Summer Learning Projects

In my last blog post, I talked about my need to organize some learning activities for my girls, and for the family in general this summer. I gave many specific reasons for doing this, and if you're interested, you can read about them in the blog titled "A Change of Course".

New Experiences for the Entire Family:

• Visit Frederick Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids
• See a race at the Hartford Motor Speedway
• Take family to see the Charlie Daniels Band
• Go to the Drive-In movies at least once
• Visit Short's Brewing
• Go on vacation to the Upper Peninsula
  

Learning Projects, Goals, & Experiences for Shana:

• Take a long bike ride with Mom or Dad. Ask Shana to look at a Berrien County map and plan the route. Could also obtain a map of bike routes in the area, and devise a course.
• Enter 2-3 projects in the BCYF.
• Continue working on crocheting (possibly crochet something for one of the BCYF projects).
• Add to personal blog at least once per week.
• Continue to improve math skills in a variety of ways: do Study Island a couple times per week; do surveys on topics of interest, and then make a graph to show the results; ask Mom or Dad to set-up an "Amazing Math Race"; use manipulatives to practice multiplication and division; review adding and subtracting multi-digit numbers.
  
• Take a long hike with mom. Look at park maps to plan the adventure.
  
• Learn about horses by participating in a week-long Horse Camp.
  
• Study nature through summer classes at Sarett Nature Center.
• Spend 20 minutes per day writing for pleasure, whether it be a short story, poems, or a chapter book.
  
• Invite a friend to do something with you at least once every 7-10 days.
  
• Review some of the stuff you've learned over the last couple of years: states & capitals, presidents, etcetera.
  
• Continue learning French (work on this a little everyday).
  
• Use your new painting set to make some cool paintings to decorate your room in Hagar Shores.
• Continue practicing and improving on the violin.
  

Learning Projects, Goals, & Experiences for Stella:

• Study nature through classes at Fernwood and Sarett Nature Center.
• Continue learning French.
• Work on reading, and hopefully be able to read basic books by the end of summer.
• Play math games using rocks, sticks, and whatever is available in the yard.
  
• Learn to name the 50 US states.

A Change of Course

The summer season is almost upon us, and I feel like I need to make plans. This is nothing new for me; every time we have a major change of seasons (spring to summer, or fall to winter) I feel the need to reevaluate what I am doing, and change course slightly. I think that it is akin to what I imagine the captain of a boat must do periodically: look at the map and compass, and if he has veered off route at all, take a few minutes to readjust.

The main thing I want to reevaluate this season-change is my approach to educating my children. My oldest (Shana) recently turned 8, and would just be finishing 2nd grade if she was in school. Except for a year of preschool at age 4, she has never been in a traditional school setting. The first two years that we did school at home, I created a curriculum and we kept up a rigorous and highly structured school-time routine. Shana participated successfully, but somewhat unwillingly, in the sit-down, book, paper, and pencil learning activities that I had planned. Then, last summer, I became really interested in unschooling. What sparked my interest was a quote I read somewhere that went something like this: "Humans are rational animals, and if they need to know something, they will find a way to learn what they need to know". This made sense to me because pretty much everything I do nowadays (run a business, cook delicious vegetarian meals, brew beer, sew, etcetra), I taught myself to because I was interested in learning the skill. I didn't learn any of those things in school. So with that in mind, we started our unschooling journey.

Since we began unschooling, I have seen positive changes in my daughter. The first thing I noticed was that without our structured morning routine, she began really engaging in free play way more than she had in a very long time. After breakfast, Shana and her 5-year-old sister (Stella) would immediately be engaged in some imaginary play, that would often last for hours. Another positive change is that she began to be interested in figuring out her own math problems. So at the store, she would add up how many items we have in stock, or add up the daily sales. Prior to unschooling, she had been very resistant to math. However, that being said, I have also been disappointed in our unschooling experiment to some extent.

For one thing, I imagined that if I empowered Shana to take the lead in her own educational experience, some fabulous ideas might result. I thought she might want to "publish" her own kids' magazine, or design and carryout some scientific experiments, or read every book she could get her hands on about the Revolutionary War, or whatever.... But that has NOT happened. She really hasn't taken the initiative to do anything out of her ordinary routine, unless it was something I led her to do. I think this is partly due to her personality: she is very laid-back, easy-going, and complacent. She is not shy, but still seems to be more of a follower than a leader. Still, whether her perceived lack of initiative is due to personality type or something else, I feel that something has to be done to get her interested in some projects. And that is why I am going to be setting some summer learning goals for Shana, her sister Stella, and for the whole family.

Mother's Day

My Mother's Day was perfect. I mean, really, really, perfect. I could not have imagined a better day. To begin with, I stayed in bed until around 8:15 am, which is very late for me. I only work two days per week, so I could theoretically sleep this late almost anytime. I never do because I always have so much I want to accomplish before the kids get up and start yelping for breakfast.

When I finally did get up, I just messed around for awhile with the kids while my husband cooked breakfast. This was a huge treat for me because my husband works for himself, so he typically is gone working 7 days per week, leaving him absolutely no time to cook me breakfast under normal circumstances. So everyone was in a great mood as we sat down to an egg mess, veggie sausage, toast with cream cheese, coffee, and juice. Later my husband played with the kids while I did dishes and folded some laundry (hey--I love having the opportunity to do some housework w/o being interrupted by the kids).

By late morning, I was ready to read. One of my favorite things in life is reading aloud to my girls, ages 5 & 8. We read everything from biographies to fantasy to science to cookbooks, and everything in between. On Mother's Day, we read uninterrupted for about two hours while my husband played with our toddler.

We spent the afternoon outside. He mowed the lawn while I gave the kids rides in my mother's day present: a new wheelbarrow. I also shoveled a load of rocks into the back of the truck, while the kids played with the neighbor's chickens.

For dinner, I made an extremely delicious asparagus and portabella risotto. It was simple and beautiful, and I enjoyed every bite. We had carrot cake and ice cream for dessert. We ended the evening in the living room, in front of a roaring fire. The Husband watched the history channel while the kids and I practiced French and did yoga.

It was a heck of a day.