Follow Your Nose to Knowledge

Before we read, I need you to watch this:

BreakWomb: Bad Parent

Anyway....

In mainstream school there are so many time constraints and schedules that more often than not, an enjoyable subject is ended and another subject taken up before a student is ready to move on. This morning Kiddo wanted some coloring sheets (and of course they were superheroes because the world doesn't turn without superheroes), so we made a game. He has to write out a superhero's name, and if I can read it, I'll print out a coloring sheet.  This went on for nearly six hours.  Yeah, that's not a joke.  My hyper, over-the-top-with-excess-energy kiddo spent almost six hours writing and coloring.  Homeschool or not, figure out what your kid is into; It will save you.
  

If we want to play in the yard all
afternoon, we do.  

I think the constant bells and schedules are also damaging to the desire to get answers. I realized I need to encourage questions more, but also, finding more answers.  This proves to be difficult when so. many. questions. come while doing 60 mph on the interstate. I have resolved to keep a record of questions to make sure we can come back to and address each one. For example: Why is water blue? or better What kind of bugs are in compost?  Yep, write 'em down and look 'em up! The Kid is so excited and enthusiastic and curious.  I want to nourish this, not squash it. I have spent this month reprogramming myself to enjoy and address the awesome nature of questions rather than be overwhelmed and frustrated by them (And to all those who notice I am exhausted when the kids are having free play time, THIS IS WHY). 

We learned all about SC turtles
after meeting this wee one.

The super cool thing is that it is wearing off on me.  It turns out, I am developing my own desire to find things out. Did you know Carpenter Bees don't drill holes deep enough to structurally damage wood?  Or that the males that can hover in the air can't sting? How about that turtles go from being omnivores to herbivores with age?  Yeah, it's true.  

Learning in a tree

Learning to climb that tree

I'm nervous when I stop and think about how nontraditional this learning style is. I worry that everything won't be covered on our adventures or that something important might fall through the cracks. I worry that people will hold me to a different (and much more stringent) standard for my kindergartner simply because we homeschool and that doesn't jive with their world perspective.   

However, I have to have confidence in our choices.  I like the World Book's typical course of study. For preschool, we went down the list and checked off everything The Kid already new.  Then I came up with ways to learn everything else on the list.  The list is hanging on our bulletin board. So when we are having a lazy day where learning is slow going or maybe it's raining outside, to the list we go.  So much of the list is learned before we even get to it because we learn it through other activities; for example: learning animal environments.  We could watch a youtube clip about different animals and do a worksheet OR we could go outside and look in the trees and look in the compost* and look in the marsh and look at the beach and, well, you get my point.  We cover so much in exploration and conversation that sitting down and hammering out worksheets is rarely necessary.  

What questions does your kid come up with?
What obsessions lead your learning?


*This kid is, no joke, obsessed with compost bugs; Ants, worms, centipedes, roaches, fruit flies, you name it.  

Superheroes and other things you can do

I've been reading everything I can about homeschooling because, let's face it, my year to figure things out is almost up.  Next year is the real deal. I have come across three things that seem to be stated and restated again and again and again in almost everything I read:

1. Read to your children at least once a day, but preferably much more.  Read for pleasure yourself to model the behavior. Read until you are blue in face, and then take a breath and read some more.
   
2. Listen to your kiddo. Really listen. Put down what you are doing, look at them, and listen to them as if you were talking with another adult.  Sure, these little people may have vastly different interests and talking points, but they are just as important as another adult.  This is setting the groundwork for you to know your child well enough to design a curriculum, as well as setting the groundwork for a solid and open relationship with your child down the line.
   
3. Homeschooling does not mean school at home.  While, a particular family may design their homeschooling experience in such a way, that's not necessary.  Schools have so many children to educate at one time that they must govern children with bells and time restraints and schedules.  As homeschoolers, we get to do what works best for us.  It seems for every book I read, I feel a that much more comfortable with allowing the kids to follow their own hearts.  

When I talk about a child led* schooling structure, a question that many people have is: Don't you have to keep up with certain standards?  How can you do that while letting the child just do whatever he wants?  I'm not an expert, but this is how we do it.  The Kid wants to throw a party for superheroes.  And when I say he wants to throw a party for superheroes, I don't mean his stuffed superheroes.  When this kid says he wants to do something, he wants to do it full out, so we're going to do a unit study on Superheroes.  I have many planned activities based on superheroes, but here's an idea for each core subject (even though core for preschoolers in my opinion should be mostly character development).  

