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Flunking Homeschool101? From an F to an A with Child led Learning by Teri Brown |
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A mother still in her PJs, is trying to wipe the table while a toddler clings, whining to her leg. After several false starts, she gets the children to the table which is still sticky with Jam. She distracts her two youngest children with a story tape then sits her eight year old down with the poem he was supposed to copy last week. According to her lesson plans they are almost three weeks behind. Her son is frustrated and defeated before he even starts. She cajoles and threatens and the morning once again ends in tears.
That poor mother in the story could have been me about a year ago. It could also be any one of the one million estimated homeschoolers across our country. You start out with great intentions but something goes wrong and the homeschool you've always dreamed about becomes a nightmare. My own homeschooling journey began shortly before my eldest son was born. I wasn’t sure what I was going to name him but I knew that I wanted to homeschool him. By the time my daughter was born fifteen months later I was studying curriculum catalogs and making lists. My resolve only strengthened by the time Ethan was old enough for kindergarten. I bought an expensive curriculum and on the first day of school I trilled out in my best Mary poppins voice, "Time for school." My four and five year old children looked at me as if I were nuts. But being curious, amiable youngsters they decided to play along with mommy. The first day went great. So did the second and the third. I felt like super teacher- mommy. Then the kids quit playing. We limped along until December when I put the books away for good. "They're a little young." I thought, guiltily. We went back to our normal life, playing with playdough, taking walks and spending hours at the library. The next year I bought an even more expensive curriculum. This time they weren't playing at all. And so a pattern was set. Every year I would start out with a to do list and overloaded with materials that would be boxed away around Christmas time after months of pleading yelling and tears. The children would watch me put the books away with relief, ready to go back to the important task of living their lives. I think my wake up call came after a particularly grueling morning of reading, riting and rithmatic. I found myself, phone in hand, threatening the children with public school. I had become the teacher from hell when I had dreamed of being Mary Poppins. I was flunking homeschool. Looking back I find it odd that after rejecting the public school model I would do everything in my power to copy it. The first week of school I did everything but make them say the pledge of allegiance and that was only because I couldn't find the flag. I knew of no other way. But after several years of trying and failing I was beginning to have reoccurring dreams of big yellow busses. Something had to be done. I set out for the Library and came back with an arm load of books and magazines. There I ran across the writings of John Holt and the term child led learning. The more I researched the more intrigued I became. It sounded crazy and went against everything I knew about education. Or did it? How much did I really remember from highschool anyway? Mostly the things I was interested in. Child led learning or unschooling as many people call it, is the process of allowing your children to explore the world on their own terms and their own pace. Your children study what interests them as long as it holds their interests. In doing so they learn a great deal, about their world and about the process of learning itself. You should have seen the look on my 4.0 husband's face as I told him about it. After a year of unschooling even my husband has become an enthusiastic supporter. But it has been a long metamorphosis of both watching our children bloom and changing how we thought about education. Our children have learned that learning can be fun. Actually I think they have always known that, it was mom who thought learning was boring. Child led learning became a life change for all of us, I’ve learned as much as the children, especially when to facilitate an interest and when to back off. The benefits of child led learning have been immeasurable for our family. We have the time now to take off in unexpected directions, when my eight year old daughter decided to learn sign language, I learned it with her. When Ethan wanted to learn about engines he started helping his father change the oil and maintain the cars. With the pressure off, my reading resistant daughter picked up a book and started reading, mostly because she was interested in all things Titanic. Child led learning comes in many forms, some parents require structured study in some subjects such as math while others require no structure what so ever. There are many different ways to unschool your children but the all have one thing in common, by giving our children choices we hope to, as parents, give our children the lifelong gift of loving to learn As my children grow I am struck by the natural curiosity that they have. Watching my children play outside, whether they are capturing and identifying bugs or perfecting their fishing cast, I know that they are learning and growing beautifully. Our "school" days now consist of living the educational life, exploring the details of the world around us. My children write because they want to communicate, do math to know how much money they will get back and learn because they want to understand. Instead of flunking homeschool, I am redefining it. © 2003 Teri Brown. All rights reserved. Re-printed with permission. Originally published on Suite 101. |
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Teri Brown is a freelance writer and homeschooling Mom from Portland, Oregon. Her latest book, Day Tripping, Your Guide to Educational Family Adventures, was released last spring. You can find out more about Teri and her books at www.fieldtripping.com. | ||
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