Making the decision to homeschool is one of the most exciting and frightening activities any of us will do as parents. We look around at others who have been doing it for years and wonder how it all happens (and appears to happen so easily); will we ever get to that point ourselves? How do we even begin?
I’ve been home educating my children for four years. My son Ian is now 13; my daughter Eva is 10. I jumped into this adventure at my son’s patient, consistent three-year long request. We have been so successful at home, he’s decided to wrap up his primary education at the public high school, beginning this fall. He is slated to graduate in 2015, at just 14. During his time at home, Ian has established himself as a musical performer, composer, and public speaker. Eva in the meantime, has established herself firmly as an author, writing, editing, illustrating, designing, and self-publishing four books, one for each year of her homeschooling experience. She has also had wonderful experiences in public speaking, talking about her writing career with school classrooms in person and via Skype. Like Ian, Eva has been accelerated several years, finding studies that meet her needs and pace on an individual basis.
You can create your personal success story as well. Today I’m going to start by talking about the over-arching philosophy and approach that has worked for us. Though more intangible, identifying your educational values is the foundation of your homeschooling experience, and an essential first step; the books, activities, curricula, etc., are only secondary to your fundamental mission. In part two of this three-part blog series, I’ll share record-keeping resources (most of which I have designed for my own use), and talk about the importance of keeping track of your work. In part three, I’ll get down to the nitty gritty of unit planning, and share some of my favorite resources. But first, here are some things to consider as you get into the frame of mind of the creative, child-centered home educator.
Take a moment to create your mission statement, asking yourself what your end goals are for education.
My goal has always been clear: raise and educate my kids to be compassionate, creative, insatiably curious, and intelligent individuals who are courageous in the pursuit of their passions and interests, have a healthy sense of self-respect, and are thoughtful in how they interact with the world. In short, I want them to be Awake, and to live their lives to their fullest potential. Everything that follows is in service to pursuing that mission.
Acknowledge the first year as a training period.
Each year you’ll learn something new about your personal style of homeschooling, and the first year will most likely look quite different from your third or fourth. You and your kids will learn so much your first year, so if you struggle a bit with perfectionism, now’s the perfect time to work on letting that go. Creative genius comes from experimentation, and experimentation is rife with many failures. Learn to accept that as part of the process. (In other words, relax!)
Create a verbal or written contract with your kids.
In order for homeschooling to be successful, you and your kids have to let go of the idea that the teacher is in control of the student’s education; in fact, education is a partnership between the student and teacher. Any learning process, whether in a brick and mortar institution, online, or at home, only works if the student is an active participant and is willing to engage with the material. Creating this contract and revisiting it on at least an annual basis can help ensure that your child is fully invested in her education. On your end: commit your time, your expertise, your patience, and your dedication to personalizing your child’s education. On your child’s end: commit to doing his best work (for all projects, not just the ones he likes best), to making active suggestions for improvement vs. passive and unhelpful complaining, to being personally invested in his own education and voicing his opinions as to what he would like to study.
Ask your kids what they would like to study.
My kids and I share control over our studies each year. I require certain subjects like math, science, history, and language, but the kids get a lot of say as well. For example, each year I lay out options for science study: would you like to look at chemistry, astronomy, biology, machines, robotics? and the kids discuss amongst themselves before choosing the topics that excite them most. Some years I don’t even get to lay out those options before they’ve come to me with their specific requests. In addition, each child has his/her own personal passions, which we incorporate in their education. For Ian, it’s music, and we carve out approximately four hours each day for those studies. For Eva, it’s writing, and we incorporate both major and minor writing projects into our year, in addition to studies in script writing, film-making, and story-telling.
Also, don’t forget to take your kids’ personal needs to heart. Asking your super-energetic six year old to sit down and fill out math worksheets is sure to cause a lot of heartache for you both. Instead, consider activities that are going to suit his physical and intellectual needs together, such as throwing huge foam dice across the room and adding up the totals.
Embrace cross-curricular connections, especially when they connect to your child’s interests.
In everything we study, I look for these connections. If you come to our house during “history time,” you’re just as likely to find us studying astronomy or frescos or reading a novel. That’s because we use history as a jumping off point to study science, art, music, literature, and culture, among other topics. When we reached the point in history in which Darwin lived, we took the time to study evolution (it turns out that biology is a natural science pairing to the Victorian history era). We also read and watched some Sherlock Holmes stories and studied Charles Dickens.
