Teaching Moments

Yesterday my mother-in-law called up and asked if it was a good time for her to stop by. She wanted to show Jacob a little turtle that she'd found in her yard before she went back home to release it. Jacob was totally taken with the turtle. I think it might be the first time he's seen one up that close. It was a tiny little thing and so cute, so that when Jacob asked if we could keep it, I wished I could say yes. But that was good, it opened up the discussion to why we can't keep the turtle and why it's important to return it to its natural habitat, the ecosystem, and all that good stuff.










Today I was mowing the lawn and came across several interesting things that I know Jacob would just love to dig into: Mushrooms, acorns, and things with roots. All of a sudden I got big ideas about all the fun things we could do with them. I harvested two different kinds of mushrooms, several of each: One to (attempt) to grow, one to watch decompose, and one to break apart and examine. I picked up quite a few branches with attached acorns from the oak tree. With these we can talk about what a seed is, what the squirrels do with the acorns, we can count them, we can do decorative art projects with them...the possibilities are endless. The roots will be fascinating in and of themselves. We'll talk all about what roots are, what their job is and how they help the plant live and thrive. We haven't done these things yet because it went from light out to bedtime in very little time tonight, but hopefully when we do I'll have pictures.

It was like nature weekend here. And I have to remember this - that the sporadic lessons are the best ones. I don't have to be a planner, at least not to the extent that I have all the details of each lesson mapped out before we begin. I just have to be ready when the lesson decides to show itself. This is a big part of my philosophy. To stress myself out over not having an idea of what tomorrow will hold is something that might take away from the integrity of what I'm trying to do with Jacob. It will close off my channels so that when something interesting does come along, I won't be paying attention.

Right now I'm very much into all things natural, sustainable living, universal connections...it makes sense that the things I'm teaching Jacob about follow my current train of thought. Learning side by side with him is just what I envisioned. I take interest in something, and out of that comes a lesson for Jacob, but it also works the other way around: He gets interested in something and that sparks my curiosity about a subject too.

My mom always says that, "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." So if I can remain open to the possibilities and wonder the world is always providing, then I expect it will become sort of like when the teacher is ready, the lesson will appear.

Around the country and the world

I have been procrastinating all summer long on the homeschooling thing. I'll wake up and tell myself that Jacob and I are going to do such-and-such an activity complete with a little theme and other relevant activities. Then other things happen and we don't do it. I feel like this is pretty much the moment of truth for me. What I do now is going to set the tone for the rest of the homeschooling experience.

Most of Jacob's friends are starting pre-schooling - actually did start it last week. Some of the programs are actually really nice, and I think right up my alley. It would be cool to send him to something like that just for the experience. I guess one thing that's making me feel a lot of pressure now is that Jacob has been going through another phase where he doesn't want to do anything with other kids. I think he really does
though and just acts like he doesn't care because maybe he's a little nervous about it. So it's like this is my first big challenge in terms of the socialization argument that everyone always uses against homeschooling.

I have to say that I did a really good job of proving myself this week. Jacob and I got along greatly, which helped alleviate my fear that he might need to go to school so the two of us could have a break from each other. I got Jacob re-enrolled in gymnastics and we went to the first class of the session on Tuesday. I plowed through the embarrassment of the first half of the class where he clung to me and refused to do anything, and I was afraid everyone might think me crazy for bringing this child to a class he so obviously doesn't want to be at. But I think I must have done something right because eventually he jumped right in and has been talking about it ever since. Perhaps Zach and I got just the right mix of encouraging Jacob in this pursuit and backing off?

I'm noting the pre-school schedules of Jacob's friends and sort of 'drafting their tailwind' by the fact that I'm basing our schedule around when they are no longer available to us. I'm really trying to condense errands and household chores so that there's more time for the 'homeschooling lessons'. And basically I just have to remember now that these little lessons are something that's on the chart now. I have to remember to take the time.

