Homeschooling, Unschooling, But Not "No-Schooling"

For the record, here in the On Living By Learning Household, we are in full compliance with New York State regulations regarding home instruction.  Not only do we cover every subject that we’re supposed to cover, we go above and beyond.  It’s just not always on the typical school schedule.

Our Typical Home School Day

When Teen Daughter gets on the bus to go to Parker School, Tween Son starts reading in bed.  Sometimes he’ll read an assigned book, not usually something he would choose himself, and sometimes I let him read whatever he wants.  Depending on what we’ve got lined up for the day, reading in bed time can go on for 1-3 hours (and sometimes even longer!)

Next, Tween Son tackles his core school work: Math, Grammar, Spelling, Journal.  I set a  stack of books  on his desk with post-its indicating what needs to be done that day, and he chooses the order in which he will get it done.  Usually, he prefers to tackle the Math first as it is his least favorite subject, and the one that takes the longest, anywhere from thirty minutes to a couple of hours.

Math Is Not His Favorite Subject

Most days, his Math work is drawn from Singapore 4A, but sometimes I’ll assign other material that ties in with the current topic.  We start by looking at the textbook to figure out the lesson, and we work through the sample problems together.  Sometimes that’s all he needs to understand the topic, before going off to do the workbook exercises on his own.  Other times, I spend a lot of time going over the material in different ways, and we end up working through the workbook exercises together, one at a time, until he gets it.  Recently, I found that even with doing all the workbook exercises, supplementary material, lots of one on one coaching, chapter reviews, and end of unit test; I’m still not confident that he has mastered basic equivalent fraction concepts.  Thus, I’m still adding in fraction practice problems to his current daily workbook exercises in Geometry.

On some Fridays, Alex attends a Math Counts Club where he spends two hours working through a sheet of math problems, independently and with a group, until they discuss the solutions at the end.  He doesn’t do any other math work on those days.

Language Arts

After the dreaded Math, he likes to tackle the Language Arts work because he can zip through this quickly.

These days, we’re using the Harcourt Language textbook and workbook for Grammar; but Alex does not do assignments every day, as Grammar practice is incorporated into his other written work.  When he does explicit Grammar work, we start by reviewing a section of the textbook together, and then he goes off to do the textbook and/or workbook exercises.

Most days of the week, we work through Spelling Power together.  First, he fills out the Spelling Journal header with the date, level, and spelling rule of the day.  Then, I test him on the words he got wrong the previous day, before testing him on the new words.  As he writes each word, I check for accuracy, and those that are wrong are rewritten correctly.  Afterwards, he runs through a practice checklist with missed words that includes writing a sentence with each word.  Later, I check the sentences for spelling and grammatical accuracy.

Daily, Alex writes in his journal for at least ten minutes.  Some days, he writes whatever he wants to write; other days he completes an assignment such as a book review or expository essay.  Many of these are later input into his blog, sometimes directly, but other times after substantial revision where I comment and he edits and/or rewrites.

Social Studies, Science, and Everything Else

This is where the typical homeschool day no longer applies.  Most days, after completing the core, we try to include Social Studies and Science.  For the most part, we’re covering Social Studies chronologically, using the Story of the World as our guide; and we cover science subjects as independent units.  However, we sometimes go off on a learning tangent that turns into an unscheduled unit, such as our current exploration of Leonardo Da Vinci which combines all of these subjects.

Recently, this has led to assigning various readings about Da Vinci, as well as You Tube videos and other interactive features online.  I’ve also asked Alex to tackle art and invention projects.  Sadly, I have to admit that I’m more excited about Leonardo Da Vinci than my son.  I had hoped that he would want to recreate more of the inventions, but he doesn’t at this time.  At least, he’s been exposed to the ideas, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see this reflected in future activities.

That’s how learning goes.  I lead by example and instruction, inspiring unforeseen endeavors, but I can’t control the results.  And I wouldn’t want to.

Homeschool Enrichment

Daily exercise is an important part of our lives, whether as part of school or not.  At a minimum, Alex walks the dog most days of the week.  We use this walk to break up the day between school assignments.

