Philadelphia Magic Gardens - Visionary Art vs. Folk Art

When my younger son Ryan was studying visionary art earlier this spring, I wondered how it was different than folk art which has always been my most favorite type of art.

Folk art, as defined by the American Visionary Art Museum is art "learned at the knee" and passed from generation to generation, or through established cultural community traditions, like Hopi Native Americans making Kachina dolls, sailors making macrame, and the Pennsylvania Dutch making hex signs.

Visionary art on the other hand, again defined by the Visionary Art Museum is art produced by self-taught individuals, usually without formal training, whose works arise from an innate personal vision that revels foremost in the creative act itself. In short, visionary art begins by listening to the inner voices of the soul, and often may not even be thought of as art by its creator.

So, the essential difference between folk art and visionary art is that visionary artists don't listen to anyone else's traditions, they create their own. They listen to their own inner voice and create what comes to them from deep in their soul.

Yesterday, my older son Jimmy and I headed down to South Street in Philadelphia to check out Philadelphia Magic Gardens and see the work of a visionary artist named Isaiah Zagar whose mosaics can be found in many places in Philadelphia, but especially at the Magic Gardens at 1020 South Street.

As you can see from all of the pictures in this post which were taken at the Magic Gardens, Isaiah's work is amazing! His mosaics cover half a city block with an indoor gallery and a massive outdoor labyrinth of tiles, mirrors, and found items from the local community. A true example of trash to treasure!

As I stepped into Philadelphia Magic Gardens, I was both shocked and awed at what Isaiah had created and was thankful to those who had worked so hard to preserve his work and keep it from the wrecking ball.

Though the website for the Philadelphia Magic Gardens calls Isaiah's work folk art, I feel it is more in line with visionary art, especially in that there is no true tradition of creating walls out of found items which are then covered in mosaics. Isaiah had a vision that was his alone, borne out of listening to his inner voice, and turning that voice into what lay before my eyes.

It really is impossible to take in all that Isaiah has created in one visit. There are just so many nooks and crannies to investigate. Welcoming chairs throughout encourage one to sit and contemplate the surroundings.

A free mind, unencumbered by expectations is what allowed this work to come to fruition. A reminder to me to let go when trying to bring any of my visions to the surface. To let my soul do the speaking and see what comes.

Above: figures pressed into mortar.

Large panels of tile.

Tiled steps leading up to the second level outdoors.

Bottles pressed into mortar.

Slogans written out with tiles are found throughout.

The wire rims of bike tires are another medium used along with plates and bottles.

More bike tires and glass bottles.

Notice the mortar with layers of found items.

A newspaper story about Zagar, framed at Philadelphia Magic Gardens.

Two, maybe three stories of tiles going straight up the side of a neighboring building.

Close-up.

The basement gallery.

A tall two story wall in the foreground, large wall in the background, all covered with tiles and other assorted found items.

Basement gallery.

First impression of the Magic Gardens as you step outside from the indoor gallery.

Close-up of tile work.

Bottles, tires, tiles, all brought together to create a work of art that is incredibly inspiring...

Philadelphia Magic Gardens Website, click here.

Pennsylvania Homeschooling Portfolio...A Review of our Year.

I will admit, I was intimidated at first with the more rigorous requirements of Pennsylvania homeschooling law which required a portfolio containing samples of work, standardized tests, an evaluator's report, and a book log, especially after homeschooling in states that didn't have any such requirements. But after just finishing the compilation of my son Ryan's portfolio for this year, I am glad that I had to collect and put together his work in a bound notebook because I now have a fantastic record of all that he did this year which will come in handy when it is time to apply for college.

There is a lot of flexibility in how the portfolio is prepared and an excellent website to refer to when assembling the portfolio is Ask Pauline. Not only will this site provide you with portfolio advice, but offers a wealth of information on homeschooling in PA. In the picture above, I show part of Ryan's book log by subject.

In the science section of Ryan's portfolio shown above, I show some samples of his work, pictures of him doing science experiments, and part of the listing of science resources used. This is just a small sample of the work included in his portfolio and the portfolio itself is just a small sampling of work done for the year.

Under the English tab of his portfolio shown above, I feature a partial listing of English resources used, a sample of research done, and have spread out the manuscript of a novel he is in the process of writing. Again, just a small sampling of work in the portfolio and work done during the course of the year.

We went on lots of field trips this year so much of the history section of Ryan's portfolio includes pictures of our trips. Visiting the places where history was made is the beauty of homeschooling and makes history come alive. Even so, Ryan still used some books as resources and that list is included in the history section of the portfolio as shown above.

Samples of my Ryan's math work and pictures of him doing math along with a list of math resources are shown above.

Finally, above are pictures of some of the electives Ryan participated in along with him taking part in physical education related activities. A resources list is also included.

