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Does This Count?

Does music, summer camp, a visit to the zoo, etc., count? This is probably one of my most frequently asked questions (well, that and “What about socialization?”). My answer is almost always, “Yes… it counts.”

It’s important to get out of the mindset that learning only happens when it’s planned, scheduled, directed, or approved by someone else. Children learn the most and retain it longer if they’re the ones who initiate it, take ownership of it, and have input into what they’re learning. I don’t know of any research that doesn’t support this fact.

Traditional schools don’t allow student-led learning because teachers don’t have time to mentor or facilitate a class full of students if they are learning different things. And even if they did, it would be too expensive for them to provide the resources for each individual student. (And all the materials would first have to be passed through committees to make sure they’re “suitable” – however they define it.)

As homeschoolers, we don’t have any of these constraints. So just remember that children (and adults!) learn 365 days a year. If you’re a SC homeschooler, it’ll be your job to document 180 of those days.

More questions? Read through my FAQs here.

Raise Children With a Wild Streak

by Mark Pruett

A new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics stresses the importance of childhood playtime. It reinforces my own belief that many young adults have been cheated by years of excessive schoolwork and teamwork, too many extracurricular activities, and a straitjacketed “just say no to anything risky” upbringing. I am convinced that modern childhood generally does not build enough independence and thirst for knowledge.

For the past few years I helped interview high school seniors seeking scholarships to come to Appalachian State University. These applicants come from all over the state. They play instruments and sports, participate in church and charity, and work in diverse jobs.

They also display remarkably similar accomplishments. They are at the top of their high school classes and possess generically good manners. They lead teams, groups and clubs. They are smart, solid and hardworking.

They might be surprised to learn that I, like many college professors, yearn for rarer traits — curiosity, passion, a wild streak.

Yes, teamwork and leadership skills will help your child to implement someone else’s ideas, and extensive extracurricular activities will foster responsibility. What your child really needs, though, is an inventive, self-reliant, restless spirit.

The key questions

For me, the heart-wrenching interview moment is when we ask these teenagers what they would choose to do on a day spent alone. Many say they never have the chance. Worse still, some have no answer at all. This should disturb and sadden any parent.

In the end, my scholarship votes ride on two questions: Is this someone that I’d be excited to have in my class? And is he or she open to being changed by my class? Class rank and extracurricular activities are less important than genuine individuality or enthusiasm. It matters not whether someone is bold or shy, worldly or naïve. Is there a flash of determination, a streak of independence, a creative passion, an excited curiosity?

We need more students like the ones who leave after graduation to work as missionaries or in the Peace Corps. More like the ones who start successful businesses while in school. More like the ones who find the courage to go overseas for a summer or a semester because they know their own worlds are far too small.

Some students are team players and high achievers, but I’d trade them for stubbornly creative iconoclasts. Some students as children were taught to color inside the lines, watch Barney the purple dinosaur, and always ask permission. We need students who found out what Crayons tasted like, loved reading “The Cat in the Hat” and paid little attention to rules — students whose parents encouraged their children’s curiosity.

Something’s missing

The irony is that many students begin to perceive late in college that they’ve missed something along the way. They regret not taking risks with difficult professors, unusual courses or semesters abroad. They berate themselves by equating self-worth with grades, and they are saddened by the realization that they have only glimpsed the breadth of the university. They begin to grasp that their uncomfortable sense of passivity has its roots in the highly controlled existence foisted on them.

Parents: love, guide and support your children, but don’t insulate them, control them or let them be too busy. Independence, confidence and creativity come from freedom, risk and a good measure of unstructured solitude.

Encourage studying but make them play hooky, too — partly to learn what it feels like to be unprepared and partly to foster spontaneity, irreverence and joy. Study chemistry together, then blow up a television in the backyard.

Foster camaraderie and connectedness through group activities (especially family ones), but be unyielding in your commitment to teaching them to love doing things entirely on their own. Make each child plan and cook the family’s dinner on his or her own once a week.

Surround them with books, not video games. Raise a garden or build a deck together. Send them on solo trips.

However you choose to do it, give your children, their teachers and society one of the greatest gifts of all: help your kids become creative, independent, curious, interesting people.

