Okay... so there's this thing that happens when you homeschool. Your awareness suddenly hones in on the fact that there is a shit load in the world for your kids to learn... it can get overwhelming!
You also realise (in my case with a tinge of depression) that you cannot possibly document or record everything that you kids discover in a day. There's too much! Believe me... I tried to lock it down on paper. And I drove myself crazy and stressed trying. Incidental learning is the term I use to describe all those little, unplanned pieces of the Universal jigsaw puzzle that happen in the 'ordinary moments'. Often in the moments when you're having fun, or when you're all relaxed, feeling creative, following the proverbial breadcrumbs, and letting playfulness happen! The thing that has driven me nuts about 'incidental learning' (and that will probably continue to drive me nuts for some time to come!) is that it is impossible for your brain to grasp the enormity of it...
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Making big positive changes to a well entrenched lifestyle is sometimes tricky, and certainly takes time, often with many, many false starts! We kick off well, full of enthusiasm and good intentions, but as time progresses our normal Modus Operandi tends to creep in again and we slowly slip back into old ways. Homeschooling for less than 6 months, I'm really getting a face to face look at this issue! I've been confronting the gap between my well-intentioned values and deeply held beliefs about how our homeschool day 'should' be, and the reality of life as a homeschooler, solo parent, business owner, partner, sister, daughter and all the other miscellaneous roles we adopt in life. Some days we lose hope that we'll ever be able to change to the extent, and in the way we want. Despair comes. Frustration happens. And yet again we regress. This is why, when helping clients to make sustainable changes to their health and lifestyle (one of my life-roles), I teach them about my 80/20 rule. It really is the golden rule to making changes that stick! Subjects: History, Art, Maths
I've been wanting my kids to know a bit about Ancient Egypt because it is simply so FASCINATING! I loved learning about it as a child. I've tried to get them to borrow books on the subject, but have hit various walls, eventually working out that each to their own and in their own time - stop FORCING the learning! LOL! However, when another homeschool mum announced she and her son were running a two hour workshop on the subject we jumped at it and I took a more fun and enticing opportunity to get Ancient Egypt into their peripheral vision! Kellie (parent) and Mitchell (homeschooler) had put together four 'provocations' or activities for the kids to try out and explore various aspects of Ancient Egypt. During the event, the kids asked questions about each activity and discussion evolved about the nature of what they were doing during the workshop. The provocations were: For the first few months of my research and involvement in the whole homeschool thing I kept hearing the term "STEAM". It was driving me nuts. There were whole websites devoted to this thing called STEAM but oddly, it did take a while for me to find a definition Note to STEAM providers... put a definition on your websites please! Yes, STEAM may seem a simple and almost ridiculously basic thing to those who have been around the homeschool traps for a bit... Like... Duh! But when you're a homeschooling newby there are SOOO many things you don't know, and it's the simple things that people don't think to tell you about. I'm also really crap at remembering to google these things, so it probably takes me longer to catch on! LOL So I finally figured it out and now I'm breaking it down and putting it our there for those, who, like me, are wading through brand new terminology and concepts and trying to piece it all together. In my words, STEAM is the term for lessons which are leveraging project-based learning across multiple core disciplines/subjects. In my (eventual) googling I discovered some variations, but here's the mnemonic for you: Image courtesy of: http://www.j6design.com.au/setting-smart-goals/ Set your goals and stick to them!
That's what we've been told about how to get stuff done in this world. You decide what you want, and then put a systematic plan in place to get it done by the prescribed deadline. Although you may not be across the 5 Golden Rules of goal setting, if you asked, most people could tell you a goal must be S.M.A.R.T. to be successful. S = Specific M = Measurable A = Attainable R = Relevant T = Time based I have a BIG ISSUE with this. Don't get me wrong... goals are an important element of making something happen in your life. But perhaps goal setting is not really so SMART as we think... In fact... it's only HALF OF THE REAL STORY of how to successfully manifest your desired outcomes. I put it to you that without INTENTION, goals are limited, flawed and slightly impotent... Before I go into that though... what is the nature of a goal? Where does it come from? Goal Setting is Masculine and Mental We firstly determine what it is we want. Then we set about deciding on a set of steps to get us to that outcome. We agree on an acceptable or desired deadline for that goal to be realised. This process is applied to all people in all circumstances. It is a 'mass produced', or at least 'mass-adopted' consciousness. It is also very much a HEAD BASED, MENTAL PROCESS. More than that, it is inherently masculine. By that I mean egoic (based in personality opposed to heart/soul), external, thinking, linear, logical, left-brained, action oriented (doing), human-created construct. Of course, there's nothing wrong with this. It has it's virtues. The issue I have with it, is that we have been told this is the best and ONLY way to get things done...we have been taught this in our schools, our businesses, our entire life... Goals, in the traditional sense, have no roots or connection with the natural order of the Universe or with our inner consciousness. We set our goal and then lust after it, striving and forcing ourselves to 'progress' until we have it in our grasp. The thing we're wanting to achieve is external to us. It is something outside of ourselves that we do not yet have, and that which is currently outside of our control. We attempt to take control, and control an outcome, by setting a goal. For this reason, goals are a LIMITED and INEFFICIENT method of achievement as long as they stand alone... they are only one half of the whole picture and the mechanism of an aged paternal paradigm. Using goals alone to get where we want to go, means we are constantly operating outside of ourselves and will therefore always effect a forced outcome... we push and push until we hit our goal and we do not allow for flexibility or adaptability.... often times we make ourselves sick in the process of completing our goals. True you may achieve what you set out to do, but at what cost? Time, money, family, health? Image Courtesy of: http://goalsandachievements.com/career/leadership-creativity-the-golden-rules-of-effective-brainstorming/ WARNING: This post contains swearing. Yes. I swear sometimes. If you offend easily or you're a child, please do not read on. I've felt the inner pull to plan my 'curriculum' out for the homeschool year of 2017... It's been tugging at my guts and boggling my brain (no irony there if you know anything about the gut/brain connection!).