What I didn't show and what was also included in our portfolio was a daily log of activities we did along with an attendance log. There was also a required health and safety section. When all finished, the portfolio filled a 2 and 1/2 inch binder.

As a homeschooler, Ryan won't receive a typical transcript for high school so portfolios will serve instead. He has already tested how well this portfolio will work in place of a transcript by bringing it to an interview at the local community college and being accepted for fall of 2012- just after he turns 16- the work of assembling this portfolio already paying off!

A Week of Natural Learning.

What does Natural Learning look like? How is it different for young people than a week spent at school? The biggest difference is that there are no divisions between time spent learning and time spent having fun, no jumping for joy at the end of the school day on a Friday with dreams of uninterrupted fun all weekend. No dread on Sunday night as homework for the week ahead is rushed through and completed. Instead, life unfolds and learning unfolds. I am sure you have heard of the quote "live, laugh, love". All things we willingly pursue in life which enhance our being in this world. Well, as a Natural Learner, you would insert the word "learn" into that quote as well, and go after learning with the same enthusiasm as loving or living. It would simply be a part of you, an extension of yourself. Not something a teacher would give to you, but something you would give to yourself. "Live, laugh, love, learn".

In my post yesterday, I talked of how my son pursued his recent interest in physics by talking to a retired physics professor who told him about an online video class in physics at MIT. I then went on to talk of how my son is learning by leaps and bounds in his pursuit of knowledge in a Natural Learning environment. Maybe talking like that left you with the impression that my son is socially isolated from his peers and that he spends his days alone. That isn't the case at all so let me write a bit about how my son spends his week so that you can come to see how Natural Learning works and if it is something you would like to offer a young person in your life.

My son starts every Tuesday through Thursday morning rising at 7am then coming downstairs to spend time having a breakfast of pancakes or eggs, playing with the dog, watching the Today show, showering and talking to me until 9am during which time we leave the house for his educational center. Ryan then spends the next 5-7 hours being exposed to a myriad of activities in a free and experiential way with a close knit group of 2o of his peers. Just this week alone, this group of young people began preparations for a garden, did fund raising and planning for an end of the year trip they will be taking, gave presentations to one another on research projects of their choosing, and other such activities. Tuesdays are filled with math and science topics, Thursdays with language arts related activities and Wednesdays are free choice days where the young people choose between three offerings every 6 weeks.

Friday through Monday Ryan finds himself still up early each morning and is free to use his time to further explore things he has been exposed to while at his educational center or to pursue interests he discovers on his own. Ryan likes to use this time to read books of his choosing, do research on the internet, tackle algebra, do video game design, go rock climbing, take hikes, play with the dog, help out at his educational center as they prepare for a weekend event or talk to me etc...He is also just as likely to plan time with friends to go into the city by train, attend a local event, hang out at someone's house, or have them over here. Time spent at church with his peers and also community events at his educational center rounds out his week.

Because Ryan is learning in a natural way, he finds the pursuit of knowledge fun and thus is constantly going after what interests him. There never is a line between work and play, it all just blends. There never is any downtime either and I find Ryan constantly wanting for more. Asking me if we can do math one day or help him with a research paper the next. He is hungry for it all and seems to have a thirst that I can't seem to quench no matter how many resources I throw at him. It is exciting to see and I constantly wonder where all of this will someday take him. A far cry from a year ago when he was ensconced in a public school classroom hating how learning was being forced upon him. The freedom to choose is allowing for him to burst forth rather than be held back in his learning. Making the quote "live, laugh, love, learn" his own.

Total Freedom in Learning= Exponential Growth in Knowledge

I attended a talk by Daniel Pink, the author of "A Whole New Mind" this evening at a school near my home. The biggest take away from his talk for me was when he mentioned how artists that are allowed to create paintings without any constructs turn out a higher quality of work than those creating art for a specific purpose or for someone else. Daniel's example made me think of our schools and that if we could apply the same principle shown above regarding artists to our students, by essentially allowing for more freedom in our schools, then maybe we would turn out better students. Students filled with passion and creativity and ready to move toward solving some of the problems facing the world.

Daniel talked tonight about how the policy makers in education need to get out of the way and allow teachers to run the schools, but I don't think that is the answer either. I believe teachers would feel the need to teach, to fill students with curriculums of their choosing when actually the reverse is needed. Students should be given the opportunity to fill themselves with knowledge based on their own self directed interests. I would like to see a complete switch take place in education where teachers provide the answers if and when students come looking for them. It would be a teacher's job then to create the desire and passion to learn and subsequently guide their student's interests.

