I have really gone back and forth and around the mulberry bush over the issue of: to follow traditional schooling versus following a child's interests. After the first two years of homeschooling, I realized that textbooks were not the route I wanted to go. I was blessed to find the Five In A Row website and that launched our learning from a platform. In that case, the platform was a wonderful children's story that opened doors to learning Applied Maths, Social Studies, Geography, Art, and Science - all while enjoying a story curled up on the couch with my little boys.
From here, I moved onto Ambleside - this was a spin-off of Charlotte Mason's theories of homeschool. She believed in Copywork (where a child copies from great writings and in doing so, learns punctuation, grammar, vocabulary, spelling, and quality writing), Dictation where I would dictate sentences to the child, and they would then write from hearing what I had said. This improved their listening skills, plus all other language arts. Narrations are a wonderful way of the children telling back to me what they remember from the readings, rather than filling in blanks on a test sheet, which simply seems to be written to show what they don't know!
They would read great works of literature and 'Living Books'. I have an amazing list of 1000 books that are a must read. Our children have read a great majority of these wonderful books. I have a passion for books that draw me in and make me feel like I am in the adventure, and I wanted my children to have the same love for books.
We began doing Nature Studies (observing nature and drawing what we saw).
Artist Studies where we studied great works of art were also a staple of our homeschooling days. Yesterday, a friend of our boys was over having dinner and a replica of the Mona Lisa was hanging near the dining room table. One of our sons said to me with absolute amazement, "He didn't know it was the Mona Lisa!" They take it for granted that everyone must know what they know.
I am so appreciative that I have exposed my boys to Degas, Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso and other famous artists! Last year, while in Vancouver, we fell across an art store that sold a whole selection of paintings by famous artists. Of course, they were just replicas, but our boys were thrilled to see paintings that they have duplicated themselves when they were just eight and ten years of age!
Starry Night - Van Gogh
11 year old Colt replica
11 year old Colt replica
Pablo Picasso 7 year old rendition
Pablo Picasso - Cubism12 year old rendition
Edward Degas 10 year old rendition
Vincent Van Gogh 9 year old replica
Mozart, Beethoven, and other classical music are also recognized around our house. There are so many ways to teach a children love of classical music and art, simply by putting it in front of them! There is a wonderful series called Classical Kids. In each CD there is a story written around the music from that famous composer.
Classical music is all around us, and if we have not opened our children's eyes to it, it will stay as background music, but as soon as you have them listen, pay attention and appreciate a piece of music, it suddenly becomes personal. We have been in elevators and stores when our children were quick to identify classical music that they knew.
When one of my children was three years old, and his daddy had been away at work for some time, he and his dad walked past a picture done by Albrecht Durer, and this little one said simply, "Daddy that is Albrecht Durer." My husband had no clue and was amazed his little boy knew such things!
It really wasn't difficult: Put up a painting by an artist, tell them who did it, read to them about this artist to help them *know* him or her, have them reproduce it in a simple manner, and then continue doing the same thing with other works of art. It is a wonderful way to learn!
As the years passed, we continued learning through things that interested the children. This wonderful way of learning continued until the Dreaded Grade 10 Year of Highschool. At this point, I made a mistake. Many will disagree and that is their choice.
During that transitional time of learning I began to do the not so unusual panic. For years we had schooled as we saw fit: never following what the public schools did - learning when we felt that we should learn. Who says you should learn about the solar system in grade 5, simply because the government says that is when it should be taught! I believe in teaching when a child is interested in something! Or letting a child learn to read when he is ready versus because he is 5 years old!
Cassidy (then 11), one day, decided he wanted to create a 'world'. He spent many hours with headphones, plugged into an audio machine, listening to novels on cd, while he papier mached a large piece of cardboard (3'x6') into a rectangular world. It was full of mountains, rivers, lakes. He has now begun painting this world. Noone asked him to do this. He was simply interested in creating something and off he went.
The Beginning of His World
READING: Audio Books
ART: papier mache project construction, and then painting, gluing and creating to bring his world to life!
SCIENCE: how to make volcanoes, rivers, and desert to look real
MATH: mixing the correct ratios of flour and water to make his glue
And then, today, my newly turned 10 year old was given the bread machine. It has sat idle on the shelf for the last three years. No more. This child was given a bread machine cookbook and the machine.