Additionally, Alex has weekly physical education classes, as well as seasonal activities.  Right now, these classes are not within typical school hours as he joins non-homeschooled students in evening and weekend classes such as fencing and horseback riding.

Today, we’re heading to Jiminy Peak for an afternoon of skiing as we join big sister at Parker School’s Winter Fridays Program.  We’ll alternate this with Math Club for six weeks.

Yesterday, we spent the afternoon traveling to Saratoga Springs for a Homeschool Indoor Games Event.

Tomorrow, on a Saturday, Alex will spend the morning observing a Homeschooler Spelling Bee, and the afternoon at the barn where he will receive a group horseback riding lesson.

On Sunday, he’ll meet with his team to do a post mortem of the First Lego League tournament, and to plan robotics activities for the rest of the year.  And, we’ll probably go skiing in the morning.

Next week, we’ve lined up a Science Class and Boy Scout Outdoor Event on Tuesday, Indoor Games on Thursday, Math Club and Cub Scouts Pack Meeting on Friday, and so on, and so on.

Unschooling or “No Schooling”

Due to core subject coverage, enrichment programs, and our family’s interests; our homeschool days spill out into evenings and weekends.  It does not leave as much time for unschooling as I would like.

What is Unschooling? (reprinted from www.unschooling.com)

Have you ever described ‘red’ to a person who is color blind? Sometimes, trying to define unschooling is like trying to define red. Ask 30 unschoolers to define the word and you’ll get thirty shades of red. They’ll all be red, but they’ll all be different. Generally, unschoolers are concerned with learning or becoming educated, not with ‘doing school.’ The focus is upon the choices made by each individual learner, and those choices can vary according to learning style and personality type. There is no one way to unschool. Click here for more definitions.

Unschooling is trusting in a child’s natural curiosity to teach them what they need to know. The parent is there to answer questions, talk, infect the kids by their own curiosity about life! (though curious about what you’re interested rather in what you think would be good for the kids to be interested in!), bring in cool resources (that the kids can feel free to ignore if it just isn’t the right moment for their interest to ignite).

I imagine that unschooling is child-led learning in its purest form, and I’d like to encourage this at home.  But, there is so much that I want to include in our learning plans, that I end up encroaching on self-directed initiatives.

Rarely, I let Alex have what he calls his Pajama Do Nothing Days where he does whatever he wants.  And, on the days that we don’t have other plans or visitors, he’s free to do whatever he wants after the assigned school work and chores are done.  Usually, I find him reading his books (right now that means he’s rereading some favorites such as The Phantom Tollbooth.)  And, it means that he spends a LOT of time in virtual worlds like Roblox, and now, Dungeon and Dragons.

Is his computer time unschooling or “no schooling?”  Personally, I think that he’s doing a lot of learning while playing games online.  Not only is he learning programing skills such as scripting to create video games, but he’s discovering important lessons about collaborative vs. combative engagement in the virtual worlds.  Most importantly, he comes up with the ideas that interest him, and the topics that he’s willing to research and pursue.

This is his self-directed learning.  I’m his mom and his instructor, so I keep an eye on what he’s doing and I suggest other directions, or refer him to his mentor, the Geek Expert, as needed.  Mostly, I’m hands off and don’t control this area of his life.  I believe that this is the best way at this time to allow him to learn about Technology, and to develop tech skills, but it is not “no-schooling.”

What does he know?

Anyway, all of this is a long-winded response to a comment by Montgomery County District Attorney James “Jed” Conboy regarding his prosecution of local New York homeschoolers for failing to turn in paperwork in what he described as “the no-schooling case.” (See bold text below, emphasis added for easy viewing.)

Editorial: What was home-school parents’ crime? (The Daily Gazette, Schnectady, NY, January 15, 2010)

If Richard and Margie Cressy, of Glen, had kept their four kids
chained in the basement for seven years, or otherwise subjected them
to serious harm, then they would have deserved to be arrested and
charged with endangering the welfare of children, as they were by the
Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department in late December. But it looks
as if all they did was fail to comply with the state’s paperwork
requirements for home-schooling.