An example of this sort of educational model can be found in the homeschooling arena where many children and teens are given freedom to pursue their interests, some with a higher degree of freedom than others. It has been my experience as a homeschooler, that the more freedom I offer my son Ryan, the more passionate and creative he becomes. In fact, now at age 14, after learning in a free environment for almost 5 years, I am finding the number of interests my son is pursuing with enthusiasm to be exploding. It seems almost daily, Ryan comes to me with a new idea of something we wants to learn or study further.

Just last week he told me he wants to learn more about astronomy, physics, JFK, and the Cold War, many of these interests sparked by exposure to these topics at the alternative educational center he attends. I told Ryan that he would have to go it alone in the physics field because I had flunked physics in high school. I explained I would be more than happy to provide resources in which to pursue physics but I wouldn't be able to "teach" it to him. I also went on to say that many colleges expect their students to know how to pursue knowledge and that many recent high school graduates come out of school lacking in that skill, having been told for years what to learn and how to learn it.

Imagine my surprise then when we were at the climbing gym on Sunday and met a retired University of Pennsylvania physics professor who told Ryan about how he could take a Intro to Physics class online with MIT through a program called Open Course Ware. He wouldn't get credit for the course, but would get fantastic exposure. Ryan, without my knowledge, went onto the site one morning when I was out and watched the first video of the class, taking notes and excitedly telling me what he had learned when I returned home.

This same sort of example happens over and over at my house and the incidence of this happening is growing exponentially, so much in fact, that much of Ryan's time is spent in the pursuit of knowledge, with little regard to time of day or day of the week. I am just as apt to find Ryan researching something on a Sunday as on a so called "school day". Because Ryan's learning is self-motivated or directed, it is a better quality of learning. Learning he is passionate about and will remember far longer than the typical student who forgets what his teacher taught him after being tested on the material.

So my idea of educational reform would be to throw out most of what we currently do in schools and start anew. Offer freedom in learning to students and have multiple age classrooms so young people can learn from one another. Have teachers become facilitators and guides who stoke the passions of students by introducing a variety of topics to young people in an experiential hands on way. But most of all, give students the time to discover what most interests them and allow them to pursue it. Like the artists stroking a paintbrush against the canvas, creating what they see in their minds eye.

Below is a link to an excellent article written by Daniel Pink regarding his thoughts on education in this country which I discovered after I wrote my above post. We have very similar thoughts on how education needs to change in this country but he goes into more depth and supports his statements with many examples.

Schools Out, Get Ready for the New Age of Individualized Education by Daniel Pink.

Look to Collaboration

All of nature is a giant integrated community that is based on a cooperation between species, an interdependent web of existence that allows for the natural world as a whole to march forward into the future. Just as a group of trees provide support to the community of which they are a part- by providing air to breathe, homes for animals, or sustenance to the soil from the leaves it sheds- we humans could use the example nature sets forth through the use of collaboration to solve many of the problems that plague us.

Under our current model of relating to one another, which is based on competition, we end up with a fractured network- rich and poor, well-fed and hungry, healthy and diseased - a community out of sync with the ways of nature and essentially doomed to continue on in the natural world. I will admit, there is competition in nature, but the broad based way nature operates is for the good of the whole system through collaboration. We humans on the other hand, are currently operating in a way that provides well for a few and neglects the rest, not giving much thought to how we are plundering the earth.

One way out of this mess is to start young and change our ways by switching to a new way of educating our children by using a collaborative method of teaching rather than a competitive one. To operate this way, education would get rid of the grading system and allow young people to explore learning based on their interests not those deemed important by the school system. Young people pursuing what truly interests them would make for more passionate and creative learners, paving the way for new ways of solving the world's problems. Young people would in turn learn how to support one another and each other's ideas, coming together to determine solutions for the problems they encounter, finding the power in using many minds over just one.

Already, this collaborative method of teaching our children has started in a few alternative educational settings, slowly beginning to turn the tide. It can be found mainly in educational centers with a strong sense of support toward the goals of collaboration, both in how they teach their young people and how they relate to one another in the community as a whole.

Another likely place to look for the seeds of collaboration would be in the homeschooling arena but they too find themselves plagued with many competitive factors as they fight with one another over methodology and who participates in the best form of homeschooling. There are the Christian vs. non-Christian camps and the "school-at-home" vs. unschooling camps, all acting much like their traditional school counterparts, steeped in fierce competition between one another. There is potential in individual homeschooling support groups to move toward collaboration if a group were to commit to it and formed a mission statement to that effect.

Unfortunately, starting young and changing the way we teach our young people will be hard. So many buy into our current way of education because they themselves have sat in a school desk and been taught to listen to authority and not question how we currently do things. But there are cracks in the veneer as our children slowly rebel and require a different way of learning. Listen to your children. Hear them say they hate school and don't want to go. They are saying that for a reason. It is miserable to be forced to learn things which you have no interest in and be taught things you won't remember. Set them free and you will be rewarded with a completely different child. One who smiles and loves life and laughs. One who may change the world for the better.

