Monday, August 24, 2015

Learning All the Time

Years ago I would have great angst if I didn't start our homeschool curriculum BEFORE the public schools.  I was so afraid of getting behind.  What is behind anyway?  And, now I have such joy in seeing the way our lifestyle has changed and seeing how we are learning all the time!  Certainly we will start some formal studies after labor day but I no longer buy into the myth that education is a race!  Education is an adventure of discovering who God made my children to be!  One of the ways I uncover how to direct our curriculum is to see the books they choose.

Most days (summer included) we do a "room time" of at least an hour during Zayden's nap time. Zach, Zoe and Zane read their library books (or sometimes a classic audio), while Zadie and Zeke listen to an audio book or have an older Z read to them.  This gives me a break and it also helps me relax with the rhythms of reading out loud.  I go in read aloud spurts.  "Tidal waves" are a great metaphor for my morning or afternoon read alouds.  I will go through a season of reading aloud a bunch, then a season of rest.  Repeat.  Room time helps me ensure that they are reading regardless of my tide.  My homeschool vision includes them having a LOVE of learning, so reading is essential.  I am always impressed with what they select and it helps me know how to feed their passions and interests. I have 6 kids so delight-directed learning is ESSENTIAL.  I find it much easier to FUEL what they are wondering about, FEED what they are curious about and FAN the flames of what they imagine in play, then demand they learn know and care about what I have pre-planned.   God didn't give me the gift of planning!  I like to capitalize on learning MOMENTS.  When I capitalize on the moment THEY are interested, their attention, focus and determination are off the charts.  Passion trumps curriculum.  Interest drives mastery.


I love watching her creativity spill into science.  One day in room time she had taken a cardboard box and made a pulley system to try and pull up her books from Zadie's bunk to hers.  Then at a play-date this past weekend the dad used a pulley system to bring up Nerf darts on the balcony and she was so excited!  Today, she chose to make a small pulley with popsicle sticks while listening to audio books!  She LOVES to craft while listening to books and I love to see where her imagination and inventiveness takes her.  



Today the preschoolers listened to this.  Fantastic narrators!  Who doesn't love Dr. Seuss?


Zach stumbled on Unbroken and now has been in a huge phase of ANY war book.  But, recently this book, "the true cost of toys" peaked his interest.


This is what was in Zane's bunk!  Of course they were sprawled out, I stacked them.  Steve got him interested in the BFG because he told him Disney is making a movie.  And, in the bottom corner is his very raggedy copy of his Animal Encyclopedia that he learned to read in!!  

In 1st grade, I would FIGHT Zane tooth and nail to do his phonics curriculum. I finally took a break in exasperation and (if I am to be honest) surrender.  THEN we kept renewing this Animal book from the library. When I finally realized that he was DRIVEN to read by this book because of his curiosity, I got him his own copy.  He was not discouraged by the complex words but would constantly ask what they meant and then tell you about the funny looking Proboscis Monkey or a poisonous snake. Within a matter of just a few weeks, he went from hating reading to being a ravenous reader.  This is just ONE of many stories that make me a big believer in FEEDING my kids all the subjects through the topics they love.  


I started a Kindergarden unit on colors that came together so nicely and was so much fun that preschooler Zeke and even the 3rd grade twins demanded to participate!  I HAD to start just Zadie's "school" because she simply could not wait.  I am considering having Zach write a Readers Theater play from "The Day the Crayons Quit".  It will be excellent practice in writing for him, plus he will get to direct the play! I love how home education allows me to take what we love and find the learning for each age. I would be a miserable failure at following separate curricula. 




And, water beads are colorful and fun.  AND MESSY!

Zoe is slowly working her way through the Little House in the Big Woods.  We all listened to this on audio last summer in the car.  "I can't imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once", CS Lewis.



From the day they were born having boy/girl twins has been like a living labratory in gender difference.  I have to blog about this some day!  Zane is working his way through a series of "Natures deadliest" and Zoe recently got a book about "Teeny Tiny Animals".  I loved seeing their unique contrasting interests!

And, finally what I am reading!  I have re-read parts of bittersweet and started Life without Limits but I can NEVER read just one book at a time so I jumped into The Power of Play.  


 I would love to hear what YOU have been reading!  One of my besties moved to Florida last year but we still, at least weekly, talk on the phone and literally READ QUOTES from books we have been reading.  We are nerds and we love it!  She got me into a cool bread book and I got her into Bittersweet last month.  So please, I would love to know who you are if you are reading this and what you are reading!  Because child or adult, homeschooled or public schooled, we are ALL learning all the time!


2 comments:

  1. I love the quote "interest trumps curriculum." This is so important to remember and so easy to forget.

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  2. I am re-reading To Kill a Mockingbird :-) My husband actually bought me a new copy for my birthday because this time around each time I turned a page in my copy they were falling out (my old copy gets to rest on the bookshelf now, no way I could part with it). The first time I read it was on one of our family vacations to White Lake, I would imagine about 20 years ago. I can still remember the hum of the window air conditioners as I sat outside of our hotel room reading it :-) I also just bought a copy of Bittersweet because it has been recommended so many times I couldn't resist anymore :-)

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