Are We There Yet?

Temple of Knowledge. Or maybe it's a library. Same thing, really.

As I sit here thinking about all the possibilities for learning in the coming months, I'm struck by the realization that I am still learning.  Don't get me wrong, I haven't been floating haphazardly through life without paying attention to my surroundings.  I have realized before today that I'm still learning. I've always thought that that learning was happening because I am so intentional about it.  I'm going to college, reading books and experiencing the world with the intention of learning. What I realized today, though, is that I would still learn even if I wasn't being so intentional simply because I exist and don't hide under a rock.

Here's an example of what I mean.  I was scrolling through a social media sight when I happened upon an interesting video.  I watched the video and thought about what I was seeing.  Then I decided to do more research because I still had questions. It was at that moment, while I was relaxing in my quiet house drinking my morning coffee on the first day of my vacation, that I realized I was learning.  Unintentionally.

In today's educational environment, children and adults seem to assume that the point of education is to reach some sort of end goal.  For some, that goal is a meaningful career.  For others it may mean simply financial stability.  Others, still, may just be waiting for their education to be done so they can start living their lives.

15 years ago, everyone, even I, assumed that I was done with my education.  I had the degree that I needed to get a good job and help to support my young family.  What no one realized, though, is that I was still constantly learning for the whole four years that I followed that career path.  Schooling hadn't prepared me for the practical work of the day to day tasks involved in my employment. So I had to learn how to do those things.  When a boss asked me if I'd be interested in working on a project with him, I timidly replied yes.  I left his office and immediately began scouring resources to learn what I needed to know in order to be an effective partner on the project.

Shortly thereafter, I embarked on a new career with a whole new set of expectations and educational requirements. I also began homeschooling my children and discovered a whole world of knowledge waiting for me!

My point is this:  I've still got a lot of life left (at least I hope I do) and I still have so much to learn that I can't imagine ever reaching an end point.  I'm definitely not there yet.

My husband recently learned (from a pretty amazing mentor) what is necessary to replace a toilet and flooring in a bathroom.  He continues to learn about his own interests as well as the people around him.  He is a student of life.  He is not there yet.

My children are still young and just starting their educational journeys.  My 18 year old is, for the first time, looking at her future in terms of how she wants to earn a living (this idea didn't become real to her until just recently). My younger daughter still moves from one interest to another with such fluidity that the observer often misses the transition.  They are not there yet.

My 81 year old grandfather is learning more everyday about his love for God through a newly discovered religious path. He is learning to navigate this world without the woman that he shared his life with. At the same time he is experiencing, for the first time in 60 years, the excitement of a new relationship.  Even he is not there yet.

Celebrate learning!

To me, this is all evidence that we are NEVER there.  We can all take comfort in the idea that we will not ever be done learning and growing.  Whatever of those basic, "necessary" subjects our children haven't mastered by the time they leave us, they may tackle at a different point on their journey. (I'm living proof as I relearn basic math!) I take comfort in the idea that my family and I have the rest of our lives to learn all of the things that we still want to learn. So do you!

My first lesson about education

What is education? I have been asking myself this question for a long time - at least as long as I have been homeschooling my children. Not just asking, but struggling over it. The truth is that the answer is different for everyone.  Which makes the struggle greater because no one else can tell me what education is and what it should look like.

So, I began doing research.  Not too far into my search, I found an answer. Children should be the masters of their own education because only they know what is right for them.  Only they can determine their interests, abilities and path.

"This HAS to be education!" I thought. 

Through Unschooling, I learned that the interests of the student are important.  Children are not just empty vessels for adults to fill up with information.   Exactly right!  As I watched my children, I realized that yes!  They do have their own interests and needs.  Why shouldn't I encourage them to pursue those things? 

I decided to adopt the Unschooling philosophy and we were off on our new learning adventure. That was around the time of my very first post on this blog. One of the things that I thought would be great about Unschooling was all the time I would have - to blog and pursue my own education. My kids would get an education and I would get an education.  Win/Win! Right?  

**Disclaimer - What you are about to read may be upsetting for some readers.  I know that Unschooling works for many families.  I know this because I've read books and heard personal accounts from people that I actually know.  If you are reading this and you are one of those people for whom Unschooling is the answer to the question "What is education?" - Great!  Nothing that I am about to say is a reflection of what I think of you.  It is all my personal experience and journey. Please be patient with me through my description of this journey, or skip over it to the end where I say "That's was my first very important lesson on my journey to answer the question, "What is education."**

In theory Unschooling was great.  In practice, it was awful.  It seemed to me that, even after an extremely long "detox" period, my children were not doing the hard work necessary to become proficient at anything.  Sure, they were learning things.  What they weren't doing was struggling with concepts, tackling difficult subject matter or putting in the work when things got a little boring or hard.  

