Homeschooling Update

We had a good homeschooling day yesterday. I love the spontenaity that is possible with teaching the kids at home. Campbell was playing around during a break on my Casio keyboard and had the keyboard playing a preprogrammed song, "Die Lorelei". I started singing along, and both children started dancing. Then I showed them the poem by Heinrich Heine, read it to them, and translated it. Helene was fascinated by the story and wanted to act it out. So here she is, perched high on the treacherous rocks, combing her golden hair and singing a haunting melody. I didn't get Campbell in the picture, but he is below, in a ship, about to crash into the rocks because he is so entranced by her beautiful singing. Whether she is conscious of her own learning style, I'm not sure, but Helene is always asking to act things out, and when she does, she remembers every little detail of the lesson.








Another neat homeschooling moment happened the day before yesterday. I was talking to Campbell about American history and the events leading up to the revolution. Mostly, I was reading from a book and trying to expand and explain some, but history is my weak point. John got home from work early, while we were still reading, and sat on the couch near us to read his own journals. I had told Campbell that the Colonists didn't like the laws King George had imposed, including the taxes, and I had explained all I could to him about the taxes, but he wanted to know more. I'm so glad John was there. Campbell started asking him questions like, "What other laws did King George pass that the Colonists didn't like?" and saying things like, "No, Daddy. That's not too complicated for me. Keep talking to me about it. I want to know more." I thought that learning history via lecture and discussion would be the most boring possible way to learn it, but Campbell really seemed to enjoy it. Personally, I learn history better through reading historical fiction :), so we're reading Johnny Tremain as well as the history textbook.

We only have one week left of school, officially. We'll probably continue homeschooling into the summer some, but not on as regular of a basis. It has gone well, and I'm glad we did it. I think it has been good for Campbell. I still don't know for sure what we'll do next year. Helene has gotten into a charter core knowledge school, Carbon Valley Academy, for Kindergarten. Campbell is second on the waiting list for the third grade there. Campbell and I visited a third grade classroom at CVA last week to see what it's like. We were impressed. The school has a nice atmosphere, the teachers are organized, the kids were nice to Campbell and excited about having a visitor. All of the grade levels at the elementary school (1st - 5th) have math at the same time, so a child can attend math at a different grade level if the one he's in is too low or high for him. And they do the same thing for Language Arts. The principal seems flexible and open to new ideas. For example, they had never had a student ask to come visit for a day, like we did on Friday, but the principal called me personally when I requested it and helped me arrange for it to happen. Like I said, I'm still not sure what we'll do. Homeschooling has its advantages, but it's hard, and there are so many life lessons that can be learned in a classroom in a school, but not at home. Then again, there are so many teachable moments at home that I can follow up on, but in a classroom of over 20 students, the teacher can't just follow one student's lead and stop everything else to have an in-depth discussion about taxation without representation or to have an impromptu dramatization of "Die Lorelei". We still have a lot of thinking to do this summer. . .