One thing at a time...slow schooling

I think I finally have Ryan's learning style figured out. When learning something new, he likes to totally immerse himself in it. To do it for hours and hours on end until he feels like he has mastered it. That is why homeschooling works for him and school didn't.

One of the complaints Ryan had about school was that he would get engrossed in one subject only to be pulled away from it when it was time to move onto the next subject. Everything felt undone and his learning felt scattered, piecemeal. Homeschooling allows him to focus on whatever his current interest is for as long as he would like. This past summer, his interest was reading and he read every Matthew Reilly book written, one after the other. He seemed to always have his head in a book- on car trips, in bed or at the dinner table.

This fall I haven't been able to get Ryan to pick up a book, His interest has shifted to rock climbing and that is the only thing he wants to do now. To challenge his mind and body as he scales walls and climbs boulders. We have been to the gym to climb three times already this week and will go again tomorrow. He is obsessed. I am impressed with his determination and motivation to learn this sport.

This makes me think differently about my approach to educating Ryan. In the past, we have operated more like a school by encouraging him to tackle many different subjects at one time while allowing him freedom in how he learns his different subjects. With this new awareness of how Ryan may learn best though, I think we should use more of a block schedule which would let Ryan focus intensively for weeks at a time on the one thing that most interests him. Granted, a few other subjects such as math and science would be done each day, but the bulk of the time would be devoted to one thing.

Does that mean if Ryan wants to do rock climbing the rest of the year, then that is how he will spend the remainder of his school year? Nope, I figure after about 3 months, his interest will fall back to a normal level and he will get engrossed in yet another new thing. Kinda like how he progressed from reading to rock climbing. In the meantime, I enjoy seeing the drive and desire on his face as he tries to boulder or climb harder and harder routes. To know that this same perseverance will take him wherever he wants to go in life.

Slow Schooling, Making Connections

I started using the term Slow Schooling this year because it best describes my approach to how I homeschool my thirteen year old son. When I took Ryan out of school three years ago I didn’t want to do school at home, but instead wanted to embrace a learning philosophy that would allow learning to unfold in an environment suited to my son. Ryan disliked the way school broke learning up into fragmented parts, forcing him to memorize bits and pieces of knowledge that he had no connection to. Soon after taking Ryan out of school at the beginning of 4th grade, I discovered unschooling which allows learning to be child directed, encourages parents to have a hands off approach, and trusts that the child will learn on their own accord, at a pace that is comfortable to them.

Through unschooling, I thought I had found the perfect solution for Ryan. Allowing a child to learn what they want, how they want, when they want. It really sounded great in theory, but putting it into practice can be difficult, especially when there is a lot of disagreement in the unschooling community about how to properly unschool and the conflicts based on semantics are divisive. Those that radically unschool feel that their kids should not be taught anything at all unless learning is initiated by their children and anything else is considered a form of coercion. Eclectic unschoolers allow for freedom in some subjects but teach others and feel radical unschoolers are not properly preparing their children for the challenges of life. These differences play out in negative ways and resulted in dividing the community I was a part of four different times over the space of three years. Hardly a supportive and enriching community for children to be exposed to.

Desiring a move away from the negativity of unschooling yet looking for a form of schooling that shares some of its philosophies, I discovered Slow Schooling. Based on the same idea of the Slow Food Movement, where you form connections to the food you consume by knowing the farmer that grows your food, Slow Schooling allows children to form connections to what they are learning. By embracing hands-on, experiential learning, Slow Schooling allows kids to understand why they are learning what they are learning and how it connects to the broader world. The emphasis isn’t placed on learning facts but more on the learning experience and forming deep connections to the material being taught. It requires searching for new ways to make learning exciting and is called Slow Schooling because quality learning can’t be rushed.

