First, my view of childhood is maybe the most foundational part of our homeschool. I have a huge reverence for what I think childhood should be, as opposed to what our modern culture has made it. I believe that we (this modern, mostly western, pop culture) truly are "amusing ourselves to death" and that real childhood is disappearing so quickly that we don't even recognize it anymore. I believe strongly in the importance of children learning by natural exploration. I wanted them to wonder why and wonder why. I wanted to provide an optimum habitat for curiosity and wonder to grow. I wanted the children to *keep* asking all of those endless questions that children ask, even as they grew into adulthood and throughout their lives. I wanted them to use their imaginations so that they could be pioneers, slay dragons, rule kindgdoms, fight wars and battles, sail to distant lands, rocket to the moon or distant galaxies. These are the important pursuits of childhood! I believe strongly in the importance of protecting what Einstein referred to as the "holy inquiry of curiosity," which he says is mostly in need of solitude. I agree with Einstein's assessment that modern methods of instruction have all but completely strangled this curiosity. I wanted to leave that alone.
So, I thought long and hard about what kind of environment would best allow for this. I thought about what would serve these hopes and goals I had. I thought about what would be best left out of this environment and what would best be left in this environment. After much reading, observation, and thinking, my husband and I chose to remain TV-free. We very, very rarely watched movies. We never bought a nintendo or anything like it. We didn't even have a computer until just a few years ago. We avoided trendy toys and tried to choose creative, imaginative toys and tools instead. We avoided pop culture as much as possible. We never turned on the radio and we didn't buy pop music. My children grew up on old folk songs, historical songs, some kids' scripture songs, classical music, etc. All of this was in the early years (until mid to late teens), and then we gradually added more movies, more computer time, more freedom for the children to choose and make their own decisions. Oh, how very, very glad I am that we kept such a quiet house where the kids were not amused or distracted, but kept very industrious. We didn't rob the children of anything; we provided them with *much.* It's just that we chose what was available to our children and what wasn't. They didn't miss a thing! We bought books galore. We bought interesting, useful toys full of imaginative and creative potential. We bought and played table games. We played hard, inside and out.
It has been said that play is the work of the child, and I believe it. There is so much going on when a child plays. So much that cannot be measured, and in this society that measures and compares everything in order to validate it, play becomes seen as something that kids do to amuse themselves, and its power and importance go unrecognized. What a huge, huge mistake! Play is learning of the very best kind! Workbooks, rote learning, mom-initiated "lessons" are vastly inferior to the kind of development that occurs during play. It takes vision and faith to believe this. I have a book of research on children and play. Maybe someday I'll post excerpts from it.
Along with my views about childhood, I think my philosophy of learning has been an essential part of our homeschooling environment. By the time I was in fourth grade, I did not like school. I was made to think that learning was very, very dull and tedious. Learning lost its magic for me, and this magic did not return fully until I was almost 30 years old. I knew right from the start that I did not want my children to develop the same attitude toward learning that I did. This is why unschooling and relaxed methods of learning appealed to me. I closely observed homeschooling families I knew, and I read many, many books describing various homeschooling styles. I'm going to be honest here and say that I was most impressed by: 1) unschoolers 2) secular homeschoolers. Secular unschoolers reached the highest heights of learning. They were the most delighted in learning. They seemed more articulate, more interested in many things, and more spirited. I've been part of secular groups and Christian groups, and the secular unschoolers are always more inspiring to me. I've asked myself many times why this is, and I don't have a complete answer, but I do have some observations.
I have more than 20 families who are part of my relaxed homeschooling group. More than half of these are secular unschoolers (some more radical than others). The other half are Christians, mostly fairly relaxed, but some are structured. We have children in the group who have read at age two and children who have not read until age ten (and beyond). I've observed this so many times that I can truly say that one is not superior to the other. The late reader is learning other very important things, and he is (within months) reading beyond his so-called grade level (usually high school and beyond), if you need objective standards to validate this opinion of mine! :-) What I *have* noticed is that most children who learn on their own timetable quickly excel, in reading ability and love of reading, those who learn as they are prodded along in workboooks.
I think it is very, very significant (to our learning environment) that we stayed home *alot,* and I'm certain that if this had not been the case, our learning environment would not have been nearly as successful. Oh, we went places and did interesting things together, but I just didn't want our days eaten up by errands, classes, sports, and lots of busyness that doesn't really serve individuals or families well. I wanted the kids to have time to do plenty of chores and to have long stretches of time for their imagination to kick in and then to produce something! Just this Christmas season, I was reminded again how busyness undermines so many good things. For instance, children do not play or study the same way when time is broken into bits. They become more restless and more easily bored. They don't want to pursue things. Maybe this is the same effect that school bells have on learning (according to Gatto)-- children lose heart because there's not time to become truly engaged in anything. When we are busy, there is not proper time to respond to our children. When we are busy and things aren't moving along at the pace I'd like, I find myself becoming demanding (controlling) and trying to force everyone into my pace and mode. It isn't relaxed or enjoyable. Also, rather than having the time to respond thoughtfully and warmly in a relaxed way to the observations, thoughts, concerns, and questions of my children, I pop off quick answers. Discussion diminishes. Warmth diminishes. The ability to train and influence diminishes. Quiet and stretches of solitude are important for many reasons.
I believe strongly in the power of stories (living books, if you will, as well as family stories and any other story that upholds a high and noble ideal... or that is just plain delightful). Good stories instruct us, they teach is character, they enlighten us about ourselves, they inspire in us a desire to stretch higher, to grow, to change, they rouse up our faith in God. Good stories are the most powerful moral force there is (the Bible above all), and I believe childhood should be full of these stories-- not in a reader or a text, but as families snuggle together on the couch. Reading for "school" just doesn't quite capture the same spirit as reading stories because they are worth reading.
I believe strongly in the idea of example being the best teacher. Gandhi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world." This is so very true when it comes to home educating, especially if we want to home educate in a way that inspires our children to love learning and to fully engage in life! What do I do? How do I spend my time? Am I disciplined? Do I dawdle? Do I balk at or complain about my less desirable responsibilities? Do I love to learn? What am I learning? What am I delighted in? Am I modeling to my children how to research? How to organize my time? How to relax and dig in to whatever interests me? Do I read? Do I write? Do I do things with energy and joy? These are essentially important questions. It doesn't matter if my interests appear intellectual or academic! It can be cooking or gardening or whatever I like to do.
I also believe strongly in learning by natural conversation and discussion, starting from the early years. These conversations grow in depth and complexity as the children grow older. Mortimer Adler, Harvard classicist, says that the best education comes from reading and discussing. English educator, Alan Thomas, says in his book Educating Children at Home that social conversation is the most powerful form of education, and he argues (with research) that this continues into school age. I wish I could quote from the book, but the best I can do is give you a link to an article commenting on this a bit. I strongly believe that one of the most powerful ways my children (and my husband and me) learn is in our natural conversations every day. This is no small thing!
I could go on, but I need to end sometime... :-)
