My HSed grad student wants to research HSing for her MA project. ??s for you.

[cklewis]

:scratch I don't know where to begin. . . . And if you mods think this fits better somewhere else, feel free to move it. I'd like to get the reactions, however, of the currently homeschooling or formerly homeschooled.

She perceives a big lack in higher education. While admissions departments are all about wooing homeschooled students to their universities, the faculty are a little oblivious to this HUGE movement/change. Education departments don't realize that the students sitting in front of them may be there with the full intention of homeschooling *only* (not actually teaching in any "formal" school). I hope that makes sense. She's saying that lots of students choose ed degrees so they can better teach their own children; but when they get in the classroom, the faculty are talking about "in public school, this and such. And in Christian school, that or this." Homeschooling isn't even in their purview.

She wants to propose a one-semester class to our school that would focus on how to begin HSing. Choosing curriculum, for starters, is ominous.

That's right now all she's got.

_________________________________________________

What are your reactions to that idea? Your pure, unadulterated opinion. No holds barred. :glasses

Would you have appreciated such a class in your undergraduate years? Would you or someone you know take that sort of a class whether or not you were enrolled in a degree program (she's thinking about proposing it as a night class)? Did you or do your children fully intend to attend college knowing you'd homeschool? Did/do you plan your coursework for that? Did/do you major in education?

I have told her that she can't just make the class a big commercial for our uni's press. :doh I think she understands that. Frankly, *she* has no experience choosing a curriculum or starting HSing, and that's why she's interested in researching it all. She was a music ed major who fully intended to homeschool her kids (never wanted to actually teach in formal schooling).

Anyway, :ty

C

[Leslie]

I don't know of anyone who took a college course for the purpose of being a better homeschooler - most of what we learn is from word of mouth and the internet. Things like choosing curriculum get so specialized depending on your child's learning style and your own philosophy of education, that I don't see how a semester class could do the subject justice. I also don't know how I would feel about a public teacher with a very schoolish-structured background and perspective suggesting what curriculum I, as a non-traditional educator, should use. A class like that might appeal to a homeschooler planning to do "school at home," but I can't imagine a public teacher wrapping her mind around the concept of unschooling or eclectic child-led learning. It's such a totally different paradigm.

To be honest, this is a problem I foresee if the NEA gets their way and begins requiring homeschoolers to have a teaching certificate: homeschool parents will be forced to learn how to apply classroom techniques and textbooks designed for thirty kids at home, and that just isn't what homeschooling is all about.

Does your grad student know that there are at least seven main approaches to homeschooling with their own educational philosophies and curriculum suggestions? (More about those here (http://www.homeschool.com/Approaches/)) How can all those options possibly be covered in a semester night class?

I'm a Charlotte Mason homeschooler, and I've been to a couple of conferences that bring together Charlotte Mason educators from both private schools and homeschools. Even with us all having the same educational philosophy, it's like we're coming from two different worlds. I have no idea what it's like to have to apply Charlotte Mason's principles to a class of thirty children, and those teachers have no idea what kinds of issues I face as a Charlotte Mason educator at home. For me to tell them how to teach their classes would be as presumptuous as them trying to tell me how to teach my kids at home.

I respect what your student is trying to do, but you did ask for honest reactions, and that's my knee-jerk response. ;)

[CelticJourney]

I was an education major my freshman year in college - all of the 'classroom management stuff' sent me running in the opposite direction. The good thing was that it caused me to really look at what I was planning to do, why, and what my alturnatives were. It was quite a liberating time for me and I think AP/GBD is a continuation of 'what is my vision/calling/desire of my heart' for x........ ok, enough about me.

Ok...topics that could be researched/presented are things like:
learning styles and how curriculum does or does not address them,

optimizing 'real life' experiences - for example, my dd and I are working at a wildlife center but I am not sure how to use that experience to maximize the learning opportunity for her. My friend and her children ran a fruit and vegetable stand for a friend this summer. So the question is this: does curriculum help the learning process in these situations or does curriculum 'take the joy out of it'.

early childhood development - homeschoolers tend to start earlier than their 'out of the home' counterparts because 1) learning is an outgrowth of living and 2) if they have an older sibling they are playing in the schoolroom and absorbing materials they hear. So a four year old may be able to tell you all about the water cycle, but that doesn't mean they have the fine motor skills to write a paragraph about it.