Under the banner of Slow Schooling, I still let my son select much of what he wants to learn, but I round out his education by teaching him the things he may not choose on his own. Last week for instance, I encouraged him to read his Oak Meadow science lesson which discussed living organisms that are neither plants nor animals. After reading the short lesson, he had to choose between one of five projects to do. He decided on the one that required him to go to the grocery store and find examples of protists, monera, and fungi in the food we eat. From that experience, he decided he wanted to make dinner based around one of those food items. So last Friday, we ate the mushroom soup (fungi) that Ryan had prepared from one of our favorite local based cookbooks called “Hudson Valley Mediterranean.”

As I sat at the table eating my soup, I couldn't help but think about all of the connections my son experienced that day. Those made as he discovered that the seemingly obscure things he was learning about in science are all around us in the grocery store. That cooking for family exposes him to not only the subjects of math, science and home economics, but also serves another purpose. One which brings family together at a table enjoying the connection of being together in community.

Slow Schooling...A Day at the Beach

The blue sky and crisp breeze called to me today, coaxing Ryan and I outside and down to the beach. Math would have to wait. Science could be done on Monday. But today, we were going to take advantage of the beautiful fall day and go look for some sea glass.

Walking slowly, heads cast downward, scooping up sea glass along the way, we soon were distracted with the many other things the beach offered up. Hermit crabs scuttling out of our way in the mud flats. Snails and small fish in the tidal pools. Egrets, Cormorants, and Seagulls maneuvering through their habitats. With these discoveries came the questions. How do shells form? How do clams dig? How is sea glass formed?

I know if we had spent the day inside the house, heads inside Ryan's text books, we would not have made as many discoveries. Nor would Ryan have asked as many questions. The touching, seeing, feeling...experiencing is what made it all so memorable and hopefully will lead to future learning. I am thinking it would be fun to get some guide books about shore birds and shells. We even have some rocks we picked up that need identifying.

Taking it all in...slowly. Without an agenda for our day and not being in a hurry, allowed the day to unfold for us. By being present in the day, mindful of what we were experiencing, we were able to appreciate all that came our way.

These words were written on a plaque affixed on the huge rock Ryan was sitting on in the picture above. So very appropriate for this day and for every day...

Slow Schooling Algebra with Harold Jacobs

He sat and thought about it for a long time. What times x equals y? To be honest, I didn't even know the answer at first. But after a few minutes of thinking through the problem in my backward kind of way, I figured out the answer. Now the hard part. How to get my son to find the answer on his own and understand why the answer was what it was. I began by telling him what he already knew and using that process he slowly figured out the answer. So slowly in fact that I could almost see the gears in his head turning as he tried to determine why the answer was so.

As I sat next to my son who was sprawled out on our family room floor, Harold Jacobs Elementary Algebra book open in front on him, I thought about how things would be different if he were attempting to figure out this problem in a public school classroom. Granted, the teacher would explain how to determine the answer in much the same way I would, but the time needed to really let the full understanding of why the answer was what it was sink into my son's brain would not be there. With many other children needing the teacher's time and attention, and the constant push to get all of the material covered for that day, the teacher and my son would have been forced to move on.

I think my son thought about that problem for a full five minutes and during that entire time, all I could think about was how important it was to allow him the time needed to digest this important building block of Algebra before moving on to new concepts. I also thought about how how busy fast paced classrooms with their many distractions, work against real learning. Taking the time needed to connect with and understand material so that kids can fully understand their subject is what slow schooling is all about. Going at kid speed, not school speed.

Public Schools Embracing Slow Schooling

I was thrilled to read an article in the NY Times yesterday called "Students Get New Reading Assignment: Pick Books You Like" which gives an example of a public school teacher embracing slow schooling. Lorrie McNeill, an English teacher at Jonesborro Middle School in Atlanta, is allowing her students to freely choose the books they read this year and has tossed her required reading list out the window. No more bored kids forcing themselves to read a book they hate and sleeping through a discussion of that book, brain disengaged through the entire process. Instead, the kids in Ms. McNeill's classroom are allowed to read any book they choose, which allows for deep connection with their reading material and builds a life-long love of reading.

