--whether it was help boards for a video game or messages from an internet forum]...

I pointed out, "So, you guys DO like to read. When adults complain that you don't read, or don't like to read, they're talking about what?" And the kids agreed that it was books that adults wanted them to read. Textbooks, novels and other literature assigned for classes, and books for "pleasure reading" -- but which they never chose to do.

I forthrightly told the kids that I, too, usually felt quite resistant to whatever reading was assigned to me, but that I loved reading things I chose to read. And I told them that I had brought a pile of paperbacks that I loved, and that I hoped that some of them would love some of them, too.

And then I poured a mountain of paperbacks onto the front table, and grabbed them one at a time and gave a one-sentence sales pitch for each. I read the beginnings of many. The kids were champing at the bit to borrow those specific books to continue reading them. A lot of kids did read the books they borrowed, and a lot of them enjoyed the books. In some cases, they LOVED the books. Sometimes, not so much. No matter what, we were able to talk in class about the books we were all reading, and many times it was the kids' recommendations, more than my "sales pitch," that got others to borrow and re-borrow and pass on and on the more popular books.

I don't mind requiring reading in a class that is voluntary. But compulsory reading in a compulsory class is, in my opinion, just not cool. And it often ends affecting kids and their reading habits in a negative way rather than a positive one.

 

Please read more by Kathy at her blog:
http://every-day-is-special.blogspot.com/

 

Thanks Kathy Earle!

Welcome to my readers in Hong Kong!

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Homeschooling and Socialization, Again

I very seldom hear questions or criticism anymore about homeschooling. I think that the initial growth spurt of the homeschool lifestyle movement has finally become bit more mainstream, a bit better appreciated. But lately I have gotten that question again; it almost makes me laugh. 
 

What about socialization?

One woman I recently spoke to was quite worried about all the socialization in high school that my homschooled daughter could miss. Another person that I simply spoke to in public said something like homeschooling is alright I guess as long as you ensure the children are properly socialized. I also talked to a woman on the train the other day who said that SHE knows a boy who is homeschooled and he is SO SHY. 

WOW, yeah, you won't find any shy kids in public school!


Even though I have heard every one of the usual comments dozens and dozens of times, I'm still surprised when I am asked about socialization. Do these people not read the papers or listen to the news? Even in a peaceful place like Australia, violence happens in the school every single day!

Bullies go too far. Young people are raped. Others are victimized. And sometimes by the adults who are caring for them! 

I read a statistic somewhere saying that 1 in 5 children experience bullying in school. TWENTY PERCENT.

And there is the fact of schools being very scheduled, with students sitting alphabetically, with fifteen minute recess, etc... And of course there are good things about public schools too.

And there are homeschoolers who are quite shy; this might even be a good reason why homeschooling is good for them. But still.  

Listen, the thing is, NOTHING is perfect and I am tired of one group criticizing the other.  And I DON'T KNOW the perfect way to socialize a child. But I do know some kids do great in public school, some do well in private school, and, yes, many children get great socialization and socializing while they homeschool.

There is no magic. Some kids bully. Some are shy. Some are very comfortable in social situations. Some are less adept socially. Are these traits a result of their method of schooling?

NO.

....................

I will be hostessing the upcoming Carnival of Homeschooling on October 1st.  

PLEASE, to my readers and blogger friends, submit some your noteworthy blog post on homeschooling for this homeschool carnival!
The theme of the carnival is SEASONS, but any post related to the carnival is very welcome.

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Oct 2, 2013 Carnival of  Homeschooling 
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Prospective Homeschool Parents:  SOCIALIZATION

Teaching Things that I Don't Know

Question from a HAMB reader, Samantha:               
Dear Karen, I am interested. Have you ever run into a subject homeschooling that you couldn't get through? If so how did you handle it? Outside sources? Called in a tutor?
I find homeschooling so fascinating and real. Much more real than any public school education.

Dear Samantha:

Thanks so much for the question. Many people have asked me this question and I have been meaning to write a bit about it from the perspective of a homeschooling mother who is crap at math.

It is a common question because we all have our aptitudes, adults as well as children, and these aptitudes are fairly chiseled in stone. No matter how hard I have worked at it, I am STILL crap at math. Regardless of the effort I have put into understanding letters and numbers together, it is still a mystery to me. I have been taught and tutored and tortured in advanced math and I DO. NOT. GET. IT.