One additional thing that these professors might not be taking into consideration as well is that many homeschool moms will continue to explore learning opportunities in their own lives, in addition to teaching - don't know if that is useful or not.

Any help?

[Leslie]

Thinking a little more about this, there must be a reason why homeschoolers are taking classes at the college; most homeschoolers don't take classes. If your student could find out what those particular homeschoolers are looking for, what they want to learn at the college, it might help her to know how to best serve them. Their needs and desires might be very different from the needs of the general homeschoolers at large.

[cklewis]

Ooooo.. . . :yes :ty both. Let me chew.

Her "vision" for the class is to have an actual homeschooler (with some sort of credentials) teach it. She admits that she only knows the school-at-home type of approach. I showed her some Charlotte Mason stuff. :scratch

More chewing. . . .

C

[Leslie]

Her "vision" for the class is to have an actual homeschooler (with some sort of credentials) teach it.


That could be very intriguing.

Off the top of my head, I'd guess that the homeschoolers taking college classes are the "school-at-home" type, or, at least, that's where they're starting from. But if she's envisioning a class to focus on homeschooling, then she probably intends for it to appeal to a broader base of homeschoolers, in which case, the questions she'll be asking may be different than she thinks.

In my mind, I'm drawing a parallel of a hospital proposing to offer a class to prospective home-birthers. It could be done very well, but only if it was done by taking a step away from traditional institutionalized medicine and looking at the broader picture--and with both groups of people willing to accept that there might be something of value to learn from each other. It couldn't be properly done without at least half of the input coming from a midwife, if that makes sense. Your student's vision of having it taught by a homeschooler is a good first step.

[cklewis]

Ooo -- Leslie. That makes sense. The hospital comparison. :think

Except that many homeschoolers *do* end up in higher education. Maybe not in an Ed major, but in higher education. At least, I would say I have about 1/3 of my students were homeschooled.

Is that what you mean?

Still chewing. Have to make a big phone call right now, and I'm nervous. :nails

C

[Leslie]

Except that many homeschoolers *do* end up in higher education. Maybe not in an Ed major, but in higher education. At least, I would say I have about 1/3 of my students were homeschooled.


My son has been homeschooled from birth and I expect that he'll end up in higher education. But your student's class would be geared to parents to help them homeschool, is that correct? A class to help homeschooled students make the transition from homeschool to classroom might be interesting, too.

It would be interesting for me, as a homeschool mom, to know how those 1/3 of your students are doing. Do they have good study habits? Does the novelty of school socialization distract them from lessons? Is there a trend among them, some problem, that homeschool parents should know about? I once read a teacher complaining that homeschool students coming into the classroom tend to be "needy." They're so used to one-on-one and instant feedback, that they need constant direction and seldom take initiative to just figure out how to do the work on their own. Since I read that, I've tried to step back when I can and let my students work out their own problems. That's useful information that a public teacher could share with homeschool parents--pitfalls they've observed that homeschool parents don't see.

[CelticJourney]

Except that many homeschoolers *do* end up in higher education. Maybe not in an Ed major, but in higher education

maybe a good place to start is looking at why colleges recruit homeschoolers in the first place. What does homeschooling offer that is beneficial in the college environment. One thing I have heard is that homeschoolers get used to managing their own assignments, so that is one less transition to make. So...maybe....what do we want the next generation of homeschooling moms to know to optimize their child's education if they are planning to go to college?

[cklewis]

Quickly. . . . I'm on my way out the door. . . .

But Leslie, I can say that in 1990 when I started teaching *freshman,* I could pick out the home-schoolers. They felt "needy," like you say.

Now? I hardly know. Of course, I teach upper-level classes, so that may play into it. But now *if* it comes up (and it sometimes does in discussing politics or whatever), I always think, "Oh! I didn't realize the #s of hsers had increased that much!"

