Navigation Project and a Beautiful Hike

Our weather took an amazing turn for the better this week.  We have had sun since Sunday...that's FOUR WHOLE DAYS!  When the weather is good here, you take advantage of it.  Laurel and I have been hiking the same trail all week, partly because it's close, and partly because I wanted to show her how with hard work the trail would go from being hard to being easy. 

Success.  But it didn't come easy.  3 days equals three fights about not wanting to go, wanting to quit before we started, wanting to quit after we started...and I'm sure there were others.  We had to talk a lot about positive attitudes, postitive outcomes...but in the end, only my ugly voice would push her along.  Sigh. 

I digress.  The first day was just re-introducing ourselves to the trail.  The second day I let her take charge of leading me on the trail.  The third day we sat down and made maps to route our path to and from (and including) the trail. 

 

With maps in hand I let the kids lead the way, figuring out at every turn whether it was right or left, how to read street signs, how to look for landmarks and how to be safe.  

 

 

Getting to the trail is the hardest part (before the fun begins) and thankfully as the "leader" Laurel stepped up to the plate and tried to be a positive role model for Luke (instead of whining her way up the road like she had been).

 

 

I won't lie, hiking with kids is rarely 100% fun.  You have to coax and push and bribe and trick sometimes to get them to want to keep going. This time I was able to get them into trading off who was the leader every 3 minutes.  This allowed each to feel like the one in charge, and took us through the whole trail with no more whining. 

 And with kids sometimes you just have to stop and play, or eat or let them take charge of the camera.  It's always amazing to me how quickly a snack can boost their moods.

And when it's all said and done you get that one last amazing view of the insanely beautiful place we live. 

 Then the kids finished navigating us back to the house. All in all they did a great job getting us there and back.  They had a couple of wrong turns, but they got back on track and figured out not only how to make a map and plan a route, but how to follow the map to get there and back.  It was a fun project, a beautiful day and a fun morning with the kiddos.

Solitude and mushrooms

Because of some unseasonably nice weather we put aside some homeschool time and went outdoors. Three trails in three days. We found plants and beauty and gorgeous vistas...and even some solitude. Laurel was mostly in charge of the camera and snapped pictures of everything from a squirrel to moss. (mostly mushrooms though)

And what I learned is that sometimes I need to slow down. Usually when we go out somewhere it's on my schedule. But the last few days hiking with a little buddy I realized that it's not all about me.

So I had to slow down...A LOT.

And stand still while she snapped pictures.

And accept it when she didn't want to learn what I wanted to teach.

And watch while she began to be captivated by the beauty around her (without mom to tell her how captivating it is).

I really had no idea how much more homeschooling was than just educating my child.

I'm starting to get it now.

The Trivium

Sounds like a scary movie involving some kind of conspiracy in the upper levels of the Catholic church, doesn't it?

It's not.

It's the homeschool program I've decided to follow; deemed the Classical Education. I've read so many books about homeschooling that I have nightmares about Charlotte Mason and Maria Montessori strangling me in my sleep.

The one thing I can generically say about all of the books I read is that I hate it when someone tells you the right way to do something. Schooling is completely made up. Completely. So there is no right or wrong way. BUT MAKE NO MISTAKE, there is definitely a way that you can screw up your kid's future. (It's all fun and games until someone loses a future)

No pressure.

One book suggested 4-6 hours of outdoor play a day (I guess they don't have to put up with an Alaskan winter).

One book suggested only studying what the child wants to study..tempting...and what do I do the rest of the time, drink?

All books made good points, and you could see some truth to the claims. But one method alone held up an example (two actually, mother and daughter) of a case of a truly successful home education experience. And what really struck me is the similarity between this method and how Laura Ingalls and Anne Shirley were educated. (yes, I realize Anne is fictional, but she's still awesome)

No doubt this method requires the most rigorous work of all the other methods. But we're still talking about less hours a day than is wasted spent in a public school. (sorry, I'll be nice) But the best part is the comfort in knowing I couldn't offer my kids more opportunity than this (educationally speaking).

So far so good, and what I've realized since starting this process is;
1) The majority of our citizens are vastly under-educated, our system has failed us.
1) How natural (and completely awesome) it is to have Laurel at home with me.
2) How much fun it's been to further my own education during this process.

In a nutshell this method is about learning the core subjects inside and out, learning how to learn and learning how to think. Once you have all three of those down NO subject is unapproachable.

Now THAT'S an education.

These are some of the books we've been using. I will update later on my opinion of them, but so far so good. I love everything except Saxon math (designed for idiots to use), and First Language Lessons (way too basic). I have found that my daughter does best when I combine the books with my own things. I find if you only follow the books the education is too simple. It needs to be varied with literature, writing, recitation, dictation and the like. (that of course is the major difference between homeschooling and schooling at home)

Obviously choosing your curriculum is a deeply personal thing. Everyone has their own needs, wants and likes. So far this is working for me. I feel like I'm challenging my daughter, and pushing her to want to do her best. That feels right to me.