This natural form of learning, based in freedom and collaboration, is the answer I feel to moving away from what keeps us humans stymied in the current mire of world destruction we find ourselves in. We are no longer of nature, having stepped out of that giant integrated community long ago. We need to find our way back to the web of existence of which we are all a part and find our rightful place in the natural order of things.

How to Make Learning Relevant for Young People

DEFINITION OF RELEVANT:

rel-e-vant

1a: having significant and demonstrable bearing on the matter at hand.

My son Ryan asked me if I could make math more fun for him the other day. Our days plodding through his algebra text had grown tedious when compared to what and how he was learning at his homeschool resource center with its creative way of reaching young people. At the time, I told Ryan how important it would be for him to know math in the future and that he just had to buckle down and learn it, fun or not.

Later that day, after our frustrating math session came to an end, I came across an article online featuring Will Wright- the mind behind the games Sims and Spore, discussing how video games and their problem solving requirements, may help in learning. Wright explained that because video gamers must solve problems in order to move on to the next level, the work they engage in to solve problems becomes relevant to them. This relevancy encourages the gamer to pursue the knowledge needed to move forward.

As I was reading the article, I realized where I had been missing the boat with Ryan and his math. Just telling him he was going to need what I was teaching him some day down the road didn't create the desire he needed to really learn the material now. There was no relevancy. No significant or demonstrable bearing on the matter at hand. Much like the disconnected learning young people are subjected to in public schools.

A search online turned up many articles on how to create relevancy in learning for school teachers. It involves creating lesson plans that attempt to create links between the student and what he is learning. I found these plans to be contrived and offering no real connection to the student because they are teacher directed rather than being led by the student's interests themselves. If students don't care about what they are learning, they will lack the ability and motivation to learn it in a real way.

When students are allowed to pursue what interests them, their passion for the topic will carry them forward and create the relevancy needed for real learning to take place. Real learning, relevant learning, requires passion and the solving of problems that are found in the pursuit of that passion. Because passion is individual, every student needs to have the freedom to pursue what interests them.

On that note, I've discovered that I can't make math fun for Ryan. Making it fun won't create the relevancy he needs to really learn it. He needs the passion. Just as I did when I found myself needing to pass math in order to be accepted into the business school in college. If I passed, I was accepted, if I didn't I wasn't. My passion to get into business school made me learn math. Math skills that I would some day like to pass onto my son once he becomes passionate about learning them himself.

Life Without School

A snowfall that fell just as morning broke forced school opening delays of two hours in our area this morning. As homeschoolers, none of that mattered to us. We still started our day in much the same way we always do, outdoors in our fenced side yard, running wildly with our dog. I can remember praying for a snow day when my son attended public school, hoping the roads would be too bad for travel so that the day could be filled with snow ball fights, snow fort building, and hot chocolate.
Invariably in those days, the school superintendent would deem the roads safe for travel and my son would end up spending his day on a seat behind a desk rather than on the seat of a sled- a perfect day in the snow wasted. Luckily, as homeschoolers, we get to decide our snow days and today would have been just such a day if we hadn't had prior arrangements to spend the day socializing with other homeschoolers at a local boys and girls club.
So, after spending some time with our pup outside this morning, we packed up our lunch and headed out, admiring the beauty of the snow sticking to each individual branch of the trees as we rode up and down narrow roadways past forested hillsides and open fields toward our destination.
With cooler temperatures in place, there will be plenty of time to enjoy the snow over the coming days ahead. Maybe we will make Monday our official snow day and spend the day on a sled, sailing down the hill behind our house, or take our dog on a hike around the pond. No matter what we decide, it feels good to know that we are in charge of how we ultimately spend our time. Snowfalls and childhood are finite. I think it is important to make the most of them!

Benefits of Riding a Bike to School...

It took a bit of bushwhacking, but Ryan finally found his way though a small woodlot to forge his way into the yard at the educational center where he takes programs every Tuesday and Wednesday. There were sticks in his gears and mud on his pants, but the important thing was that Ryan had successfully and safely navigated his way. He had been asking me if he could start to ride his bike the 10-15 minutes to "school" each day and I had been holding him off. Worried that the traffic on my road went too fast or that cars just wouldn't notice a kid riding alongside a country road at 9am in the morning. I mean come on...kids just don't ride to school via bikes any more so people have forgotten to be on the watch out for bike riding kids. Right?

Well, Ryan wasn't going to take no for an answer, and a few days ago, when a group of retired men peddled their bikes up the hill in front of our house mid-morning, Ryan told me that if the road out front was safe enough for them, then it was safe enough for him. Adding to his argument was the fact that a few of the facilitators at his educational center also rode their bikes each day, along the same country roads, only for them, the trip was 7-8 miles rather than Ryan's 1.5 miles.

