How Many Hours a Day do You Spend Learning?!

The kitchen often gets taken over by the boys for projects!

One day this week, we went to a park for the boys to enjoy nature and run off a little energy.  It was beautiful-- sunny and pleasant with flowers popping up everywhere we looked.  I was incredibly grateful to be here with my sons on this lovely day.

While the two younger boys played tag and John Robert read a book in the shade, I met a fellow homeschooling mom who was taking a walk with her (8th grade? 9th grade?) son.  I've known them both for nearly a decade, and I was delighted to bump into them.

During our conversation, however, I began to feel anxious.  The mom shared how many hours her son worked each day (six!).  John Robert never spends more than four hours a day on his traditional academic work, and he is the most dedicated one in the family!

The mom went into some detail about the textbooks, quizzes, essays, etc. that her son did to prove he was learning as well as the rigorous record keeping she did to document each lesson.  Her son stood beside her, smiling and seemingly content.  Their schedule seemed to work for them while I felt exhausted just trying to imagine such a life.  When she asked about our curriculum and hours, I had to admit that we had a much more relaxed schedule.  She opened her eyes wide in surprise.  I wanted to run away and hide!

What I wanted to say but couldn't:
When most of us think of learning, we think of school.  When we think of school, we think of textbooks, worksheets, and tests.  But learning can happen in so many ways-- not just the way a teacher has to do it when she has 25 students confined to a tightly controlled curriculum in one cinderblock room for 47 minutes a day five days a week.

We've found that learning can happen at any time, and it can look a lot like "just having fun."  In fact, I've begun thinking of our learning style as "learning without walls" rather than "home" school.  We choose not to recreate school at the kitchen table for most of the day.  That tedious way of learning is one reason the boys left school in the first place.  I didn't want to try to explain this to the wonderful mom and son at the park.  Their style appears to be working for them.  I just don't think it would work for us.  We would miss out on so much spontaneous learning.

For the past week, Spencer has been rereading a favorite book, Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction.  The book provides directions and diagrams for producing miniature projectiles from office materials.  (Just think . . . some employer was losing money on this guy as he sat around thinking of these activities instead of working.  I hope the employer gets a small percentage of the royalties since he probably furnished all the time and office materials!).

Investigative Reporter Denver Degonia.

Spencer repeatedly asked to be taken to the store to purchase additional materials-- pens, binder clips, confetti poppers.  He and his brothers then spent hours creating mini-b.b. guns and airsoft pistols yesterday.  It was reading.  It was physics.  It was engineering.  It was teamwork.  It was independence and success for a smiling and focused Spencer.  We were all delighted with the results.  And no one lost an eye.

Later in the day, Denver decided to dress up as a reporter.  Hat, clipboard, and camera in hand; he went around the house asking everyone's name and writing it down.  I don't know what his story was about, but I did see him writing for fun.

The mailing label on Denver's box with
pretend stamp.

After a full day of experimenting (plus some math, reading, and writing guided by Mom), I walked into the living room to see Spencer helping Denver get inside a large coffee pot box.  Spencer had cut a hole at face level so Denver could see out.  He handed Denver a water bottle and a granola bar and asked me whether we had any stamps and what time the mailman came before carrying Denver outside the door.  Denver asked to please be sent to China.  I shook my head.  Spencer has such an interesting way of turning his (perfectly understandable) fantasy into play-- notice there is no return address!

Six hours a day at the homeschool table would not work for us.  But there is no doubt these guys are learning all the time.  So am I.