Lately I've come across some AWESOME homeschooling articles and wanted to share them with you.
One of the most common (and ANNOYING) questions I get when people find out we are homeschoolers is: "What about socialization?" Other than the Deaf Community factor, I've never really been able to come up with an answer that satisfied me until now. A quote from Lisa Russell's article sums it up:
"The idea of learning acceptable social skills in a school is as absurd to me as learning nutrition from a grocery store."
To read full article, click here.
More specifically, we unschool. Sara Janssen's recent blog post perfectly explains what unschooling is: a life of freedom. She writes: "Unschooling is a lifestyle of learning. It is a type of homeschooling, but we do not “do school” at home. There are no workbooks, no desks, no memorization, no set “time” for school, and no tests. The child is FREE to pursue their own interests."
About the workbooks part, Lochlan absolutely LOVES to work in the workbooks, like me when I was young. This was entirely his own interest and we are only reinforcing that interest. Some mornings we wake up and find him sitting at the dining table working in one of his workbooks. How awesome is that?! Not only that, he has a great interest in learning to read, all on his own. Just yesterday he was reading the See Dick and Jane book I got him on his own, sounding out the words and only pausing to ask me for help with a word or two. We are so immensely proud of him and he is proud of himself too because no one forced him to do this.
There's a bit of "controversy" over the types of books to use for learning to read. The See Dick and Jane books are considered too repetitive and there is no phonological correlation. The phonics books such as the BOB books are considered boring because the stories don't really make sense due to the rhyming words (The cat sat on the mat. The rat sat on the mat.). We have both books to offer but Lochlan gravitates to the very same books that I used to learn to read: See Dick and Jane. :) I can't blame him because the pictures in that book are very charming as opposed to the weird ones in the BOB books. :P
To enroll Lochlan in a Home Study, I have to register with the state of Vermont. I completed his application...just need to print it out and mail it. For my next post, I will share some of his learning objectives for his Home Study at the Kindergarten level. Meanwhile, enjoy your weekend!
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8 comments:
i learned something new today...unschooling. that article by sara makes a lot of sense to me. i always find myself wondering if the things i was forced to learn in school would be useful later in my life but i never needed to use them. math is one of them. sure, it's important to know the basics but to learn about cos sin tan (trig terms), it's unnecessary unless someone wants to learn about them which is great!
also it's so important for parents to be involved with their children's learning and i already know that lochlan is in great hands with you and nick. and kalle will be too! i was thrilled to read the part where lochlan picks up the workbooks on his own, that's great, loch!
i was curious about each state law and found that vt seems to be a little strict...more regulations compared to nj, ct, etc. with no reg, strange. could it be because there isn't a lot of kids that aren't homeschooled compared to vt?
lochlan will be turning 5 this summer, is that right? i'm looking forward to reading about his home study and see how it goes! thanks for sharing! :)
Wow what a wonderul link to socialization and definitely food for thought. Reading it also made me appreciate the nursery school my son is currently attending. They mix ages and integrat all kids, each pursuing their own interests including crafts cooking sewing drawing with plenty of outdoor time (at least three hours a day).
I visited the nearby elementary school and they were proud of their technology (smart boards) and the fact that they push their four year old towards excellence on standardized tests and allow only fifteen minutes a day on the playground. Four years old... that's scary.
I think it's awesome that you're homeschooling. Both C and I were h'schooled for parts of our lives (though it's not something I'm interested in doing at the moment--and not really appropriate for E).
The socialization argument is just baloney. Were we really made to move about in large groups of peers??
Homeschooling or Unschooling is a wonderful prospect, IMHO, it broadens the children's learning capacities.
Children are actually encouraged to learn outside of their logic and languages are exposed much earlier on.
I am so inspired by young Deaf mothers like you and Jenny. Kudos to you both.
I'm a furmum, not a skinmom. I follow blogs of individuals who aren't afraid to make a change and I look up to them.
I *kissfist* you and Jenny!!
nice blog post and congrats on lochlan reading early :) let me introduce myself- i'm pamela, mama of twin girls that'll be 5 in october and an almost 4 month old. i'm deaf as well, but raised in an oral/mainstream environment. anyways, i'm a firm believer in letting children pursue things at their own pace, as well as their own interests. i love following their initiative and will jump at the chance to explore certain subjects at a more in depth manner if one or both is showing this interest. it goes to say, we unschool/homeschool here as well. we have an assortment of workbooks mainly because my girls enjoy them as well. we also do activities that are similar to the waldorf/steiner based programs..
here's my quirk with unschooling, especially with regards to locations. luckily, my girls miss the age requirement for "official kindergarten enrollment" here in MA-- so i have some time to buy before i figure out exactly what i will do concerning the laws. what will you do about that aspect since your son is closer to the age cutoff for technical reasons?
the website, hlsda.org/laws states that MA, like VT actually, is a "State with high regulation: State requires parents to send notification or achievement test scores and/or professional evaluation, plus other requirements (e.g. curriculum approval by the state, teacher qualification of parents, or home visits by state officials)." in my opinion, it puts a huge damper on unschoolers-- is there a way around it?
Hi Keri!! :-)
We are finishing up Year 2 of unschooling for S. Z is actually in preschool (since Feb) but will be unschooled in the fall. She loves playing w/other kids and preschool definitely filled a need for those months, but it's very unstructured - mostly an organized playgroup. ;-)
Pamela - in Vermont, you must submit a curriculum for 2 years... after that, you no longer have to submit one, except for the year in which the child is 12. I submit a sort of "standard" curriculum for the grade, but we certainly are all over the place in what the kids learn!
Evaluation is by portfolio, standardized tests or an evaluation by a certified teacher. There are plenty of teachers around who are unschooling-friendly - we had our daughter evaluated last year for K, and will do it again for 1st grade. There also are Vermonters who homeschool "off the grid" - don't register with the state - but this prevents them from associating at all with the school in their district. (In Vermont, a homeschooled child can take part in any school activities he or she wishes, or take any classes available - so they can play sports, do art, take chemistry in school if they want, but otherwise be un/homeschooled.)
Well, hello! I am Karen Mayes, and I have homeschooled my 3rd grade daughter in the state of Indiana before my husband lost his job and we moved back to Rochester, NY where she's attending the deaf school now. My husband and I are discussing homeschooling our 13 year old son since his needs are not met... the New York State has rules...
Also, I am linking to your blog to my FaceBook group page "Deaf Homeschoolers/Unschoolers".
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