Unschooling in the homeschool day

So, to be honest, I'm an avid unschooler. The only homeschool curriculum my chidren use is the Time4Learning program, and they willing utilize it daily. They adore it. We all do! It's the part of our day where we actively involve ourselves in a curriculum or busy work. It's organized, detailed, fun, and my children enjoy talking about their lessons throughout the day. It's a balance I've come to depend on.

The other very important part of our day, is the unschooled portion. The portion that encompasses the children's larger part of thw day. We're constantly learning :) We have books on various topics, encyclopedias (cool pictures for my kindergartner), videos, DVDs, and countless trips to botanical gardens, the zoo, aquariums, museums, and the library. We learn from others, we learn from experiences, we learn from discussions, we learn from documentaries, we learn from our faith, we lead by example, and the children most of all enjoy life and all it's possibilities. We are not threatened or bothered by statistics and characterizations of what the educational status quo thinks or feels. I refrain from marginalizing my children's learning on a level system or on a grading system. They are all unique and creative in their own individual ways. They are growing physically and emotionally in a way that is organic. When they desire to learn about specific subjects or a particular area of something...we have T4L and other resources that are readily available. I wouldn't change this lifestyle for anything in the world. Who knew that learning could be so enriched with individuality :)

My baby turned 21 yesterday!

Hard to believe I was blogging about how cool it was to watch scary movies with my 16 year old just a few years ago, and now I have a 21 year old that bought his 1st drink at a casino! It's bittersweet. I get a text from his father saying: can you believe our baby turned 21 today? Yeah dude, allot has happened. I'm a proud mama.  I have different ideals than when he was growing up and school aged. I always brought him up to be free thinking and eclectic in his style of dress and music, but I was strict and very religious in our values and morals. Not a bad thing, but I was definitely a bit of an extremist. My son refused to be homeschooled. I think ultimately, I was a bit more pushy with the public schools he attended. I definitely made my presence known, and he only had a small handful of teachers that I felt failed to foster creativity. He and I were blessed with those individuals that cared for education and providing creative outlets for him. I'm thankful for that :) Happy birthday my baby....mama is proud of you and I love you even more!

Adventures in Homeschooling!

So, I have been using Time4Learning for the last year or so and have been pleased with the results. My children enjoy the animation, characters, lessons, and personalized lesson plans. I like the fact that I don't have to micromanage them like I did when we used a boxed curriculum. We are in an age of technology and children and teens today use the computer for everything. More than I would like, but it is the way of the world so hey :) I alternate the days I allow the children to have off. After all I am a single work at home mother of 4 and my time is spread so thin.

One of the things that has been a major source of contention for me is the scrutiny I receive from my family/friends. I come from a long line of teachers that feel that my children are not "socialized" enough. They feel that my education level isn't sufficient enough to teach my K, 2nd, and 3rd grader. I have a BA in Art History and I guess that makes me the village idiot lol. I enjoy art and research....even history, so I share those passions with my babies too :) Time4Learning is so awesome because there is a virtual teacher that shares valuable lessons such as: Language Arts, Math, Language Arts Extension, Social Studies, and Science. There's a super cool section called Odyssey Writer that gives writing assignments and grades them accordingly. If you as the teacher of record runs into any problems or have questions, the friendly staff at T4L are there to answer your questions and assist with that lesson. The really cool thing is I have NEVER encountered a technical problem, ever. The one time I had a problem with the test scores not showing correctly, I found that the browser I was using wasn't as compatible with their programming. It is preferable that one uses IE or Firefox browsers. I religiously use Chrome.

I want to also note that I am an unschool advocate. Fortunately in my state the laws on homeschooling and unschooling are pretty relaxed, so we are free to use the world as our learning forum. There are days we explore museums, nature, the library, or just take a day to watch Bill Nye the Science Guy on YouTube :) Beakman's World and Horrible Histories are a favorite as well. We are supporters of PBS daily and nightly, and The Create Channel is a definite favorite. I believe that one learns at a more organic pace when you are free to explore what fascinates you as opposed to what some institution deems the appropriate materials. Now don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with public schools. Some are exceptional. I dislike the culture of public school, the standard of teaching children to "test", compartmentalizing children in groups of smart, ADD, and underachievers. I always felt inadequate in public school. Though I was always in gifted classrooms, I was a social child and therefore labeled "hyperactive". In this day and age, that would have been considered ADD I'm sure. Thankfully my mother was a clinical psychologist and unschool advocate, and she eventually earned enough to put me in "free thinking" private schools. The schools that were at best unschool extensions of my own life a home. The only obscene part of this world was my tuition was $8000/yearly. Who can afford that?

So as of late I have been in a financial crunch. I work from home as a call center agent and have scaled down on our lifestyle and requirements. We live in a small 2 bedroom apt with 1 bathroom, our neighborhood is in the city and houses mostly minority working class and lower middle class residents. We have a used car and shop for clothing, household necessities primarily at Walmart, Kmart, swap meets, thrift stores and online discount  retailers. Amazon has definitely been a favorite for inexpensive homeschooling materials and school supplies. Now keep in mind, I have the non committal homeschooling approach. Only when I see that my children are struggling in certain areas do we have a more direct lesson planned homeschool day. For the most art, I find that my children learn from life experiences. It's important that children have materials and literature at their disposal to allow their creative juices to form, ebb, and flow. We are lovers of the arts. We enjoy science and exploration as well. My children love meeting new people and are friendly and engaging. They are inquisitive like most kids their age, and aren't withdrawn or shy when they meet their peer groups. They understand that some children are homeschooled while others attend public school. They've been in a public school setting (recently for  a month or two) so they understood the ins and outs of the scheduling and protocol. They were quite fond of their experiences, I felt as their mother there was no room for individuality and/or encouragement to embrace fine arts. There was a lack of the important things in life such as: music, art, recess, nutrition classes, religion, and freedom of expression. Bullying was a constant, not necessarily with my babies, but in the environment. The teachers weren't given adequate tools to promote or foster curriculum's that were near and dear to their own hearts. Most of the teachers had lost their enthusiasm for teaching because of the new laws that state if children failed in testing areas, their jobs were compromised.

In conclusion, I hope financially I can remain a stay at home, work at home, unschool/homeschool mom. If not, I hope that God will provide the best teacher/public school that will continue to promote the values and free thinking mindset that my children possess today.