Mother Earth (Tyra)

this is a bit of a tease for me. This article is from the umbrella school that i am registered with in TN. I like this school because it is very hands off. they believe parents' know what is best for their children and have no requirements for how a family educates or what curricula to use. a few months back they had an article that was a segway for this that put the thought out about children being self teaching. This is NO WAY unschooling but dag, it is a start. Ren, i don't know if you have joined this school but I am thinking about advocating for an unschooling article or doing something to reach out to other unschooling families enrolled with them. there is a yahoo group affiliated with this school but i cannot really deal with that group for many reasons, one of which is that a HUGE part of the discussion is focused on curricula and other things that don't vibe with my unschooling lifestyle. BUT at least their is some level of understanding that children don't need to be taught and I give them credit for that. I guess folks have to crawl before they walk.

Peace
Tyra
----- Original Message -----
From: HomeLifeAcademy
To: HomeLifeAcademy
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 1:07 PM
Subject: SELF-TEACHING, PART II



~HOME LIFE NEWS~
Vol. 3, No. 10. 2005-2006 Academic Year. May, 2005



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Life a Little Crazy?
Encourage Self-Teaching
by Lynn Knowlton, HLA Elementary Counselor


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"Since my children know exactly what they need to do every day, they begin their chores first thing while I cook breakfast and then begin their lessons after breakfast. "

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If you read my August 2005 HLA Newsletter, you already know a little about the Knowlton's crazy life. But this school year is almost over and it has been our best year thus far! I began the school year a bit stressed so I never would have imagined it was going to be such a great year.

My husband is still traveling both domestically as well as internationally. And we still live on our small farm with lots of animals. In fact, if anything, I am even busier on a daily basis than I was last year. So, what made the difference - what changed? My curriculum and home-schooling methods changed and that has made all the difference in the world.

First, let me refresh your memory with a statement I made in the August 2005 Newsletter, "I am moving my children toward self education." But after deciding this I began re-evaluating the materials I had purchased during the summer and realized I had purchased teacher intensive and teacher directed material. What was I thinking? My independent learner was going to be miserable and I didn't want to pull her back. I wanted to encourage self-teaching. So, I began searching on the Internet and found the Robinson Curriculum (RC), www.robinsoncurriculum.com.

I had seen the ads in various home-schooling magazines for years but never really gave it much thought until now. One thing I really noticed was that many of the families using RC had been using it for many years with very large families. Many of these families had older kids in college that were raised using RC. I had my husband look things over and after discussing long-term goals for our children and praying about it we finally decided - yes, this is the route we need to take.

We began using RC the end of August 2005. We wanted our children to love learning and be self-educated. We knew this skill would be invaluable in college as well as in the work force. We wanted our children to be problem solvers. We also wanted them to be able to seek truth for themselves and not just accept everything they are told as truth. We wanted their education to be one that flowed continuously as part of their life instead of something that stops and starts.

For those of you who have never heard of RC, it is a K-12 curriculum for home-schooling families where the goal is for the children to become self-educated. Of course you do not have to use RC for your children to be self-educated. But some curriculum lend themselves better to self-education than others. Many are just too teacher intensive and will not work as well. RC on the other hand was designed for the very purpose of teaching children to teach them-selves.

Now, the simplicity may be difficult for some to believe but RC focuses primarily on the 3 R's (reading, writing, and arithmetic). The 3 R's are the foundation for all other learning. If your child is poor in math then scientific fields of study or other mathematical fields in college will be very difficult. If they have poor reading and writing skills - well - think about it.

I began to realize, that by doing 5, 6 or 8 individual subjects with my children, that math becomes only 1/5, 1/6 or 1/8 of what is studied. If my children are focusing on the 3 R's then math becomes 1/3 of what they are studying. By putting more time into math and doing lessons on Saturdays whenever possible, they can accomplish higher levels of math before graduation than their public school counterparts.
So, you are probably wondering, "when are they going to learn about science, history, geography, social studies, art, music, grammar, spelling and etc"?

Here is how it works Monday - Friday:
-- Math (one lesson) Children self-teaching math learn problem solving skills/critical thinking skills/math terminology.
-- Writing (one page) teaches Spelling/Grammar/Penmanship/Composition/Copy work from Encyclopedias or topic writing about.
-- Reading (one or two hours-depending on age - up to 3 hours for high school) covers subjects such as but not limited to History/Science/Literature/Economics/Social Studies/other interests.
-- Saturdays they do one lesson of math when our schedule allows.

With RC, they know exactly what they need to do day after day and year after year until they graduate. They will move through the curriculum at whatever pace suits them and they will be finished when they finish.

Since my children know exactly what they need to do every day, they begin their chores first thing while I cook breakfast and then begin their lessons after breakfast. They know exactly how long it will take to do their lessons unless they choose to dawdle. They work on lessons until they have reached 100% accuracy and then they are free to explore their own interests the rest of the day.

They have learned to take responsibility for their education. My job is to check their work. I do not have to do any planning except to plan the volume of lessons for the summer. They read the books in order and do the math lessons in order. They write about whatever interests them.

It did take a few weeks to get the hang of doing things in a new way. The hardest part for my daughter was switching from the Math U See videos to self-teaching in Saxon 8/7. She struggled at first because she was not familiar with the math terminology but is now 99% self-teaching in Saxon. She will, on occasion, ask me for help and I will listen as she reads the lesson aloud step by step and explains to me what it says. I will ask her leading questions when necessary. My son has done well also. I would sometimes have to remind him to get busy and quit dawdling but he is a smart boy and soon began to realize it was his time being wasted.

The literature is so rich that we had to begin in some of the earlier books so they could get accustomed to the writing style and vocabulary. I let my daughter read one book from each author on the lower reading levels and then begin reading the books in order for the upper level books. I have determined how far into the reading list I would like her to complete by the end of the summer. She will work steadily to reach that goal. Some of the books have tests, for some she will write an essay and for others she will just read - it is her choice. The books come with a list of vocabulary to learn.

The reason this year was our best thus far is because it was greatly simplified yet very productive. If mom is relaxed, this filters over into the rest of the family. We will steadily work through the curriculum one day at a time on a year round relaxed schedule. Summers will be more relaxed so the children can still enjoy their summer activities but still be simple and productive.





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Home Life News is a monthly newsletter resource provided to all HLA teachers. HomeLifeAcademy offers parents the freedom to choose their own books and custom design a learner-centered educational plan to meet the interests and needs of each individual student. From Kindergarten to graduation, HLA provides record keeping, transcript, counseling, resource links, college placement and more, allowing parents to do what they do best, lead their children into a life-long love for learning!

www.homelifeacademy.com

We believe God gives every child unique and wonderful gifts to use for His glory and honor. Our mission is to inspire and equip parents to help develop those gifts




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