Our summer Handbook of Nature Study suggested that we would enjoy the book Discover Nature at Sundown to supplement our Summer Discoveries. Of course, it would be the book that I sold to Robert’s Bookshop a few months back when I was looking for some Math Dictionaries. 🙂
Oregon is having a Mid December Hell-uva-Storm today, so after batting down the hatches, getting dinner ready, and the kiddos happily pursuing their interests – I headed down to my favorite store – Robert’s Bookshop to find said Discovery Book.
Alas – it was gone, But I did find one that was fascinating called Nature Day and Night by Richard Adams – An amazing small package of information regarding the habits of animals 24 hours a day, tides, weather patterns, the sky – really great mixture of photos and text – I am sure it will be a good stand in. I spent a good 45 minutes browsing all of the nature books – then moved on to the Math section looking to see if there are any new helpful tips/resource books, meandered around the Oregon History section, stopped in the Thai Food Section, and then remembered they had a “homeschool” section near the front – wondering if anyone might have turned in any Teaching Textbooks 4 or 7 materials or Saxon 8/7 0 –I moved forward.
I sat in front of this tiny three shelf section – if there is a smaller section for another topic – I wouldn’t know – and I remembered my first experience with Robert’s Books.
“Hi! I’m new in town and saw your used book sign – I was wondering if you had any good books for homeschoolers?”. “No, not really,” replies the clerk, “Lincoln City doesn’t really have a lot of homeschoolers, so we do not get much in.” I looked at the tiny itsy bitsy section just inside the door – and went home.
Later – I had a need for some books on flowers and that is when I found out that Roberts Bookshop is HUGE. It Goes and Goes. You literally get turned around and lost. It’s like two or three shops connected by open back doors. Long sections on everything you could imagine. A quick walk up the isle today – only a sliver of the store – I saw little cards directing to Art, World Religion, Medicine, Birds, Nature, Sea Creatures, Reptiles, US History, Politics, Oregon History, War, Auto, Train, Science, Travel, Cooking, Carpentry, Gardening, Fishing, Quilting, Seasonings (a whole section for seasonings), Archeology, Anthropology, WW2, Civil War, Maritime, Technical, Computers, Golf, Science, Space, Astronomy, Geology, Fishing, Business, World Guide Books, – On and On.
People came and went – asking for books on Pre Vatican Bible History – Mathematical Helps, Cooking, Poetry – and not once – not once – did they ask for a textbook for their topic. Nor did they equate their desire to learn – with learning at home – with the title “Homeschooler”. They were not brought to the three shelves intended for home learning – scour the textbooks – and then move on to the authors and people who have experienced these topics first hand.
I want to learn about nocturnal animals. We are learning about what worms do at night right now. I want to learn about the patterns of bats. Nate, Jon and Darren all have topics they are interested in as well. We checkout as many books as the library allows and immerse ourselves in the topic.
What title can we attach – that explains the natural way we research and learn about our interests? Like Adult Hobby Learning? What do you call it when you are picking up a new interest and you focus your energy on line, in the library, and in book stores growing your intelligence? Home Growing? Sounds like there should be hops involved.
It is why I don’t want to be a homeschooler. I don’t want to be confined to times of a day, days of the week, or months of the year to pursue learning and growth. As the boys grow older, they will have seasons of intended learning throughout the day – that may become lax as the summer warms the lake. The number one question of these weeks to the boys has been – “Are you Schooling through the Summer?” How could we not? How could we stop the ebb and flow of our days? What is not important? Should we forget our figures? Should we stop reading the bible? Should we quit reading? Should we stop improving our spelling and writing? Why do we have permission to take three months to put towards activities that would not inspire growth? What would that even look like? What would we Do?
Lately, in the news, – Homeschoolers and Unschoolers alike have gotten such a beating by the press – they seem so surprised when someone gets into Harvard, or when one doesn’t do Math every day in worksheet form. Can’t we just be life long learners? Can’t they learn like adults do? The Pursuit of Interest’ers just doesn’t seem to have the same ring. . . .So for now, with protest, we will remain the Petra School Relaxed Learners – or homeschoolers – but we refuse to TO DO SCHOOL at home. 🙂
+Angie Wright
Pebblekeeper 
Thank you so much for your kind words Suzanne. 🙂 I am enjoying the network of blogs – learning to learn for a lifetime – I like that. 🙂
Angie, this post is very insightful. I really appreciate you sharing and it makes me think more about my own ideas of schooling at home and what exactly I think that should entail. In my opinion, if our children are memorizing a bunch of facts that will help them do well on tests but they’ll forget that info as soon as the testing is over, we’ve completely missed the mark. Instead, it’s about learning for a lifetime. Living and learning every day would be my personal goal for my children although I’ve failed miserably at doing that with them. I just appreciate you sharing so that we can all learn from each other. Thanks so much!