So how do my children learn it?  We learn it together. At this moment we are working on Geometry 1 together and we did Algebra 1 last year. I have two textbooks and we work through the material together. Sometimes I get it first, but mostly they get it first and teach it to me. We have been known to use Khan Academy at times when we needed extra help in Geometry or in Algebra. We also have other people in our lives who are complete math whizzes (my husband and my stepdaughter). The nice thing for me is that my kids both have math aptitude.

But what if there was something else that someone wanted/needed to learn, something that I don't know?  (Honestly there are thousands of things like this!)

This is where it comes in handy to think about how I define homeschooling. I do not see my job as spoon feeding information to my children. Rather, I see my job as helping them to figure things out for themselves, as helping them to figure out how to get the information for themselves, and as learning to love the process of gaining knowledge. They have learned many many things on their own, completely without my involvement. And so have all children!

• The trick is simply to learn it together. During those early years most of the material that children learn is familiar with most adults. High school is the time when parents begin to freak out about now knowing everything. But why should we know everything???? If my child is taking a psychology course or a biology course, THEY are responsible for the reading and the work, not I. Presently my daughter is reading through a literature book. I haven't read every story in the book, but I still discuss the stories with her by expecting her to do the work herself.  
• Second, the internet is a fantastic source of information on just about any subject you can come up with.
• And third, tutor, classes, mentoring, ANY RESOURCE is fair game! I know many homeschool families who have created very unique learning opportunities for their children because their child wanted to learn something that the parent couldn't teach. Get creative!
  And a neat bonus to this, I have seen the kids themselves seek out unique learning opportunities for themselves!
  

Reading and research becomes a second nature skill for homeschoolers because of our autonomy in the world. And I must say, these skills are fantastic for the student intent on going on to college!

  HELLO to my readers in Pakistan and Peru!

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Getting it Right

Lean On Me by Bill Withers

 

 

Sometimes in our lives, we all have pain, we all have sorrow.
But if we are wise, we know that there's always tomorrow.
Lean on me, when you're not strong and I'll be your friend.
I'll help you carry on, for it won't be long 

'til I'm gonna need somebody to lean on.

Please swallow your pride, if have things you need to borrow.
For no one can fill those needs that you won't let show.

You just call on me brother when you need a hand.
We all need somebody to lean on.
I just might have a problem that you'll understand.
We all need somebody to lean on.

Lean on me when you're not strong, and I'll be your friend.
I'll help you carry on, for it won't be long 'til I'm gonna' need
somebody to lean on.

You just call on me brother if you need a friend.
We all need somebody to lean on.
I just might have a problem that you'll understand.
We all need somebody to lean on.

If there is a load you have to bear that you can't carry.
I'm right up the road, I'll share your load if you just call me.

Call me (if you need a friend)
Call me

 

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Homeschooling Strategies

Disastersville

Do you need a homeschool strategy?
What is a strategy anyway?

On Wikipedia, according to A Greek-English Lexicon, a strategy is a high level plan to achieve one or more goals under conditions of uncertainty. Strategy is important because the resources available to achieve these goals are usually limited.

Does your homeschool need a strategy?
From the definition, it seems to me that a strategy becomes necessary when a parent is feeling uncertain. And I agree.
Choosing any unconventional or non-traditional path brings with it periods of doubt and uncertainty, including homeschooling. Most of us feel quite convinced that homeschooling is the wise choice, while still having to deal with periods of doubt. We may be convinced of the basis rightness of our lifestyle choice while still having a nagging fear that something is not quite right.

Where is that initial relief that you felt when you finally took the plunge? Where is the confidence that surged inside as you hit the road in the beginning? Where is the enthusiasm? Relief, confidence, enthusiasm: are you missing them? 

You may not be down right giddy anymore, and maybe that is unrealistic, but where are those sparks of brilliance?

Elizabeth "going Goth"

I've been there!

I am here to admit that this homeschool thing is a real challenge. The house is a disaster. There are tears. No one is interested in reading the shiny new books. It is a struggle to get through the clever banter. You have gotten into the car and slammed the door just for the silence.

There are no fancy strategies. Just one reminder:  

You are homeschooling, not schooling at home.

We're Playing, Mom!

Get out of the chair. Open the door. Go outside.

The material in those books is secondary to the desire to LEARN.

