I am super excited to take action with my homeschooling using what I have learned this week!
I am reading "Dumbing Us Down" by Gatto again and am learning and re-learning some great lessons. The biggest one, trust the children. Get out of their way. This matches what I have learned from my current "Mentoring the Classics" course online from Oliver and Rachel DeMille, that if we are experiencing burn-out, frustration or just starting homeschooling and looking for direction, the most important two things to create are good relationships and a good environment. Then everything else will fall into place. Of course, there are components and individual ways to create those two things, and the answers to what they are are as diverse as the families we have.
My answer is to step back. Get out of my kids way. Have faith in their ability to learn. Have faith in their genius, that they want to learn, want to succeed, want to fulfill a mission.
My other answer is to take note of their progress: like that Maia (7) is adding double digit columns and Hava (9) loves to do problems with multiplication and division families. That Liesl is focusing her eyes more and knows that if she roots, I will feed her and she doesn't need to cry. That Xai (4) and Eli (2) are learning how to say sorry and that kind words can make things better. That Drew (16) is learning that in public school it is socially acceptable to be rude to teachers...and that he is not okay with that. That Hyrum has rediscovered the wonder of reading and has gone through the Micheal Vey series like there is no tomorrow and even threw in The Giver, since we watched the movie and I wanted them to read the book as well. That Lily has a passion for Marine Biology like her father and is working her way through our Apologia Marine Biology book on her own and with a vigor I haven't seen in her for a subject (besides reading) for years. That Piper is learning that it is not a series of check-lists or specific expectations but the spirit behind those rules and check-lists that should be honored.
This answer came after reading the companion book to Gatto as recommended in the course, "How Children Learn." I think it is in the first 20 pages in the book when Holt refers to a record a mother kept of the development of her child's verbal and reading skills, just as an interested observer. He spoke of the child noticing this journal taking and the interest they took in it. While it does not seem like the typical approach to homeschooling, I feel prompted to implement it at this time.
So my homeschooling will be focused on the following three activities:
--brainstorming the blank page (taught by the DeMille's) weekly with the genius of that child in mind
--Weekly Mentoring/Accountability meetings with each child with the importance of helping and getting out of their way at the same time :D...definitely a prayerful challenge! (Teach correct principles and then encourage them to follow them...)
--documenting their progress individually, watch them in wonder as their genius unfolds in small and simple ways! See how they learn! See what their focus is on!
This reminds me of Thoreau's "Walden" where he says to take a day and let the bells ring and see how things are going normally before seeking to impose into or redirect towards activities that we feel are important. Maybe I get to take a season to do the same? I am excited to see what my children show me!
Now, we already have good work ethics/habits/systems in place with correction when needed. I also have "classes" set up per their request to improve areas they feel they need for their genius. I further share what I am learning in my own personal studies with them. We had a great schedule of time and not content that I try to protect from appointments and distractions. So those are not priorities for my focus right now, although they are essential ingredients to make it possible for me to focus on my three areas.
It is so cool that we can each feel a direction to particular areas to focus on! We can work on those areas until either they are engrained into habit or obsolete, at which time we put them to the side until they are needful and relevant again...if ever. So beautiful!
I am reading "Dumbing Us Down" by Gatto again and am learning and re-learning some great lessons. The biggest one, trust the children. Get out of their way. This matches what I have learned from my current "Mentoring the Classics" course online from Oliver and Rachel DeMille, that if we are experiencing burn-out, frustration or just starting homeschooling and looking for direction, the most important two things to create are good relationships and a good environment. Then everything else will fall into place. Of course, there are components and individual ways to create those two things, and the answers to what they are are as diverse as the families we have.
My answer is to step back. Get out of my kids way. Have faith in their ability to learn. Have faith in their genius, that they want to learn, want to succeed, want to fulfill a mission.
My other answer is to take note of their progress: like that Maia (7) is adding double digit columns and Hava (9) loves to do problems with multiplication and division families. That Liesl is focusing her eyes more and knows that if she roots, I will feed her and she doesn't need to cry. That Xai (4) and Eli (2) are learning how to say sorry and that kind words can make things better. That Drew (16) is learning that in public school it is socially acceptable to be rude to teachers...and that he is not okay with that. That Hyrum has rediscovered the wonder of reading and has gone through the Micheal Vey series like there is no tomorrow and even threw in The Giver, since we watched the movie and I wanted them to read the book as well. That Lily has a passion for Marine Biology like her father and is working her way through our Apologia Marine Biology book on her own and with a vigor I haven't seen in her for a subject (besides reading) for years. That Piper is learning that it is not a series of check-lists or specific expectations but the spirit behind those rules and check-lists that should be honored.
This answer came after reading the companion book to Gatto as recommended in the course, "How Children Learn." I think it is in the first 20 pages in the book when Holt refers to a record a mother kept of the development of her child's verbal and reading skills, just as an interested observer. He spoke of the child noticing this journal taking and the interest they took in it. While it does not seem like the typical approach to homeschooling, I feel prompted to implement it at this time.
So my homeschooling will be focused on the following three activities:
--brainstorming the blank page (taught by the DeMille's) weekly with the genius of that child in mind
--Weekly Mentoring/Accountability meetings with each child with the importance of helping and getting out of their way at the same time :D...definitely a prayerful challenge! (Teach correct principles and then encourage them to follow them...)
--documenting their progress individually, watch them in wonder as their genius unfolds in small and simple ways! See how they learn! See what their focus is on!
This reminds me of Thoreau's "Walden" where he says to take a day and let the bells ring and see how things are going normally before seeking to impose into or redirect towards activities that we feel are important. Maybe I get to take a season to do the same? I am excited to see what my children show me!
Now, we already have good work ethics/habits/systems in place with correction when needed. I also have "classes" set up per their request to improve areas they feel they need for their genius. I further share what I am learning in my own personal studies with them. We had a great schedule of time and not content that I try to protect from appointments and distractions. So those are not priorities for my focus right now, although they are essential ingredients to make it possible for me to focus on my three areas.
It is so cool that we can each feel a direction to particular areas to focus on! We can work on those areas until either they are engrained into habit or obsolete, at which time we put them to the side until they are needful and relevant again...if ever. So beautiful!
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