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
