Grammar & Spelling

unschooling in action

People often ask how unschooling looks or how it happens. It may sound intriguing, but how DO kids learn things like grammar and spelling. Here are some examples of unschooling in action. If you have an example you would like to share, please send an email to goobmom23 AT yahoo DOT com.

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My 10-year-old had been exchanging emails with a friend. They’d been on for much of the afternoon – apparently having a sort of running conversation through email.

My daughter mentioned that she always tries to write using capitals and periods in the correct places. She said, "I notice when my friend writes to me, she doesn't do that at all. She never uses capitals and she misspells a lot of stuff." I told her that I thought the girl was using a lot of "internet writing" which was really more of a new language that was evolving. She said, "Like LOL and OMG?" So we talked about that type of writing and what she thought about it. I admitted that I was probably a bit of a language snob. I've adopted some of it -- the smiley face and LOL most specifically, but I told her I still prefer the standard (pre-Internet) way of writing. She thought she did too. She said a lot of the shortcut writing is hard to read, hard to understand, and we discussed how it was a lot like learning a foreign language.

Then she told me that she thought the spell check on yahoo email worked better than the one on Microsoft Word. We pulled up Word and I showed her how she hadn't been using the full-blown spell check. She just right clicks on words the computer underlines in red as she is typing. I had her type three sentences, told her not to worry about the spelling, just to type them. The second sentence she typed entirely correct without help. That's why I had her type a third. I showed her the "spelling and grammar" check function then. It helped her correct a couple of words she struggled with. One of the things she had typed was “a elepant.” The spell/grammar tool suggested "an" instead, so we talked about the use of “a” vs. “an”. I can guarantee that the information stuck because I’ve seen her use a/an correctly since then. Oh, and she was tickled that she was so close to the correct spelling of elephant and told me that she knew the "ph" for "f" sound but had forgotten.

Then she asked me about something she had come across while working on a story she has been writing. She said that when she wrote, "Jake, me and Mom went to the store," the computer would correct her and suggest that "I" should be used. She asked if that was right because it sounded wrong to her. So I showed her that the way to figure it out was to say each individually... Jake went to the store, Me went to the store, Mom went to the store. She agreed immediately that "I went to the store" sounded better, but still felt that it sounded too stuffy when she used all three people going -- she wanted to use "me." We also talked about the ordering of the subjects in a sentence like this and what was grammatically correct compared to what was politely correct. (Jake, Mom and I...)

She asked if it was a style thing that you could do either way. I told her that this was a case where I would argue that it was not a style thing. However, I agreed that you can always decide to break a grammar rule if you want to, but that this was one I wouldn't break. Then we talked about using I as the subject of a sentence and me as the object. This got a little deeper and I'm not sure it was entirely clear to her, but she was satisfied for the time being.

THIS was such a satisfying experience. We really had some connecting time and it was so cool hearing her ask these questions and knowing how she is putting this knowledge to use. She is improving in leaps and bounds with her writing skills. She's asking the questions and getting the answers and putting it together in a way that makes sense to her.

I also got to read her story. It is now almost two pages long (single spaced) and I can’t tell you how exciting it is to watch something like this unfold. I’ve been typing stories as my kids dictate them for years. Each time I get to read what she has written, we discuss first if she wants my editing assistance or if she just wants me to read it for story. This time, it was just to read the story. It was wonderful. The coolest thing is that she loves the story, too, and she’s enjoying the process of writing it.

-Tracy S.

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I was reading a book to the kids and the kids asked, "what's this?" and were pointing to a comma and "what's that?" and were pointing to an asterisk, so I got to explain what they were for and why. I was writing a story for Jade on the computer and she asked why I wrote it the way I did. Her story has lots of dialogue. So I explained what the quotes were for. The thing that was really cool to me is that her writing had such active voice. She has listened to so many books she just knows intuitively that a good story is very active. We've been having some fun with "spelling" sort of. Jade and I are playing lots of hangman. It's a game for her but it's helping her see patterns to words. Corbin plays along too but he goes to find words for me to guess.

- Samantha S.

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Today in the car, my son, age 6, said, "Mom! That sign said zoo -- only it had one 'o' instead of two and the 'z' was sideways." We had to look at the sign again. It said, "No" as in "no parking on this side of street." I think perhaps he was just really hoping for a zoo trip.

-Tracy S.

January 8 Deadline for Great Wolf Lodge Gathering

The Kansas Homeschool Network invites you to attend the

Third Annual Area Homeschoolers
Great Wolf Lodge Get-Away

February 27-28, 2007

Great Wolf - Kansas City

You MUST make reservations by January 8, 2007, to guarantee a spot!

Use Group Code 6A522A when making reservations online.

or call 1-800-608-9653 and reference our group name:

Kansas Area Homeschool Network

Email Tracy at kshomeschool dot net for details on room rates, reservation requirements, or questions. If you prefer rooms that aren't listed for our coupon code, contact Tracy for information on other options.

