A History Lesson

Here's an interesting bit of information.

Public school was created to educate the poorest class of people.  Its goals were to give them basic skills so they could contribute to society rather than be a burden on society when they were adults.  The skills that were taught: reading, writing, and arithmetic.  Children who attended public school were often considered crude in society.

Private schools were primarily used by middle class citizens who couldn't afford private tutors and who didn't have the time to attend to their childrens' education because they had to work long hours for their living.  These private schools were much more rigorous than the public schools and prepared students for professional careers.

The rich upper class taught their own children at home and would sometimes hire private tutors or governesses to assist in their childrens' education.  The father would typically teach the children to read himself.  Boys would study higher math, Greek, Latin, science, celestial navigation (navigating ships by the stars), geography, history, fencing, social etiquette, and plantation management.  Girls would study art, music, French, social etiquette, needlework, spinning, weaving, cooking, and nursing.

I thought this was really interesting.  I'd known a long time before learning this that I wanted to homeschool, and a large part of my reasoning was because I felt like the public school system wasn't set up to teach my children what I want them to learn.  It really can't teach much more than a few basic skills to such a large number of children.  Is reading, writing, and basic math really good enough?  I don't think so.  That's all I'd learned when I graduated high school, though.  One problem is that the public school system is set up with minimum standards, and those minimum standards don't challenge the majority of students.  Another problem is that there is no minimum standard to teach a child to think and reason.  If you look at the original goal of public school, however, it is still doing its job: reading, writing, and arithmetic.  The big difference is that now the vast majority of children attend public school which means the vast majority of us enter adulthood with only basic skills.  What kind of a contribution can I make to society if I can read, write, and do basic math?  Not much because I don't actually know anything.  I can follow directions really well.  That may or may not be such a good thing.

During the early days of our nation, those with private training entered adulthood well prepared to think and reason.  They understood civilizations, history, government, etc.  These were men and women who founded a nation which became great in a shorter time than any other in history.  These were men who created our Constitution.  When the people voted, they understood who and what they were voting for.  In social gatherings, they didn't discuss the latest movie, they discussed the well being of the people and the issues of the day.  They understood the world around them and were able to make the changes necessary for a strong nation.  They were the majority. 

Today, those like them are the minority.  I wish I could class myself with those people, but I am severely lacking.  Only now am I starting to learn, to really learn, something about the world around me.  I've had nearly 30 years to learn already, and it's really astounding at how little I understand.  I want a much better education for my children while they are children.  Then maybe when they enter adulthood they will understand how to strengthen our weakening nation.  They will have the knowledge to make choices that will benefit their fellowman.  They will have that option.  If I want them to learn this, I'd better learn it.  So a big part of their schooling, is my schooling.  I just have to keep at least one step ahead of them...wish me luck!
  

A New School Year

I don't know if I'll actually track our progress in school years, but if I do I suppose this would be the beginning of a new one.  :)  Here's a little sampling of our first three days.

And since everyone else puts up their first day of school pictures, we have one too.  Within the first ten minutes on Monday, we were creating a chemical reaction in the sink. 

Yesterday my kids were thrilled when I pulled out the white board and started doing addition problems.  They wanted to keep going and going and going with it!  Who knew simple math could be so fun?

Today we planned to do an art project, but then Annie's fingers were smashed in the locked car door.  I was pretty sure any art project was out of the question considering the first two fingers on her right hand (she's right handed of course) were splinted together and sore.  However, after calming down she informed me that she wanted to do an art project and was devastated when I suggested we do something else.  I'd already promised, so we pulled out the art supplies!  This was a coloring, cutting, and glueing activity...perfect for these kids.  Annie loves to color, Logan loves to cut, and they both love glue!  Poor Annie made an attempt to color with her left hand and wasn't pleased with the results because she's really very good at coloring.  So I ended up coloring and cutting for her.  She instructed me on the colors and did all the glueing.  Logan did his 100% by himself and was very pleased about it.  These are frogs, by the way.  :)

Summer Vacation

One of the things I like about homeschooling is the flexibility we have with our schedule.  We just had an eight week break from school due to moving, vacations, and emergencies.  The kids were disappointed about having the break, but it was absolutely necessary...and I'm sure they aren't complaining about all the fun we've had!  Tomorrow we will officially start our regular schedule again.  Hooray!  I'm excited and I have two little ones who are even more excited!  Perhaps I can even get this blog going again... 

Birds and Creations

We're still bird watching, although we aren't seeing any new ones around our house anymore.  We did discover that a robin laid eggs in the nest on our front porch. 

It was very exciting for a few weeks, and we watched her (from the window) eagerly.  The excitement ended a few days ago, though, because she disappeared.  The eggs aren't hatched, so I guess we'll miss out on the baby birds that would have been.  It actually makes me sad to think that those eggs were abandoned. 

Anyway, I took a couple of pictures of the kids' creations during school time the other day.  This is Logan's rose.  He did it entirely by himself, and it was 100% his idea.  The white things are thorns.

This is Annie's "building".  She very meticulouly placed each and every piece.

The Phases of Learning: Core

Part of what appealed to us when we decided to use the TJEd method for our home education, were the "Phases of Learning" that were presented.  The idea is that people naturally follow the same pattern of progression in how they learn.  It made sense to us, and as I listened and later read about the phases, I could clearly see how I naturally went through the first three phases myself.  They are: Core, Love of Learning, Scholar, Depth, Mission, and Impact.  Here's one sentence about each, and then I want to put down my thoughts on the Core phase.  Core phase is the part of life when a child learns about the most important, central values in life and embodies them.  Love of Learning phase is a time when a child becomes curious about everything, and desires to study a wide variety of academic subjects.  Scholar phase is a time when a change in maturity takes place; a youth in this phase begins to focus deeply on a few subjects of interest.  Depth phase is a time for an adult to take that study deeper to prepare for his life's mission.  Mission phase is what it sounds like: actually fulfilling that mission.  Impact phase is changing the world to be whatever it should be for your posterity. 

