This is how we roll…
FollowI’ve had quite a few questions lately about “how” we school. Here goes…
The list of what I DON’T like to chat about so insanely short so it’s no surprise that when someone brings up education, animals, hobby farming, soap making, woodworking, parenting, fun fruits, underwater basket weaving… ummmm seriously the list could go on FOREVER… the point being that I like to chat to both learn from others, learn with others, and teach others. That premise is the foundation for every aspect of our schooling here at The Shepherd Hobby Farm.
The key is this: Learning never ends. It is not confined to a classroom, the kitchen table, or the library. It is a neverending and infinite amount of knowledge at your fingertips as you live your days and nights. Kids can learn something from everything! heck, everyone can learn something from everything!
If you would like to “label” our homeschool style it would closest resemble “eclectic unschooling.”
We started this homeschooling journey in 2010 and did the whole “classroom at home” type schooling to begin with. Strict schedule with a 6th grader and a 1st grader made our school day go from 0730 to 1400 with lunch at exactly 1115. Everything was structured, curriculum was in place (in the beginning my husband and I pieced it all together from various resources), and I was the type of teacher who wouldn’t accept work if it was sloppy or lazily done. Over the years we relaxed a bit as our kids started catching on to things rather quickly and their work ethic began to develop way beyond “doing just the minimum to get by.”
I started getting frustrated with watching my boys learn about things in the “curriculum” (we have settled on Alpha Omega LifePacs for many of our years and really like them) and when something lit their curisoity beyond the subject at hand feeling like we coudln’t chase the rabbit trail because we had to stay on task with the curriculum.
This last year we tried something new. We bought their curriculums from Alpha Omega as usual but math is the only thing we stuck to as far as “by the book”. We also did plenty of math in real life situations but the curriculum was our foundation.
For science we enjoyed exploring every question and experiment that popped into our heads and would go through the Alpha Omega curriculum and work with the material that interested the boys. I found that when left to their own discovery they willingly opened up the curriculum while at the same time exploring the world around them. Microscopes were a huge love of our 10 year old son this year so we spent many days and nights exploring microscopes and doing experiments involving the micrscope. Thank you to my amazing husband for the endless finger pricks and blood samples so we could play “forensic pathologist.”
Last year our 15 year old son took a composition class through a great friend of the family (she teaches many homeschool kids) and he’ll be taking it again this year. Our 10 year old will also be taking a composition class with her. This is what distinguishes us from some other unschoolers. We do still mandate that our sons do a couple things in the educational realm that they aren’t necessarily huge fans of. They both would rather not take the composition class (there’s h…o…m…e…w…o…r…k **GASP**) but it is good for someone other than mom and dad to set their eyes on our boys’ writing. I mean seriously… you all see how I love my run on sentences and complete and utter disregard for ending sentences with prepositions. Should I really be the only one teaching my boys how to write? I think not. Besides, their composition teacher actually makes things quite fun, though it’s like pulling teeth to get either boy to admit it.
We take time at every opportunity to learn. The boys have taught me just as much, if not more, than I have taught them. They LOVE being the experts in things and sharing their knowledge with their parents. For this they research and research some more. We greet their knowledge with excitement and listening ears. We want to know what they know and this makes them want to know more… it’s a weird and really cool cycle!
Our oldest son is a history lover like his father and can whittle away entire days on end with history documentaries and books. Our youngest is currently into rock samples and Minecraft. We only use our TVs for DVDs/Blu Rays and video games so the boys aren’t wasting away in front of endless hours of mindless programs. There are a few TV shows that we like such as The Andy Griffith Show, A Team, Dirty Jobs, Duck Dynasty, and Star Trek so we get those on DVD and often watch them as a family. Honestly, there’s A LOT you can learn with Dirty Jobs! These shows tend to get our curiosity stirred and lead to further research on all sorts of subjects.