He was told he could try out every recipe in the book! Today, he began with Cheese Filled Pretzels. Sounds yummy!!
During this first lesson of using the bread machine he did the following:
SCIENCE: Learned about yeast and what it does; Identified and found different ingredients, learned to substitute one ingredient that is missing for another that we have.
READING: Choose a recipe; read a cook book.
MATH: Had a long lesson in how many 1/4th are in a cup; how many thirds are in 2/3 etc. Fractions are much better taught through a practical method than simply by seeing abstract numbers on a sheet of paper. And he really didn't even know he was having a math lesson. When I moved on and told him he needed 3/4 tsp of salt, he was able to tell me he needed a 1/2 and a 1/4 tsp to make it up. He didn't know he had just done 1/2+ 1/4 = 3/4 - but he had!
LIFE SKILLS: Creating a recipe, seeing it through, kneading the dough, mixing the filling, using an oven, and then joyfully serving his ever-so-happy to eat family his successful treat!
The Pretzel Maker
So, where did I begin to stop this wonderful way of learning? When my oldest hit the end of Grade 9. I began to fear the future. Would he be equipped for what he needed to enter university? Would I fail him if he did not take every dry subject that the public school felt he needed to learn? And thus began the drudgery and loss of the next three years of a young, excited, inquisitive life.
This was the boy that creating an airplane in our basement when he was 9 years old. It had a wingspan of 14', 3 baby car seats attached to the body, and a running electric propeller! This boy could take any problem and solve it. He doesn't see problems; he sees solutions, and they are always unusual!
A few days ago, he dad asked what was the wire that was extending out of his window up into the air. Our 'Einstein' son (as one son likes to call his brother), replied, "It is my cell phone antenna." And knowing that boy - it worked! How many other kids do you know that scoot around on the roof with wires and wire cutters because they know that if they do this they think they might get phone service where normally there is none?
I wouldn't. I am told 'no service' - I just accept it. Not that boy. He has to prove that he can't come up with a solution before he quits. But the point is - he always looks to solve the problem!
Well, for the last three years, I have seen this boy struggle through traditional school grades 10 - 12. You know, many brilliant people such as, Edison, Einstein, Mozart, Nelson Rockefeller, Walt Disney, Winston Churchill, Tommy Hilfiger, George Washington, Tom Cruise all have/had learning disabilities of one form or another.
I always wonder what would have happened if I had not been so fearful of not doing it the 'right way', and had instead, allowed him to flower how he was intended: inventing things, creating, solving problems, taking things apart. I do firmly believe now, that he would have gone on to do great things. But instead, I let fear take hold and forced my square peg boy into a round hole!
To be continued in Part 2
.
Cassidy (then 11), one day, decided he wanted to create a 'world'. He spent many hours with headphones, plugged into an audio machine, listening to novels on cd, while he papier mached a large piece of cardboard (3'x6') into a rectangular world. It was full of mountains, rivers, lakes. He has now begun painting this world. Noone asked him to do this. He was simply interested in creating something and off he went.
The Beginning of His WorldREADING: Audio Books
ART: papier mache project construction, and then painting, gluing and creating to bring his world to life!
SCIENCE: how to make volcanoes, rivers, and desert to look real
MATH: mixing the correct ratios of flour and water to make his glue
And then, today, my newly turned 10 year old was given the bread machine. It has sat idle on the shelf for the last three years. No more. This child was given a bread machine cookbook and the machine.
He was told he could try out every recipe in the book! Today, he began with Cheese Filled Pretzels. Sounds yummy!!
During this first lesson of using the bread machine he did the following:
SCIENCE: Learned about yeast and what it does; Identified and found different ingredients, learned to substitute one ingredient that is missing for another that we have.
READING: Choose a recipe; read a cook book.
MATH: Had a long lesson in how many 1/4th are in a cup; how many thirds are in 2/3 etc. Fractions are much better taught through a practical method than simply by seeing abstract numbers on a sheet of paper. And he really didn't even know he was having a math lesson. When I moved on and told him he needed 3/4 tsp of salt, he was able to tell me he needed a 1/2 and a 1/4 tsp to make it up. He didn't know he had just done 1/2+ 1/4 = 3/4 - but he had!