In addition, any time I can help my kids explore a topic they love more deeply, I will. For example, last spring, I wanted the kids to write an argumentative essay, but I let them choose their topics. Ian chose to read and write about Your Brain on Music by Daniel Levitan, which explores the neurology of the music experience. Eva chose to explore the role of intelligence in the Harry Potter novels, looking particularly at its embodiment in the story’s heroine, Hermione Granger. By letting the kids choose their topics, they 1) were more engaged in the project, 2) increased their expertise in the topics they loved, and 3) still got everything they needed to out their writing exercise – probably even more, as they genuinely cared about fully expressing themselves in their assignments.
Instead of the typical textbooks and worksheets, choose methods and resources that you would choose for yourself.
This is a fairly simple concept. Say you wanted to learn about ancient Chinese history – now, as an adult. Would you go check out a textbook and run off a bunch of worksheets that quiz you on emperors, dates, and agriculture? Or would you find fascinating documentaries, historical novels, interesting non-fiction texts, Chinese recipes, and recordings of the language? I imagine you would choose the later, and so would your kids. A research-based approach definitely takes more time and energy than a textbook/worksheet. But it is so well worth it!
Reassess regularly and ditch things when needed.
Once every semester, and often two or three times, I sit down with my kids and we discuss what’s working and what’s not. If there are particular activities they want more of, we shift things to make them happen. If we all hate a particular project or text, we walk away from it, even if it was expensive. If the schedule needs tweaking, we tweak it, or turn it upside down, whatever we need. I talk more about this here and here.
Ditch grades.
If you want your children to care about what they’re learning, they need to embrace the learning as a reward in and of itself. If they are working for an “A” in a grade book, then that’s what they will focus on and often remember. But if they are working simply to enjoy the experience of a chemistry lab, a wonderful book, or a fascinating time in history, then the study becomes all. For more thoughts on this, click here.
Ditch grade levels.
In brick and mortar school systems, we assign grade levels to group children together with their age peers. Homeschooling by contrast, allows children to follow their own pace. If your kid is ready for pre-algebra and at the same time struggles with reading, then let him take “sixth-grade” math and read “second-grade” books. When you study science, just study science. Who cares what “grade” it’s in? Find materials that are appropriate to your child’s learning stage, and don’t worry about the rest. For example, this year, Eva will be studying some math typically studied in middle school, but will be reading Charles Dickens’ Little Dorrit, which is normally not offered until college. What grade is she in? No idea. Sir Ken Robinson talks about this in his famous TED Talk on education. I talk more about this with specific regards to gifted children here.
Consider a hackschooling approach.
“Hackschooling” is a new buzzword floating around and is still developing its definition. I use it here to reflect our commitment to attaining the best education possible without limiting myself to one particular method. This means we may study at home or via Skype with a professor across the country, work with mentors, get private tutelage, take public school classes (our state allows homeschoolers to take individual public school courses), or try out online education. Our year normally incorporates all of these resources. 13-year old Logan LaPlante talks about his hackschooling experience in a delightful TED talk here. You can also pick up a book on it (called Hacking Your Education, it has more of a college-age angle) here.
What do you think? Do you find yourself nodding in agreement with these values? Or do you hold other ideas dear? What comprises your educational mission statement?
This post is a part of the Gifted Homeschoolers Forum August 19th blog hop entitled “Homeschooling: Where and How to Begin.” To see the other posts in the hop, click here or on the image to the left.
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These are all great ideas. For me though, as a working mom with a type A personality and very little time to give the kids to explore all of their interest I try to build electives that give them ownership. They do get to select which boxed curriculum I use as I need everything put together for me and my husband to administer school. We actually love partaking in the learning of our kid without the teaching aspect being heavy on us. Even this bit of freedom in their education has proven beneficial. They have skin in the game. Also, I sorta skipped the grade levels also, since my middle schooler is basically skipping the 8th grade and going straight to 9th grade curriculum. At this rate she’ll be able to graduate at 16 yrs old with some Community college credits under her belt as did her older sister.
Hi Nita! Yep, homeschooling is nothing if not individualized. It sounds like you have a great system that works for your family. What I talk about here is simply what works for us. And on occasion we do use some curricula that we have loved. Whatever works for the moment for you and your kids. That’s really what it’s all about!
And I agree with you on the commitment to involving your kids in self teaching. A lot of times the kids are as responsible as I am in learning a particular subject. We’ll all do the research and then share with each other what we’ve discovered. I kind of love that too.