So today, what happened today? Was it a school day? Yup. What did the boys learn? Well… this is how we rolled…
0730 Oldest son (15) is up WAY before usual becuase he is excited about going to the Sonrise Coffee Shop to download a new computer game that his dad purchased for him (we only have internet at home through the limited tethering for our iPhones). I ask him to wake up his brother (a job that is quite challenging as our youngest son thinks 1000 is “up early”).
0800 Client picks up her dog that we have been boarding for the past 9 days and I ask our youngest son to count the money and figure out how much she paid me “per day” of boarding her dog. I leave him to his calculating to go brush my teeth. I return downstairs to find out youngest son paid oldest son $1 to do his calculations so he could go back to bed. I talked to youngest son about his lack of obedience but kinda great ingenuity and he says he’s practicing his “delegating skills”… seriously, where does he learn this stuff?
0830 Oldest son is chomping at the bit to head out but a quick hair check by mom leads to the simple fact that my boys are completely unaware that they have backs to their heads and there’s hair back there which would like to see a comb once in a while (they both have long hair because they don’t want to “wait forever and chat” in a barber’s chair. Yet, they list Floyd the Barber as one of their favorite Andy Griffith characters… weird). We talk about how in the old days the barber shop and beauty parlor is where many people got the up to date news because there was no such thing as social media etc. Hair check fail leads to teeth check (both boys are in braces so I’m a little OCD about teeth cleaning right now) which surprisingly they both pass (not with flying colors though).
0845 We load up into the Sienna mini van (woohoo, soccer mom wannabe!) and I ask Jackson how big his game is that he has to download as we drive up our lane. We see a family of wild turkeys, we sit and watch a few minutes, and oldest son Googles “how long a family of turkey stays together.” We then debate for a little bit about whether or not a wild turkey tastes as good on a Thanksgiving table as a farm raised turkey. I have him look at the wild turkeys and he admits that yes, the breasts of the wild turkey aren’t as plump as the farm raised ones but we wonder if the meat tastes better. Probably tougher we all agree but stronger (maybe better) flavor. Any turkey hunters out there help us out on this? I also explain that almost all farm raised turkeys have to be artificially inseminated because they are unable to mate naturally (to produce fertile eggs) due to their size that farmers have bred them for (big big big).
Oldest son gets us back on track when turkeys have passed with a simple , “9GB.” I just give a, “Huh?” as I have no idea what he’s talking about. “Size of my game mom, it’s 9GB”… and we go back and forth figuring out how long it will take to download based on edtimates of internet speed at the coffee shop. If speed is x then it will take y minutes to download the 9GB game. Youngest son, x minutes equals how many hours (with minutes left over)? No calculators but scratch paper is fine (though they both treat scratch paper like a vampire does garlic). We chat about the possibility of maybe starting each van ride out with a prayer. We will all think about it… We pass construction that we take our best guess at because none of us are quite sure what hey are tearing up the street for and putting small piping in all over the place. I want to stop and ask a guy who seems to be in charge but the boys say, “maybe on the way back” in unison… I don’t think they really care nor have any intention of reminding me to stop and chat with the guy in charge on the way back.
0900 We make it to the coffee shop and park next to a parking meter. I ask youngest son to figure out how many coins it will take to keep the meter going for an hour. Nickel at a time he puts in coins until it reaches 1 hour and figures out it takes $.25 for an hour of parking. We discuss what parking meter money is used for, what happens if you don’t put money in the meter, whether or not we would want the job of “meter maid”, and why there is a 2 hour limit on parking in that spot. Luckily today I know all the answers to these questions and I don’t have to Google a thing!
0910 We step into the coffee shop and…
to be continued…
Folks, this is a taste of what unschooling looks like. This is our life. We talk a lot, we read a lot, we listen a lot, we pray a lot, and we watch those around us A LOT!
~ Jhenna
Oh and seriously… how we roll… toilet paper is always over, never under. Get it right people!