Unschool girls in woods.
What better teacher exists
than Mother Nature?
Take It Apart {Easy Unschool}
Alex caught Lil heading towards an electrical outlet with a metal screw driver awhile ago. He shouted, she dropped the tool, and there was much talk about electrical shock risks.
But Lil's mistake was an honest one. She didn't intend to put the screwdriver in the outlet - she wanted to unscrew the cover plate. She wants to take apart everything these days.
Later over the weekend, Alex provided an outlet (ha!) for her inquiring mind. He pulled a non-functioning laptop from a pile of old electronics and helped her take it apart. They used screw drivers of all sizes to discover materials of all kinds.
Lil especially likes the hard drive. She plays it like a record player. How does she even know how a turntable works?
Taking apart a machine is undoubtedly fun. It is also an exceptional learning experience. Here are just some of the skills kids (and adults!) can practice while taking things apart:
- Using hand tools
- Reading labels
- Comparing numbers
- Sorting fasteners
- Analyzing shapes
- Using simple machines
- Examining materials
- Exploring how complex machines work
Not everyone (I hope) has a stack of non-functional laptops like we do. That's ok. You can take apart a toy or trash-pick an appliance. Old lamps, furniture, and instruments are all exciting to disassemble. Sometimes, the multitude of pieces can be put back together.
Take something apart soon. It's an inexpensive, easily accessible, shhh-don't-tell-them-they're-learning good time!
PS. Do I need to tell you that adult supervision is a good idea because some materials are hazardous? There, I feel better with that warning.
It's OK To Be Renegade
Do you ever feel like the only jar without a lid? I do.
When my kid climbs up the slide, I see the looks from other parents who wouldn't dare let their kid break the 'rules'. I confuse adults when I redirect them to ask my child questions and then listen to her answers because most adults act like kids can't think or speak for themselves. And the opinions about our choice to raise an unschooled, only child? I attract comments like fleece attracts dog hair, even from strangers!
The School For Young Children (SYC), Lil's former preschool where Alex also attended as a child, is one place where I don't feel like the odd duck. SYC teachers agree that children have valid feelings and their words matter. They take time, as we do, to understand and meet kids' needs.
The result of such a system of thought is that kids at SYC of both genders wear tutus, use tools, and go wild with art supplies. They are allowed to play in any way that doesn't hurt people or property.
Children experience conflict amongst each other and learn through resolving disagreements. When SYC kids share or apologize, it is out of genuine expression, not obligation. Parents are encouraged along the way to express their own feelings and grow themselves.
It's OK NOT To Share...
SYC alum Heather Shumaker drew on her experience, and those of SYC teachers who include her mother, to write It's OK NOT To Share...and Other Renegade Rules for Raising Competent and Compassionate Kids. This handbook for parents include the child development science behind why it's best to let kids experience conflict and empowerment. Heather's writing won't put you to sleep, though - each chapter is full of immediately useful phrases and situational solutions.
None of the ideas in It's OK NOT to Share are new to me. Our parents raised us with many of these ideals and the rules (though I bristle against the very concept of renegade rules) come naturally to us. The practices Heather outlines are exactly how we have been parenting for almost seven years now. Can you believe Lil will be seven at the end of the month? I can't handle how fast time flies!
What the book gave me was a sense of peace about our renegade parenting. We might feel lonely sometimes, and receive odd looks and comments, but bringing up our daughter as we do is justified. We hope that by empowering her to speak up for herself, to resolve conflicts, and feel her emotions, she will grow up to be competent and compassionate as Heather Shumaker suggests.
I look forward to seeing Heather next week at her reading and book signing at SYC next Wednesday, September 19 at 7 pm. I would love to see you there!
Ohio Homeschool Rules {Back to Homeschool}
Welcome to 'Back to Homeschool' week on Hounds in the Kitchen! First up: homeschooling legal requirements. Whether families choose to unschool, follow curriculum, or road school, we all must do a few basic things to stay 'legal': notify the school district and assess progress. Each state differs in their educational requirements; below, I explain how my family follows Ohio homeschool rules.
Notify
Before the beginning of the traditional school year when the child turns six years of age, parents in Ohio must notify the superintendent of their home district in writing of the intent to home educate. The notification letter must contain specific information about the student, qualifications of the parent (minimum of a high school diploma) and a list of intended home education subjects and materials to meet the minimum 900 hours of instruction. Read the Ohio Administrative Code for all the details needed in the notification letter.
I use the Ohio Academic Content Standards to develop our list of intended subjects. Our materials include the collection of the Columbus Public Library, encyclopedias, field trips around the world, and nature. I can share share our letter via email if you wish to use it as a template for your own.
According to code, the superintendent has fourteen days to respond with a letter excusing the child from school attendance. In our experience, the Columbus Public Schools exceeded this period but did eventually send the excuse letter for Lil's 2011-2012 school year. As of today, August 27, 2012, we are still waiting to hear back from our letter sent August 1, 2012.