So, armed with a short cut through the woodlot near the "school", Ryan set off this morning. I followed along behind him in the car, feeling a bit silly, yet wanting to make sure that this first trip of his was uneventful. Well, Ryan made the trip no problem, despite being a bit cold and unsure if the shortcut was truly a shortcut, given its pitfalls. As I watched Ryan head into the barn for his first program this morning, I reminded myself that I need to let go and let Ryan travel this road each day, despite my fears of fast cars and such, just as I will have to do with the many other paths he will choose for himself in his lifetime.

If you are interested in having your kids ride their bikes to school, there is a great website called "Safe Routes to School" covering this issue. The site talks about the health benefits of kids riding their bikes to school as well as how bike riding has declined amongst kids since the 1960's.

How Outdoor Education Honors our Intra-indigenous Consciousness

I have a whole collection of thoughts that have been swirling around in my head, all centered on trying to figure out why my son Ryan struggles to learn in a sterile, public school building. In the past, I have come to the conclusion that some of the reason is because Ryan has a visual spatial learning style while schools teach using a sequential, linear learning style. But just recently, I have come to believe that there is something else at work as well that makes Ryan hate typical school and it is rooted in the genes of his early, early ancestors.

Ryan's early school life began in a school that focused on outdoor education and within that setting he thrived. Spending his days hiking in the woods or splashing in streams, riding horseback and watching chickens peck their way through his schoolyard. This time outdoors suited him well but before long, I sent Ryan off to a typical public school where he spent much of his day indoors. This lasted for four years at which time Ryan began to rebel against going to school and I began to try and understand what was going on. A recent Wall Street Journal article called "I hate School Extreme Edition, What School Refusal Means and How to Fix It" talks about school refusal and suggests putting an immediate stop to it, suggesting that some sort of psychiatric disorder is lurking for those young people whom hate school. There is no mention of what may be wrong with our schools, resulting in this dissatisfaction.

Rather than put a stop to Ryan's school refusal, I tried to understand it, pulling him from the public school setting that seemed to be causing all of his frustration. The freedom which resulted from not attending school allowed Ryan to spend more time outdoors visiting nature centers and hiking or biking along trails in natural areas. What I didn't realize at the time was that I was re-engaging Ryan's Intra-indigenous consciousness. Getting him to spend time in the natural world of which he and his ancestors had come from. Here is a definition of Intra-indigenous Consciousness taken from James Neill's website on Psycho-Evolutionary Theory of Outdoor Education:

Intra-indigenous Consciousness (IIC) is proposed as the cumulative psychological knowledge of human evolution which is genetically stored. It is the vestigial indigenous psyche within each person which can be activated through direct experiences with nature and natural processes and systems.

Basically, it is saying that we as humans have come from the natural world. It only makes sense that we are most comfortable there to both live and learn. By separating ourselves from nature as we have in the modern world, we have stepped away from an important part of ourselves.

Ryan just started high school at an alternative school in Pennsylvania (yes, we have moved again, which explains my recent lack of posting). The act of learning is achieved in both a natural environment and in an natural experiential way. Maybe Ryan's connection to his indigenous way of living and learning was much closer to the surface than mine as he has seemed to know what he needed in the form of education all along. It appears the act of learning outside, feeling the wind when it blows, or watching the dragonflies and bees fly by invokes something in him that allows him to learn in a way that works for him. In a way that would probably work for all of our children.

School's out Forever...why I removed my son from public school again.

We started this year as homeschoolers and will end it as homeschoolers, with an experiment in public school squished in between. Bottom line is the public school experiment failed for my son Ryan. Doesn't mean it fails for all kids, just mine.

I am exhausted from trying to shove the round peg that is my son into the square hole that is the public school. We gave it our best shot, we really did. Ryan devoted 7 hours to the school day and 2 hours to the required homework each night. He sat through classes he had no interest in and forced himself to fill out endless senseless worksheets day after day. Trying to lessen the load, I did the silly crosswords for him and the stupid "find a word" sheets which was nothing more than busy work. Problem is, Ryan saw through it all and hated it. Having spent time as a homeschooler, he wondered how what he was doing in school was connected to "true" learning.

In math class, Ryan was told to show his work. He wondered how to show work he could do in his head. He told his teacher he didn't know how to show work for answers that simply appeared in his head, but she deducted points from him anyway, even though his answers were correct. My husband and I emailed the teacher and explained that Ryan was a right-brained visual learner and would show what work he could, but it may be less than what the school expected. Rather than replying to our email, the next day in class, the teacher told Ryan she didn't care what his parents said, but that he had to show his work.