I am encouraged by what Ms. McNeill is doing in her classroom and hope that many other teachers follow suit. My experience with my son has been that the more freedom I give him in his reading choice, the more he reads and the more he loves to read. Shouldn't love of reading be what we most want to give our children? An opportunity to engage with a book in a deep way? To lose themselves for hours, ignoring the video games and the TV- so engrossed they would rather read than even play with their friends or eat dinner? A solid foundation built around teaching kids to love reading will allow them to read the classics down the road if they choose to, but the love of reading may be lost forever if you force the classics on them now and they hate the experience.

I suspect, rushing to stuff the classics into kids is just another way to try and get them to perform better on standardized tests, a great formula in theory, but it may not be working. In Ms. McNeill's classroom, her students performed better on standardized tests after a year of free reading choice than the year before when they were not allowed to choose. Her findings supports my thinking that when students are allowed to engage with a book they love, the learning will be of a deeper, more lasting quality. If they love what they are reading, they grasp it better than if they don't. That really is the whole premise of slow schooling. To slow down and experience learning in an intimate way in order to feel a strong connection and sense of engagement with what you are studying.

Homeschooling, Embracing the Slow School Movement

It was three years ago that I took my now 13 year old son out of the public schools and began to homeschool him. As a young child my son loved being read to and spent lots of his free time reading books. Driven by this love, in 3rd grade he embarked on a mission of reading all of the Harry Potter books and was half way through the series when he suddenly refused to read any further. Along with that refusal, he also refused to write or go to school.

His refusal to attend school was done with his entire being and was not to be taken lightly. He claimed that the constant changing of subjects didn't allow him to spend the time we wanted to on each subject. That he would no sooner get involved with math when it was time for reading. I knew after many weeks of forcing him to attend using threats and punishments, that I needed to stop and take notice that school simply wasn't working for him.

I wonder if the way we do public school really works for any kid. Days filled with rote memorization of facts in preparation for tests keeps kids from really getting to know their subject intimately. Teaching to the test allows students to perform well on standardized tests but doesn't allow them to think beyond the tests, to fall in love with what they are learning.

Slow Schooling allows children to study at a gentle pace. To explore subjects deeply and make connections to what they are learning, to learn how to think, not just how to pass tests. Slow Schooling doesn't mean doing school slower by letting the kids fool around all day. Kids are still expected to tackle hard material, it is just the process that is different.

Homeschooling and its ability to take time to learn subjects deeply is a great way to embrace the Slow School Movement. After many years of homeschooling, allowing my son to learn at his pace, freely choosing the books he reads, he now loves to read. It took about a year to undo the damage of school before my son really began to read or write again though. Initially, reading was encouraged with the use of graphic novels and writing was discovered through the use of creating cartoons, and slowly he worked his way up from there. He still hasn't gone back to the Harry Potter series. Kinda like when you eat something that makes you sick and you avoid that food for awhile, I suppose that is why he can't go back to Harry Potter. He was reading that series when the school sickness set in and that distaste may stay with him for awhile. For now, he is working on the books in the picture at the top of this post.

Our Slow Schooling Plans For This Year...

Like many homeschoolers I suppose, my dining room table is where it all starts. Books are stacked, planners lay open, and notebooks are at the ready. But the real learning happens on the family room floor, in the hammock outside, or on the computer in the bedroom. It can't be contained to one room or one building or even one town, it happens in many different places. I have found learning can't be done with just one person either- a mom running herself ragged trying to do it all, but by many folks offering up their expertise. Finally, it can't be done using just one set of materials- textbooks, calculators, or posters of facts to study on the wall. Instead, I feel that deeper connections to knowledge is found using a variety of places, people and things.

We will travel many places this year as we make our way around the city discovering different museums and places of interest. Each week we plan on visiting a different New York City site as we learn about history and art in an experiential way. Look under the category of Slow Schooling on my side bar and click on the embedded link to see the places we plan on visiting this year.

