just me rambling again
it's difficult to explain to family and friends about the way we homeschool.
if you say the word "school" to my almost-six-year-old, he smacks his hand to his forehead and groans, lol. "i don't want to 'do school'," he'll say.
so we pretty much avoid that word in general. we also avoid words like "lesson" and "subject," because they have similar effects. :)
instead, we use words such as "learning," phrases like, "let's play a game," etc. i try not to let the kids know they're learning, because even though they've never been to public school, they've picked up that learning is a chore, something you *have* to do, something that is to be suffered through until it's time to go play again.
stoopid school systems. never thought my kids would have to go through de-schooling, but here we are.
my point was that my mother-in-law keeps saying things like, "how is school going?" etc. when she brought the boys home this morning (they spent the night with her last night), she said, "if you hurry and get your schoolwork done you can come back and play this afternoon."
ugh.
not that i mind them spending time with her or anything, because that's fine, although they really don't need to go back up there this afternoon (and they won't), it was the idea that we sit down and "do school" for a few hours and then it's over.
the way we learn (lately, because naturally this changes quite often) is this: wake up, eat breakfast, do date on calendar, color or paint or play with play doh for a while, science experiment where we talk about the subject we're working on that week, i slip in a bit of history during snack, we play a few phonics games, they play freely until lunch, after lunch it's naptime, then we read a story and play a game related to the story, after snack is a letter activity for my younger son, then i slip in some math (usually with a computer game), and then it's free play until supper.
so yeah. our learning isn't sectioned off into a neat little block of time that can be "gotten through" and then it's playtime; our learning IS playtime. my kids love it because i'm playing *with* them. learning flows right into playtime and vice versa. i love it because they're having a blast and learning and lighting up when something clicks and they understand.
i wouldn't trade it for the world. i've been here for the reading of my oldest son's first sentence, the awesome questions my four-year-old comes up with, and my two-year-old singing the days of the week song at the top of her voice. why would i want to send my five-year-old away every day so someone else could experience those things?
if you say the word "school" to my almost-six-year-old, he smacks his hand to his forehead and groans, lol. "i don't want to 'do school'," he'll say.
so we pretty much avoid that word in general. we also avoid words like "lesson" and "subject," because they have similar effects. :)
instead, we use words such as "learning," phrases like, "let's play a game," etc. i try not to let the kids know they're learning, because even though they've never been to public school, they've picked up that learning is a chore, something you *have* to do, something that is to be suffered through until it's time to go play again.
stoopid school systems. never thought my kids would have to go through de-schooling, but here we are.
my point was that my mother-in-law keeps saying things like, "how is school going?" etc. when she brought the boys home this morning (they spent the night with her last night), she said, "if you hurry and get your schoolwork done you can come back and play this afternoon."
ugh.
not that i mind them spending time with her or anything, because that's fine, although they really don't need to go back up there this afternoon (and they won't), it was the idea that we sit down and "do school" for a few hours and then it's over.
the way we learn (lately, because naturally this changes quite often) is this: wake up, eat breakfast, do date on calendar, color or paint or play with play doh for a while, science experiment where we talk about the subject we're working on that week, i slip in a bit of history during snack, we play a few phonics games, they play freely until lunch, after lunch it's naptime, then we read a story and play a game related to the story, after snack is a letter activity for my younger son, then i slip in some math (usually with a computer game), and then it's free play until supper.
so yeah. our learning isn't sectioned off into a neat little block of time that can be "gotten through" and then it's playtime; our learning IS playtime. my kids love it because i'm playing *with* them. learning flows right into playtime and vice versa. i love it because they're having a blast and learning and lighting up when something clicks and they understand.
i wouldn't trade it for the world. i've been here for the reading of my oldest son's first sentence, the awesome questions my four-year-old comes up with, and my two-year-old singing the days of the week song at the top of her voice. why would i want to send my five-year-old away every day so someone else could experience those things?