  What I discovered is that Unschooling, at least for my family, has a hidden curriculum.  As a result, my children were learning and embracing three important and mortifying lessons: 

  - I don't have to do anything I don't want to do.

 -  If I don't think it's interesting, then it has no value.

 - If something is hard, I don't have to do it.

I know, I know!  Those that have had a great Unschooling experience are probably shuddering right now, assuming I did something wrong. They may be right. However, it is not nice to kick someone when they are down. Possibly the worst thing someone can say to me as I struggle with what to do next would be, "Well.  You should have....."  Maybe your right.  Maybe I should have.  But I didn't, plan and simple.  This is my journey and my journey is different from yours because it is supposed to be.  

After thinking about all the things that my children weren't learning, and after fretting about the future, I had my first "Aha!" moment. The first inkling into my answer to "What is Education?" 

Mastery!  Of course!  I was upset because my children were not mastering skills.  The more I thought and read, the more I realized that those people that I view as being educated are masters in their subject matter.  What I want for my children is for them to completely understand what they are studying.  I want them to sweat over it, become frustrated, experience successes, fret more, become frustrated again, experience failure and sweat more.  I want them to really work hard to get to know the subjects they are studying.  

So there is was.  Mastery.  It became a tag word as I tried to convince my children, now deeply committed to the freedom of Unschooling and resistant to my interference, that some guidance and input from me didn't mean that they were losing anything. Honestly, though, despite my epiphany, I had no idea how to apply this idea to homeschooling.  

So I just talk about it.  A lot.  I talk about hard work and about the gratification of completing a difficult task.  I talked to my children about what I want for them as a parent.  I talk about my own struggles with learning and I tried to set a good example by struggling through the tough-for-me-to-master subjects.  I let them see me cry and I let them celebrate with me.  

Slowly, I began to see a shift in my children.  At first, just in their understanding, and then in their actions.  As my children began to apply themselves more in their studies they began having their own successes.  Now, we can celebrate as a family about the amazing learning that is happening in our home.

That was my first very important lesson on the journey to answer the question, "What is education?" I'm so glad that we are going through this struggle. I would love to hear about the struggles and aha moments that others have had in trying to decide how to define education.  Please comment below!

  

Pit firing our own pottery - attempt 1

We decided that it would be fun to try and pit fire our own pottery...last May.  This week, we finally got around to doing it.  It was really fun, and felt great to work on a project with both of the girls together.  We did a little research online just to get an idea of what we should do.  I am a blue/orange - and for those of you that know about the colors - my orange side really just wants to get to it and my blue side just wants my orange side to be happy.  So...here's what we did:








We chose the lower garden for our pit because the soil was soft and easy to dig in.  The only problem was that we have not been caring for that garden and it was completely overgrown.  Melody and I pulled out the weeds in one corner of the garden while Elgin went to find the garden tools to dig the hole.













The girls worked hard to dig the hole.  As is the usual for them, they picked a tool and set to work.  If you'll notice, Elgin has the big shovel and, as such, did most of the heavy and hard work.  Melody is using a little plastic shovel.  While Melody worked from start to finish digging, she did not move nearly as much earth as Elgin did.  When I was a kid....this arrangement would not have been satisfactory for my sister and me.  We would definitely have had some conversation and maybe even some swapping of tools during the job.  Not these two.

 Digging the hole didn't take long at all.  I did get in there and help them dig, too, but they really did do the bulk of the work.  I was more the project manager and camera person in this one.

 I wish that when we were done we would have measured the hole.  Our goal was to make it 1 square foot, but I'm pretty sure that we over shot it.

Once we started digging, many healthy, fat worms started wiggling their way to the surface to see what all the commotion was about. 

Here's one place where we sort of improvised.  The directions that we read about doing this indicated that we should put 6 inches of sawdust on the bottom of the hole.  We did not have sawdust so instead we used wood shavings.  We decided to just "see what happens".

 We placed some clay items into the pit and made sure to put wood chips into any openings.  These are not items that were made recently.  Last year we purchased clay and made a whole bunch of clay items.  Melody has been saving this green-ware all over the house.  It's in every room so we really can't wait to perfect this process and start firing some of her favorite pieces!  This time, she put in only the pieces that she wasn't concerned about losing.  Elgin wasn't able to find any posts or other clay items that she made.  Hopefully by the next attempt she will have found (or made) something that she can add!  After placing the clay items, we covered them with crumpled newspapers.

 Thankfully, we've had some windy days after which our yard has not been cleaned up.  We were able to find plenty of sticks to lay over the newspaper and used several small logs from this years wood that were too small to cord.

The girls took turns each lighting a side of the pit.  We thought  this would be the best way to start an even burn. 

Elgin had some difficulty with the lighter, and so Melody's side of the fire was burning pretty well by the time Elgin started lighting hers.  