Loved this! I am starting our homeschool adventure with my 8yo son in a couple of weeks, and reading this is so refreshing. We don’t have a set curriculum yet, or a schedule. We have a few “formal” books, a bunch of ideas, a couple of museum memberships, and our library cards. 🙂 I know I will need to constantly remind myself that this first year is really just about figuring it out, for both of us.
Hi Jen! Glad this is coming at the right time. On Wednesday, I’m posting about schedules and organization. On Thursday, resources. Hopefully that will help you too.
It sounds like you have the essentials all squared away. Congratulations on making the plunge!
Gwyn, I am beyond thankful for coming upon this post. I have been an elementary school teacher for 10 years. I have two boys, a seven year old and a 2 year old. My 7 year old began reading fluently at 3 and is now beginning (and enjoying) trigonometry. I knew we would eventually face a battle with the public school system regarding the best kind of education for my son, and this year has been that year. His current teacher and I (my son is in the same grade level I teach) have found ourselves in a fight with the school regarding potential acceleration for him in math. I believe this is purely out of convenience and not really out of concern for his needs. So, after much thought and prayer, my husband and I have decided to take control and homeschool starting next year. It is overwhelming and a complete mindset change for me personally. Everything in your post makes perfect sense, and it makes me excited to start this new journey. I thank you for taking the time to explain your own homeschooling ideas and processes.
Hi Ariel! I’m glad to be a light in the unknown for you. I enjoyed looking at your blog and reading about all of your all-over-the-world experiences. How exciting! I’m a bit envious. 🙂
Your story about your older son sounds very familiar, as I experienced a similar situation when my son was about that age, and we as a family were plunged into this gifted/homeschooling/hybrid education world. It’s had its ups and downs, and like you, I had to completely change my life mindset to embrace the idea of homeschooling. But once I finally agreed to do it (my son kept asking me to do this for three years before I agreed!), I never looked back. It not only opened up a new life for my son and then my daughter, but I grew in ways I never expected. I feel like I appreciate life more now, because I’ve paused to smell the flowers, to look at atomic structure, to think about how the universe began. I might have missed these things had I not educated my kids.
I talk more about acceleration and in and out of the box education all over the blog, so be sure to look around. You might be particularly interested in the sub-categories that drop down under “Education Reinvented.” Let me know if I can help you at any time. And be sure to check out my gifted resources lists. http://steampoweredclassroom.com/resources/gifted-resources/ Keep in touch!
Help! My son would like to write a book and I don’t know how to guide him. It’s our first year of homeschooling after his begging for two years at least! I have always felt like he is miles ahead of me and I don’t want to mess this up! I have just started reading about how to set up project-based learning. I am an art instructor (currently subbing part time), and have taught for 9 years full time, so I cringe when you say to toss out grades and everything that seems to have structure – the typical path that would get him to college! But I also believe he would thrive! I can’t wait to be able to “see” how this will work out, but he wants to write a book now! Do you have a “quick start” manuel – lol!
Hi Alicia! I’m so glad you wrote. And don’t get me wrong – we do create structure, especially when the kids are in need of it. But the structure supports the kids, not the other way around. Grades – at least for my kids – have a negative impact, and actually detract from their learning (I know this because they’re hybrid students, and when they’re in school, what they talk about it grades; when they’re at home, what they talk about is the learning). But do what is comfortable for you and your son, and just feel free to toss out anything that doesn’t serve his education. That’s all there is to it (ha! sounds so simple, doesn’t it!)
But you asked about writing a book, and you’ve come to the right place. My daughter (Eva) self-published her first book when she was 6, and she has produced a new title every year since, and two in 2014. I’m going to first direct you and your son to Eva’s teaching videos on the writing process. Start there (they’re short, and walk you through every step): http://www.evaridenhour.com/writing-videos.html. Then click on the English tab under the “Arts and Humanities” category. I tell lots of Eva stories there, and how she has explored her authorship. In particular, take a look at this post to get you started: http://steampoweredclassroom.com/exploring-english-through-project-based-learning/
But to tell you here: self-publishing for Eva has opened up a huge world of learning opportunities. Writing, editing, grammar, narrative – those are the obvious points. But graphic design and layout, art and illustration, photography, set-building and lighting, filmmaking (YES! she made a super cool book trailer that you can also see on her website), blogging, interviewing (because lots of people want to interview her), public speaking, budgeting and accounting (sales). There is so very much to be explored. And if I graded her on it, it would frankly belittle her experience. She is making it as perfect as she can, because it reflects her. Know what I mean?
Keep asking questions – I’m happy to offer any support that I can. You can always email me too at steampoweredclassroom@gmail.com. Good luck – you can totally do this. 🙂