I have changed considerably since I set up my first home-based classroom complete with a school desk, makeshift white board, and even a pointer. Now, learning is more relaxed, more exploratory. Interestingly, is is also deeper as we focus more on understanding than on mental discipline. But we still have a long ways to go before I realize my own ideals. Looking forward to future plans, I have three main goals, listed in order of ease of implementation rather than importance:
More travel
This was actually inspired by an essay written by Noah Webster, criticizing the practice of sending youth to Europe to finish their education, and admonishing parents to instead have their children spend time learning about our own American country.
A tour through the United States ought now to be considered as a necessary part of a liberal education. Instead of sending young gentlemen to Europe to view curiosities and learn vices and follies, let them spend twelve or eighteen months in examining the local situation of the different states–the rivers, the soil, the population, the improvements and commercial advantages of the whole–with an attention to the spirit and manners of the inhabitants, their laws, local customs, and institutions.
As an American, it would be nice to know more about America, first hand from her inhabitants. Not just the “enriching travel destinations” but a glimpse of her character, that side of her she only shows when you take the time to do more than skim along the surface, taking in the sights. And I would like to share this with my children, beginning with many camping trips around our area so that they can really get a first-hand experience of our state.
More active lessons
I actually enjoy planning units and when I take the time to do it, the children respond quite enthusiastically. In between units, however, I somehow slip back into a sort of auto-pilot which keeps things going but without much interest. I know it is worth the time–it is just a matter of taking the time. Our current unit on whales is a prime example. My children are so excited about what we are doing they are bombarding me with questions and ideas for lessons. My daughter is so excited about the way in which we are presenting the information that she is making her own book about horses in her free time, and I fear it will not be long before I’ll only be formally educating the others. She rarely needs more than a spark to set her interest on fire and mom just needs to know when to step away.
Become a better model
My educational ideal involves me modeling the Christian life daily before my children. It isn’t about lessons, instructions and expectations. It is about becoming a better person and inviting them along on the journey. It is about our relationships, our daily conversations and those irreplaceable “teachable moments.” It is about being a better person and being prepared to share what it means to lead a godly life throughout the day, in those quiet moments when hearts are quiet and open.
Activity: This is inspired by some guy’s website. I couldn’t find a better example, but essentially it involves drawing the silhouette of your child’s head and letting him fill it with words or pictures to graphically represent his thoughts and dreams for the future.
I have really enjoyed getting to know you and your families a little better over the past week. Thank you all for opening your homes and your hearts to us. I know it will probably take me another week to finish going through all the links, but it is reading I look forward to.
Are you sharing some of your vision for home education for Home Education Week? Leave the link to your post here, and be sure to link to this post to share all the wonderful experiences others have chosen to share with your readers as well. I am looking forward to getting to know you all a little better this week!
| 1. Morning Rose 2. Karly @ Indescribable Life 3. Ellen 4. Untraditional home 5. Tracy@ Lighthouse 6. Vegiemama 7. Charity 8. Julie @ Shanan Trail 9. Margaret 10. Tammy 11. Summer @ Wired For Noise |
12. Brumbemom @ Life, As I See It 13. Celly B 14. Jen  15. Andrea 16. Stacy @ Teaching Diligently 17. Crimson Wife 18. Christy 19. Christine (so, now what?) 20. Cheaper By The Half Dozen 21. Kim (pottershand) 22. Sassy Mama Bear |
23. Renae @ Life Nurturing Education 24. Lisa @ Me & My House 25. Cheryl (Konkadoo)26. Heidi @ Southpaugh Homeschool 27. susan 28. Alicia at Homestate 29. Terri Sue 30. Shawna @ The Homeschooling Experiment 31. Sunniemom |
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I enjoyed reading your three goals above. I would like to do the same in our homeschooling too. Thanks so much for hosting Home Education Week. It was great to connect with so many homeschoolers this week.
Pointer, huh?
Sounds like something I would do (and I have actually wondered where mine is in all my old teaching stuff!)
I love your three goals, esp. the better model one. That one is a big one for me too.
Dana, you are wonderful! I have enjoyed so much getting to know you and your kiddos, and I am so thankful you have hosted such a thought-provoking event. I learned so much about myself and others this week. I am grateful I had the opportunity to pen many of the thoughts rattling in my head.
So, thank you.
Thank you, Karly! And thank you most of all for choosing to participate! I have really been blessed this week. I do not normally talk that much about what we actually do on this blog, but I sort of miss that sometimes. It has been nice sharing a little more of my family.