I've had some scares lately...like when I was reading the blog of a friend who is going to do kindergarten homeschooling with her five year old. Holy freaking organized! And motivated, and enjoying of the process of creating lesson plans. I can't do that. At least not yet. This is just
pre-school stuff here. And my whole point of homeschooling is that I want us to be able to delve into whatever it is Jacob is feeling at the moment. I hope I can remember that so I don't ever get freaked out that I don't have the whole year planned out ahead of time. I think if we can just go into the day knowing there will be a lesson, or lessons, ahead of us, we can relax and let the lessons come to us. Like yesterday when I finally sat down to look at the two books we got out of the library a few days prior. They were both random books: Chickens May Not Cross the Road and Other Crazy (But True) Laws, by Kathi Linz and Can You Say Peace?, by Karen Katz. The first book is about non-nonsensical laws around the country and the second book introduces children from countries around the world and tells you how they say 'peace' in their language. It was by accident that both of these books cover many different geographic areas but I went with it. I set up a little table with placemats, one with a world map and the other with a United States map, a hand-me-down light-up globe and both books. We set to work reading, finding the places the books talk about, pointing to them and naming them. Jacob was totally into it and I was very pleased with our self-discipline.

Bird Lessons

This is my mom and Jacob at her house the other day. They're looking over some songbird flashcards that we got as a gift for MamMa on our trip because she loves birds. Jacob loves pointing out bluebirds anytime he sees them because "they are MamMa's favorite." Each person in our lives has different interests, skills, talents, and knowledge in many different areas. I really encourage them all to share these things with Jacob, and as he grows older my hope is that it will continue so that each person he comes in contact with will be a teacher to him in at least some small way.

Spanish Bob

One day near the end of our trip Jacob had to pee. We had been driving so needed to pull over somewhere so he could get out of his carseat. The first place we came to was a Big Lots. While Jacob was having his pee break, I discovered that there was internet access in the parking lot! So we ended up staying a while longer...

In the meantime I saw a sign that said no RV parking, or something to that effect. Well, I couldn't go breaking the rules like that so I figured I should go in and make us legitimate parkers. I mean, I had to, you know, so I thought I should make the best of it. 20 minutes and $30 later I emerged with a mish-mash of random objects that we either needed, or might possibly need in the next ten years. That's what happens when you go in a Big Lots. Among those items:

Spanish Bob! We don't speak Spanish, but that's the idea, I guess. At first it seemed like it could possibly be the strangest homeschooling technique ever, but if you think about it - what's the difference between this and watching an episode of Dora? Right?

We haven't watched it for a while now, but in the beginning we were. And I'll tell you, even though Jacob probably had no idea what he was saying, he would start laughing and say, "Mommy! Dizzy said *&^ #$@* *&$@#!" And I'm pretty sure that's how learning another language begins...

Homeschooling by Daddy

OK, so I guess I kind of inadvertently took the summer off from posting on this blog. But don't think I was giving up on it. We just got very busy with all the summer traveling and being outside. I suppose if I was to take an entire season off, the summer is a good one, what with the children being out of school and all.

Anyway, when I first came up with the title 'Homeschooling by Daddy', it was more of a joke because I overheard a very 'manly' conversation upstairs between the men of the house...phrases like dropping the kids off at the pool and cutting the cable or taking the bread out of the oven were being used. I've given up trying to stop the passing on of this kind of language. If Zach is going to agree to the homeschooling, then I suppose I have to let him give his two cents.

However, I do have to give Zach credit as far as educating our son goes. On our cross-country trip this past July, Zach more than earned the title. As I wrote about in my other blog, Jacob really didn't want very much to do me with on the trip. He was all about Daddy. I had been looking forward to using our trip as a big learning experience for Jacob, but since I wasn't really allowed to talk to him much of the time, let alone look at him, Zach did most of the talking. Whenever we stopped at a new destination, Zach would pull out the US map and draw another few inches of his little line. Jacob loved this ritual and always gladly joined in. The two would then have a discussion about where we were going, where we had been and all sorts of facts and interesting highlights about these places.

I think Jacob learned a ton on our trip. Zach really did an awesome job of explaining things on a three year-old's level - of which I never had to tell him to do! He's really come a long way in being a good teacher to Jacob, and I can tell he really enjoys it. It was a great experience for all of us, even though I was stuck in the back with no one to talk to. There were moments when Jacob would let his guard down and we got to enjoy the time together. Everyplace we went we talked about what we were seeing with the idea of learning in mind. And we didn't want to come home.

Anyway, Jacob is still talking about the places we went to, and we're continually reinforcing for him things we learned, talking about states we went to, looking at them on the map. Jacob and I constantly go back through the pictures, reminiscing about what happened that day or another. I'm hoping that by doing these things, Jacob comes out of it with an actual, living memory of our trip, and not just a memory of us talking about our trip in the years following.