A Brave Writer's Life in Brief

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I’m a northern hemisphere type. August triggers for me the start of the school year, as I know it does for many of you reading this page. My dad always used to say, “The two best days of the year are the last day of school, and the first day of school…in that order.”

I know what he means. I anticipate the fresh start, the joy of re-entering academic life, the new books whose spines crackle as you open them, the bright faces. In homeschooling, our own set of unique traditions cluster around the start of the year: the UPS truck that delivers brown boxes of books, the cubbies created to hold those books, pencils sharpened and new pens that all work and are in a jar visible to all. Brand new copywork books, without a mark in them. Art supplies not yet messy or broken.

In our house, I wrote “back-to-school” notes on the night before we’d “start.” I put these at each child’s breakfast place setting so that in the morning, they’d see these first. I didn’t write a lot, but I usually offered enthusiasm about what this child would get to learn during the coming year, the growth in the child I anticipated seeing, the fun we would share. I decorated the notes with stickers or stars. It was gratifying to me to see that my kids kept these notes for years, as I’d move one after another out to college and I’d bump into the little stack tucked away in a dresser drawer.

The newness energizes. Capitalize on it. Make the special treats; plan your big, time-and-energy-consuming projects for fall; go on hikes in the mild weather and watch birds; head to the local museum for art shows or iMax movies; host a party with other homeschool friends to celebrate back to school! (My mom gave me a wonderful gift in 6th grade—she organized a back-to-school brunch for my girlfriends and me in our California backyard, complete with made-to-order omelets and pencils kits for favors; you could do that!)

The big, bright, optimism you feel can be harnessed for good. Enjoy the surge, be open to where it takes you, follow your inspiration when it arrives. Remember: inspiration is not a lengthy visitor, so welcome her with open arms and go where she leads. Soon enough, you’ll be back to your comforting routine that stands in the gap when inspiration runs dry.

Keep all of this good juju going, while everyone’s got the energy and mojo to do it. The day is coming when the spirit of “new” dissipates and the routine will be familiar again. That day is okay too. It’s life—it’s the homeschooling cycle. You are not doing anything wrong, if you happen upon a day that is a little less neon-bright than September. That’s as it should be. When the day comes, accept and welcome its quieter spirit. Adjust. Let the ebb and flow of your homeschool reassure you rather than worry you. It means you are doing it right. Steady as she goes.

Add brownies, if you need some comfort food along the way.

Happy homeschooling everyone!

Cross-posted on facebook.

One of the greatest pleasures in life is to have someone else prepare a pleasurable experience for you. For instance, when I eat dinner at someone else’s home, the food just tastes better, the whole experience is elevated to “special,” and I find myself relaxed and happy before the dinner begins, simply in anticipation.

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy making a quality meal too. The tinkering with the ingredients, the paging through the cookbook, the skillful braising and simmering and broiling—these all help me invest in the meal, and I love the feeling of being a confident, competent cook. Still, even though I have taught myself to cook, and have enjoyed the effects of my cooking, I love meals cooked for me—whether at a friend’s home or a restaurant. There’s a different kind of happiness that comes from that experience.

Two modalities of learning

1. Self-teaching to become a competent student of any subject area
2. Benefiting from the well-prepared lesson offered by a caring parent.

In toggling between independent learning (the kind a child initiates and continues on his own) and lessons (the kind organized by you), your child will become a well-rounded, educated person. He’ll have the power and skill to teach himself (such a gift!), but he’ll also receive the gift of a lesson well-prepared.

Self-guided instruction is a popular motif in home education. It’s a fabulous goal of it, too. Anyone who realizes that a little concerted effort and a willingness to explore/read/test ideas without the badgering of a schedule or a series of pop quizzes and tests, discovers the joys of being an autodidact. We love that our kids can and do teach themselves all manner of subjects and skills.

What about the other end, though? While our goals may be to create independent learners, we might also want to consider how especially pleasurable it can be to learn according to a carefully considered plan put together with love by a parent. I’m not talking about lectures and note-taking. I am talking about a plan—

• preparing in advance which books to read and how they will be read (aloud in a group or to one’s self),
• considering field trips that might be coordinated with the books,
• assembling materials for art or science projects that correlate with the time period of the books,
• identifying music or artwork from that era in history that could be shared to enrich the experience of the reading and exploring, and so on.

In other words, one of the most generous acts you can give as a home educator is to prepare a well-thought-out course of study in at least one subject area for the coming school year each quarter. It may be difficult to give that level of development to every subject for all ages, but you can most certainly select literature or a historical time period that will address the bulk of your children. You can coordinate various activities, readings, outings, and experiences to go with that illuminate some aspect of the subject area you intend to explore.

Your preparation of a series of “lessons” that combine kinesthetic activities with more passive modes of learning (listening, watching, reading) are often not only a relief to your child, but may also trigger two other extremely valuable responses from your child: gratitude and motivation.

Your young students may thank you for being so invested in their learning, grateful for the enriching way you open this new field of study to them (they’ll say things like, “That museum was cool!” and “Thanks for having a party about the Gold Rush!”), and they may be more motivated to explore the topic further—to learn about other aspects of this subject area.

Don’t hold back from preparing rich, well-plotted lessons. You can intersperse periods of independence, space to explore without a guide, and freedom to pursue personal interests that don’t particularly draw your other children. But at least once each quarter, for a month or so, give your children the gift of a well-conceived unit of study. Take some time to create them, to think them through, to purchase supplies, and put dates on the calendar.

Share your plans with your kids, get their ideas. Catalyze their imaginations in advance, the way a menu gets you excited about the coming meal.

You can do it! You can create a feast of learning for your children. You feel so much better when you do, when you have thought ahead. Even if not every immersive experiences turns out to be as captivating as you had imagined, many of them will be swimming successes! Revel in those.

Make quality learning meals for your children as your gift to their education. In turn, they will find themselves hungry to teach themselves more, even without your lead. This is the balancing act and beauty of homeschool.

Embrace it.