:)

More soon. . . .

C

[CelticJourney]

in 1990 when I started teaching *freshman,* I could pick out the home-schoolers

That is part of the generation that still had to hide during school hours and try not to bring notice on themselves. Homeschoolers now, thanks to the efforts of our forerunners, have a lot more confidence, a lot more poltical clout, and have done better about forming co-ops for the older kids to get a 'taste' of someone teaching them other than mom and higher level math and science when a family desires that. We are no longer viewed as quite so 'weird' as in the past and I think that is reflected in the attitudes of the children.

[ArmsOfLove]

To be honest the idea, unless it was a completely separate from a university/college, more of a modular community college sort of course, makes me blanche :shifty I appreciate her idea that she would have a credentialed homeschooler teach it but, tbh there is no degree *in* homeschooling so just because someone has some credentials doesn't mean that they are a good homeschooler :shrug And I foresee it being a school at home formulaic class--how to construct a classroom in your home. And if you have a homeschooler they would be ONLY able to teach their particular flavor of homeschooling :shrug Unless you have a team of teachers representing every major approach and sharing curriculum ideas.

I can imagine lots of moms being interested in a class like this, I cannot imagine many women pursuing a class like this or many people pursuing a degree and finding this worth their time :shrug

[Chris3jam]

:tu Leslie. Right now, there are a lot of "teaching methods". There are the people that follow John Holt. . .Charlotte Mason. . . .Raymond Moore. . . .Montessori. . . .those that use curriculum. . those that do not use curriculum. . ..those that are former teachers and those who are not. . .

I once read a teacher complaining that homeschool students coming into the classroom tend to be "needy." They're so used to one-on-one and instant feedback, that they need constant direction and seldom take initiative to just figure out how to do the work on their own.

Hm. . ..now, I've heard the opposite. That hs'd students tend to be more independent than makes a teacher comfortable. They will question more and not understand some of the limitations that are put on them as concerning the class work. I've also heard that they tend to get bored easily, also.

AFA my children, I notice that they don't want to wait. . .and I frequently have to "call them down". A good example of this is last night. The boys were helping me in the 4 and 5 yo class and they were making CD fish. Well, I had two helpers and wanted the helpers to help with the glueing. . .my 8 yo just proceeded. And messed one up. . .no biggie, except I told him to wait and he didn't (and I was running out of CDs!). Right now, I'm not moving fast enough for him and he just took out a pot, filled it with water, started the stove (gas :eek), and is waiting for it to come to a boil so he can put in the tortellini. The other day, my dd didn't want to wait for me to get up, so she took the step stool and climbed up to get something she wanted from a shelf. I am a public school product myself and I tend to wait until someone tells me what to do, or suggest something, or ask someone I consider more knowledgable than I am. I :shiver to think what they would do in a class situation! Now, am I fostering a spirit of independence? or will they not ever be able to acclimate to the "real world"?

OOps! Sorry. . . ..rambled off on a rabbit trail. . . . . . .. :O

The classroom situation and the homeschooling situation are so different, that I would be very interested in seeing how she is going to pull this off. . . . .. .I mean, classroom teaching is the antithesis of the homeschool situation, unless one *is* using the "school-at-home" approach.

Oh, and I think that hs'd kids end up in "standard" higher education, since it is not as readily available as the myriad homechool curriculums and help out there (which is why I think there are many more homeschoolers now than before). Those tend to stop at the end of high school, so, in order to have an accredited degree, they really do not have much choice but to go to college.

[TulipMama]

Haven't read all the replies, but it would be interesting to do a class combining child devlopment and educational theories--waldorf, montessori, classical, charlotte mason, traditional textbook, principle approach, etc. Also focus on child learning styles--auditory, kinesthetic, visual for starters.

Tons of material for a class. And while it could be targeted as homeschool prep, it's crossover info that is appealing to psych, soc, ed, etc fields.

[Stonebeck Farm]

I’ll start with the easy questions and think about the harder one

Did you or do your children fully intend to attend college knowing you'd homeschool? Did/do you plan your coursework for that? Did/do you major in education?