Over the years we have been homeschooling, Ryan has taken an interest in independent bookstores, coffee shops, restaurants and local shops. He enjoys the uniqueness each of these places hold and the shop owners we meet there. I think it is because he finds these people to be free spirited and creative. This year as in the last three, we will be sure to pop into as many of these places of business as possible.

Of course, the one place that most homeschoolers frequent and could not do without is the library. Not only can we find great books to read, but educational DVD's, music CD's great programming, a place to study, and all at a great price.

Ryan will come in contact with many different people as he works on learning to play the guitar, designing video games, rock climbing, studying environmental science and nature. He will be taking a video design class through the local community college and attending a rock climbing class with other kids his age at a local climbing wall. He will learn about sustainable living at a local farm based in the Hudson Valley and study nature at a wilderness school in Connecticut. All of these different people will bring a perspective to their areas of expertise that is infectious and it is wonderful to learn from those who love what they do.

When we lived in the Chicago area, we enjoyed the support and friendship we received from the homeschooling groups we were a part of and look forward to making those same sorts of connections here. We have joined four different homeschooling support organizations in this area and look forward to participating with them throughout the year.

Contact is not just made face to face. The Internet brings the whole world to your doorstep and this year Ryan discovered that he wants to write a 50,000 word novel during National Novel Writing Month. While kids are able to set their own word goal, at age 13 kids can sign up for the adult challenge and Ryan wants to work toward that. The site has many great novel writing resources for kids such as how to develop characters and plot.

I am amazed at all of the resources and things that are available to those who choose to homeschool their children. One book I found really helpful when trying to figure out how to homeschool teens is Homeschooling the Teen Years: Your Complete Guide to Successfully Homeschooling the 13-18 Year Old by Cafi Cohen. The book is filled with lots of great suggestions no matter what your homeschooling philosophy may be.

Because my homeschool philosophy is closely aligned with Waldorf methods, I have found the Oak Meadow curriculum to be especially pertinent to my way of thinking. Waldorf methods believe in teaching to the whole child, allowing for free thinking and creativity. We will be using their History, Life Science, and Math curriculums this year.

Because Ryan is more of a visual thinker, I will be also be using the book Harold Jacobs Elementary Algebra for math this year. This book makes the typical left-brained subject of algebra more appealing to those who are right-brained. So far, Ryan is enjoying learning algebra using the methods in this book.

After discovering that one of his good friends is learning Spanish, Ryan decided he wants to learn Spanish this year and after much research, I found a great CD that includes a text, workbook and audio lessons at the middle school level. Ryan does each lesson on the computer and has also switched his video games over so that they are in Spanish.

Finally, the best thing about slow schooling, is that Ryan has lots of control over his education. He has selected much of what he will be studying this year, and because he has chosen and is interested in his subjects, he is more invested in the process. The end result is a deeper connection to knowledge and in essence to life.

For those of you also slow schooling, enjoy the ride!

Darcy

Cultural Heritage New York City- a list of all the places we are going to visit this year:

American Folk Art Museum

The museum's permanent collection of more than five thousand artworks spans three centuries of visual expression and speaks to a diversity of heritage and shared national experience, individual creativity, and community values.

American Museum of Natural History visited 9/4/09

located on the Upper West Side, Manhattan, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world. Located in park-like grounds, the Museum comprises 25 interconnected buildings that house 46 permanent exhibition halls, research laboratories, and its renowned library.

Broadway Shows

Theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York (plus one theatre in Lincoln Center) in Manhattan.

Brooklyn Bridge Walk

Whether you're a tourist or a New York City resident, walking across the Brooklyn Bridge won't be a disappointing experience. From your perch above the East River, you'll see unparalleled views of the Manhattan and Brooklyn skylines.

Brooklyn Museum

One of the premier art institutions in the world, its permanent collection includes more than one-and-a-half million objects, from ancient Egyptian masterpieces to contemporary art, and the art of many other cultures.

Central Park, visited 6/13/09

Central Park is one of the urban wonders of the world, a green oasis in the great concrete, high-rise landscape of New York City. It is so naturally part of the Manhattan environment that many people may not realize it is entirely man-made.

Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution is the only museum in the nation devoted exclusively to historic and contemporary design. The Museum presents compelling perspectives on the impact of design on daily life through active educational and curatorial programming.

Ellis Island, visited 7/4/09
Opened on January 1, 1892, Ellis Island became the nation's premier federal immigration station. In operation until 1954, the station processed over 12 million immigrant steamship passengers. The main building was restored after 30 years of abandonment and opened as a museum on September 10, 1990. Today, over 40 percent of America's population can trace their ancestry through Ellis Island.

Empire State Building

The Empire State Building is cemented in both New York and U.S. History. Built during the Depression, the building was the center of a competition between Walter Chrysler (Chrysler Corp.) and John Jakob Raskob (creator of General Motors) to see who could build the tallest building.

Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum visited 9/07/09
Our visitor experience focuses on the structures, spaces, and artifacts that will tell you stories related to our mission to honor our heroes, educate the public, and inspire our youth. We invite you to discover our collections and exhibitions related to sea, air, space, and life - themes that explore the history of technology - the hardware of those categories - as well as the stories of people behind them - the humanity behind the hardware.

Metropolitan Museum of Art visited 9/18/09

A permanent collection containing more than two million works of art, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, often referred to simply as "the Met," is one of the world's largest art galleries.

Morgan Library & Museum

Located in midtown Manhattan at Madison Avenue and 36th Street, the Morgan houses one of the world's greatest collections of artistic, literary, and musical works, from ancient times to the medieval and Renaissance periods to the present day.

Museum of Jewish Heritage

The Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust honors those who died by celebrating their lives - cherishing the civilization that they built, their achievements and faith, their joys and hopes, and the vibrant Jewish community that is their legacy today.

Museum of Modern Art visited 10/12/09

It has been singularly important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world. The museum's collection offers an unparalleled overview of modern and contemporary art.

Museum of the City of New York
Among the city’s major museums, there is only one with the words “New,” “York,” and “City” in its name, and this is precisely what gives the Museum of the City of New York its unique mandate: to explore the past, present, and future of this fascinating and particular place and to celebrate its heritage of diversity, opportunity, and perpetual transformation. A variety of exhibitions, public programs, and publications all investigate what gives New York City its singular character.

Museum of the Moving Image

Museum of the Moving Image is an ideal destination for families. In the hands-on interactive exhibition Behind the Screen, children and adults can make animated stop-motion films, add sound effects and music to famous movie scenes, star in a personalized flipbook, watch a classic short film, play video arcade games from the early 1980s, and participate in a workshop to learn how to make films.

New York City Police Museum visited 10/20/09

Incorporated in 1998, The New York City Police Museum is dedicated to preserving the history of the New York City Police Department, the world’s largest and most famous police force. The Museum strives to be an accessible resource for all the communities of the city of New York. Through its exhibitions, collections and educational programming, the Museum illustrates how the policies and culture of the NYPD have evolved over time to meet the changing needs of the City.

New York Fire Museum

The New York City Fire Museum houses one of the nation's most important collections of fire related art and artifacts from the late 18th century to the present. Among its holdings are painted leather buckets, helmets, parade hats and belts, lanterns and tools, pre Civil War hand pumped fire engines, horse drawn vehicles and early motorized apparatus.

New York Historical Society

The Society is dedicated to presenting exhibitions and public programs, and fostering research that reveal the dynamism of history and its influence on the world of today. Founded in 1804, its holdings cover four centuries of American history, and include one of the world’s greatest collections of historical artifacts, American art and other materials documenting the history of the United States as seen through the prism of New York City and State.

New York Public Library
Probably the greatest Beaux-Arts building in America.

New York Transit Museum

The New York Transit Museum, one of the city's leading cultural institutions is the largest museum in the United States devoted to urban public transportation history, and one of the premier institutions of its kind in the world. The Museum explores the development of the greater New York Metropolitan region through the presentations of exhibitions, tours, educational programs, and workshops dealing with the cultural, social, and technological history of public transportation.