Pre-check in starts at 1pm on the 27th. You can receive your waterpark passes at this time and begin swimming. Guest room check-in begins at 4pm. Check-out on the 28th is 11am, but you are free to use the waterpark the entire day on Wednesday.

Alternative Form of Homeschooling Embraces Child Directed Learning

If you can ignore the idiotic comment from the "expert" at the end, this is one of the best articles on unschooling that I have seen.

Article from the Post-Tribune.

"It's an awareness that learning is always happening because it's part of living."
--Jane Van Stelle Haded

Cloudday

"Tomorrow is Cloudday."

"Cloudday?" I said.

"Yes. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Cloudday.
If there is Sunday there has to be Cloudday."

Ezzie & his momma, Steph

Richard Feynman on Education

This is an old article from the Growing Without Schooling archives. Thanks to Jane on the unschoolkansas discussion list for bringing it to our attention.

Some thoughts from well-known physicist Richard Feynman, interviewed in U.S. News & World Report, 3/18/85:

…There’s a great deal of intimidation by intellectuals in this country of less intellectual people. It comes in the form of pompous studies and pompous words to describe ideas that are fairly simple or have very little content. If someone says they do not understand one of these ideas, they’re put down, which must be hard for those who don’t have too much confidence in their own intelligence. People think that all the experts know what they are doing.
But most experts, whether in the stock market, education, sociology or some parts of psychology, don’t know more than the average person. They may act as though they are engaged in real science. They do studies, follow certain methods and have results. They follow all the apparent precepts and forms of scientific investigation, but they’re missing something essential.

…Take educational theory. How do you know that people in schools of education don’t know anything about how to educate children - not that anyone else knows, either? Well, are the schools improving? Have educational systems gotten better as the years have gone on? It’s very easy to see that the witch doctors are not curing most diseases.

…I sometimes feel that it would be much better not to educate our children in such subjects as mathematics and science. If we left youngsters alone, there would be a better chance that, by accident, the kids would find a good book - or an old textbook - or a television program that would excite them. But when youngsters go to school, they learn that these subjects are dull, horrible and impossible to understand. When I went to school, I didn’t learn that math and science were dull because I knew before I got there that they were interesting. All I saw was that they were dull in school. But I knew better….
I once sat in a committee in California that chose new schoolbooks for the state… The books said things that were useless, mixed up, ambiguous, confusing and partially incorrect. How anybody could learn science from these books, I don’t know.

What happens often is that state bodies decide what ought to be in the curriculum on the basis of what so-called experts think. This has a tremendous influence on publishers, who want their books to cover every single item on the suggested list. Publishers try very hard to follow what states want, and in the end, the books are poor. They don’t try to make subjects easier to understand. They try to make it easier to know what to do to pass the test and please the teacher. They’re involved in making sure that certain items are understood by children so that they can go on to the next course, which is designed in exactly the same way.
Someday people will look back at our age and they’ll think: "My goodness, how they tortured their children! Year after year they wen to these schools every day for hours. yet look how easy it is to teach. But they didn’t know how to do it back then…"

Kansas Kaleidoscope

A Kansas history magazine written for young readers. Published 5 times a year and the price is right, too. $7.00! Back issues are available on the website.

When DROPOUT isn’t a bad word:

Some local teens are thriving by setting their own schedules and learning by doing

Unschool Article from The Patriot Ledger, Boston.

To See in February ~ Dead Sea Scrolls

from the website:
The Dead Sea Scrolls
Union Station is proud to present the only Midwest stop for this monumental exhibition, including some scrolls never before displayed in the United States.

Experience the most remarkable archeological discovery of the last century: the oldest surviving manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible, known to Christians as the Old Testament. Explore the history and significance of the scrolls and discover the mystery of how they were created more than 2000 years ago. In addition to the scrolls, this exhibition will also feature a multitude of artifacts from Qumran, where the scrolls were discovered, as well as other artifacts from the region.

This Day in Kansas History

The Kansas Historical Society has a calendar of historical events of interest to Kansans.

Click here for December's Calendar.

Robots at Union Station

from the website:
ROBOTS: The Interactive Exhibition
Now thru Jan. 7, 2007

Tuesday - Sunday


Take an educational, fun and exciting journey through a mechanical world.

ROBOTS: The Interactive Exhibition captures the imagination and excitement of the hit animated film Robots and translates it into an entertaining and educational experience for the whole family. See how robots can make our lives better today and in the future. Learn how the movie was created, play interactive games, and build your own robot!

Read more.

New Carousel Animals/Contest - Kansas City Zoo

From the Kansas City Zoo Website:
New Carousel Animals/Contest

Endangered Species Carousel to Open Spring 2007
Every paid visitor in November and December receives a ticket to ride the carousel in 2007. Guess the weight of the animal (three winners) and receive a season rides pass for the carousel, good for all of 2007.

