I\'m Summer, a mouthy, sarcastic bitch. I\'m passionate about natural birth, long term breastfeeding, and living naturally. I curse too much, love tattoos, and will some day be crushed to death by my book collection. I homeschool, dream of gardening, and swing to the left. 
Home Is Where The School Is
Now that I’m no longer writing at Mom Is Teaching I thought I could share something that I never really went into detail about here.
Homeschooling
*dun dun dun*
Wait, did you hear that?
Anyway, despite the fact that we’re not “officially” homeschooling it’s hard not to keep my brain from not thinking and planning and preparing. Especially when Evan is bugging me daily wanting to do workbooks, asks a billion questions, and is mentally exploding before my eyes. There’s no holding him back, age be damned. But that’s always the way he’s been; he’s the boy born early, walked early, talked early, knew things at 2 that most kids don’t learn till they’re 4. I’d be asking for a nervous breakdown if I tried to keep him back.
In our short time thinking about homeschooling we’ve made a lot of changes. I’m a huge fan of unschooling, quoting Holt makes me weak in the knees. But at the same time I’m the type of person that thrives on lists and plans and check sheets. I need structure damn it, even if it’s all just in my mind. So after research, research, and more research I found myself falling in love with Enki. It’s beautiful, graceful, fluid, and holistic. It’s also far too out of my budget. After much weeping and gnashing of teeth I accepted Oak Meadow. and you know what, I loved it too. Talking to other families who used it I felt the same “ahhh” moment, a sense that it would work.
And then I had to go and quit writing for the blog network that pays me the most. (Anyone for some sympathy ad clicks?) So now I’m back floundering again. However this time I have a lot more ideas on my side, and a lot less stress of needing to do it exactly perfectly right. Heh.
I’ve been making lists and schedules, and I know it sounds so far away from unschooling but bear with me. For my own sanity I’ve been trying to make some sort of schedule that works for us, for me. Mostly it means lots of being prepared ahead of time on the subjects I know he loves. There’s also putting together a book list of all the books I loved as a kid and the ones I know he would adore. When I find a new book I add it to the list, if I see that the library has a book already written down I make a note of it, and if I find it used I snatch it up. No, we might not make it through the entire list, but what fun we’ll have trying.
The hardest part is trying to put things in order. I’m trying to figure out what ideas seem to merge smoothly into other ideas. For instance if we read The Greedy Python then we might start talking about food, if we talk about food that might be a good time to talking about farming, and from that we might merge off into the various jobs people do or into the environment. Or both. I’m trying to leave things open and let him guide where he wants to go, but at the same time feeding my list/schedule needing brain by planning ahead. It’s like trying to build the perfect wind chimes while accepting that wind is going to do whatever it wants with them.
We are the same way. I make a very elaborate plan every year and then I let the kids do whatever they want. And you know what, by the end of the year we’ve reached our goals.
We follow The Well Trained Mind in a very Thomas Jefferson way. I read to them. A lot. We keep books in the house that take us through history on our schedule. I supply them with Science materials that meet the goals of each year. Last year was heavy on life science, they planted seeds, drew pictures of them sprouting, we had a baby and read a lot of books about animals. Every day they have to do Math, Read and Write. Everything else is an organic, free-flowing part of our life. I replace the pile of books from the library regularly and they choose which ones interest them. They write (or narrate) what they’ve read. We discuss literature and life at the dinner table and all day long.
I don’t think planning is wrong, I plan our topics and I have lists of recommended books and materials. If I don’t make these lists in the Summer, life moves so fast that I’d be scrambling during the school year. Life is interesting, and the chronological history of TWTM flows very nicely. One time period leads to another, one interest leads to another.
I’m glad that I’m not the only one planning them going with the flow.
It almost feels counterproductive, but it at least gives me peace of mind to have something mapped out. I’ve looked at The Well Trained Mind but never went ahead and read it, though I know a lot of people who love it. I’ve thought about using her history books when mine are a little older.
One nice thing about TWTM is that you don’t have to read the whole book. If your kids are younger, then half the book doesn’t apply to them. I don’t know how old yours are, by my 2 yr old and 5 yr old say that SOTW is their favorite bedtime story.
Organized Unschooling is what I call it, we have a very loose plan that keeps us going and allows for life to happen. Have you joined Homeschool Hacks? I think you’ll like it. And you should write something about Enki because I don’t know anything about it. Otherwise, I might have to look it up!