In language arts, Ryan was expected to read assigned books and then fill out pages upon pages of worksheets asking mundane questions about the story. What was the author thinking? Who was the antagonist? How does this story relate to your life? Ryan rushed through these many questions, not caring about the quality, just wanting to be done with them. This sort of work amounts to nothing more than early training for the work world where people rush through things, not caring about the outcome. Sensing that Ryan was losing interest in reading and writing through this forced form of instruction, we asked the school if Ryan could take language arts as an independent study course so he could read what he wanted and work on the novel he is writing. The school denied the request.

Ryan hated social studies right from the start. He had to do projects outside of class that had strict rules to follow. His report on Muhammad required that the document be made to look old, there were to be no pictures on the cover, a certain number of symbols had to be on the first page, certain topics were to be covered and each topic required five talking points etc...For Ryan it was like learning in a straight jacket. With expectations like this, we wonder why our work force can't problem solve or offer up creative solutions.

To the school's credit, Ryan did enjoy his science class. This teacher was very involved with the kids and seemed to have a better understanding about how kids learned best. Maybe because this was an advanced science class, the teacher was allowed more freedom, thus allowing more freedom for the kids.

While Ryan struggled day after day with these problems and more, I hated the fact that he was spending 9 hours on school each day, but having little to show for it. Because of discipline problems at the school, the teachers spent more time responding to the trouble makers in class than they did teaching. This in turn resulted in more class work being sent home which made for less family time. During the 6 months Ryan spent at school this year, he actually slipped backward in his desire for learning. We lost ground as I saw it, not gained.

Another drawback to public schooling is that Ryan went from being a well rounded kid with lots of outside interests like archery, guitar, and rock climbing to all of a sudden being super concerned about what he looked like. His looks became more important than simply enjoying his life. The atmosphere at school was competitive and overly caught up in external looks over internal values, leading to worries over looks and clothing.

Ryan tried to finish out the school year but when spring storms resulted in the school year being extended to the end (yes end!) of June, we decided to bail. I didn't have the heart to send my kid to a place he hated during a month that would typically be considered summer. So we are homeschoolers again. Don't know what the fall will bring...just know we aren't going back to public middle school.

I can smell the breeze off the sound once again, maybe get my life back too, now that I don't have to deal with my son's struggles with public school.

Looking for an educational model that will work for my son...

I have always maintained that I am perched on a fence somewhere between homeschooling and public schooling, enjoying different parts of each. I've said that parents should look to their child to see what their needs are before determining what sort of educational model to offer. Decide if your child would do best in a structured linear school environment or free flowing homeschooling setting which offers up more freedom. Consider your child's needs rather than your own preconceived notions regarding education. This will ultimately allow for your child to learn in the setting that best works for them.

If only it were so easy. I have spent the last year trying to figure out what sort of educational model would work best for my son in this area, only to come up empty handed. Unfortunately, I am between a rock and a hard place...the rock being traditional public school and the hard place being homeschooling. Neither option, used exclusively, works for my son.

The biggest drawbacks to public school for my 13 year old son are lack of learning choice and the amount of homework given. My son Ryan hates that he is forced to take certain subjects, especially when he is completely disinterested in the topic or feels he already knows what is being taught. I have talked with my son's school counselor and asked if Ryan could take language arts as an independent study class and was told "no, that certain standards need to be maintained". Ryan is frustrated because the time he spends reading books he has no interest in takes away from the time he has available to work on the novel he is writing.

Ryan also hates how he has to read assigned books for school and fill out tedious worksheets on each book, which takes him away from reading books of his own choosing. Also, the amount of homework given each night is nothing more than busy work. Asking a kid to solve 120 algebra problems in an evening, when 20-40 problems would suffice is a bit much. Each night, Ryan is assigned about 2 hours of homework...work that he rushes through, not caring about the quality of it or if it brings about any learning. The goal is to finish, not learn. Public schools, in a desire to increase test scores, tend to think assigning lots of homework accomplishes this goal, when in fact, overloading kids with homework dilutes their interest in learning.

The biggest drawbacks to homeschooling as my son sees it are lack of social opportunities with other teens and lack of learning opportunities based in a classroom setting. Homeschooling as a whole does offer up lots of social opportunities for kids but my son's situation has been a bit different due to his age and the fact that we just recently moved to a new state. It is hard to find homeschooled teenagers when you are new in an area. Many of the homeschooled teens in my area found each other when they were younger and no longer post get togethers on yahoo groups etc..making it hard to break in as a newcomer.

While we did find some teen homeschoolers in this area, there were too few of them to fill out my son's requirements for socialization. That is why we decided to send Ryan to public school in January of this year. We felt it would give Ryan a chance to be around kids his age and also to learn in a classroom setting which he enjoys.