When I receive the excuse letter, I scan it in the computer and save to Dropbox to have a digital record. Then, I keep a copy in my purse to receive teacher discounts and prove home education excuse in the unlikely event that someone would accuse Lil of truancy.
Plan a Portfolio
There are two common ways to assess annual progress in Ohio: via standardized tests or a portfolio review by a certified teacher. Given that opposition to standardized tests are one of the reasons my family homeschools, we go with the latter option.
I keep a binder filled with clear document sleeves in our family desk. Throughout the year, I tuck writing samples, ticket stubs, artwork, and other tangibles of our unschooling in the sleeves.
At the end of the year, Lil and I go through the papers and decide what best represents our year. I then three-hole-punch the materials and thread them into a folder labelled with the appropriate homeschool year. I reuse the plastic sleeve binder for the next year.
Alex's parents homeschool Lil one afternoon a week. They keep their own portfolio by printing a picture and writing something about what they did every session.
Certify
The final step in our homeschool year is assessment. We chose Lil's homeschool gym teacher, Chris Quickert, for an evaluation interview. Lil read him a picture book, shared artwork and pictures, and told him about her unschool year. I learned some things at the interview too: when Coach Chris asked Lil what she liked best about homeschooling, she answered 'reading'. What does she like least? Math from a book, meaning workbooks that we haven't touched for months.
Chris provided a very simple letter that certified Lil was progressing. I sent his 2011-2012 evaluation letter to the Columbus City Schools superintendent with our 2012-2013 notification letter.
How do you keep track of the legalities? What else do you hope I'll cover in Back to Homeschool week?
Homeschool Report Card Winter/Spring 2012
Lil and I grew as unschoolers this winter and spring. We released ourselves from many routines and activities to allow more time for self-motivated studies. Along the way, we discovered unexpected benefits and challenges to homeschooling.
Even without the structure, Lil continues to develop skills. Following in the format I developed for the Fall 2011 Report Card, here's the Winter/Spring 2012 report:
Dates: January 2012 - April 2012
Activities: Reading 16-30 page books fluently Writing sentences with punctuation and capitalization Addition and subtraction fluency to 12s Counting, adding, and subtracting coins Understanding value of basic fractions Making and cooking pancakes from scratch Designing and mapping a garden plan Identifying Ohio wildflowers, Caribbean fish, and eastern US birds Mastery of snorkeling Pet care Insect life cycle observed in a terrarium Caring for garden plants including weeding, mulching and harvesting Coconut opening and palm weaving Map reading and making Digital photography, email, and typing Literature - Easter egg books, Valentine's Day books, Garfield comics, fairy tale comparisons (snow white, cinderella, three bears), Judy Moody and Stink chapter books
Weekly Classes: Homeschool Gym Gram & Tompa School Movement
Field Trips: Cleveland Natural History Museum Great Lakes Science Center Cincinnati Science Museum Cincinnati Art Museum Inniswood Metro Park Highbanks Metro Park Indianapolis Art Institute Stratford Ecological Center Columbus Zoo Columbus Children's Theater Aladdin Franklin Park Conservatory COSI (including Race exhibit) Broadway Series Mary Poppins Broadway Series Shrek Ohio History Center San Salavador Island, Bahamas
Unschooling Unexpected Benefits and Challenges {Friday Five}
We jumped into unschooling without many expectations. Self-education is still an experiment in which we are all learning how to support each other.
As the primary educator, I've been surprised to find the following challenges:
- Money - I want to do more than we can reasonably afford. I want to travel more, take more classes, and buy more supplies. We carefully select what experiences are the most appealing and invest in those.
- Time management - I don't mean in the 'we don't have enough time' but the 'what the hell do I do now' sense of the word management. I am a planner but Lil and Alex are not. They have no trouble filling free time with games, reading, and entertainment but I am often at a loss. We're working on the right balance to please us all.
- Difficult subjects - We are not tracking Lil's learning per se but I do note where there are gaps and try to incorporate more teachable moments into our life around difficult subjects. For instance, math facts don't come naturally to Lil. Whether we incorporate addition and subtraction into games, everyday life, or written work, she feels frustrated and wants to give up. I don't believe that coercing a kid ever results in true learning so we just bear on with sneaking practice in where we can.
- News - Goodness I miss listening to NPR news. Now that Lil listens too, I usually have to turn it off. Answering her multitude of questions, 'who died?' and 'what's rape?' and 'why will Texas kill him?' and 'the United States army?', is too hard on us both.
- Me time - Of course, lack of time to myself wasn't unexpected. But until it actually happened, me going for weeks without an hour at home without another person in the house, I didn't realize how I would feel. I have had to shift patterns in my life because I now almost never have uninterrupted time to write, pay bills, or just think. Strangely the lack of quiet time makes me crave my family more because it just seems too quiet and I am too lost without them.