I knew I wanted to homeschool from the time I was 13, even though I knew no homeschoolers in real-life. ( I loved an old book called Maida’s’ little School and adored Little Men.) I have two bachelors degrees: Special Education and Math and Math Education. I took some classes I thought would help and the rest were just to fulfill requirements. I choose Special Ed: Mild – Moderate specifically because I wanted to homeschool. I liked the emphasis on individual learning and designing a learning plan based on the specific needs of each child. It would best prepare me to understand individual needs of my own future children. I though elementary ed would be useless as it would mostly teach me how to “control a class room.” I wasn’t interested in a classroom of elementary ed kids. Special Ed also allowed me to consider more alternative education methods- which I have always been interested in. I learned more from my 2 student teaching opportunities than any of my actual classes. I chose math because I loved calculus and was sad that I didn’t have any more room for math classes in my schedule. (I got my degree in MA which requires all Mild Moderate Special Ed students to have certification in another ed- normally (aka 99.9% of the time in Elementary Ed) )

DH also knew he wanted to homeschool his children. He was a math education major too. But he also knew he would be a public school teacher so I think he remembers his classes better than I do. I did the work needed to get an A but didn’t invest much in my courses I thought wouldn’t pertain to homeschooling. He seems to remember much of what we learned.

DH is currently getting his Masters in Curriculum and Instruction. The students in his classes seem to be more ant-homeschooling that all of the professors. In one current class, he is preparing a speech on “The Best Developments In education.” The professor provided a list and DH chose homeschooling. The professor was glad he did.

[Leslie]

IDH is currently getting his Masters in Curriculum and Instruction. The students in his classes seem to be more ant-homeschooling that all of the professors.


I'm not surprised that the students are anti-homeschooling - most people training to be a teacher in a school setting are passionate about public schools and the the institution of public education. But I'm surprised the professors are less so.

[Stonebeck Farm]

At least the professor of his current class is honestly open. (I've been meaning to check the homeschool list to see if he has a relative homeschooling- quite a few public teachers up here have kids that are homeschooling.) Neither of us were overly surprised about the students. Although when I was in school (graduated 14 years ago), I don't remember that much animosity in our teacher ed program. Quite a few of my friends were planning to work in private or Christian schools. (I went to Boston University- a secular institution.) I was on an ROTC scholarship so I wasn't even planning to teach. That might be part of my experience- I hung out with those that weren't 100% into the public school. Overall, there wasn't as much strong feeling then against homeschooling in teacher ed programs most likely because homeschooling was not so open. It probably didn't seem to be a threat.

Oh- I just thought of this and this may be why the professors are open- one of the lead professors in the department is homeschooling his son. (They go to our church.) Maybe he indoctrinated some of the other professors. :mrgreen

edited to fix my horrendous spelling- my masters is in aerospace NOT English!

[Leslie]

>> Overall, there wasn't as much strong feeling then against homeschooling in teacher ed programs most likely becasue homeschooling was not so open. It probably didn't seem to be a threat.

I think you're right. The NEA probably makes sure that all prospective teachers know the worst of homeschooling, and how "dangerous" it is. (And now even Dr. Phil, with his upcoming show about homeschooling, is helping them portray homeschoolers in nothing but the most negative light . . . )

[LittleSweetPeas]

I'm a bit confused--what is her MA degree program? Is she going for her MA in Ed? If so, her project idea sounds too narrow and not applicable to education as a whole. JMHO as a credentialed teacher who is also looking at MA programs right now. :)

I would say that she could expand on her inital idea and design a course in non-traditional educational approaches for the home and whole classroom or something of that sort. So she could hit upon what the non-traditional classroom options are and the non-traditional approaches to education and how they can be used in both traditional and non-traditonal settings. For example, CM. What is CM? What is its allure in the non-traditional classroom (HS, Co-ops, etc.) and how can you apply CM strategies in the whole classroom setting? Montessori: who was she, what does it teach, how do you incorporate Montessori into a public school classroom focused on state standards, etc.