About the author…

Mark Pruett is an assistant professor of business and economics at the University of South Carolina – Upstate. Write him at mpruett@uscupstate.edu. Reprinted with permission of the author and The Charlotte Observer. Copyright owned by The Charlotte Observer.

Gabrielle’s Journey

by Kim Blum-Hyclak

My daughter, Gabrielle, graduated several years ago. She had been homeschooled from the beginning, not conforming to the boundaries of a typical education. As a family, we started our homeschooling adventure under the philosophy of John Holt, a pioneer in the homeschool movement. We agreed that children have a natural curiosity. Given the right tools, environment, and encouragement, children can learn what they need to know without much “help” from us. We allowed Gabrielle, as well as her siblings, to follow their interests and have not been disappointed in their academic endeavors. Sometimes frustrated, but never disappointed!

While not following a typical “college preparatory” curriculum, Gabrielle still managed to earn all the necessary credits for graduation, and more. She had always known that college was an option, but not the only one. Her interests and her heart had always been in ministry, and that’s the path her high school studies prepared her for.

After high school, Gabrielle followed her heart and began working in youth ministry. She was accepted for the National Evangelization Team (NET), sponsored by the Catholic Church. She spent five weeks in Minnesota, learning various skits, honing her small group techniques, and becoming a part of her traveling retreat team.

Her team, consisting of ten young adults ages 18-25 and a couple of adult chaperones, spent the following nine months living out of suitcases and backpacks. Luckily, Gabrielle was rather petite, so her clothes didn’t take up a lot of room. She had a storage cabinet at NET headquarters to store her seasonal clothing since she wouldn’t know from one month to the next where she would be.

Gabrielle’s team traveled throughout the United States, putting on retreats for junior and senior high youth. The length of the retreats varied from one night to all weekend, but most nights involved a different city, a different parish, and a different group of teens than the night before. Host families at each stop fed and lodged the team. She soon learned that she better like Sloppy Joes and pizza!

Gabrielle eagerly looked forward to that next phase of her journey, both the literal one and the figurative one. She knew the world extended beyond the county line and couldn’t wait to see new parts of the country. She had grown up in South Carolina and had experienced Ohio winters, but not Minnesota winters! She hoped to get the chance to visit New York and California, and was looking forward to seeing the varied cultures our diverse country holds.

What would happen after NET? She wasn’t sure. All she was sure of is that God would let her know.

Editor’s Note: What happened after NET? Gabrielle has worked as a nanny for the past several years and currently tends a 4-year-old and a 5-month-old. She’s also still involved with her church, teaching Confirmation classes.

About the author…

Lancaster resident, Kim Blum-Hyclak, homeschooled three of her five children for over 20 years. She saw many changes in her homeschooling years, from being required to seek permission from the local school board and being advised to keep her children inside during the school day, to being on the board of one of the original Third Option homeschool associations. She still believes homeschooling was one of the most rewarding experiences she and her children had. Her youngest will begin his final year at USC Columbia in the fall of 2012. He currently works for the University. Her middle child has worked as a nanny for the past several years. Her oldest graduated from USC School of Law in May of 2012 and will begin clerking for the York County Circuit Court Judge in August. As her homeschooling years came to an end, Kim revived her writing aspirations and still enjoys learning – even without the kids going along.

My House is a Mess!

by Kim Blum-Hyclak

My house is a mess. I want to get down to the business of schoolwork with my children, but the clutter is getting in the way. Colorful Legos dot the floor like land mines ready to be stepped on. Books have escaped the prison of the shelves and lie open, hiding in freedom in the stairway alcove. The box of craft supplies exploded and the debris lies in creative concentric circles. The two dishes I left in the sink last night mated. Their offspring now enjoy the run of the table and the counter top. The piles of laundry I lovingly folded now lean like a famous monument, inching their way to the edges of the washer and dryer.

I survey the damage and feel overwhelmed. I yearn for the day when I can sit at the table with my kids and their lessons and open their minds to all the wonderful “stuff” the world has to offer, without the distractions that our daily living heaps upon us.

But after years of homeschooling, I know this is not the dream I want realized. I am living my dream.