Thank you for doing this Dana, this has been a real blessing.
I used to do a lot of formal teaching, in fact the more time I put into a lesson the more the kids reject it.
Of course these guys keep so busy it doesn’t make a difference. 
Am always working at becoming a better model.:)
Oh, I should have talked about becoming a better model for my kids. I’ve been thinking and working on that this year. It’s a conviction that I’ve been having.
I’ve really appreciate Home Education Week, Dana. It gave me the opportunity to reflect on our homeschooling. This last writing idea was probably the most important one for me to do. I was able to think through my goals and plans and actually record them. Even though I’ve been homeschooling for 10 years, I learned so much and got so many new ideas from the other homeschooling moms. At the time of year when I usually get homeschool burnout, this gave me new energy and excitement to make the most of the next 2 months.
I have been yearning to find out what life is like in other parts of the country. We have friends who move around and I just long to know what life is like in other parts of the US. I guess I could start in our own state (Vermont). That’s a good idea. I could also add to that Massachusetts, where my parents-in-law live. Maybe that will temporarily satisfy me.
If you ever want to plan a trip to Vermont, you could stay with us! Although, I am not sure where all those kids would fit in our 3 bed/1 bath apartment. We do have an awesome brook over the back fence that the kids love to explore, though. And we have great places to camp around here.
Thanks for hosting Home Education Week, Dana. It was great! I have so many entries left to read, but I enjoyed the ones I have read. I also benefited from my own reflection.
Dana, thanks for hosting Home Education Week. It was fun getting to know everyone.
I think it is awesome that your daughter is becoming a self learner! Don’t worry, you still have three more that you can make Unit Studies for. Perhaps she can become your assistant! I could sometime use an extra brain to think up activities to go with what we are learning. (Our curriculum has many, many writing assignments, but every activity in our “school” stops while Marissa spends a week writing a 5-paragraph essay). Really, how many scrapbook pages can you make?
Great post and ideas; some things I see I could have added to mine. Oh well, that’s why this is such a great thing; we can see what others say and incorporate what we want! Thanks for doing this!
Although I didn’t participate in all the prompts this week, I really enjoyed reading all the contributors’ posts!!
I really like that silhouette idea
wow…well, thank you very much. I have found all of the entries I’ve read so far to be encouraging. I am glad you were able to take some time to reflect on homeschooling this week!
Hmmm…quite tempting. We actually looked into a trip to Connecticut or Massachusetts to go to a whaling museum, but the gas prices are just too high. And traveling alone with four children means I have to buy an adult ticket for Mouse. So we nixed that idea.
You have so many states right there…half of them fit in NE. We are near the border, but it takes four to eight hours to get any other state but NE and IA.
Yes, hoping for a bit of that.
(The help for studies, not weeks spent on essays!)
Thank you, everyone! I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the entries over the next week or two. And thank you for reading along, Danielle!
Perhaps I should note that when I plan, that generally means we aren’t as strict. It means mom knows something because I’ve studied it and have found some interesting websites for the kids to explore and good books to read. It isn’t just that I grabbed something at the library and set them on the next sheet of math I printed off which is what I do when I haven’t planned…or should I say studied?
They aren’t really lessons per se…just things mom has studied in advance so I have something to teach them.
Wow! Very inspiring post!
Your goals are very inspiring. I love the travel quote, and your units sound like so much fun!
Thank you again for hosting this week – it has been so good for me!
~Andrea
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/andijeane/511015/
A pointer! I looked and looked for a pointer to buy…but never found the one I wanted. Now I know I wouldn’t have used it much. Kind of like setting up a school room that we never use, most of our schooling is done at the dining table or the couch.
All of the goals and changes you listed are great. This is such a worthwhile endeavor. Thanks for inspiring me and for hosting this great event. I really enjoyed it.
Stacy
Travel will be a big one on mine as well; started out with it, but economics got in the way! It’s actually one of the main reasons I chose to homeschool!
On a side, it’s sort of funny (not necessarily humorous, but odd and yet expected) that the beginning of the week saw some 60 participants and as the week progressed it dwindle to the 40’s and now even lower. I am very impressed with those who followed through with all of the writing prompts… I am positive it will only help them in their home educational journeys. You did an outstanding job, Dana!
And being a day behind, I still have the last prompt to complete!