So, we have tried exclusively homeschooling and now exclusively public schooling and have come to the conclusion that neither really works for Ryan. A blend of homeschooling and public schooling is really what would work best for my son. We used this model while living in Illinois and it worked fantastically!! Problem is, the states around NYC don't allow homeschoolers to take classes at the public schools. Many homeschoolers in other parts of the country get around this problem by offering classes in a co-op setting, but there are none in my area at all. Alternative progressive private schools which may work for my son, have tuition's as high as 35K per year. I did find a Waldorf school that was cheaper, but quite a drive from my house.

So, what to do? Again, that rock and a hard place...

I have dumped so much of my energy into trying to make this all work out that I am left exhausted and feeling like I no longer have time to work on my interests...as evidenced by my extreme lack of blogging since moving here last summer.

All day public schooling makes Ryan miserable and so does the loneliness of homeschooling in this area. I just wish my husband's move would happen so we could get away from the rigidity of the schooling laws and lack of homeschoolers in this area. Moving would solve some of our problems, but create others. Because my husband's job should be based in the Northeast going forward, we are seriously considering buying a house in Maine, which allows blending homeschooling and public schooling.

Our Maine house would be our permanent residence no matter where in New England my husband was working. This house would be where we would live out our days and build relationships with those in our community. Ryan and I would settle into this home and Mike would commute home on the weekends. Summers and holidays, Ryan and I could travel between where Mike is based and the Maine house. While living in this manner, away from my husband, may sound difficult, it would only be for a short while until my husband could permanently move to be with us.

I welcome the thought of having a home that wouldn't change just because my husband's job did. After buying and selling five homes in almost 25 years of marriage, the thought of purchasing one last home and committing to an area sounds really, really good.

Well, I have rambled on long enough...searching for solutions...and wondering if I've found one...

Somewhere in the Middle, Advantages of both Home Schooling and Public Schooling

I am finding I don't rest in either the home school camp or the public school camp because I see pros and cons to both situations. Kids are individuals with unique needs and I am beginning to see how these needs are difficult to meet by choosing one type of educational method over another. When I home schooled my son, I loved having the freedom to tailor a curriculum to his interests. But now that he is back in public school, I am seeing how he thrives on the energy found in a classroom comprised of his peers, even if it means he has to study some things he may not be interested in initially.

Each camp holds their reasons for choosing one method over the other dear, so I am going to list only the advantages of homeschooling and public schooling as I have experienced them, and try not to tread on the disadvantages.

Advantages of Home Schooling

-Allows freedom to tailor the curriculum to a child's specific needs and interests.

-Lots of opportunity for experiential learning through museum visits and other centers of learning.

-Opportunities to meet other home schooled kids through home school support groups which allow for social interaction.

-Kids and parents form close bond as they spend lots of time together.

-Teens are able to get involved in volunteer opportunities or have adults mentor them in areas they are interested in.

-Typically shorter school day allows for lots of free time to pursue outside interests and passions.

-Parents have stronger influence on who their children associate with. Ability to hand pick friends and avoid bad influences.

-Ability to avoid school violence or other negative influences found in school such as behavior problems or swearing.

-Many problems with school are avoided such as wasted time, studying senseless subjects, peer pressure etc...

Advantages of Public Schooling

-Ability to meet many different types of kids from various backgrounds and figure out your niche. Have a greater appreciation for the many kinds of people in the world.

-Learn to work with many different types of adults and learn how to meet their expectations.

-A feeling that "learning is contagious" as one picks up on the energy of the group as they get involved in what is being studied.

-Work with teachers whom have experience in their chosen field of study and who can bring a high level of learning to the classroom through projects and experiments.

-Exposure to many different types of subjects that may not be investigated otherwise and which could lead to a lifetime of interest.

-Time management skills as one learns how to juggle the needs of different classes.

-Conflict resolution skills or interpersonal skills as one learns how to get along with many different kinds of personalities.

-Learn how to do things you may not want to do. Understand that everything in life has an unpleasant side.

-Prom, yearbooks, knowing the kids in your community.

From this list, both options have their appeal. I can see how my son has benefited from participating in both home schooling and public schooling, but feel at this point of time that public school is serving him well. It is certainly not a perfect fit, but neither would be home schooling. Each option lacks some things he needs so we just do the best we can with where we are now. I guess that is how all parenting is...doing the best with what is in front of you at the time. I would love to hear from you if I missed some advantages you have found specific to either home schooling or public schooling.

Rockclimbing- How it Benefits Teens

Soon after moving to this area, my son Ryan began to figuratively climb the walls here at home and needed an outlet for his energy- a place where he could literally climb the walls. After an online search, I signed him up for a rock climbing club for teens at a local gym. Initially, Ryan was hesitant to climb to any height that took him more than 5' off the ground, but with encouragement and support from his teachers, he was soon scaling 40' walls.