And of course, there are unexpected benefits:
- Stretchy pants wearing - There isn't much need to dress for class when you teach from morning through the night. I do typically change into public-friendly clothes once a day but I admit to wearing pajama or yoga pants an awful lot of the time.
- Educator discounts - Retailers from JoAnn's to Barnes & Noble to World Market give teachers discounts. This list includes 66 discounts (hat tip Cbus Mom) and I'm sure there are more. Most allow home educators to partake. I appreciate the generousity because homeschooling is an expensive proposition, see number 1 above.
- Sleeping in - Lil is the best daughter in the whole world because she loves a late wake up as much as Alex and I do. Seriously, most days we are all asleep past 9 am. We are so NOT morning people that now I wonder if we could ever get her to school before the first bell.
- Noticing leaps in understanding - This week something 'clicked' and Lil suddenly understood how to read music note rhythm. This isn't something I taught her because she has resisted my instruction. Suddenly she wanted to learn and BOOM! she was clapping rhythms like a Suzuki champion. I don't know if I would notice Lil's progress so distinctly if she were in school.
- Support of family - Initially I felt like homeschooling was going to be 'my' thing. A truly delightful surprise is that Alex, both sets of parents, and all Lil's aunts and uncles are taking a role in educating her. They give her learning supplies, experiences, and support in ways that I could not have imagined when we started this year. Thank you, family, for sustaining us both.
Any other unschoolers want to add their benefits and challenges?
(Not) Back to School
It's official. As the sidewalk fills with students walking to the school on our block, we are choosing to homeschool. Mixed Feelings
Until a few years ago, I judged that homeschooling was crazy and relegated to people who want to indoctrinate their child in some religion. I feel that same judgment now from some with whom I share our choice. Thanks to friends who homeschool and the books they've recommended, I now believe homeschooling is a good fit for us. I still feel like an outsider to the 'normal world' by taking on home education.
Most of Lil's friends are starting kindergarten and her social options are changing. Because I generally hang out with the parents of her friends, my social life is changing too. I like my current friends. I don't want to extend my neck and make new relationships, yet I know this will all work out.
On the very day I mailed our notice to homeschool, we were notified that Lil's lottery number came up and she could go to the informal school down the street. I hesitated but ultimately declined the opportunity.
Why We Homeschool
Alex and I have good reasons to homeschool and do believe it is best for our family right now. Here's why:
I am an experienced teacher. I am confident in my ability to produce learning opportunities for Lil. I like exercising my brain in this way.
Alex, too, excitedly does experiments with Lil. They recently discovered together that a simple aluminum foil airplane flies just about as well as a paper one. Next, they will approach how to build a house. They will use the study to design and create our new chicken coop.
Columbus has amazing experiences for young minds. When homeschooling, we can take advantage of our many great parks, museums, and programs when they are least crowded during the week. Many of these resources are now offering homeschool specific classes that we will take advantage of as well.
With no responsibility to attend daily school, we can take full advantage of travel opportunities. Alex travels for business every few months and we hope to accompany him on domestic and international trips. We are also planning short driving trips to further explore the Midwest.
How We Homeschool
We are generally following an unschooling way of home education. This means that we follow Lil's lead about what she wants to learn and use life experiences to teach academic skills.
We began 'practicing' homeschooling in December of 2010. With a simple mental shift, we started accepting responsibility for Lil's education. We interrupt daily routines to explicitly explain is happening and challenge Lil. For example, I recently showed her how to read a nutrition label in the grocery store. I challenge her to find the difference in nutrients between two brands.
I set up a homeschool shelf in our dining room for more formal education. I gathered four baskets and filled them with math manipulatives, writing supplies, science tools, and art supplies. A file box holds workbooks, lined paper, graph paper, and a dry erase board. Lil and I work on writing and math from these resources every day.
The shelf also holds a three ring binder with plastic sleeves. I periodically insert stories that Lil writes, pages of math work, and brochures from our travels. This binder will serve as documentation for the certified teacher who will review Lil's progress at the end of the year. Lil and I also like to page through it to see how well she is learning.
As far as socialization, the primary argument against homeschooling for many, I have no concerns. We eat dinner and play with family and friends three to four times a week. Lil will see friends at classes, play dates, and around the neighborhood.
Homeschooling on the Blog
I promise not to change the direction of Hounds in the Kitchen but I will be including some more homeschool-related material. I have several posts in the works about field trips that are exciting and educational for families and those without children. I am starting a website redesign process that will hopefully allow me to create separate feeds for the basic categories of the blog so you can completely ignore the homeschooling posts (or feed on them only) soon.
Thanks for reading my thoughts on homeschooling. Take a gander at Lil's ideas if you wish. Are you back to school?