Core phase begins right at birth.  When I have a baby I don't worry about teaching him anything right off, but he is learning nevertheless.  From the first moment, he is learning about love and how his environment feels.  He's held, kissed, fed, cleaned, and made comfortable.  He quickly attaches to those who take care of him, and if his needs are being met, he feels safe.  He begins to smile and interact.  Before long, he learns essential skills like eating, walking, and talking.  As he grows, he learns how to relate to his parents, siblings, and others around him.  He learns that relationships are important, although he doesn't realize it consciously.  He internalizes the values that are taught in his home.  If his parents pray, he believes in God.  He tests cause and effect, "What will happen if I jump off the table?"  He learns about right and wrong, good and bad.  He experiments with adult roles through play.  This is the time where he is developing his core.  

Our core is what defines who we are and what we will be.  From Leadership Education, "Core Phase is the basis of an education.  It is the basis of a family, and its generations.  It is, in short, the foundation of a person-who he or she is and what he or she can and will become.  During Core Phase, we lay the foundation for all learning and service in the child's life." 

If I were to ask myself what the most important things for me to teach my children are, my answers might be something like, "To understand our Heavenly Father's love," or, "To want to serve others," or, "To know they are children of God."  My answers would not include reading, mathematics, biology, etc...  So while they are young, I think it's vital to focus on those very important lessons.  I need to ask myself what is essential for these little ones and do it.

The things to focus on in Core phase are: right and wrong, good and bad, true and false, relationships, family values, family identity, family routines and responsibilities, accountability, and the value and love of work and play.

When too much time is spent in academic pursuits, a young child may become confused about what is most important.  Here's another quote (because this book says what I want to say so concisely), "When we give inappropriate attention to academic achievement during these phases, it can teach our children that they dislike academic achievement because everything is hard and boring, and/or offer our children an alternative source of self-worth that is inferior to a genuine and positive self-concept resulting from living according to true values such as faith, good works, and accountability." 

Not that there isn't a time for academic learning.  I read to my babies from the very beginning.  We discuss anything and everything academic in front of and with our children.  They can't help but learn about the things Jim and I study.  My four year old wants desperately to learn about the solar system right now, so we've been learning about it every day.  He wants to be like his dad, and so he pretends to be a father.  He loves books and is making progress every day with his reading.  (Today he sat down and read several pages of a book!)  He asks a million questions every day, and many of them are about science or engineering concepts; I really don't know all the answers.  :)  While these things are important, he still needs most of his time devoted to developing his core.  The biggest deal for me right now, is to not stress out about academic achievement!  My goal is for him to love learning (the next phase) for his lifetime, and I believe now is the time to prepare him for that.         

Triumph Again!

Today we went to the library, and Logan grabbed a random book off the shelf.  He asked me if it was a good one (I'm picky about what I'll read over and over and over and over and over to the kids), so I looked at it and told him it was.  Then I suggested he try to read some of the words in it; it was a very simple Dr. Seuss.  He sat down, I continued perusing, and seconds later he says, "Mom, this says 'ant'!"  He then turned the page, quickly sounded out the next word, and said, "Mom this says 'ants'!"  Yes, it was the same word with an extra 's', but he did it!  My heart seriously leaped with joy.  He felt pretty triumphant.  He said he was done reading at that point (I think he was worried about finding harder words in the book...some fear of failure), so he didn't try anymore at the library, and we somehow forgot to check out that book.  He's starting to read, though!   

Triumph!

Logan LOVES books.  He will spend hours looking at them, and would happily make me read to him all day long if he could.  Even as a baby he would spend hours looking at books.  I remember when I was pregnant with Annie, had no energy, and he knew it.  We literally spent most of our day reading books for the last three months because he took full advantage of the fact that I wanted to sit on the couch...he was only 16 months old!  When he was two we bought a set of magnetic letters for the fridge, and a foam set for the tub.  Then we only put out the letters of his name.  We didn't push it at all, but it took an incredibly long time for him to recognize those letters.  Memorizing the alphabet took forever as well, again without pushing; I really think it was difficult for him.  Annie picked it up a lot quicker without any help from me; the comparison is only to reaffirm that it was difficult for Logan, not that Annie is smarter or anything like that.  She's not anyway.  They both have strengths that the other does not have.  :) 

So, a few months ago I felt impressed that it was time to start focusing on reading with Logan.  We usually spend a few minutes each day with letters and their sounds, and sometimes we try to sound out words together.  Once he is tired or frustrated with it, we stop.  He and Jim have special reading time together some evenings.  They even picked out some of the simplest library books to read together and they are OFF LIMITS to everyone else.  Progress hasn't been fast, but it's always been a positive time for Logan.  I can tell it's really hard for him to understand the letters and their sounds.  Lately he keeps telling me when he recognizes a letter sound in a word he hears or says.  "Mom, snake starts with S!"  That's been awesome to hear.  Then, yesterday, he had a triumphant moment.  He was sitting on the floor staring at a bucket that had writing on it while I fed the baby.  I heard him saying something very slowly over and over, but wasn't really paying attention until he asked me about it.  "Mom what does that say?"  Then I realized he'd been sounding out the word "all".  He'd tried so hard and had read it all by himself!  He's sounded out words with us before and with our prompting, but this was his first attempt to read something on his own.  Well done bud!