The beauty of rock climbing is that it forces teens to conquer their fears, problem solve, and build physical strength, all while having fun. As they work their way up from the easier 5.5 routes to those of greater difficulty, they develop balance, coordination and mental focus. This results in a bringing together of the mind and body, allowing for the confidence teens need at a time in their life when things naturally feel out of whack.

As I have watched Ryan progress in his climbing skill over the last seven months, his fingers, arms, and core have strengthened, enabling him to tackle harder and harder routes. He now makes climbing look easy, but when I try and duplicate even the easiest of moves he makes on the wall, I have a much harder time doing it. In this instance, Ryan becomes the teacher, showing me how to move, encouraging me along a route. How wonderful and empowering for him to be in the role of guide after all his years of being instructed by adults.

There really is no end in sight in regard to where climbing will take Ryan. There will always be harder routes to figure out, or bigger mountains to climb. Much like the challenges of life.

Hope (?) for Reading and Writing in Public Schools...

In my post yesterday, I talked about the methods I used to get my son Ryan to love reading and writing after public school had squashed his interest. Click here to read yesterday's post. Today I am going to answer the question, "What happens to a homeschooled kid who loves to read and write when you send him back to public school?"

First, I suppose I must answer the question, "If homeschooling is so great, why would I ever send my kid back to public school?" I did it because I had to in order to keep my kid sane. We moved to this area about six months ago and immediately connected with several homeschool groups in this area. Problem was, the groups served mainly kids under the age of twelve which left my thirteen year old son basically high and dry in the friendship department. Granted, he did meet some great kids his age, but due to distance we were only able to get together for a few hours each week. It seems both here and in Chicago, the pool of teenaged homeschoolers is small which results in them deciding to attend school to take advantage of being around those their age.

So, in order to meet Ryan's social needs, he went off to middle school after the winter break. While he was immediately embraced by the school community which allowed him to meet kids right away, he found the reading and writing rules and expectations to be lacking in freedom and very much like his 4th grade public school.

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In the second week of school, Ryan was given an assignment in social studies where they are studying Aztec culture. He was told how long the paper had to be, and that it had to be in first person journal format. He was told the name of the character he was to write about, what his occupation was, and the five different topics he had to cover within the body of the journal. From these requirements, Ryan found it difficult to be creative or get excited about the act of writing. He was essentially falling victim to what happens in schools all across America when kids are asked to write about a topic they are removed from.

John Holt in his book, "What do I do on Monday" quotes James Moffett whom explains it best:

Almost all the writing we ask students to do in school is of a very distant kind- writing to a far, almost a nonexistent audience, about far subjects. No matter how wide a variety of essay topics we may assign, no matter how often we tell students that they may pick their own topics, the student is always in the same position. The discourse is always of one kind. This makes writing dull for the students, and makes their writing dull for those who have to read it.

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John Holt goes on to talk in his book about what needs to be done in schools to offer up positive writing experiences:

We cannot teach children "the skill of writing" in a vacuum of ideas and feelings, by having them write exercises or essays that we think are good for them, and then expect them to take that "skill" and begin to use it to write something important. They can only learn to write well by trying to write, for themselves, or other people they want to reach, what they feel is important.

I have seen this at work in my son. When he was being homeschooled, he felt connected to the topics he wrote about and as a result his writing was fresh and creative and he felt excited to share his stories. Now that he is back in school, he feels disconnected from his writing. When asked to write his Aztec journal, he was initially excited and full of ideas for the story, but soon grew frustrated when he realized the constraints his teacher put on the piece. I asked Ryan to make the story his own while taking into consideration his teacher's expectations, but it didn't matter, most of his real creativity and ideas went out the window with the rules he had to follow.

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The kids in Ryan's social studies class have been reading their Aztec journals aloud in class. Boring renditions of "I am a trader, I eat maize, I like to hunt for my goods" Ryan is amazed at the lack of creativity put forth. I explain to him that this is the sort of writing done by kids expected to follow the rules, kids whom have not been able to write on topics they love. Writing for them has become drudgery.

I worry about Ryan and wonder what will happen to this writing as he spends time in public school. The good news is that there is a movement afoot which is trying to get schools to take a hard look at how they teach writing. The National Writing Project is trying to improve writing in the nation's schools and have identified the requirements of a good writing program. A program that encourages authentically taught writing over writing which is simply assigned. While the changes this program brings about may not reach my son's school for quite some time (if ever!) it makes me hopeful that these initiatives will allow kids in public schools to have more freedom in their writing. Offering them connections to what they write about, which in turn will make for creative and confident life long writers.