The Homeschooling Handbook_ From Preschool to High School - Mary Griffith [57]
We have set hours when I am at the girls’ disposal: available, but not in their faces. This time slot is 1:00 to 3:30 because it coincides with the day-care kids’ nap time. It is after Shauna is fully awake and before the out-of-control “after school” schedule of dance and singing begin. Rosie prefers a more hands-on approach from me, but Shauna is only likely to appear for an assist if something in algebra really stumps her.
Our favorite resources are our World Book encyclopedia, our Macintosh computer (with CD-ROM), the library, friends, and personally selected teachers for given things. We travel extensively and just returned from two weeks in New England seeing friends and family. We frequent many museums and love local festivals of all kinds.
Unschooling: Finding One’s Passions
Deborah and Michael live in a small town near Chicago. Their oldest son, Ted (seventeen), attended school through fifth grade; Melissa (eleven) and twins Patrick and Sarah (four) have never been to school.
The most obvious resource around here is books because they spill out of every available space. Reference books of all sorts, fiction, nonfiction, picture books. I pick up books about things that interest me, books about things my kids show interest in, books someone someday may want. I love beautifully illustrated children’s books, so I’m fortunate that my twins humor me by enjoying my reading to them for hours.
We have art supplies of all kinds, from Crayola crayons to artists’ pastels and charcoals. Paper of all sorts by the ton. Craft materials, fabrics, scrounged and recycled stuff for creations. Clays, inks, and paints. Wood and leather scraps. Tools of all descriptions. Some were acquired for the kids, some for the adults. The kids have access to it all, either under supervision or alone when I’m convinced they won’t kill themselves or destroy the house.
We have science lab supplies, a microscope, a telescope, and hand lenses. Math manipulatives, bought and homemade. Puzzles, blocks, construction materials. Musical instruments. Tape recorders. Games. Two working computers, not counting the screamer belonging to my oldest son, the apprentice graphics wizard.
The kids all have library cards and a scheduled library trip once a week. Sometimes we’ll make another trip if one of the older two convinces me it’s necessary and the weather is too bad for them to bike. The little ones would be there every day if they had their way.
Deciding to deschool my oldest gave me an excuse for all this—we would have had it anyway. My choosing not to work outside the home has meant that they are all experts at finding good stuff at thrift and secondhand stores and know how to bargain at garage sales.
So far, I’ve only had energy problems with my oldest. He spent six years being ground down in the public schools and emerged feeling stupid and negative. Still, left alone with plenty of time and options, he eventually came to see the need for math and writing skills and asked for help. My experience so far with the others shows that kids are eager to be part of the adult world and will learn to write, read, and calculate if they see those skills used around them. So I think out loud a lot and do things like taxes, writing letters, going over the budget, whatever, when they are around instead of after everyone is asleep. I don’t sit them down and give a “lesson,” but