The Legos are not just creations, they are lighthouses. They are modeled after the lighthouse we visited on a trip to Florida. In one afternoon at Ponce Inlet, we learned about the inlet and its lighthouse, climbing its 203 steps to the top. We toured buildings packed with exhibits and learned about how the lighthouse works and its history, about lighthouses around the world, about ocean life and what it’s like to be a sailor, about how Cuban refugees escape to America and the courage it must take.

The books in the alcove had help escaping. There is never a complete set of encyclopedias on the shelves; my children squander them in their rooms. The delinquent books in the alcove are the remainders of the journey my children took looking for Alaska. There is “w” for world, “u” for universe, “m” for maps, and finally “a” for Alaska. Along their journey, I know they also found many surprises.

The other books scattered about are the pleasure books that I have to pry from their hands when it is time for bed. There are the lighthouse books and my ninth-grader’s John Grisham from the library. There is the young teen book my daughter absorbs, opening the door to questions and discussions that take place at the dinner table or wherever she needs.

Out of the creative explosion of the craft box comes a colorful “ojos de Dios,” eyes of God. My son has given me this offering to place alongside the other gifts of my children’s handiwork. Like an archeological dig, my bookcase and shelves are lined with artifacts from our various studies. There is the Egyptian pitcher molded from clay, the heraldry shield with our family crest, the quilt sampler from our American Girls Quilting Circle. There is pride in their workmanship and love in their offering.

The dishes were a lesson in science. Mixing water and flour makes paste. Mixing bouillon and water makes a solution. Heat from the stove causes a chemical reaction, the liquid of eggs becoming solid. They are also a lesson in math — figuring the correct amounts for a recipe and the correct time for cooking. Full meals have been cooked in my absence, including pasta sauce from scratch. The three kids help each other and divide the tasks.

The clothes would have been put away if we hadn’t had a field trip to the state park for a program on birds. They would have gotten put away later, but we had to meet with other homeschoolers for a Lenten activity. Later that night, they were still patiently waiting to be tended to, but I was playing Monopoly and reading to my children.

I would like my house to be neat and tidy, but now is not the time. Webster defines education as “the development of knowledge, skill, ability, or character by training, study, or experience.” He defines “learning” as “the gaining of knowledge or skill.” In our homeschool, we do this in the distractions of our lives, not exclusive of them.

My children have taken responsibility for a portion of their education and taken it out of the boundaries of the kitchen table. As I write this, my older son does Latin and Algebra in his bedroom. My daughter is reading on the deck. My third is in the clubhouse with the dog, writing a story with the words he knows how to spell. Work is still done at the kitchen table, but most of the learning is done around the house. And it is done in an environment that not only encourages, but expects them to be respectful, compassionate, helpful, and encouraging to each other.

These lessons, now being applied to someone older or younger, or of another sex, will easily transfer to others of a different race, culture, or religion. This is what education is all about — taking what is being learned and assimilating it into their everyday playing and living. So yes, my house is a mess, but more importantly, at this point, my children are not.

About the author…

Virtual and Lending Libraries

Looking for resources to enhance your curriculum? Here’s a list of virtual libraries and free streaming websites available to homeschool families in South Carolina:

South Carolina Libraries & Education Sites

One of my favorite resources is SCLends, a consortium of 20 county libraries and the SC State Library that share resources. If a book I want isn’t at my local library, I have 20 other libraries in SC to draw from. I just place a hold on the book online, and it’s delivered to my local library for me. If your library is a member – thank them! If they’re not, ask them to join.

The SC Public Libraries website lists contact information for South Carolina libraries, with website links to many.

DISCUS, South Carolina’s virtual library, is free for SC residents and includes many databases and online encyclopedias. Contact your homeschool association or local library to get the ID and password.

KnowItAll.org is SC ETV’s K-12 educational portal. It contains a collection of interactive websites for students, teachers, and parents.

Free Lending Libraries

Books for the Blind is a library of Braille and audio materials circulated to eligible borrowers by postage-free mail.

Described and Captioned Media Program offers a library of closed-captioned media to students who are blind, visually impaired, deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind. It includes streamed media and media delivered by postage-free mail.

More libraries?

Do you know of other libraries or websites that homeschoolers would enjoy? Email me!