Digests from the KALEIDOSCAPES MONTHLY TOPIC
(HOMESCHOOLING) DISCUSSION BOARD
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MESSAGE: Misconceptions, labels, freedom. . .etc AUTHOR: dmx DATE: Friday, 23 April 1999, at 9:07 a.m. Response To: Late nights, deep concentrations Author: Cerelle Date: Thursday, 22 April 1999, at 7:38 a.m. What a great posting! I have to keep thanking you for committing your thoughts to keyboard & letting us read and ponder. One of the biggest problems with labels - like 'unschooling' and 'delight-directed learning' - is that they tend to shut doors. People hear something that rings a bell & we shut it out! 'Freedom', 'unschooling', and 'delight' are words that can do that, I think. I know I'm susceptible to such bells. Many disciplinarians shut out words like 'freedom' because they equate that with un-disciplined. Or, vice versa, an 'unschooler' may shut out someone taking classes and using textbooks because they associate that with 'forced' learning. I think it is very important to reconcile reality to our preconceptions. To me, that's where your writing hits home! It seems that you have learned to trust ideas because they have worked for you! And your experience helps those of us who are wobbling along, bouncing off the different poles, so much. Thanks for the needed reminder (especially today when I'm trying to deal with some irresponsible behavior in my son) that, sometimes, letting go can yield more self-discipline, more delight in learning, than we might dream about! ======================================== MESSAGE: Some thoughts . . . and a cautionary note. AUTHOR: dmx DATE: Friday, 23 April 1999, at 9:30 a.m. Response To: How does one begin?? Author: Kimberly Date: Thursday, 22 April 1999, at 5:15 a.m. What great advice so far! And I love the suggestions by Kim, too. But, a cautionary note. Your sons may bottom out on snakes after about an hour of observation/exploration. Not all kids are in-depth-interested in a subject that they are curious about. And you might want to be prepared to let it go, if it does bottom out. As Cerelle points out, you can just start experimenting. When I first started this, I'd sit my son down and say, 'what would you like to work on today?' Blank look. I soon learned that it helps to listen for awhile. Notice what your kids are excited about or express curiousity about. I learned not to say, "I heard you talking about. . . tuataras, want to study them?" But, to say, "I heard you talking about tuataras and I found this book in the library about it." Or, "I taped this nature program on reptiles, want to watch it?" There's nothing wrong with starting slowly, doing some things you're used to & then having a 'fun time' where you try out new 'delight-directed learning' projects. You may find that the 'directed projects' fall by the wayside. Lastly, give it some time. Watch and listen and see how much learning is going on throughout the day. I'm convinced that the most overlooked part of homeschooling is play! Watch & try and figure out and categorize what skills they are using. I'll bet you'll be surprised. ======================================== MESSAGE: My sons delight directed week.... AUTHOR: Grace DATE: Sunday, 25 April 1999, at 10:53 a.m. Hi All, I just wanted to share this week....Last week at AWANA they decided to have a chess tourament.It is in the JV group(7th and 8th graders)They had worked hard all year so the pastor was doing something special..Anyway, My son loves chess,but really only has us to play with(i am not much of a player.) He went to the library all excited and ordered books from the interlibrary loan on chess...a whole bunch..dutifully played and read and worked on his chess..sought out people to play. The night rolled around and he won!!! ThePastor even said he made some terrific moves.I was pleased with how he himself initiated all the research and work.. Blessings, Grace ======================================== MESSAGE: 10y.o. and planes, planes, planes AUTHOR: Abbey DATE: Tuesday, 27 April 1999, at 5:15 a.m. My husband bought a WWII fighter simulator and my son is hooked on flying the planes. We expanded his loved for this to library books, then encyclopedia ariticles and pictures. He found out where they were used in WWII and learned much about the war without me droning out facts. Now we are learning about the countries that developed the different planes, and soon we will be visiting the aeronautics museum in our area. I can't believe where this has led us. He has learned so much and so have I...go ahead, ask me about the mustang or B-13 bomber:) (This also gave us opportunity to learn about Kosovo and the aircrafts they use, as well as the historical background of the area...WOW). ======================================== MESSAGE: "Those Wonderfull Men In Their Flying Machines" video is great for all ages Abbey. AUTHOR: Barb DATE: Tuesday, 27 April 1999, at 2:32 p.m. Response To: 10y.o. and planes, planes, planes Author: Abbey Date: Tuesday, 27 April 1999, at 5:15 a.m. > My husband bought a WWII fighter > simulator and my son is hooked on flying > the planes. We expanded his loved for > this to library books, then encyclopedia > ariticles