What a thought-provoking post. I have been “homeschooling” my daughter for 5 years – we “finished” our 5th year today! And, my daughter is excited to have the summer “off.” But, what do we do during the summer? We do more projects, more “unit study” types of activities. We travel. We read. We bake. We are hoping to learn to sew this summer.
So, for us summer is a time to get a little more away from the everyday “plans” and learn a little ina little more relaxed atmosphere. (Though our homeschool is fairly relaxed at times anyway.)
I’m glad Barb linked to your post – I really enjoyed reading it!
I love your post & agree that homeschooling is a “Lifestyle”. Do what works for you and your family. Keep the vision & God will bring it to pass.
I need a road map. I like having a focus. I like things being sort of linear. On the other hand, maps can take you in different directions but at the same time get you where you want to go….a little wandering is good because you never know what you will find. Focus is good too unless you make your focus through a microscope…focus needs to change like switching channels on a radio and you get some new points of view. As a former accountant, I like neat columns and lines of numbers and text but accounting gets boring after awhile and you need to mix it up a bit. (Now you know I am a former accountant.)
We have found the balance between planned and unplanned by making our mornings more traditional and our afternoons project based. It has given our lives some shape and adventure too.
We do a lot of self-education in our family. I see my adult children continuing to learn and grow. My 24 year old daughter is immersing herself in Spanish and Spanish culture so she can be a missionary in a Spanish speaking country all while she is working at a bank to pay the bills and save for her travel. My 22 year old son is building robots, getting serious about portrait photography, and trying to do 200 push-ups a day…all after he comes home from his computer programming job and college classes.
You are right it is difficult to label it but I think of it as fueling a fire that needs to get going by some spark of interest. Our job is to keep the flickers of flame going and fuel the fire as long as their is interest. It can be exhausting but exciting as well.
Sorry for the long comment….thanks for the really thought-provoking post.
We like the roadmap as well. 🙂 I love following your choices for Nature Study. I have a friend in Central Oregon who set up our Geography for the year and we have pretty much followed it – even though we moved and are not in the class. We enjoy ACE PACE’s, Nathan did 4 years worth of English the year he really learned how to read. He plowed through and really “caught up” with english grammar. We will probably use Daily Grams next year. We love Miquon Math, and have done the whole program with both boys. We enjoy Saxon Math and Teaching Textbooks. I love to use resources to help guide our choices – I am not skilled at coming up with the questions – that is why I have enjoyed the Handbook of Nature and Keepers of the Faith Contenders so much. So many well thought out questions to explore. I almost pulled this post this morning, but went on a walk and didn’t get to it. I think it is more of the World’s perception of how narrow, stark, boring and plain homeschooling is, that it can fit into a three shelf box in the middle of book paradise. 😉 Some homeschoolers, who have not yet grown with their kids and their confidence, still only have their learning times in a box, but I hope, as the kids grow, get out of diapers and toddling, that they will grow with their children – into a daily learning style. We are looking forward to Omnibus by Veritas Press and Apologia through High School, we study Latin Roots and detailed geography – way beyond paper cut out flags. 🙂 We love School – and the path – and the intent of focus. 🙂 Love your long reply. 🙂
Hmm. Delight-led Learners? What do you do when something you *need* to learn is not so delightful? Hmm. Good post. I don’t know the answer. I’m not anti-school, I’m pro-learning. If school means sitting at a desk, then we’re not doing school at home. The word school does not have a negative connotation for me. But stuffy, sunless classrooms *for hours* makes me want to avoid modern schools.
Give me a great big bookstore with living books anyday, even if it is stuffy and sunless. I can find and take my book outside to read under the shade of a big tree. That is if there is sun instead of rain. :=)
I liked Delight Directed also for a time – but as the parent, there are things that I feel they should know, and should trust us with – to give them – and they should receive. Like Geography? Or Algebra? Disciplined, even when not delightful to begin with – but then upon learning – the joy comes. I Love School. We have a classroom. We have had desks on and off. We have learning areas of the house. I love to be taught. I love to teach. I enjoy the disciplined sharing group of the classroom environment.
I think my sadness today, was another reminder, of what people think Homeschooling is. Workbooks at home. Substandard castoffs of other institutions, half written in workbooks from boys who did not want to finish, Moms and children fervently working through them to stay up with other kids, while living in a hole. . . . . . Or maybe I’ve just been reading too many news blogs lately. 🙂 Probably. . . . . 🙂 I best not whine about perception, and the lack of books stores to understand. Not ONE little Bit!!! I am in debt to those who have gone before . . . .I try to understand, to register in my mind, what those families went through in the 80’s and 90’s to get my spoiled brat attitude where it is today. 🙂 And I’m pretty sure they didn’t pave a way for me to be bratty about. :)I am joyful of my opportunity to teach my children at home, in any manner that works for us, using any tool that works for us. – I share that joy of freedom with other families as well. 🙂