Recently my daughter was doing something amazing.
In an outward sign of all of our frustration, she decided to paint her face and eyes black, wear all black clothing, and "go Goth".  It was interesting, in retrospect, how she was reflecting all of our feelings.
We got into the car and went to the beach.
At first no one was interested. They were dragging their feet, moaning, unwilling to play, letting me know how stupid the idea of the beach was.  (couldn't you just laugh at their reaction to the beach?!  lol)

But as time wore on, we watched small children doing cute things, we were attacked by a bird, the breeze continued to blow in, and we began to feel the beach. They took off their shoes and started dragging their toes in the sand. And then, despite themselves, they took off down the beach and started running, hair blowing, laughter reaching me, smiles in spite of themselves, bare feet sinking in to sand, stretches of beach ahead, brilliant blue skies, puffy white clouds blowing the kites, water up to their ankles...

We stayed all afternoon and took another several days off to play other places, including board games at home and at the home of friends.

When we got back to work, we were ready. We have never read books cover to cover unless we absolutely want to. When a thing is a drag, we just get the main idea and move on. If I can find a nonfiction book instead of a text book, we use that. And if we begin a thing and it is awful, we don't stick with it very long... The idea is to find the things that bring on love of learning. So, if you are in a place where it all sucks, look for a single thing that is interesting and do more of THAT.

Yesterday we decided to do Zentangles. John thought it was ridiculous, but by the time he had finished his work, he was smiling and laughing and had enjoyed himself. Today I have seen markers in his hand again...

Special GREETINGS to my readers in Ireland and in the UK!

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On the Down Side

Our family moved down here to Australia with the plan to be here for a year. My husband's IT firm State Side asked us if we would be willing to move here to Australia while a team of workers implemented some technical project for a company here in Brisbane. We agreed to that plan almost without hesitation. With that project well underway, and now a year into it, our family was asked if we would be willing to extend our stay in order to take on another project for another company down here, this one in Melbourne.

We gave it some thought and all decided to give it a green light. So we are here in Brisbane for about six more months, parts of that time will be spent in Melbourne! And it's exciting. And we're happy about it. We now expect to be home some time in February of 2014. Less than six months.

Less than six months...

Now we are keenly aware of being on the down side of the project, of sliding down the arc of our visit here, of wanting to make each moment count. When buying some laundry detergent the other day I heard myself wondering "Will this be my last bottle of this stuff here?" Of course it won't. Have you seen how much laundry we do around here?!

Telescopes at Moogera Dam:
The Southern Sky

But the point is that we have the sense of counting off the days. We are aware that our candle is burning.

We have some pretty great travel plans and ideas...hopefully they will all come to fruition. Knowing that our time here is limited, I am frustrated, at this moment, of still dealing with having the damn Flu.  I feel like I am wasting such gorgeous days being sick in this house in the dark!!!!!!!!

In the meantime, we have some people we still want to meet, some show and upcoming plans that we are looking forward to, and some possible surprise travel destinations!!!!!!!!!

Stay tuned for these last months as we slide down towards home!

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Reading the Classics

Hanging out online tonight I ran across a list done by Neil DeGrasse Tyson, his eight recommended books.

Reading the classics is a worthy goal. There are wonderful reasons for reading the timeless, exemplary books that we call classic. While I was in school I read the usual book lists in my classes, but I had no opportunity or incentive to read the classics until I simply decided to do it when I was in my thirties. And too bad that it takes age and maturity to realize how priceless some of these works truly are. How I wish more young people had the interest in reading them.

At one point I simply decided to engage myself in some quality reading. What I found was that these books are considered the classics for good reason. They are timeless, high quality, relatable, and a wealth of cultural knowledge. I realized that so many social icons, symbols, expressions, and ideas come directly from these powerful novels. I found myself better-educated, growing my vocabulary, and more curious from reading the classics!

I haven't read as much of the classics as I would like; I will continue my reading as I can. At the moment, I fear, my brain is a bit unable to take it all in. But next on my list Theogony by Hesiod, The Art of Love by Ovid, and Xenocide by Orson Scott Card.

I got to thinking about which books I would highly recommend for the higher level reader who wants to hit the higher level classics. It can be very daunting to move towards the classics, to prepare one's mind and one's attention for the depth and majesty of Plato and Homer and Virgil and Ovid. But, fear not, read some of the following titles on your way to the heavier hitters!

• The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• Night by Elie Weisel
• Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel
• Latitude by Dava Sobel
• The Old Man and the Sea
• The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine
• The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan
• Candide by Voltaire
• Tartuffe by Moliere
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Nora Zeale Hurston
• Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
• Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
• The Importance of Being Ernest by Oscar  Wilde
• Lysistrata by Aristophanes

These books are highly-approachable! Tell me what you think!
Also, what would you recommend for a reader with a goal of educating themselves in the classics?


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