The struggle has begun... I sit down to plan a school year based on my pasionate beliefs and powerful values around how children must be allowed to learn and experience life and learning with guidance not guilt, freedom not fear. Yes... sounds good. But when I get to the 'planning' phase, about to start writing my lists and plans and structures, my head and heart start to argue. You see, my mind is deeply indoctrinated in the old eduational paradigm. Afterall, thats how I was raised, that's the generation I belong to. ... you go to school, you study, you follow all the rules to the best of your ability and you don't rock the boat wherever possible... above all, do not be a free thinker, open feeler, intuitive learner. BAM! The pressure builds inside me and the inner clash reaches it's climax... I know in my heart this is BULLSHIT but my brain keeps saying YES this is the way forward. ...and I'm stuck. Paralysed. Planning grinds to a highly discombobulating halt. I know my old ways cannot be the way forward for the next generation of learners. I know it in the hard and fast fabric of my bones. And yet, those old neural pathways of how I know learning was for me - the shoulds and shouldn'ts of an authoritarian system - have a super strong hold on my senses. So... I sit down to plan in my usual (now apparently outdated) fashion... blank paper strewn over the dining table, coloured pens for brainstorming, lined pages for converting the results into lists and quantifyable measures of my children's progress, computer at the ready to research and decide on the online resources and text books I'll use to structure our learning. That's when the real stumbling blocks appear and crash headlong into my value systems. I don't want to teach this way. My kids don't want to learn this way. SHIT! 16/12/2016 1 Comment learning event: "living in a Biosphere"Image: Courtesy of Noosa Biosphere, http://noosabiosphere.org.au/posts/understand-our-biosphere Visiting the home of another homeschooling family is an exciting event for us. We don't know many people and I relish the chance to talk with others about their experiences with homeschooling, get their take on how they juggle work and play, and find time to do their own thing too.
Add that to a workshop for the kids on the really interesting topic of 'Living in a Biosphere', and I was ON THAT! In the beautiful town of Cooroy we found ourselves luxuriating in the natural surrounds of a fellow homeschool parent's acreage; our feet in the cool grass, lungs taking in the clean air, bathing in the energy of the trees on her property. What a privilege! We were there for the kids to learn a bit about their home; a natural, national treasure, the Noosa Biosphere. via a homeschool run workshop. I didn't know what a biosphere was, let alone know that we were living in the midst of one of the most celebrated in the world! Love, love that I get to learn this stuff too! That alone was pretty cool... but the thing that really blew me away was the calibre of the information and the learning presentation provided for the kids attending on the day. I am so pleasantly surprised, seriously impressed and secretly so excited with the immense pool of talent, skills and enthusiasm within 14/12/2016 0 Comments getting over guiltSo far we've done nothing today. I feel the guilt of it.
Well actually that's not entirely true. I've posted a blog or two, organised two workshops on Mindfulness and EFT Tapping for KIDS, made breakfast, made lunch, organised activities for the kids. Actually, I've done lots. But my mind is telling me I should be doing something different... something more... that it's not enough. I feel it in my bones... the dreaded 'G' word... 14/12/2016 0 Comments don't judge me for my typosSo it seems that the idea of a daily diary is a good one, but in practice, perhaps another of those things I have to take the pressure off myself for... I set goals, I fall short. ** see upcoming rant on goals vs intentions.
It's a little like the pressure I feel to be perfect all day, every day... for what? To appease the masses, to prove we are worthwhile, to ensure that we don't upset anyone? To hell with it. I'm done being perfect... so don't judge me for my typos... 6/12/2016 0 Comments When to quit HOMESCHOOLLet's get this straight. I'm not a quitter, but I do know when enough is enough....well eventually. But before that, I frequently worry that I'm not doing enough, not being organised, not 'teaching' properly, not providing enough proper opportunities for the kids, that they'll not get into University, that I'm letting them down for future jobs, that I can't sustain this, that they're not getting a good enough cross section of life.
Sometimes those thoughts make me want to quit... |
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