Un-segregated

One term that I dislike greatly is "segregation". I have been pleased over and over (and over again yesterday) for the lack of it in our life thus far. In my meager opinion, our society promotes it way too much (usually in age or gender), and we lose the benefits of non-segregation (the main being the older teaching the younger, thus gaining confidence themselves and understanding the concepts better themselves).

Yesterday I went to my first homeschool moms meeting, which was to discuss what our group is going to do this year. This was my first meeting, so I only knew 2/4 of the moms there, and even them, not very well. But, we went, hoping to learn and be more involved with our local homeschooling group. They meet 2 times a month, and work on various projects of community outreach, science, history, character traits, etc.

While us 5 moms were discussing what we plan to do this year (well, I more listened as I didn't know what they have done in the past, nor what the goals of the other parents are), I was again encouraged by the children. There were 19 kids there (between the ages of 6 months up to 17 years) in a 1400 sq. ft. house and they all got along fine and there was not one squabble or child left out. The girls were playing in the bedroom the whole time (the two teenagers in their own room) and the boys were outside exploring. They also mingled with each other over the fooseball and pool tables while on their way here and there. In my experience, this does not happen with "schooled" kids. Whenever my kids play with "schooled" kids, someone gets left out and someone isn't wanted. Whether it be the sister with all boys, or the baby, it seems to be present. Not yesterday. The girls actually came and got baby sister from their mom so that they could pass her around and "play" with her.

There was no fighting in the whole afternoon, and those kids that didn't know anyone were introduced, and the hosts made the guests (my kids, as well as others) feel welcome. There was no whining, pouting or any other such behavior which usually comes with mass groups of kids together. Now, I'm not saying that this doesn't happen elsewhere, but I guess it just reinforces how when parents take the time to teach their kids proper etiquette and train them accordingly...you notice the difference right away. With these kids, you could tell that all their parents take the time each day to love, teach, and guide them in a way that will benefit them their whole life through.

More Charlotte Mason

In further thought about the Charlotte Mason style, I am going to head more in that direction. Although it has always intrigued me, I found it too vague for a new home schooler. Too much left on my shoulders. But, I like the results much better than ordinary text book/work book learning. That is boring (what we've been doing), whereas Charlotte Mason style is interesting. Kids don't even know they are learning, they are just enjoying doing. Below is one mom's criteria for her kindergartner. It not only looks more our speed for our lifestyle, but is actually doable. Lots of "education" these days is just ticking skills off a checklist. I don't want that. I want skills that will actually be useful in their life ahead, as well as their life right now. To me, Charlotte Mason does that.

Year 0 expectations (kindergarten)

1. To recite, beautifully, 6 easy poems and hymns
2. to recite, perfectly and beautifully, a parable and a psalm
3. to add and subtract numbers up to 10, with dominoes or counters
4. to read--what and how much, will depend on what we are told of the child
5. to copy in print-hand from a book
6. to know the points of the compass with relation to their own home, where the sun rises and sets, and the way the wind blows
7. to describe the boundaries of their own home
8. to describe any lake, river, pond, island etc. within easy reach
9. to tell quite accurately (however shortly) 3 stories from Bible history, 3 from early English, and 3 from early Roman history (my note here, we may want to substitute early American for early English!)
10. to be able to describe 3 walks and 3 views
11. to mount in a scrap book a dozen common wildflowers, with leaves (one every week); to name these, describe them in their own words, and say where they found them.
12. to do the same with leaves and flowers of 6 forest trees
13. to know 6 birds by song, colour and shape
14. to send in certain Kindergarten or other handiwork, as directed
15. to tell three stories about their own "pets"--rabbit, dog or cat.
16. to name 20 common objects in French, and say a dozen little sentences
17. to sing one hymn, one French song, and one English song
18. to keep a caterpillar and tell the life-story of a butterfly from his own observations.

(this mom is from Canada, thus the French influence. I'd likely work on Spanish, as it would be more useful where we live)

I am also not one of those super-creative crafty moms (or teachers), so this gives me a way of opening the world through worthwhile projects rather than time filling use-less crafts. Using objects from nature to learn more about them, going to places where life is different and learning there as well.