I would've loved a course of that type during my credentialing process. Most credential candidates begin to get a bit dismayed at the approaches being offered to us. It would be very appealing to be exposed to different ideas and options and possibly guide teachers into non-traditonal classroom settings as well such as Montessori Schools or Waldorf.

[Leslie]

So she could hit upon what the non-traditional classroom options are and the non-traditional approaches to education and how they can be used in both traditional and non-traditonal settings. For example, CM. What is CM? What is its allure in the non-traditional classroom (HS, Co-ops, etc.) and how can you apply CM strategies in the whole classroom setting?


I think I can put her in touch with someone who could give her some info with applying CM in a classroom setting. And I could help with CM's "allure in the non-traditional classroom."

[Chris3jam]

Oh. I about forgot. I don't know where/when I have seen these. But, I've seen stuff on the web where they are using Montessori in the higher levels in a 'classroom' setting. . .so, these are 'schools'. Also, the Charlotte Mason approach. I'd have to try and remember where I've seen those. . . . . :think

[cklewis]

I'm a bit confused--what is her MA degree program?

It's in Rhetoric. She's more concerned with dismantling the prejudice *against* homeschooling. She was homeschooled and plans to homeschool. So she's trying to figure out why higher education sometimes *really* gets it and sometimes really doesn't.

This is *all* very helpful though. Keep it coming. .. . :ty

C

[LittleSweetPeas]

I have never heard of an MA in rhetoric! :lol

I don't honestly see how the class would really work then. So does this fall under the department of communications studies? I'm just trying to get a feel for how the degree program is structured to know what audience she is really trying to target. In all honesty I admire what she's trying to do but it seems like she's missing the target and has a really weak project at best. :shrug I know, that sounds so harsh but I just dont see an entire class being presented on the argument to homeschool or for homeschoolers in higher education or a prep class in HS. Maybe she should just write a positional paper/thesis rather than a project?

:popcorn

[cklewis]

No, it's not harsh. That's part of the burden actually. She's considering what it would take to convince the School of Education to include such a class. Does that make sense? It's a persuasive project.

C

[LittleSweetPeas]

No, it's not harsh. That's part of the burden actually. She's considering what it would take to convince the School of Education to include such a class. Does that make sense? It's a persuasive project.

C


Ahhh, I see. Well, I'm not persuaded. :giggle As an educator I would've been far more interested in a class on non-traditional techniques. She needs to keep in mind that home education isn't generally accepted within the education community as an equal choice and since these students are looking to be classroom teachers there wouldn't be a high demand for it. Now, if she wanted to do a community extension course for homeschooling parents she could try something like "Techniques and theory for the home educator" or something of the like. But it seems as though most HS parents would shy away from that because of what was mentioned before with wanting to keep schools and government out of HS lives.

[Chris3jam]

I must confess that I'm still a bit confused. Because the "home" is such a cornerstone for "homeschool". How can there be a translation? I mean, when you take out the "home", you get a skewed kind of a picture. Plus, each home is different. Some have more children. . .some have less. Each home has their own dynamics to deal with. Even applying different approaches (Montessori, CM, Waldorf, etc., etc.) would not really apply. The venue of "home" is just soooooo different than the classroom. Parent vs. teacher. . . .different organization. . . . etc., etc.

[cklewis]

No, it's not harsh. That's part of the burden actually. She's considering what it would take to convince the School of Education to include such a class. Does that make sense? It's a persuasive project.

C


Ahhh, I see. Well, I'm not persuaded. :giggle As an educator I would've been far more interested in a class on non-traditional techniques. She needs to keep in mind that home education isn't generally accepted within the education community as an equal choice and since these students are looking to be classroom teachers there wouldn't be a high demand for it. Now, if she wanted to do a community extension course for homeschooling parents she could try something like "Techniques and theory for the home educator" or something of the like. But it seems as though most HS parents would shy away from that because of what was mentioned before with wanting to keep schools and government out of HS lives.


