Feel the Groove

Part of the beauty of homelearning is the freedom it affords.

For many years, when my homelearning children were younger, I felt that I had to fit into the mold set up by the public school regarding grades, should-knows, grade levels and curriculum. I thought that I really needed to have a "back to school" party, or take my kids "back-to-school" clothes shopping. And when I knew that it was time for the other kids in the neighborhood to step onto the Big Yellow Bus, I thought that my kids needed to be at home, sitting at their desks doing their workbooks.

I'm so glad I don't do that anymore.

For you, those things may be just what you enjoy. I don't give grades. I have to calculate grade levels for my kids when someone asks me for that information on a form. I don't use a set curriculum, though I have been extremely thrilled to discover Charlotte Mason and Ambleside. We have parties all the time, so I don't feel the need to designate one as a "back to school" party. I was talking to a mom the other day who said that she loves going back-to-school shopping with her home-schooled children, and that she really enjoys having a soiree to mark the beginning of their school year. Like I said, the beautiful thing about homelearning is the freedom it affords.

For me, I like learning all-year-round, with an accent on what I call "formal academics" during the traditional school year. The first Monday after Labor Day is our goal for getting serious about learning new things, having all of our Ambleside materials available, and making sure that there's ink in the printer. I don't like textbooks, and I don't like workbooks. I like reading real literature, getting our hands dirty, hanging around together, giving weight to every moment, never discounting a thing, discussing, observing, discussing some more. I never, ever, ever want to turn learning on and off, look at the clock and say, "Okay! School's over! We're done learning now!"

As for school supplies, well...I buy those all year long. Every week, I think. Maybe, if you consider that even the meals we make are part of our education, every day. Books flow through our house like water through an ambling creek. We never stop talking about math, science, history, literature, art--except when we're sleeping, and we try to keep such nonsense to a minimum. Just yesterday, I read Bard a piece from her recommended reading list. It was a Kurt Vonnegut story that I'd heard presented by a speech student. I'm a big fan of Vonnegut, and was thrilled to hear a homeschooled high school kid interpret one of his pieces, so when I saw it on Bard's schedule for this year, we went right to it and read it together. Why wait until school "starts?" After all, I really enjoyed reading it again myself.

I'm a firm believer in seizing opportunities, in taking advantage of what are commonly called "teachable moments." That's kind of a misnomer to me, because I often learn just as much or more than my kids do when we stumble upon one of those moments. I guess I would be more quick to call them "shared learning moments," or some other clever thing I can't come up with right now.

If I could give new homelearning moms one gift, it would be the confidence that one attains from being a veteran homelearner. I would tell them to feel the groove. Don't feel pressured to do what other homelearners are doing. Don't fall into the feelings of guilt that come from comparison. Slip into your own rhythm. Find your own rhyme. Learn when you want to. If you don't want to "do" grades, then don't. If you don't want to divide your three children into grade levels, then don't. If your kid would rather read a book in a tree than at a desk, go for it.

And when the clerk at Stuff*Mart drawls, "I betcha can't wait 'til they go back to school canya?" you can give your child a smooch on that incredibly unique and intelligent head of theirs and proudly declare, "I don't have to wait. We get to learn every single moment of the day, thankyouverymuch."

Then you can pick up your bag of school supplies--s'more fixins, superglue and cat food--and seize the next shared learning moment.

Or whatever you wanna call it.