and pictures. He found out > where they were used in WWII and learned > much about the war without me droning > out facts. Now we are learning about > the countries that developed the different > planes, and soon we will be visiting > the aeronautics museum in our area. > I can't believe where this has led us. > He has learned so much and so have I...go > ahead, ask me about the mustang or B-13 > bomber:) (This also gave us opportunity > to learn about Kosovo and the aircrafts > they use, as well as the historical > background of the area...WOW). He may join the Air Force when he grows up. NASA, and space travel might tickle his fancy. Cheers Barb ======================================== MESSAGE: wondering about frogs;;; AUTHOR: tammy bennion DATE: Tuesday, 27 April 1999, at 5:15 p.m. Hi everyone! I'm new at posting here, but I've read a bunch of boards in the past week or so. I'm also new at homeschooling. I took my daughter, second grade, and my son, eighth grade out of p.s. right after spring break. I just liked having them home so much. So now we are supposed to be "homeschooling", BUT i find us simply getting used to being together all day. My daughter hascovered three intense areas of study just today. First it was sewing, she wants to sew her dad something for his birthday next week. Then it was the frogs at the pond. Then it horses, she wants to learn everything she can about horses and horse training. So, about the frogs...didn't someone say that they lead their daughter and her girlscout troup into an intense study on frogs? Something about a Frog Watch? Please let me know! We're very interested in this (right now) Next week it may be something entirely different. It's me who needs to make sure we follow thru with an interest. thanks for any help! a4 ======================================== MESSAGE: Re: wondering about frogs;;; AUTHOR: Lisa Torres DATE: Wednesday, 28 April 1999, at 2:46 p.m. Response To: wondering about frogs;;; Author: tammy bennion Date: Tuesday, 27 April 1999, at 5:15 p.m. Hi, Tammy, I was the one who posted about the frogs. A great place to start is FrogWeb. It has a whole bunch of links to different frog sites. Look for Frogwatch...that's the easiest program to get started with...You can register your pond with them and post observations twice a week. I'm monitoring two sites and it takes about 15 minutes to make the observations and post the information. All the info goes into a national data base. There are lots of other ways to get involved, too. My scouts are doing NAAMP frogcall surveys. You're welcome to email me if you want to correspond more. It would be interesting for kids from different parts of the country (or world!!) to correspond about the frogs they hear or see. Lisa > Hi everyone! I'm new at posting > here, but I've read a bunch of boards > in the past week or so. I'm also new > at homeschooling. I took my daughter, > second grade, and my son, eighth grade > out of p.s. right after spring break. > I just liked having them home so much. > So now we are supposed to be "homeschooling", > BUT i find us simply getting used to > being together all day. My daughter > hascovered three intense areas of study > just today. First it was sewing, she > wants to sew her dad something for his > birthday next week. Then it was the > frogs at the pond. Then it horses, she > wants to learn everything she can about > horses and horse training. > So, about the frogs...didn't someone > say that they lead their daughter and > her girlscout troup into an intense > study on frogs? Something about a Frog > Watch? Please let me know! We're very > interested in this (right now) Next > week it may be something entirely different. > It's me who needs to make sure we follow > thru with an interest. thanks for any > help! a4 ======================================== MESSAGE: How we encouraged interest in Social Studies/geography/ AUTHOR: Barb DATE: Wednesday, 28 April 1999, at 10:14 p.m. I was at wits end, attempting to make Grade 3 Social studies interesting enough for Kristie. We set the text book aside and built a board game. Imagination kicked in, and away we went. All that's required is a map, of whatever area one wants to study. We glued the map to styrofoam SM (beadboard). Made it similar to monopoly. ======================================== MESSAGE: Re: How we encouraged interest in Social Studies/geography/ AUTHOR: Giovanna DATE: Thursday, 29 April 1999, at 3:34 p.m. Response To: How we encouraged interest in Social Studies/geography/ Author: Barb Date: Wednesday, 28 April 1999, at 10:14 p.m. Here is another great idea. Go here and check this out ======================================== MESSAGE: A ques. and comment AUTHOR: Dawne DATE: Thursday, 29 April 1999, at 9:02 p.m. Response To: How we encouraged interest in Social Studies/geography/ Author: Barb Date: Wednesday, 28 April 1999, at 10:14 p.m. > All that's required is a map, of > whatever area one wants to study. We > glued the map to styrofoam SM (beadboard). > Made it similar to monopoly. similar to monopoly? can you elaborate? my 6yob boy would love this. OK, here's what WE do b/c unitl recently he was in ps and would come home stating "I hate