 Finally!  The fire is burning.   We stood around and watched for a little while, made jokes about cooking s'mores.  Then we got down to the business of some much needed yard work.  We had to wait for the fire to burn out completely which took several hours.  Then we had to wait until the next day to open the pit to see what survived.  Unfortunately, as we weeded the rest of the lower garden, we heard at least two loud pops.  We were pretty sure that we were listening to the pots exploding.

While weeding the rest of the garden we remembered that we had planted potatoes on the other side!  We checked and sure enough the plants had died off, making it difficult to tell where to dig and indicating that it was indeed time to harvest!  It didn't really take that long to find our 'taters and to our surprise, there were a few very large ones!  The large one pictured here was about 3 times the size of a normal potato and weighed it at nearly 1.5 pounds!!

So on to the next day.  Bright and early, Melody and I were up.  Waiting.  At around 10, we just couldn't take it anymore and went in and woke Elgin up.  The three of us headed out to the pit, opened it and discovered many, many pieces of broken pots.  Melody spent a few minutes taking inventory of the pots she didn't put in to make sure that she didn't lose any of her "favorites".

It was not a surprising result, especially after hearing some of the pots pop the day before.  We've decided that we will definitely try this again.  One change that we'll make is to buy "high firing" clay as the instructions suggested.  I'm not sure what else we might change, it'll depend on how we feel and what resources we have available when the mood strikes to give it another try.

Has anyone else ever tried it?  What was your result?  We'd love to hear from you about your experience!

Yes...I sure did file an NOI

I wrote one entry. One entry and I was sure that the blog thing just isn't for me. Over the summer, though, I realized that this might actually serve a purpose. So I'm sucking it up and giving it a try. (We did find a salamander, by the way. Well my husband and kids did, anyway!)

So, for those of you that don't know what it is, an NOI, Notice of Intent, is a form that is recommended, but not required, to be provided to the school district. It is a very controversial topic among homeschoolers.

Honestly, I generally avoid talking about this with homeschoolers. I enjoy a good debate, but not this one. Probably because, if I were to follow my own rules, I wouldn't even consider filing an NOI. When I think about the request to do so and the school districts blatant lie stating that it's a requirement when it is not, I feel very angry. I hate being controlled, especially by the government and I hate any reminder that the government owns me and my children. I hate having to answer to someone else. I hate the idea that someone else (in this situation, the government) thinks they have the right to pass judgement on me and my children. But, still, I filed an NOI for each of my children today.

Listen, I've heard lots of horror stories about the state claiming educational neglect, repeat visits (harassment) from DCF and families torn apart. I can't stand the reality that someone can come into my house and take my children away because they don't think that I'm properly educating them. However, In my town, to this point, homeschoolers are generally left alone. Except for in the beginning of each school year when the district sends out a letter explaining to us how we are required to file an NOI (even though we are not). This letter all but threatens a truancy complaint if the NOI isn't returned. To my knowledge, the school district doesn't follow up with families that don't file. But, by sending this letter they are reserving their right to do so. I file an NOI because, if I do, they'll be less likely to contact me as I've complied with their requests. I just want them to leave us alone, and I feel that is more likely if I do file the NOI than if I don't.

It really is as simple as that. Would I prefer to be brave enough to take a stand? Sure! Absolutely! But I'm not willing to risk the security of my family to prove a point. I do have my limits. I've accepted the fact, to an extent, that I live in a society where generations before me have given my government way too much power, (and where the current generation is making it worse, not better). I'm just trying to work with they system that we have to raise my children the way I want to raise them.

2015 Update - I no longer file a notice of intent form.  I actually received a letter from my local superintendent last season confirming that the NOI is, in fact, only a recommended procedure.  Kudos to him for doing his research and being respectful!

Seach for Salamanders

We've never even found a salamander. We talk to other families that have, and are always envious of their experience. We do go on lots of hikes, and we've seen some pretty amazing things. We've discovered some pretty amazing things about each other. I'm not sure that on our hikes we've even ever talked about finding a salamander, and I'm not sure that we've ever actively searched for one.

As I sit here, thinking about blogging about our homeschooling experience, this nagging thought never leaves me. What could I possibly have to tell people about homeschooling? We've never even done something as basic as finding a salamander! Isn't that a childhood right of passage?

Although, it is raining outside. There are rocks in my yard and children in my house to overturn those rocks.

It occurs to me that every home educator is on their own journey with their own passions. Everyone is searching for something. Today, we will search for salamanders in these perfect conditions and tomorrow....well. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

I'd love to write about the history of American Education, about what we spend our days doing, about how excited I am that my oldest child will be homeschooling again with us next year, about all our passions and discoveries. Another time, though. For now, we've got important work to do!