When School Isn’t School

I’d guess most of us have been there before- days (weeks?) when we feel like the school work that was completed seems like a small stack when compared to all of the plans we had. An incomplete worksheet, an abandoned project, and a much too short report. All of these have left me feeling at times like I am failing at this whole homeschooling thing! But what if, instead of focusing on these, we look at what our kids actually did accomplish in that time?

We’ve been homeschooling for 12 years now. When I started attending LHEA monthly meetings and met amazing woman who had been schooling their kids for so long I felt equally encouraged, and scared! At the time I had no peers on the same path but still felt God heavily nudging us to homeschool. Instead of looking ahead to the far distant future, I worked on one day at a time, and now cannot believe how quickly all of those days have added up! Our poor firstborn was a guinea pig for many good intentioned fails. I felt like to be a ‘success’ we had to fill in every line, read every page, finish every workbook. Perhaps you identify if you are new to homeschooling? However as I became more comfortable with the idea that I know my children’s learning styles best, my ideals changed. Now schooling four kids between 10 and 16 years old, our workbooks are full of crossed out pages- skills that I either find unnecessary to spend time on, or that they have already mastered and don’t need to waste time on. And, I know the most important secret of all; their best learning comes when they aren’t even supposed to be learning! I’m sure many of you have taken your kids out for a quick ‘recess’ walk to shake out some sillies, only to come home to pockets full of treasures, and a list of questions to google. Somehow returning to a science worksheet pales in comparison to researching how heavy a bald eagle's nest is, what type of rock they’ve found, why is there frost, how fast can a coyote run; questions that go on and on. Everyone with really little ones knows that question asking is a huge part of their learning, but what if we encourage our older children to keep asking questions too? “Let’s look it up!” is repeated many times a day in our house, no matter the grade level. Encouraging curiosity ensures that our kids are always learning, even when we aren’t ‘teaching’. Several projects that our kids have dreamed up morphed into amazing learning opportunities that would have been lost if they were too busy being constantly 'taught’. I’ll give a few examples, I’m sure you’ll start finding parallels in your own kids’ learning! Years ago our kids started a tradition of putting on a play each summer and watching their skills grow at organizing this event is awesome! A fun project has now become an amazing undertaking- they write the script (Language Arts, Typing) plan costumes and coordinate props and sets (Arts) and set up sound gear, lights and music (Technology) The day of the show they prepare special snacks (Culinary Arts) and welcome the audience (Hospitality) before rushing back stage to get ready. They spend a massive amount of their ‘play’ time on this, which I now recognize as ‘school’ time!

A more recent project to grab their attention is treasure hunting! Three of our kids are keen on searching for lost coins, and have discovered that our farm property is a wealth of buried antiques and vintage finds. After receiving a metal detector as a Christmas gift, they set up a club called Treasure Seekers where they each play a part (Government) and decided to start a Youtube channel to record their finds (Technology) They film and edit their searches (Photography) and are learning about how to promote their channel (Marketing) Their favourite part comes with identifying some of their finds (Historical Research) both by internet searches and calling historical societies (Research and Interview Skills) They have found a canteen lid from World War Two that led to all sorts of war related research, vintage bottles that had them learn about old pharmaceutical products like Castoria and a 1940 National Parks of Canada Chauffeur Pin which had them contacting the National Parks Board to try to reunite the owner with the pin. Recently they found a night vision game tracker camera laying near our creek and were so excited to find the memory card still working with video of night time visitors such as deer and coyotes (Zoology).

Most of us will fondly remember setting up a lemonade stand as kids. Why not help your entrepreneurial minded kids with their own business? Ours started out with iced tea and were told they needed to figure out their expenses etc (Business Skills). They decided to make their sales ‘by donation’ with the money going towards their World Vision sponsored children. As they got older they upgraded to a Shave Ice stand, and even a Hot Chocolate stand this winter. This free time play has them learning marketing, sales, and humanitarian aid as their donations quickly add up! This past summer had many people try their hands at gardening for the first time. Even a small window planter can be a source of immense learning for kids! Research which seeds to buy, when to plant, how to nurture, when to harvest and how to prepare your bounty. Learning never tasted so good!

Read alouds are a family favourite, a perfect time to introduce books that may be at a higher level than their current reading skills. We’ve gone through several books and series that the kids were hesitant to read on their own, but once they knew the story they considered the characters good friends and were eager to read more on their own time. While you read out loud, encourage your kids to try any sort of handiwork they might enjoy; whittling, colouring, sewing, playdoh, Lego etc. At first I thought that they had to be still and quiet to be actively listening, but I know now that they absorb equally well, if not better, when their hands are busy! The learning list is endless if we only give ourselves permission to veer slightly from our pre-planned path of schooling! Many of the ‘rabbit holes’ that we think of as distracting can lead to fantastic learning. Be encouraged when your kids show passion in something that may not have been on your to-do list. I’ve heard great examples of moms ‘sneaking’ in math or history to Lego building sessions and once had a friend cleverly gift us a Jenga game with multiplication facts glued onto each brick. What excites your kids? Could that excitement become a major part of their learning plan? Of course, many of those worksheets do still need to be completed, and each child is bound to have at least one ‘blah’ subject to press through. Don’t be discouraged if not every day (week?) is your ideal homeschooling day! Trust that as the days, weeks, months and years pass, their experiences, interests and skills will grow exponentially. Upon ‘graduation’ I will feel like my job is done only if my kids have no notion that they are ‘done’ learning! If they leave our homeschool with a solid foundation based on awe of our God, and the desire to constantly seek to learn more about history, creation and humanity, I will consider them well educated. P.S. If you’re interested in checking out the Treasure Seekers treasure hunting videos, they’d be thrilled to get a few subscribers! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0z-KzDTlGFLsEgJe1Ng0_g