Working Hard

I question our choice to unschool. I question it so much, that often I do not even use the term unschool. I would rather use the terms interest led learning, or self-directed learning. I feel as if the term unschool implies that my kids are not working or learning. Unschooling at our house means my girls are FREE to LEARN in any manner of their choosing. Being free to learn does not mean they are not working hard. They are simply working on what interests them. When there is an interest I am amazed at how deeply involved they become in discovering and learning.

My youngest was peeking over my shoulder today as I was watching an animated video on ecosystems and food webs. She suddenly looked at me and said, "Oh, I have seen that before." I asked her when she had seen the video, and she informed me she had been "Googling" science videos the other day and watched the same video I was looking at. I was dumbfounded, and Ella apparently could clearly see how surprised I was. She continued by asking, "Remember the day we were talking about places animals live. I just went and looked for more science stuff." Of course she went off on her own to learn about science, I mean doesn't everyone explore and discover more about topics that interest them?!

Olivia is obsessed with learning about psychology and the mafia. She was so concerned a few weeks ago that she would not read enough each week to get through these books that she asked me to help her create a schedule. Currently she reads more each day than she had scheduled herself to read for an entire week! She loves the topics she is reading about and just wants to continue learning. I know this NEVER happened to me when I was attending school.

Natalie is completely absorbed in her web design program. She informed me that the program said they were to design a web page about raptors, but she said she was going to design one on dolphins. I LOVE that she had complete confidence in making the program interesting for her. The freedom she has to learn in her own way is completely apparent in this single moment.

My children do not work in the same way as school children do. Our day does not resemble a typical school day. I am thankful for this, because my children are working hard at learning about what is most interesting to them. The freedom to choose to learn is an amazing thing!

Learning Through Online Games

(picture source)

This past weekend Ella asked me how to pronounce a word she was reading on the computer and asked what it meant. She was very involved, and I was impressed that she asked, so I sat with Ella as she was participating in an online penguin party on Club Penguin. Ella took me through this party that will go on for days. It has clues she must read in order to know what her next task is at the party. There are games, some history, and more reading! I am thrilled that she is excited about this program. I now know why she was inspired to learn to read.

Later this same day, Ella brought me her movie making book and asked if I would read it to her. She was very excited about learning about composition and setting. She spent the next two days creating interesting backgrounds to take photos of her stuffed animals.

Every time I begin to question if self-directed learning is the right approach for my family, I receive answers. Ella is learning and having fun. I love when I answers are painted so clearly.

Freedom + Creativity

Today I stumbled upon an article on Psychology Today discussing the correlation between children' s declining freedom and their diminishing creativity. 

School is stifling. School shoves everyone into a box and tells them not to step outside of it. There is no room for creativity within the box and no room for exploring interests. Homeschooling is the first step towards providing my kids the freedom that they need to become more creative. 

My oldest informed me before going to kindergarten that she wanted to be an author. She loved stories, reading, and writing. By the end of first grade she hated writing, and read less. Once we pulled her out of school at the end of her third grade year it took another three years for her to regain her love of writing and deepen  her love of stories. During those three years I had to learn not to recreate school at home, and allow her the freedom to explore and learn in a way that works for her. With this freedom I have witnessed her creativity blossom with every word she puts on a page. Over the past five months as we stepped into the world of self directed learning, Olivia's freedom has increased immensely; and so has her creativity. Not just her creativity of the written word, but creativity in her approach to learning. 

I watch my 10 year old explore science and get excited about it. She is constantly wanting to explore and create new experiments. She would not be learning science to the extent she is if she were enrolled in school. The freedom she has to spend most of her day on science would never exist in a school setting. Yet, it is precisely what she needs and in my opinion what the world needs. 

The world needs kids who think and experiment creatively. My 7 year old spent over an hour decorating the outside of a notebook with her favorite images and stickers. She made a creative mess all over the floor, and exclaimed, "This is so much fun!" She needed this time to be creative. She did not have a time limit. She finished when she determined her project was complete. 

This article reminded me how I am doing what is best for my kids. I am giving them freedom to learn and be creative. Sometimes I need this type of reminder.

Taking a Step Back

I really enjoy watching my kids learn. I love the choices they make. Today I started to panic and for a moment was headed out the door to look at curriculum. My panic had nothing to do with my kids or their lack of learning. This panic was a result of my teacher instinct feeling like I needed to be working on a specific curriculum. UGH! Obviously I still need to remind myself of everything my kids are learning. 

Ella will be working on:

• Mini Movie Maker weekly challenge! When I started to panic instead of hopping in the car to pick up curriculum, I did a subject search online about movie making for kids. After browsing the site and getting extremely excited about its potential - creating storyboards, writing scripts, movie making techniques, tips and tricks, plus a weekly challenge - I asked Ella to come and explore the site with me. She just kept saying, " I want to do that. Can we do that? Can I get that?" YEAH!
• Math this week will consist of Teaching Textbooks 3, Math Rider, and Math Blaster games. 
• I am reading aloud Charlotte's Web this week, which will be fun after our visit to the fair this past week. 
• Ella has not yet picked out a book for the week yet, but she informed me she has a couple she is interest in.
• We have some Magic School Bus videos and some science books she es ready to explore and has been peeking over Natalie's shoulder this past week as Natalie has been creating slides for the microscope.

Natalie will be working on: 

• Science: continue exploring the microscope book, experiments and starting biology. She is really excited about both of these.
• Math this week will consist of Teaching Textbooks 6 and Math Rider.
• I am reading aloud The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles.
• Natalie is reading a couple of books right now - Storybound and How to Catch a Mermaid.
• She is reading Lives of the Scientists: Experiments, Explosions, and What the Neighbors Thought. Natalie hates history, but loves science so her choice of learning about important scientists is a great alternative to traditional history!
• Writing a book of quotes from her favorite Disney movies, complete with illustrations. This was again her own unique idea and I thought it a great alternative to dictation/copy work! Her finished product will be turned into an actual book, so we are both excited about this project.

