Woah... deep.

    

So, please forgive the rambly-ness!

I've been thinking, pondering, musing.  What are my goals with this whole home education thing.

I've read plenty of articles, books, blogs and forum posts.  Talked with homeschooling friends.  I know the standard pros and cons lists, I'm the choir in this 'preaching to the choir' situation.  Plus, I love to sing!  I'll be the choir any day of the week!  I'd love to start a children's choir one day, with all these buckets of spare time I have lying around.  Here's a choir related funny - a reward for sitting through my rambles.

Ok.  Homeschooling.
It started with maths, as things usually do around here... Thoughts about 'grade level' and 'finishing books within the year' and 'school days per month' began to swirl.  We've had a couple of rough months and I'm starting to feel like a very slack homeschooling mother.  This is usually the time when my brain revolts and reminds me that some things are more important than others.  That we chose homeschooling for some specific pros.
What do I hope the maths part of my children's education will look like?  What do I hope they'll leave the nest with?
There is a reason that I choose excellent, deep, problem-solving-y maths programs and spend lots of time on tangents into fun maths.  To paraphrase Zvonkin "Mathematics is the original Science".  I want my children to see maths as a wonderful way to observe the world and express their findings.  I trust (and work) that along the way they'll also learn that 3+7=10 and  (yeah, it's been a looooooooooong time since I barely passed calculus... stretched out s, my old nemesis, I remember you!)

  

This spilled over into other subjects.
English:
I want them to be able to read, understand, critically think about and respond to anything they come across.  I want them to see, hear and be able to use the beauty in our language and it's treasures.  I want them to love reading and appreciate truly excellent works.



Look at that, 3 Neil Gaiman quotes all in a row for you.  His words aren't gospel, but I like these quotes!  And on the subject of English/Reading/Books, a couple more for good measure!

Science - pretty much a mix of Math and English... observe, think, express.

Hey, I think we just found a motto - Observe, Think, Express.  Hmm, needs a bit more fun in there... maybe Observe, Think, Play, Express!  OTPE!  Not quite, I'd still like something about Truth and Beauty as well, but now we're getting a bit onerous...

History - To understand something of the world and it's people, to be armed with other people's experience when they are still young and naive (we can't live every experience ourselves!)

Anyway, this long winded ramble has served to remind me that fun, relationships, rigour, meaning, discipline (mostly the 'self' kind) are an important part of life, and to us, so is homeschooling.  And they go together.  And that's good.  We will try again... starting on Monday.  I hate to be a 'life gets in the way' homeschooler (it drives me mad, you do what works for you!), but homeschooling is a way of life!

Practically, here's something that has been working for us.  Workboxes.  Sort of.  I fill a tub for each kid (refilling each night/morning), slap a task card on it - which the kids stamp off as completed - and off we go!  Works for us, the kids can go on with some independent stuff if I'm otherwise occupied with life (ya know, there's a baby that lives in this house, and the family generally likes to eat most days...), and who doesn't love ticking - or stamping - items off a list!  So satisfying!  I learnt a new word today:

Listography is a book and personal web application which allows users to create and share lists.

Through list-making, users can shape an autobiography and create references for themselves and others.

Some common types of lists are: autobiographical, favorites, motivational, wishlists, to do lists, catalogues, and photo lists.

Users are sometimes called listographers and their collection of lists are referred to as listographies.

And on that very relevent note, I have to go and feed/school/play with/work with/cuddle/read to - DO LIFE with - my children!