I do also want to clarify. We are NOT just doing public/private school at home. What we do, should not even be compared to what those children are learning. My children won't have grade levels, won't have the same type of evaluations, nor am I dealing with discipline issues all day like a real teacher does (one teacher friend of mine says last year she spent her time doing 90% organizing, discipline, solving kids problems, and only 10% actual teaching). We also have a 1:1 teacher to student ratio, so we will be able to move along alot faster if we wish or alot slower if we're struggling with an item. So, that means my child may be grade 4 in spelling, grade 1 in math, grade 2 in reading and so on. They will not be in one specific grade level at all times. We also don't need to fill 6 hours a day before we're able to send the children home, so 'busy-work' is also not going to be present in our home school. We will mostly be learning by living.

Charlotte Mason style

I have a book called "A Charlotte Mason Companion" by Karen Andreola, which I have been endeavoring to read for the past year or so. It's a wealth of information on the Charlotte Mason style of learning, and because it takes focus to read, I usually end up reading something "lighter". But, at the reminding of a friend who is doing a book study on it, I've picked it up again. If you don't know who Charlotte Mason is, you can find out more on the website Ambleside (http://www.amblesideonline.org/). She is a brilliant 19th century educator from England that had a whole new approach to teaching children. She started her own schools, and had amazing results. Sadly, most schools today are totally ignorant of her observations of children, and thus don't benefit from her expertise.

There are many different quotes I'd like to share, but I'll just give you the ones I read today. The author is speaking in terms of getting children interested in learning and how you go about that. She said that if testing is the only reason for learning something, it will be learned and soon forgotten. But, if a relationship is formed in the learning process, the student will remember the information indefinitely. To quote, "Charlotte urges us to establish a relationship with Knowledge. A relationship with Knowledge is like a friendship. When you are introduced to someone, you are courteous and friendly, but you don't have a meaningful relationship. To have one often requires patience and perseverance. Unfortunately, many lessons - are only introductory. "It's nice to meet you" we say, nodding to Knowledge. But we need to go about after the introductions are made and work toward establishing a relationship if we are really going to "know". Firsthand experience is best, but if that is not available nor convenient, then books are the next best thing. "Our children may not be able to hold a conversation with a deep sea diver, a geologist, or a person from ancient times, but they can come to know any of these people through the books they have written. A single author does a wonderful job of helping form relations. How do I develop the art of standing aside to let my children develop relations with things, be they paintings, bees, bears or biographies? Through the use of narration and real books, observation and experience.
"My eldest daughter, Sophia, is too young to have experienced World War II (firsthand knowledge), but recently she has gotten to know someone who did - Corrie ten Boom. Corrie shared her experiences with Sophia in her book, The Hiding Place. Our history textbook may make its introductions, its outlines, its overviews, to a time in history. But it can never do what Corrie can do (and what all real books do): help form a relation."

The other quote from the same page is: "Charlotte said, "let them learn from first-hand sources of information - really good books, the best going, on the subject they are engaged upon. Let them get at the books themselves, and do not let them be flooded with (diluted talk from) the lips of their teacher. The teacher's business is to indicate, stimulate, direct and constrain to the acquirement of knowledge. The less the parents and teachers 'talk-in' and expound their rations of knowledge and thought to the children they are educating, the better for the children...Children must be allowed to ruminate (chew over, as in a cow chewing cud), must be left alone with their own thoughts."

I'd love to write more about this way of learning, but will leave it there today. Kids woke up, and we must get on with our day!

Month 1

Well, I had intended to write more each month, but it appears that month 1 has disappeared, and I haven't written at all. But, there's been not too much exciting to report, which I suppose is a good thing. The kids are enjoying school time each day, and learning is taking place. They seem to learn the most from the white board in the dining room, where they can review whatever I have up there (Bible memory verse, addition memorization, new words to learn, etc) while they are eating.

I am however, going to do less book work. In my reading about homeschooling, children under 8 should not do more than 20 minutes per day of "close work", as their eyes cannot handle more than that. I've noticed that Luke has been squinting and blinking alot lately, so am thinking we need to keep on the learning, but do so in a more distant/verbal/hands on manner. This happened before when he used his Doodle Pad too much and then I noticed the same thing. After laying off for a while (actually I had to ban it!), his eyes were fine again. We really only do 10-15 minutes of "book work", but obviously that is too much for his eyes right now. The boys do alot of playing cars & trains, which also is close up, so persuading them to do more active activities will have to be in the agenda.













So, that's all I can think of for now. We try to do our school time first thing in the morning (even before breakfast), when concentration is at it's best. The focus dwindles as the day progresses, so I've already noticed what works and doesn't work. Sometimes we work on stuff in the afternoon if the morning stuff took longer than anticipated, but that is rare. We also have been watching some Discovery science videos that are fascinating, as well as another trip to the zoo to see what we could learn about there.