Hi, Dana,
Very interesting beginning. I started out actually having recess and bathroom breaks, but was quickly persuaded that these institutional necessities are strange and bothersome in a non-institutional setting.
I like your ideas about travel. I have taken my kids off the beaten path in New Mexico, and elsewhere in the country, and I believe that the educational value cannot be improved upon!
I wrote about my transformation last summer, and posted it to the COH. It is old though, so I don’t think it qualifies as an entry related to this Home Education Week.
I am glad you survived your “…Very Bad Day.” LOL. We all have them.
I have enjoyed this week– thanks so much for putting it together. Let me know if you ever do it again–
I was taken a bit by surprise at how many people chose to participate! Especially last Sunday, but there are still people adding their links to the older ones.
And thank you…it was a lot of fun. I wish I had more time to read everyone’s entries as they posted them, but I’ll still be catching up through the end of the week at least.
I’ll have to call the governor and see what his plans are for next year.
And I do think if I do this again, five days would be better.
I think it is a common symptom of the new homeschooler. I remind myself of that whenever someone says, “I could never do that.” Something like that is in a lot of our minds when we start.
Thanks again for a great week of meeting lots of new people.
Dana thanks for hosting this. It’s been great. (Though a long day
This has been an annual thing for a few years – the week of the convention – so you can schedule it in for next year.
Did you go to convention? I had planned to make it down there for the day – but sat here and posted instead
“It is about becoming a better person and inviting them along on the journey.”
That’s really it in a nutshell. It’s about growing in God together.
I, of course, loved this last one best – my philosophical soapbox.
Now to move on to finishing my newsletter. Well, probably not tonight, but hopefully yet this weekend.
No…I thought about it, but then forgot about it.
And you have been busy. I’m impressed and looking forward to reading all your entries. Right now, I think I’ll go to bed. My head is spinning from too much whaling research. It is really quite interesting stuff.
The travel idea is always in the back of my mind. I have so many trips through the U.S. planned…A friend and I even discussed traveling together since our husbands are so busy, but I don’t think it would be as memorable without Dad.
We still have a couple of desks and a white board. I never had a pointer though!
And thanks for the encouragement. I need to become a better model, too. As I pray for the grace of God, may he be revealed in my life.
well, you have a place to stay in NE, if you ever want to come up in the spring to see the cranes.
Or any other time, really, but that is the best time.
I am new here, but really enjoying your blog!
Traveling and homeschooling is a subject near and dear to us because we have been “roadschooling” around the world since Sept. 2006 on a small budget! We are in Europe now and will go to Africa and South America next, but I am also looking forward to our time traveling America, Canada, and Mexio which will be our last segment after Asia.
Many years ago, I did a 6 month camping trip from Boston to Key West, to San Diego to SF and had wonderful experiences. I am looking forward to sharing those kinds of experiences with my family too and see the richness of combining travel with homeschool.
Last year we focused on ancient civilizations, since my daughter has a passion for Greek myths, Homer and archeology. We mostly travel by small RV so it cost very little, but the experiences have enriched us all beyond belief. I wish every homeschooler could do this and frankly, it is easier and cheaper than most people realize.
I think there are advantages of combining traveling in America and overseas. We were most afraid of going to Morocco and Turkey and they turned out to be our most enriching experiences. There are more ruins in Turkey than Greece or Italy, it is very cheap and the kind people give teh best service in the world.
Homeschoolers have the advantage of being able to go for longer periods of time and off season. Both of these things can help greatly in keeping the costs of travel down.We actually travel the world for much less than we could live at home.
Travel and homeschool is a fantastic combination and I say go for it in all the many ways that are available.
That sound exciting! I look forward to exploring your blog a bit more. My husband is hoping to take each of the kids to Australia when they are older (they’re all half Aussie, after all). And I’d love to go on a trek through Europe, or at least Germany, with them. Gotta show the little ones where mom and dad met, after all!
That would be great! Can we go to the bridge?
You are also welcome to visit us. Right now is the best time, so pack up the car.
The azaleas are blooming, but I haven’t seen our titmouse in awhile.
So awesome to see all the variety out there, all of us working to meet our children’s individual needs. This has been an excellent experience. Thank you, Dana.
Thnak you again for hosting this! I have had a great time posting and reading!
In Christ,
Terri Sue
Well, it is finally done… and this was the excruciating one. I think I kept putting it off on purpose.
Hey- I finally caught up! Boy, am I out of breath.