Social Studies"! My heart sank. I love culture, travel, cuisine and history! What was I gonna do? A big book beckoned to me one day at the library {I almost fell over it :0) It was a big book filled with international games that could be made at home w/ felt, ribbon, buttons, stones etc.. Haven't heard a despairing sigh since. Our favorites are Tricket - Columbia S. America Nine Men's Morris from Iceland and Mu Torrerre from New Zealand Dawne ======================================== MESSAGE: Need some delight in telling time AUTHOR: Dawne DATE: Thursday, 29 April 1999, at 9:05 p.m. we need to get going on telling time. any suggestions? for a kid (1st grade) who can multiple single digits, add 4 digit numbers with carryover and subtract 3 digit numbers telling Time is a bit difficult. He is becoming frustrated. I've got the toy clock etc., Am I doing something wrong? Dawne ======================================== MESSAGE: Re: Need some delight in telling time AUTHOR: Giovanna DATE: Thursday, 29 April 1999, at 9:16 p.m. Response To: Need some delight in telling time Author: Dawne Date: Thursday, 29 April 1999, at 9:05 p.m. > we need to get going on telling > time. any suggestions? for a kid (1st > grade) who can multiple single digits, > add 4 digit numbers with carryover and > subtract 3 digit numbers telling Time > is a bit difficult. He is becoming frustrated. > I've got the toy clock etc., Am I doing > something wrong? Dawne I am assuming that your child already has a good concept of what time is. Here is how it worked here: The first thing I did was give my son a DIGITAL WATCH. Once he understood how time works 60 sec = 1 minute, 60 minutes = 1 hour, 24 hours = 1 day, 30 minutes is half of an hour, etc.) then we moved over to an analog clock. Can he count by fives? If he can then it won't be hard at all. I explained to him how the analog works. Because he already had all of this previous exposure with the digital it wasn't long before he caught on. ======================================== MESSAGE: Re: Need some delight in telling time AUTHOR: Dawne DATE: Thursday, 29 April 1999, at 9:19 p.m. Response To: Re: Need some delight in telling time Author: Giovanna Date: Thursday, 29 April 1999, at 9:16 p.m. > The first thing I did was give > my son a DIGITAL WATCH. Once he understood > how time works 60 sec = 1 minute, 60 > minutes = 1 hour, 24 hours = 1 day, > 30 minutes is half of an hour, etc.) > then we moved over to an analog clock. > Wow!! Never gave it a thought of doing it this way. Bet ps feels that is the backwards way to do it but if it works... > Can he count by fives? If he can > then it won't be hard at all. Yes, he can. Now that I've read your idea I am thinking it will work. Thank you so much. Dawne > ======================================== MESSAGE: Real time AUTHOR: Cerelle DATE: Thursday, 29 April 1999, at 11:08 p.m. Response To: Need some delight in telling time Author: Dawne Date: Thursday, 29 April 1999, at 9:05 p.m. Here's a situation in which our familiarity with classroom methods can all but blind us to the obvious answer, even though it's sitting right in front of us. The task of helping a child learn to tell time is a perfect model for investigating the differences between natural learning and curriculum-style teaching. We probably all agree that it's good for a child to know how to read a clock, and in fact, most children WANT to know how to tell time. It's to their advantage to be able to have knowledge of how this time-telling business works, especially if the adults in their lives often make reference to the hours and minutes of the day. If we say to a child, "We'll stop for a snack at 2:15," you can bet the child will have a vested interest in knowing how to determine when 2:15 has arrived. If Dad gives the kids a kiss when he goes off to work in the morning and says, "Bye, guys! I'll see you at 5:30," those children will have an excellent motivation for figuring out when the clock says 5:30. Is there a magic age for learning to tell time? Of course not -- that's nonsense. Don't compare yourself or your children to what you think the expected norm might be (judging by the material in texts and workbooks), because the reality is probably very different. I've known traditionally schooled children who still couldn't read analog clocks comfortably at fairly advanced ages, like 9 and 10. Nevertheless, how many teenagers do you know who still can't tell time? Barring serious disabilities, they all seem to figure it out, sooner or later. The sky won't fall if learning to tell time doesn't happen in 1st grade. At the same time, adults can be very helpful to a young child who is curious about time. Under the right circumstances, a preschooler could learn to read an analog clock without undue pressure or structured lessons. What's required is exposure to the concept -- casual but frequent exposure, I might add -- and what's ideal is the presence of the real thing: real clocks, for instance. Toy clocks don't really tell time. Sure, their hands can point to certain numbers, but the time they "tell" doesn't necessarily have any relationship to the actual time of day or night. A REAL clock doesn't cost much (if any) more