The Aesthetics of Homeschooling

We are fortunate, we have an entire room devoted to education in our house. It's the second bedroom, technically, but Z took the dormer room (which is the biggest, coolest room). By the time I get done with how I truly want to decorate it, it will be lined with bookshelves. Technically, one could lock themselves in this room for several years and learn all you need to know about certain subjects.

Value?

But what is the value of the education? Education doesn't depend upon a well laid out room. Education, in a way, doesn't even depend upon making sure you have the best tools to do the job. Education depends upon the craving of the student to learn, the passion of the teacher, and how they share knowledge. The Greeks had Socratic discussion, modern students have smart boards and Ipads. I'm all for technology, we're a techno geek family for sure. Right now I have a 50 ft Ethernet cable running under my desk and all the way upstairs because our wireless router is being wonky. Z had to hook up the cable last night. A new router is on the list for this week.

Yet, aside from our use of technology in everyday life, we don't use a lot of it in the classroom. Some of our classes have an online video component, one is an online self-paced class. The bulk of his education comes from books and dialogue. You want to have a discussion on the absurdity of the English language? Z is your man.

Creating perspective? 

So does the appearance of education matter? It creates an impression, provides perspective. Some people think homeschooled students are all eager, vivid learners who love coming to school. *cough*choke*sputter* Until recently Z was not a fan of school. He's not a fan of morning, that's for sure. But someday he will look back and reflect upon his educational experience. I hope he sees that his parents cared about his education, that they valued him and his burgeoning brain enough. Not that you have to homeschool to do that, we just happen to see it as the best path for this child. If we had more children the decision would have been made based upon the individual. As it sits, Z agrees about homeschooling. Good, because I'm not a morning person either. 

Aesthetics? 

Does it matter that our classroom is cozy? Not really. Does it help my mindset? Yes. Would it matter we did school under a bridge? I hope not. If that is all we had, that's what we would use. Many years ago some friends shared this quote:

Start where you are

Use what you have

Do what you can 

Homeschooling doesn't demand that you rush to your nearest IKEA and set up 40 Billy Bookcases before you begin. You don't have to have a shiny new expensive history curriculum, or a laptop, or even Amazon Prime *gasp!*. You have to have a student, a metaphorical machete to wind your way through the jungle of education, and some idea where the forest may lead you. Don't get bogged down in the details. The best item in your classroom, where ever that may be, is the look of revelation on your child's face when they finally understand something. 

Of Pruning and Priorities

Some days it seems the doors of opportunity are barred. Some days you bolt them close yourself. Today Z and I discussed priorities surrounding classes. We made the tough decision to drop Russian from our schedule. We like Russian, we enjoy the language, we're learning, yet it's the lowest priority subject on the ninth grade schedule. With the addition of science to the schedule, it's taken a lower priority.

It's all good, that leaves us more time to focus on Japanese and will make our rotation of subjects flow more smoothly. It also leaves Z with six and a half credits for the year instead of seven. I'm okay with that. I am still debating on whether to assign credit to his programming, which he has spent well over half a credits time pursuing so far this year.

I am a little sad though to drop Russian. It's a cool language, it's fun to practice and read. We may add it back in next term or next year. However, we have to keep the focus on the core skills of writing, grammar, math and the coverage of science and history. Z was all right with it. We hadn't gotten to it in the last two weeks anyway. *sigh*

Part of making hard choices is prioritizing. Z knows if he can get ahead in his key subjects we'll add it back in. Part of growth is pruning that which isn't working correctly too. A tree grows better when it is trimmed properly right? Hard choices, but hopefully this tree will grow better now too.

Winter has arrived

We begin our winter term today. Fittingly, there is ice on the deck, a chill in the air, and a grumble in my heart. Bundle up, it's chilly.

I opted to divide our school into terms when we went to the six weeks on, one week off time frame. Fall term is over, 12 weeks gone. It seems to have flown by and I'm fairly pleased with Z's progress.

This week we're adding in science and finishing the text portion of our history study. We'll be spending the remainder of our history reading Great Books from Ancient Greece. We'll start with The Iliad and I have to say it's one of my favorite books. When I first read it a few years ago, I read it mostly outloud while pacing the bedroom. It took six months of off and on reading to finish. Sharing the experience with Z is something I'm looking so forward to, although we'll have 7-8 weeks to finish.

Science is an exciting mix of several components for physics. Udacity will be our lecture focus, with The Sciences:An Integrated Approach being our textual focus. We will add a lab kit from Home Science Tools. I opted to go with a packaged kit to save some time and money. My weakness is gathering the components. It's nice to have them all in one box, ready to go.

So it's winter term. I have visions of physics experiments, hot chocolate, and maybe a little pacing while we read The Iliad. For now, I need to get more coffee and put on socks.