Well, I dare say that we're at the second-most homeschool-friendly uni in the nation. First is, of course, Patrick Henry. But when you look at the research on homeschoolers in secondary education, *all* of the studies -- ALL of them -- were done here (Bob Jones University) by our faculty. That's odd in one sense. But we are VERY, VERY open to the whole thing, but not very informed. That's the disconnect she's finding.

The "home" dealie-do is interesting as well, Chris. :think

C

[Leslie]

That's true - I think the original idea was to offer a class to homeschooling parents, and now it seems to have evolved from there. :giggle

Some of the appraoches that homeschoolers use (Montessori, Charlotte Mason) were originally designed for classroom use.

>>Rhetoric. She's more concerned with dismantling the prejudice *against* homeschooling.

Is this just an assigned project for the rhetoric exercise, or does she actually intend to persuade the school to offer the class? Does her grade depend on her being successful?

If her concern is to dismantle prejudice, is a class the best way to do that? Is she hoping that getting homeschool parents into the school for classes will create a dialog between them and the teachers? Or that teachers will view them in a better light because the parents are taking the trouble to learn how to educate through the traditional accepted channels?

At the CM conference I went to (a conference for teachers and parents to study Charlotte Mason for homeschooling and public/private schools), it was really inspiring to see both homeschool parents and classroom teachers working together to understand a common educational approach. I think that being involved together, seeing each other's dedication to really understand the approach, helped us to view each other less antagonistically. But the conference was put on with the cooperation of both homeschool moms and teachers - both led individual sessions.

In this class, you mentioned having a homeschooler "with credentials" teaching the class. Most homeschoolers aren't credentialed, and I think it might be more effective to use an experienced, knowledgable homeschooler without credentials, because one of the main prejudices is that only a credentailed teacher can properly teach. And one of the pluses of homeschooling is that the parents themselves go on to educate themselves on their own, both to keep up with their kids as they learn along with them, and to perfect their teaching techniques. In other words, reading and learning and gaining expertise often happens outside the classroom, and homeschool parents are often as good an illustration of this as homeschool students. A credenitaled homeschooler will only perpetuate the concept that only credentialed teachers should homeschool, which might not help with the prejudice against homeschooling.

[cklewis]

Well, "credentials." :shrug Somebody who's done it. A lot. I think that's what she meant. Or what I meant. She was trying to think of way to say, "Not me. I couldn't teach it." YKWIM?

C

[CelticJourney]

I think it would be interesting to include homeschool parents who have classroom experience so that they could compare and contrast the needs and benefits of different methodology. I have a friend who taught math at the middle school level and is homeschooling her three children.

I also think there are people that could be considered more 'credential-ed' than others. Years of experience for one thing. Leadership in the hs community where they come into contact with homeschool issues outside of their homes, etc. It could easily be a panel discussion with a variety of formal teaching background and teaching styles.

[LittleSweetPeas]

But who would actually take the course? I know if she is targeting undergrad or grad students you are just busy trying to get your program done and are looking at taking the classes that will mean the most in your professional career. This wouldn't be one of them. It would have more luck targeting HS parents in general.

[cklewis]

Here was the conclusion of her initial literature review.

Home schoolers are recruited by schools such as Stanford, which views them as more likely to be curious and eager learners. Stanford wants students who have a solid academic background, but is especially interested in students who exhibit "intellectual vitality."[1] Since Stanford is a prestigious school, the admission department there can select students who have that solid academic background and also exhibit intellectual vitality. Unfortunately, BJU and most other universities around the nation have students who lack a solid academic background, lack intellectual vitality, or sometimes lack both. The five home schoolers that I interviewed seemed to have fairly solid academic background. However, only one of those home schoolers mentioned a desire to learn anything because of pure interest in the subject. Ironically, that student probably had the weakest academic background. Overall, I observed that the students I interviewed had low intellectual vitality.

Not every home schooler will love learning. Yet it seems that home schooling should be the setting most likely to produce graduates who are passionate about learning. Why, then, do home schoolers as a group perform at levels similar to other students in college? Do home schoolers simply have trouble adjusting to higher learning at an institution or is there a deeper problem? Have too many home schoolers started looking at their education as school to be endured instead of learning to be pursued? For those students who do lack intellectual vitality, who grudgingly submit to the drudgery of schoolwork, what can be done? How can parents encourage a love of learning in their children?