Writing:  Practice writing all the superheroes' names that he wants to invite.  The invitations need to be legible.  
Math:  How many heroes are we inviting?  We need to make sure we have enough supplies.  
Life/Social Studies: Not all heroes can shoot spiderwebs from their wrists. We will be learning about heroes like police officers, military, firefighters, and EMTs
Science: Storm's cloud in a jar activity
Reading:  We must read about everyday heroes, including firefighters, police officers, and EMTs.**
Character development/ Acts of Kindness:  Gratitude.  We need to say thank you to our heroes with notes and cookies.  Notes and cookies also count as writing and math.  

At the end, I'm thinking of throwing a little party where we invite friends to dress as a superhero and come to a superhero themed science party. 

What are your favorite unit themes?  



*Okay, so we're more of a child led, parent guided.  This is not unschooling, although I have major love for unschoolers!

**If you're reading this and you are an everyday hero and wouldn't mind talking or writing a little about what you do and why, maybe answering a couple questions, I would *love* to be in touch.  You will be paid with cookies :)

New Effort January

Alright, Sports Fans*, let's talk the new year!

I love January because it's always such a fresh start.  December is a time for reflection and evaluation, which is also great because it is hard to progress at anything without evaluation.  But January.  January comes in all its newness, and the evaluation of what didn't work stops. January brings a chance to do things differently and, at least potentially, right.

And without further ado, here are some new things helping us with our winter-spring semester.

1. This sweet home school planner designed by Ruth over at LWSL.
   At first I was a little unsure where to start with this planner because, well, it seemed redundant.  But once I picked a place and jumped in, I couldn't get enough of it.  I start by filling out the academic game plan with everything I want to do for the week.  Then I break it down to the day by day.  I have a hard time leaving space blank, but I am trying to get over it on the day-to-day  pages because our schooling has to be pretty flexible.  I particularly like the space it has for blog/work and cleaning/organization. It might not seem school related, but for someone like me who can't think well in a messy space, it is absolutely school related.  
2. Charlotte Mason style narration**
   I read about narration online, and while I am not completely sold on Charlotte Mason as a whole, I love narration. Narration is a child retelling what they read, watched, heard, did, etc. in their own way.  What I think is so great about this is: the material is only given once.  This teaches children to pay attention the first time, and it saves time because the material didn't need to be gone over again and again.  Simply Charlotte Mason has some really great Narration Ideas if you feel stuck getting started.  
3. Chapter books
   We're starting into chapter books.  Right now, we're reading The Secret Garden, which is beyond his comprehension. The book itself is in the shape of a kid's book, but it was deceiving. I wouldn't continue with it, but the Kiddo wants to finish it before we start the next book.  And who am I to teach him you should abandon unfinished projects.  Nope, we will finish this liar of a book*** and move on to My Father's Dragon, which at first glance seems way more up our alley at this stage.  I know it's probably a little early for chapter books, but here are my hopes:
1. He will be able to sit for longer stints of time.
2. His imagination will develop due to fewer pictures
3. His language and command of it will increase because he will use context rather than pictures to connect the verbal dots.  
4. He will learn to better build-  Chapter two will only make sense if he remembers chapter one from the previous day.
4. Incorporating lessons throughout the day
   I went from scheduling our school day to the minute to scheduling what needed to be done and doing it piecemeal throughout the day to something even more relaxed.  Now I am taking my list of lessons and throwing in a lesson where I can so that we have as little sit down time as possible.  Our weekly memory verse?  Reviewed between bites at breakfast.  Going over the difference between left and right? Learned to the Hokey Pokey when Daddy walks in the door.  Consolidating life and learning is definitely our friend.  

These are our new efforts.  What does your new year hold?


*I had a biology teacher in high school who often called us "Sports Fans."  I never understood it, but I always liked it.

**Anyone familiar with CM, please correct anything I have written that isn't exactly right.  I am new to the concepts and would hate to misrepresent something.  Anyone not familiar with CM, take my perspective with a grain of salt and do more research.

***Don't get me wrong, I love The Secret Garden, I just wasn't prepared for all the words and phrasing I would have to explain.