A structured homeschooler changed
When I first started homeschooling, it was very scary. I had pulled my 4th grade daughter and twin sons (doomed to repeat kindergarten) out of public school. Before this homeschooling was something I didn't know much about. But I quickly learned. I learned that there where many different "types" of homeschoolers. I made the choice to be a structured homeschooler. That is we used workbooks and sat at a table doing them. We started school promptly at 8 a.m.. I beagan to assume the role of teacher and my kids of students. I fanatically kept track of the "time" we spent in school and filed all the papers we did in a special box. Even though my state did not require it, there was something settling about having "proof" that yes, my kids where still "going to school". Only the location had changed. All the stories I had ever heard from homeschooling families about how their children directed their own education, did not seem feasible for my children. Left to their own devices, I was sure my children would happily spend months watching TV or playing computer games.
Lightbulb moment
As time went on, I became frustrated. More and more I found it hard to keep track of our "school time". Sure we had done our workbooks that day, but what about the other stuff? The spontaneous learning that was starting to happen everyday. Like when the kids decided to get out the Brain Quest cards and quiz each other. Or when the boys patiently listened to their sister explain what she was doing in her science lesson that day. How about our family game night that includes Trivial Pursuit and Mastermind? Did all that "count"? One day I realized it had happened! Just as all those homeschool veterans had said it would! The line between learning and life had started to fade. Our time could no longer be devided into "schooltime" and "family time". It had all started to meld together.
Time moves on
Realizing all this, didn't make it easier to change. I still had an idea that the kids should do some "formal schoolwork". I didn't worry about keeping track of time or starting at 8 a.m. anymore. But I did feel guilty if the kids didn't do something that showed on paper "that they had learned something that day". Then one day, all on thier own, the boys got out a puzzel in the morning. Usually morning was the time when they turned on the TV. Because it was PBS I usually didn't complain. But here they where with a puzzel. They didn't immediatly start trying to put the puzzel together. First they sorted the pieces into little piles with similiar characteristics (can anyone say classification). They also counted the pieces in each pile and decided which pile had the most and which the least (analyzing data). They worked together laughing to put it together (of late they had not been getting along and I had started to wonder if them being together so much was a good thing). As they where putting it together they worked out a system that both of them got to do thier part and in which no one got left with less or more work. Sometimes I wish us adults could figure that one out. As I sat there enjoying this , yet nervous that they should start doing their workbooks soon, I realized something.
Ah-ha!
They where learning. They initiated what they wanted to do and what they wanted to get from it. This was more than they had learned doing 10 worksheets. This was learning that would not fit in a neat little file. I was not their teacher. I was just a facilitator. The time was here to "let go" of my idas of what education looked like and let the kids show me what they wanted to learn. My daughter became interested in all kinds of things when given a chance. SHe is now writing her own historical fiction book (she is 11). With the boys it is harder to tell, but they certainly don't choose to spend all their time on TV and computer games. Only time will tell.
Good article about unschooling
What is unschooling?