LIFE SKILLS: Creating a recipe, seeing it through, kneading the dough, mixing the filling, using an oven, and then joyfully serving his ever-so-happy to eat family his successful treat!
The Pretzel MakerSo, where did I begin to stop this wonderful way of learning? When my oldest hit the end of Grade 9. I began to fear the future. Would he be equipped for what he needed to enter university? Would I fail him if he did not take every dry subject that the public school felt he needed to learn? And thus began the drudgery and loss of the next three years of a young, excited, inquisitive life.
This was the boy that creating an airplane in our basement when he was 9 years old. It had a wingspan of 14', 3 baby car seats attached to the body, and a running electric propeller! This boy could take any problem and solve it. He doesn't see problems; he sees solutions, and they are always unusual!
A few days ago, he dad asked what was the wire that was extending out of his window up into the air. Our 'Einstein' son (as one son likes to call his brother), replied, "It is my cell phone antenna." And knowing that boy - it worked! How many other kids do you know that scoot around on the roof with wires and wire cutters because they know that if they do this they think they might get phone service where normally there is none?
I wouldn't. I am told 'no service' - I just accept it. Not that boy. He has to prove that he can't come up with a solution before he quits. But the point is - he always looks to solve the problem!
Well, for the last three years, I have seen this boy struggle through traditional school grades 10 - 12. You know, many brilliant people such as, Edison, Einstein, Mozart, Nelson Rockefeller, Walt Disney, Winston Churchill, Tommy Hilfiger, George Washington, Tom Cruise all have/had learning disabilities of one form or another.
I always wonder what would have happened if I had not been so fearful of not doing it the 'right way', and had instead, allowed him to flower how he was intended: inventing things, creating, solving problems, taking things apart. I do firmly believe now, that he would have gone on to do great things. But instead, I let fear take hold and forced my square peg boy into a round hole!
To be continued in Part 2
.
4 comments:
Great post Justine and I know just from reading your blog that your kids have learned much more than my grandkids of the same age in regular school. I only home schooled one of mine and only for a year but it was a great year and when tested at the end of the year by the school she received straight A's. All this from a child they tried to tell me needed learning assistance. She went on to be on the honor roll every year of high school. Your description of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole is very accurate everyone learns differently and at different speeds. Your children are very lucky to have you.
LOVE that post Justine. I love how your kids are and how you make things available for them, but let them learn it in their own way. Very much like my mother and I hope myself.
I often think I would be a homeschooler if I had other women/parents to do it with. If there was a home school co op or something. I just really believe in the whole village raising a child and think I would burn out doing it on my own. Plus my kids are ,so far, really happy in school. Your post sure makes me think though.
Natasha
Oh Justine, I am hanging on every word. I am heading into the "grade nine" year with much trepditation with my oldest. We have been very loose, free and eclectic over the years and now I am doubting and I really needed to hear even the beginning of your experiences.
So many around us are putting their kids into DL's or public or private schools for these last years adn I just want to know how to prepare them to pursue their passions in a way that others will take seriously. I am at such a loss and am in deep heart prayer about it all. I hear your regrets, but I also hear your honesty. Thank you!
Shelley
Hsing Mom to 2 boys and 2 girls
(2 bio kiddos - 13 & 8, one boy from China - 4,and one girl still in China - 6)
I'm loving the homeschooling posts, Justine, and am getting some great ideas for when we start in fall! I just went to my first ever homeschooler's conference and pored for hours over the various curriculum. I ended up with Five in a Row for my 5-year-old, and purchased it; I'm now on the hunt for the 43 books that are suggested reading material for the first 18 months of h/schooling! When I read your post, that was the first time I've known anyone to use FIve in a Row. I was thrilled!
I always tell people that I'm going to homeschool year-by-year and that my boy might be in regular school in 2010, in grade 1; but my secret desire is for this to work well enough that we can keep doing it at home...especially when our future children come home.
Anyway, love the ideas, love reading about your h/s experiences and how you do it; love hearing your thoughts about male/female roles, etc.
Thanks!
Ruth...
...waiting for a referral of two from Ethiopia and a proud parent to a wonderful 5-year-old boy.
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