I bolded the most interesting part (to me, at least). I have to wonder if this lack vitality is because of a "school at home" approach and/or a view that school like home is just another punishing thing to endure. :bag KWIM?

Thots? Maybe I should start another thread? Nah. . . . let's stay here.

C

[jghomeschooler]

Hmmm, interesting. I know that dd definitely saw hs that way while we were doing a "school at home" program. She did not WANT to do any school work, it was terribly boring, anything that was otherwise interesting to her was turned into boring school work with the program, LOL. Now that we are back to unschooling, she is pursuing knowledge on her own again.

[cklewis]

Hmmm, interesting. I know that dd definitely saw hs that way while we were doing a "school at home" program. She did not WANT to do any school work, it was terribly boring, anything that was otherwise interesting to her was turned into boring school work with the program, LOL. Now that we are back to unschooling, she is pursuing knowledge on her own again.


This really seems to be the most obvious conclusion, yk? :think

C

[Chris3jam]

Have too many home schoolers started looking at their education as school to be endured instead of learning to be pursued? For those students who do lack intellectual vitality, who grudgingly submit to the drudgery of schoolwork, what can be done?

I do not know about anyone else, but for us, it was letting go of the tyranny of curriculum. It was *my* problem. . .I thought we had to do everything within that curriculum and within a certain time frame, thereby putting major stress on my kids. I actually *saw* the love of learning being destroyed. I *saw* their enthusiasm completely disappear. It was totally :bheart :bheart. And I have to say that we still haven't really fully recovered.

This is part of something I wrote a long time ago (3 years + ?)

I had already chucked the curriculum and was "doing my
own thing", albeit amid all kinds of misgivings and feelings of
total failure, before I found out there was even a
term "unschooling" (much less that there was any information out
there!).

My personal experience went kind of like this: -- imagine shining
faces, dancing eyes, bouncy steps, and hungry minds -- "when are we
going to do school?", "can we do more?", "can we do this one?", to a
gradual dimming and clouding and slowing down, to "aw, do we HAVE
to ?" accompanied by dragging feet, to downright running away when
the workbooks came out. I didn't think that all the nagging,
crying, begging, fighting and general misery was very conducive to
Christian family life (or any life, for that matter!).

So -- I just started living with them. I do have what I personally
call an "olde-fashioned, classic montessori-type" of set-up in the
house, with little areas of "discovery", baskets in corners with
different things in them, lots of paper and crayons, glue and
scissors, books, musical instruments, games, etc, etc, etc. In the
book that I read, that was basically how Maria Montessori set up her
original classrooms. (My understanding is that the teachers were there
only
to help with what the child became interested in; this may not describe
your
local "Montessori" school, though, for I have recently heard that
Montessori
schools are becoming more structured.)

Is it messy? Yes! I DO have MANY "messes" to clean up. I DO have
"science" experiments sitting all over the house (to the chagrin of dh,
who is
constantly asking if the salt growing experiment is over yet, and if
the butterflies wouldn't be much happier if freed outside :)) But I
make a list for myself (and dh) of all that is being learned in just
this one activity/experiment/whatever. It's absolutely amazing what
can be "learned" using a simple cardboard box! Sometimes I make
suggestions or ask a question that expands an idea (sometimes not).
Sometimes I put things where I know they'll see it, we go to the
library, and we go on "field trips".

One day, my littlest (2 yo) was playing in the sink with water and
soap bubbles and cups and such(again). I was a little bit tired of
having cleaned up the mess (again) and dh saw it on my face (I
didn't say anything). He said, with a twinkle in his eye, "You SAID
it was all part of homeschooling!" Imagine my surprise when my
7 yo showed me a page of multiplication equations and asked for
more! Or my 6 yo, showing me a "story" he wrote, and asking me to help
him in the spelling. This was not happening before.