So, I've made the decision that I plan to homeschool once the time comes. I can't promise that my life will allow me to do this or not, but I figure if that's what God wants, then I am totally ready and excited about doing it. I have lost all faith in the public school system, good schools or not, and have come to believe that I, and only I, can teach my child the way he deserves to be taught. Having been a teacher for a short time, I feel like my thoughts are well-based in fact, as I am well aware of the many obstacles and walls that teachers today are faced. I don't blame teachers, I just don't think that they can do for my children what they need, and that in the end my kids will be the ones left to suffer b/c of these politics of the school systems.

Anyway, on Julia's blog the other day, she was talking about her homeschooling beliefs (she's an awesome homeschooler), and mentioned "unschooling". Julia considers herself a kind of middle-of-the-roader, and is somewhere in b/t unschooling and structured learning. She brought this up, I'm assuming, b/c she had planned to do a science lesson the other day with dirt and seeds, and instead it was changed to learning about birds when they found a baby bird out in the yard. Switching over to the bird lesson was somewhat of an unschooling lesson, as unschooling focuses on letting the children learn what they want, when they want, and not following a set lesson plan kind of structure.

Julia, I think, uses a curriculum called Sonlight, and supplements it with other stuff as well. She's told me before that she really doesn't have to do a lot of planning, as most of it is already set up, and she just follows the books. With that kind of schooling, there's a lot of structure (in school we called that direct instruction). It's like a script, and the teacher just follows it as it's written. If it weren't for direct instruction, most children in today's society would have no education whatsoever. There were teachers I worked with before who could plan an entire year ahead and be ready to go. I remember when I taught at Kershaw Elementary, there would be parent volunteers at the copier before school, in September (when school started), making copies for late February lessons. I, on the other hand, was only there to see this b/c I was running to the copier to make copies of what we were going to do during first period that day! Needless to say, I never had the pleasure of having direct instruction materials, and I don't know if I would feel comfortable using it. I did have a few scripted lessons when I taught, here and there, and it was always so exciting, but I'd usually end up changing them all around and making my own lessons from them that fit more with what I wanted the kids to learn.

Needless to say, I read this book called So You're Thinking About Homeschooling, and it told me all about different families who homeschool, and how their situations brought them to their decisions, how their lives were affected, and how they came to decide and use each different type of homeschooling they use. It was a great book, and now I'm even more excited about being able to start. One chapter was about a family with a child with ADHD who chose to "unschool" their child. This method sounded perfect to me. Honestly, it sounds a lot like what I did as a special education teacher. Since we never had a set curriculum for our students, and were not given any set curriculum materials (most special ed teachers just find what they can, and take leftovers from other teachers), this is most fitting with what I'm already used to doing. Furthermore, I would have classes of 8-10 on average, with each student being on a different level in each subject, and be required to teach each to his own level (I wasn't always so successful, but...). I'll have two (or more) kids, so that would work well. "Unschooling" basically is letting the child learn what he wants when he's ready to learn it. This doesn't mean that if your child never gets interested in learning math, that you never have to teach him. On the contrary, I think that unschooling parents have to be more involved in their child's education, and more willing to build interest in the child. I compare this method to Montessori schools. If you know anything about them, they basically have the materials ready, and let the students choose their educational path. It involves a lot of centers (little areas where they can do different activities, that are set up around the room). I won't, obviously, set up my house with centers, but I figure if my child isn't ready to work on adding, but is really interested in reading a story, then why try to force him to do math? It would be a waste of time. I learned this well when I taught. There were many days when my lessons didn't interest my students, and I might as well have been teaching the wall! So why bother, when I could be talking about something he cares about, and will learn tons about. I know that on those days when my students didn't care, I could have talked about rap and gang-banging, and they would have been enthralled. I remember one day when we were talking about measurement, I was having a conversation with the wall. I decided to try something...I asked how many ounces were in a kilo of cocaine, or if that was the right measurement. It was kind of a joke, but all of a sudden all of them perked up, and I found out that they knew SOOOOOO much about measurement that they otherwise would not have divulged. In the end, it was pretty sad that it took mentioning cocaine to get them interested, but...my hope is that my children will have more lucrative interests! Of course, there are many different levels of any method of teaching, and I won't be an extreme unschooler. I still think there are things that my child must learn in order to succeed in life. However, if TJ doesn't know how to multiply by the time he's six, I won't fall over dead (I will, of course, push for him to overachieve at some things!). However, if by the age of 10 he can't mulitiply, then I might have to force some learning on him!

I like the article that Julia referenced in her blog comment on this subject.

What is Unschooling

I think it's an accurate description of my feelings on the subject. Of course I'm nowhere near done with my research, and not 100% set on this method. I may find something that I think will work even better along the way! What I think is the absolute best thing about teaching is that if you see that something isn't working, then you can take a 180 degree turn and try something else! You can also mix and match, which is like what Julia does (and I'm sure I'll do), and have fun with it. That is the part of teaching that I fell in love with, and that I think I can pursue with homeschooling. I feel for teachers, who are forced to follow set rules and politics, who can't teach to their capabilities. I feel more for the ones that don't realize that what they're doing doesn't work, and don't do anything to fix it. I was told while I was teaching that I had potential to be a great teacher. I thought I already was (alright, fine, I have an ego problem...sue me!). I admit, though, that I never fit in with politics and the crap you have to do outside of teaching, and for that, I would never have been a great teacher. Me and my misguided goals! I did laugh when I was told that about my potential, b/c at the time we were talking about the whole politics thing, and I knew that I would never be great if that were a stipulation. Who would have ever thought that getting fired could make someone's life so much better! I now have the ability and chance to become the great teacher I always wanted to be!

Alright, I think I rambled quite a bit there, but hey, that's what was in my head, so....I hope you have a great day, and I'll see you soon!