Olivia continues to work on:

• Psychology, which she informs me each day as to how much she enjoys her psychology book and the topics that she reads about. She says it is fascinating. 
• She is reading The Everything Mafia Book, and we watched The Untouchables Friday night. After watching the movie she informed me about all of the characters that were in the movie that she has read about in her mafia book . YEAH! Love how things like this tie together.
• She started French last week and will continue it this week. She is very excited about learning a new language.
• She is doing Teaching Textbooks Algebra 2.
• She is reading The Hobbit, and finishing The Princess Bride.
• She is editing chapter 3 of her novel and beginning chapter 4, reading several writing books, and writing in her writer's notebook.

When I write everything down I relax. I realize there is no need to panic my kids are doing just fine without me interfering!

Technology and Learning

My youngest loves technology. Specifically she loves the computer. I recently read an article about digital tools helping to improve teen writing. As I read this article my first thought was of course it improves teen writing, but then I thought do these teachers and pollsters believe this is only true of teens? Perhaps as a homeschooling mom I have more of an opportunity to see the positive effects of technology and learning. I know that since we have moved to a more self directed approach towards learning I have witnessed the power of technology and learning even more. 

My youngest is teaching herself how to spell and write using email, text, Youtube, Facebook, and Skype. She loves to write to friends and family through email and we send each other notes back and forth. It is a great way for me to see the natural  improvement of her writing. Ella also uses my phone to text friends. She often asks how to spell words she is uncertain of and when she doesn't she gets replies from friends that let her know they don't understand what she is asking or saying. When Ella creates Youtube videos of her Webkinz she likes to use the title and subtitle feature of the movie editing program. Since she is publishing these on Youtube and other people besides mom will read or see her finished product she is very concerned about spelling, and writing mechanics. The instant messaging features of Facebook and Skype are improving her writing skills as she uses my accounts to chat with her friends. 

I see that digital tools can help improve teen writing. I have witnessed how these tools help elementary age children who have an aversion to writing learn to write. In my experience technology and digital tools are a great learning method for all ages.

After a morning walk with Natalie, we talked about what she wants to learn this week over breakfast. 

This week Natalie wants to:

• Learn about her microscope. She found a book on our shelf all about microscopes, so she is set and excited.
• She wants to create a book of quotes from her favorite Disney movies, complete with cited quote and illustration. I am excited to see how this turns out.
• She has a few slide shows to finish up that she has been working on. 
• She is reading How to Catch a Mermaid. 
• Plans go to the state fair.

Ella's plans:

• Read from her new books from the used book store.
• Start Charlotte's Web read-a-loud.
• Math and Reading Blaster
• learn about animals
• trip to the state fair

Olivia' plans:

• Algebra 2
• Psychology - researching a topic of interest
• Reading from Everything Mafia - contemporary world history
• Reading Stein on Writing, Outlining Your Novel, Seize the Story, The Princess Bride, and The Hobbit
• 2 trips to the state fair

Today we are getting hair cuts, and ready for a photo shoot with Jeff Mendoza. Most of the day will be spent getting ready and heading off to Tacoma for some outdoor location shots. I am excited to have these photos taken, as it has been several years since the girls have had professional shots taken. We will miss dance tonight because of this, but it is worth it. 

Shocking Learning Choices

My girls surprise me. Self directed learning surprises me. The discussion went something like this.

Olivia: Mom, I think I am going to start adding Algebra 2 back into my day tomorrow.

Gasping and then trying to regain my cool I inform her that I think that is a good plan. Inside I am as excited as a jumping bean.

Olivia: I want to start history too. 

Crossing my legs, I lean forward in my chair to make sure I am hearing things right. Then, leaning back I take in a deep breath and say to my self proclaimed history hating daughter, " If you want to."

Olivia: I want to add psychology into my day as well. I know I have the book, but I have have just read sections as they had interested me. 

I start tapping my foot to make sure I am not dreaming. 

Olivia: Could you help me organize history and psychology so I actually do them each day?

After picking myself up off the floor from utter shock, I ask her like  deer caught in the headlights, "REALLY?"

Olivia and I then have a discussion as to the type of help she wants. 

Olivia: I really just want you to help me manage the reading, because I know I will learn about something and want a different book on a new topic, but I want to get through these books too. I just am not sure how to know how much to read.

We continued to discuss this and I suggested that maybe she should determine how much time she wants to spend on each book and then we can divide then number of pages in the book by the number of weeks she wants to spend on the book. Then she would know how many pages she should read each week. I reminded her that she could always read more or less if she wanted but at least she had a game plan. 

Olivia: Yeah, it's a game plan I want. I don't want you telling me what to do and how to do it, but I am not sure how to manage all of this reading I want to do. 

I LOVE that she is showing me her teenage side, but really do any of us like being told what to do and how to do it when we haven't asked for help? I helped her with what she asked for. She maintained control over what she learns. She just needed me to help her figure out how to approach it. 

I never thought I would hear my daughter asking to learn topics that once would not have been touched, as if it were slime on the bottom of a dirty pond. Self directed learning continues to surprise me every day. 

Fun and Learning

This weekend Natalie and Ella found fun and learning with a box. Ella is still creating movies with her Webkinz and when Natalie told Ella that she saw an ice cream truck drive by creativity started to fly.  

Both of the girls used an ice cream box to make a Webkinz size ice cream truck. They were sure to point out the menu, window, and table at the back of their box truck. I smiled as I saw how much they were learning while working together, not to mention the hours of fun they had playing and making movies in the back yard until it grew too dark.