than a toy one -- why not give a child a real clock of his very own? Meanwhile, by remembering to bring time into the conversation throughout the day, we bring it to our children's attention. There are all sorts of ways to do this. For starters, we can say things like, "Let me know when this longer hand points to the 6. It will be 3:30 then, and that's when the cookies will be ready to eat." We can look at the clock on the wall and think out loud, "Hmmm, it's nearly 4 o'clock. I'd better start dinner." All of these small, off-hand comments (and all of us make them, deliberately or not) are actually little lessons in telling time, and eventually our children put them together and begin to make some sense of it all. Whenever they seem receptive, we can take the opportunity to point things out to them and give them helpful hints (as in Giovanna's suggestion about showing a child who can already count by fives how to count out the minutes on an analog clock). To keep it delightful (for parent and child), think of it like this: Everyone who can already tell time can be thought of as belonging to a club. The Clock Club, let's say. The little kids who don't yet understand the secret of telling time would LIKE to be in our club, and we are eager for them to join, so we do what anyone who's already in a club does for someone who would like come aboard. We help them out and encourage them by giving them little hints and tips. We share the tricks of the trade with them. We share the information they need to have in order to become full-fledged members, themselves. This is the same sort of thing we did when we taught them to tie their shoes and button their shirts. Telling time isn't any different. (Goodness knows, if we used worksheets to teach our kids to zip up their jackets, they'd NEVER learn how!) Cerelle ======================================== MESSAGE: Re: Real time AUTHOR: Giovanna DATE: Friday, 30 April 1999, at 5:03 a.m. Response To: Real time Author: Cerelle Date: Thursday, 29 April 1999, at 11:08 p.m. > If we say to > a child, "We'll stop for a snack > at 2:15," you can bet the child > will have a vested interest in knowing > how to determine when 2:15 has arrived. RIGHT! And that's exactly how my son learned to tell time. Time became of importance when all of the sudden the station here changed the time it showed MAGIC SCHOOL BUS. Time became important because he needed to know exactly when that space shuttle launched off. So that's why we started with the digital clock. He "figured out" the concept of time very fast that way and then the jump from that to the analog was almost effortless. So, MAKE IT RELEVANT TO LIFE! That's the key! Giovanna ======================================== MESSAGE: A delight led author... AUTHOR: Mary DATE: Friday, 30 April 1999, at 6:19 a.m. Cafi's post on the main board reminded me of something. Gene Stratton-Porter wrote Freckles and many other really good books. If you read the story of her life she grew up in Indiana near the limberlost. She was allowed to wander the limberlost and she bacame a wonderful naturalist. She would pin a Chrysallis to her pillow at night so she would hear the rustling as it emerged and could paint it accuarately. Definietely a wonderful example of delight led learning. Mary ======================================== MESSAGE: Hello Dawne, Was that book you found Superbook? AUTHOR: Barb DATE: Friday, 30 April 1999, at 7:36 a.m. Response To: A ques. and comment Author: Dawne Date: Thursday, 29 April 1999, at 9:02 p.m. > OK, here's what WE do b/c unitl > recently he was in ps and would come > home stating "I hate Social Studies"! > My heart sank. I love culture, travel, > cuisine and history! What was I gonna > do? > A big book beckoned to me one day > at the library {I almost fell over it > :0) It was a big book filled with international > games that could be made at home w/ > felt, ribbon, buttons, stones etc.. > > Haven't heard a despairing sigh > since. Our favorites are Tricket - Columbia > S. America Nine Men's Morris from Iceland > and Mu Torrerre from New Zealand > Dawne That book sounds great Dawne. Making an interesting board game for a six year old boy. 1 - dice play money cut paper into 4" sqares (or ?) round up mini planes, trains, people, cars,trucks divide the paper into 6 piles. Mark them 1 - 6. Pick six topics eg; # l cards Politics # 2 '' Land forms (mountains, plains etc. # 3 '' Industry (oil drilling, auto mfg What ever you'd like to study. Than, comes the imagination for him. On the #'d card in politics, write "you have a chance to become The President of the United States, Pay $ and throw your dice, if it's a 3, You are elected. Culture can be a lot of fun. Throw dice pick up a Culture card and it instructs you to visit villiage somewere. He can draw his own huge map of USA and Paint it first Endless fun, and learning. Let the imagination go. Adding new stuff into the catagories can be fun. Like, purchasing a city, and charging players to land at the airport.(if he's the President, he has special planes, etc.) Just an idea. We did Prime Minister. Hope that made sense Dawne. ========================================Back to the TopBack to the Digest Index