Criminal charges should never have been brought, even if the
authorities truly believed there was no education going on, which they
did not. But now that the family is in compliance, District Attorney
James Conboy should drop the case.

Parents have a right to home-school their children, as long as they
can demonstrate to the local school district that their curriculum is
substantially equivalent to what they would get in the public school.
The Cressys admittedly didn’t do that (in seven years of living here,
they contacted the school district about none of their four children),
but they maintain they were home-schooling the children all along and
can prove it.

They say they offered some evidence to the Child Protective Services
representative and Sheriff’s Department investigator who visited their
home after receiving an anonymous tip in November. But according to a
Sheriff’s Department spokesman, “it wasn’t enough to prove they were
not in violation of the law.”

The investigator gave the parents until Dec. 17 to file all the
necessary paperwork with the district, says their lawyer. He says they
did so on Dec. 12, and on Dec. 21 received a letter from
Fonda-Fultonville School Superintendent James Hoffman that they were
in compliance. Hoffman has since told the Albany Times Union, “They’re
very nice people and I’m confident that there was some teaching going
on. …. I see it as a case of best intentions gone awry.”

The Sheriff’s Department spokesman acknowledges that they knew about
Hoffman’s approval of the Cressy’s home-schooling plan, but a week
later, on Dec. 28, still chose to arrest and charge them with
endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor that can come with a
punishment of up to one year in jail and a fine of $1,000. The Cressys
were booked, had their fingerprints and mugshots taken, and were
issued an appearance ticket to show up in court. The court date is
Jan. 26.

In a phone conversation Wednesday, Conboy said he wasn’t told in
advance of the charges by the Sheriff’s Department, but plans to
pursue them now. As an indication of his attitude, when asked about
“the home-schooling case,” he said, “You mean the no-schooling case.”

He said that if the Cressys had produced any piece of paper or
anything to show they were educating their kids, “We wouldn’t be
having this conversation now.” Perhaps he should have another talk
with the Sheriff’s Department spokesman who acknowledged that some
proof was offered that the Cressys were educating the children, or the
investigator who concluded that they were “somewhat educated.”

When asked why the Penal Law was used in this case rather than
Education Law, which has a provision for bringing charges of
“educational neglect” in Family Court when parents of public school
students allow them to be chronically truant, or home-school parents
don’t do the job, Conboy replied, “I don’t practice in Family Court.”

Law enforcement officials have discretion and the Sheriff’s Department
should have exercised it in this case. Prosecutors also have it, and
Conboy should do the same. He says “the only thing we want to do is
make sure their kids are being educated.” It appears they were before,
and there is a plan and mechanism (through school district monitoring)
for making sure they are in the future. Drop this foolish case.

We Lean Toward School-At-Home, But Wish We Leaned More Toward Unschooling

Jennifer, Blogging ‘Bout Boys, asked:

“Wow, you have to do a lot of work in NY! I’m just curious how this works out in a day-to-day fashion. Do you have a typical routine/schedule? Where would you describe yourself on the school-at-home to unschooling continuum?”

I’m sorry to say, as much as I’d like to be closer to the unschooling continuum, allowing Alex to direct more of his learning, I’m way too close to the school-at-home continuum. 

Even though we don’t follow a typical 9-3 desk work schedule, we end up covering all the NY State Core Curriculum either during daily desk work or through various enrichment programs.  At least, since we are homeschooling, I’m able to differentiate the work to skip over material that he’s already discovered on his own.  This is particularly important when we cover Science, as he seems to have absorbed through osmosis all the information and skills that are expected through his grade level.

In Science, as in the other subjects, we cover more than is required in New York.  We also add subjects to our curriculum, such as Foreign Language, that are not required in this state.  And, we provide the school district with the link to Alex’s blog as an ongoing portfolio of his work, but this is NOT a requirement at all.

It’s just my nature to go above and beyond, and sometimes that’s not such a great quality.  For me, and for my children, the real challenge is finding balance, figuring out when to chill, and really, truly, DO NOTHING!