Radio City Music Hall

More than 300 million people have come to the Music Hall to enjoy stage shows, movies, concerts and special events. There's no place like it to see a show or stage a show. Everything about it is larger than life. Radio City Music Hall is the largest indoor theatre in the world. Its marquee is a full city-block long.

Rockefeller Center
From the soaring views of Top of the Rock to a backstage pass at NBC Studios, every Tour at Rockefeller Center brings you inside and behind-the-scenes of some of the city's most beloved treasures.

Sony Wonder Lab

Explore exciting NEW exhibits in a dynamic, state-of the art facility that brings technology and creativity together to make learning experiential, entertaining and fun. Located in mid-town Manhattan, SWTL inspires creativity in a high-quality, engaging, and family friendly learning environment.

Statue of Liberty visited 7/4/09

This 122 year old engineering marvel welcomes visitors to tour the museum gallery and enjoy the breathtaking views from the Statue's observation deck.

Tenement Museum

We tell the stories of 97 Orchard Street. Built on Manhattan's Lower East Side in 1863, this tenement apartment building was home to nearly 7000 working class immigrants.
They faced challenges we understand today: making a new life, working for a better future, starting a family with limited means.

The Cloisters

The Cloisters collection comprises approximately five thousand works of art from medieval Europe, dating from about the ninth to the fifteenth century.

The Frick Collection

The Frick Collection includes some of the best-known paintings by the greatest European artists, major works of sculpture (among them one of the finest groups of small bronzes in the world), superb eighteenth-century French furniture and porcelains, Limoges enamels, Oriental rugs, and other works of remarkable quality.

The Guggenheim Museum, visited 8/8/09

An internationally renowned art museum and one of the most significant architectural icons of the 20th century, the Guggenheim Museum is at once a vital cultural center, an educational institution, and the heart of an international network of museums.

The Whitney Museum

The Whitney Museum houses one of the world's foremost collections of twentieth-century American art. The Permanent Collection of some 12,000 works encompasses paintings, sculptures, multimedia installations, drawings, prints, and photographs—and is still growing.

Times Square, visited 8/8/09

Times Square, sometimes known as the "Crossroads of the World," has achieved the status of an iconic world landmark and has become a symbol of New York City. Times Square is principally defined by its spectaculars, animated, digital advertisements.

United Nations visited 11/2/09

The United Nations is the site of some of the most significant events in recent history, from the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 to the unprecedented Millennium Summit in September 2000 that brought together about 150 heads of State and Government.
World Trade Center

Tribute WTC Visitor Center offers visitors to the World Trade Center site a place where they can connect with people from the September 11th community. Through walking tours, exhibits and programs, the Tribute WTC Visitor Center offers "Person to Person History," linking visitors who want to understand and appreciate these historic events with those who experienced them.

Fullersburg Woods Nature Preserve

These icicles did little to obscure my view of Salt Creek as I looked out the window of the nature center at Fullerburg Woods this afternoon. While my son was participating in a nature program called Mighty Acorns, I was passing the time enjoying the beauty of this wonderful site.

Fullersburg Woods was purchased by the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County in 1920 and as part of the Roosevelt administration's New Deal Program, a Civilian Conservation Corps' camp was established here in 1934. The CCC built the nature center shown in the picture above along with many trailside shelters that remain from this Depression-era program.

Inside the nature center, there are comfortable chairs in which one can enjoy a cup of tea and a good book. Telescopes are available for bird watching along with many other hands-on activities geared toward teaching children about the natural world.

Despite the temperatures hovering around 10 degrees, I decided to venture out onto the trails and came upon a picnic shelter situated along the creek. A beautiful spot to linger in warmer weather.

I hated to leave this peaceful respite in the woods. Luckily, I will be back many more times between now and May so that my son can attend his nature class here. That is the beauty of homeschooling...being able to learn about your subject in a more hands-on way. To actually learn about nature in nature.