Dangerous Exploration

Denver runs the weedeater wearing
 safety goggles and a skeleton mask?!

Homeschool looks so much tidier in my lesson plans.

The trouble with homeschooling is that unlike teaching a classroom full of children, you may end up letting each child explore his individual interests.

This is dangerous.  It messes up your lesson plans.  Suddenly you have three kids learning vastly different things and you may look outside and see an eight year old with a skeleton mask and a weedwacker making a labyrinth in the backyard.  It happens!

As the school year draws to a close, I look back in amazement at what the boys have and have not done.  It is time to create a written summary of their learning, and it is not as easy as a one page list of subjects and grades.  

Spencer wrote a quick letter to his cousin
without a bit of help from me.

John Robert launched himself back into a traditional school setting for three days a week.  He stays on top of his work without a word from me, and has made only As.  He has also been a committed member of his year round swim team.  He is looking forward to going to high school next year.   

Spencer remained excited about history this year, and began to enjoy the math offered by Calculus for Young People.  He has deepened his understanding of computer programming, and is thinking about returning to the Montessori school next year.

We enjoyed seeing the Barred Owl
at a recent festival.

Denver's reading ability exploded.  He reads constantly now . . . though not very often from books.  Menus, signs, television, computer games, mail.  He can solve nearly all of the mysterious word puzzles he has been seeing around him for over eight years.  He is thrilled.

So what about my lesson plans that included monthly Shakespeare workshops and a renewed commitment to Latin?

The boys are changing and growing
faster than I'd ever imagined.

Dropped like a hot potato.  The boys like Shakespeare plays, and we went to a few this year; but they did not like being onstage at the workshops.  

Spencer and I both love words and their history.  We enjoy talking about Latin words, their meanings, and how they've changed over time-- but we all tired of memorizing rules for word endings in Latin.  When our Rosetta Stone program stopped working, I just quietly put it in a drawer for now.

I don't know what will happen next year.  Will they go to school?  Will the two younger boys and I continue to homeschool?

Homeschooling is a dangerous exploration.  It does a teacher no good to make lesson plans too far ahead.  It's like paving a road upon which no one wants to drive.  

If I have learned one thing from homeschooling, it is this: 
I trust my children to learn.
I am here to support them in their many quests to explore and understand the wide world around them.

It isn't always easy.  For instance, Denver has requested a family field trip to Ancient Greece; and he would like a tuxedo, top hat, and cane.
Any ideas for supporting this?

Making Gak:
Exploring polymers.