The Zoo will unveil a new carousel in May 2007. It will feature 36 hand-carved wooden animals, all endangered species.

See pictures on the website.

Homeschooling on Dr. Phil this Friday

The Great School Debate will be on Dr. Phil this Friday, November 24.

Links to some interesting articles regarding the show here.

If you watch, let us know what you think.

Museum of World Treasures - Wichita

My kids and I recently visited the Museum of World Treasures in Wichita. It was an extremely positive experience and I highly recommend it. We were thrilled with the wide variety of items on display, but especially impressed by the fact that you could really get up close and examine so many of the items on display.

I can probably say more with pictures than in words:

An Egyptian Mummy

A big cat of some sort.

Rubbing the Buddah's Belly

If you are in Wichita, don't miss this museum. It's worth a road trip if you are looking for something to do.

Native American Heritage Museum

The Native American Heritage Museum State Historic Site presents "Moccasins to Tees: Native Art Then and Now"

This special exhibit is on display through November 30, 2006 at the Museum, 1737 Elgin Road, 3 miles east of Highland, Kansas.

Exhibit Ends: November 30, 2006

Contact Information:
Suzette McCord-Rogers
785 442-3304
nahm@kshs.org

Explore Kansas

If you are looking for things to do and see in Kansas, The Kansas Explorers Club is a great place to start. The website has some interesting lists, including Kansas Firsts, Oldests, Largests, and others. Spend some time browsing; I can guarantee you'll learn something you didn't know. Then get in your car and spend some time exploring!

http://explorekansas.org/

Participate!!!

Participate!!! Thoze Amazing Crazy Dayz has a lovely blog entry titled This is How We Learn. I am inviting each of you to tell me how learning happens in your family. Submit a link to your own blog entry, or email your entry to me to be published in a collection here. Submissions MUST be made to tracy@kshomeschool.net by December 5th to qualify. Put "This is How We Learn" in the subject line and be sure to include your contact information (will not be published). There will be a drawing for those that enter for a prize yet to be determined.

An Unschooling Perspective on Screen Time

by Ann Vetter

You don't have to go far to hear dire warnings about the possible harm that can be caused by too much screen time. That's the nouveau term that encompasses television, computer, and video games. We are warned that they stifle imagination, dull kids' brains, and disrupt learning. You can find plenty of fodder for this point of view, so I thought I would offer another perspective.

I really believe that most people see at least some value in these activities. Otherwise we wouldn't own them. It's the fear that a child will become obsessed that drives this issue; that, if allowed, they will do nothing but watch TV and play video games all day. It is the very restrictions we are encouraged to employ to prevent this from happening that, in fact, make the worry true.

When children have trouble separating themselves from something like TV, video games, books, or anything really... it is because these items were restricted, thus putting a high priority or value on the activity. Don't misunderstand; if your kid is really doing nothing but fill-in-the-blank, it is a parent's job to connect. It might be time for a conversation that starts with, “I notice you have really been into ________, lately.” The point is to find out what need your kid is fulfilling. Kids don't fixate on an activity unless it is meeting a need. If they really are dwelling on an activity out of boredom, making a positive suggestion is a million times better than a restriction.

I’ve often thought that if I can’t use my wits and charm to convince my kid that some real life outing or project with me is not worth turning the TV off for a while, then I ought to consider finding a new gig. I can say things like, “Hey, you want to try out that new recipe with me?” or “Do you want to check out this new website I found?” Yes, it sometimes requires that I drop my own agenda and spend time focusing on theirs. Of course, the other part is knowing when to shut up and leave them alone. This is part of what makes unschooling special, the interaction and the relationships.

When I hear people assume that their kids would do nothing but watch TV all day (or play video games, or whatever), it makes me sad. It usually comes from people who have never tried unschooling, or if they did, they didn't give their kids time to deschool before making a judgment. At the heart of this sentence, I hear, “My kid is an imbecile, incapable of making constructive choices. My child has no natural curiosity and will not learn unless forced to. The bottom line is, I don't trust my kid.” This is an unfair indictment for children, in general, but especially for kids that need to heal from one kind of trauma or another. (And I believe that school experiences can be very traumatic.)

I have witnessed movies spark a child’s imagination, inspire their writing, motivate them to read a book on a subject, act out their own version of the plot in an imaginative, lets-pretend sort of game. I have explained complex math concepts because my child needed them to get to the next level in a computer game they enjoy. I have watched their vocabulary expand as they ask me the meaning of words they see and hear on screen. Best of all, I spend time doing these things with them. I watch shows they like, play games they like, and we talk about them. We have conversations about topics that might otherwise have never come up.

By refusing to place restrictions on screen time, I am sending a message that I value what my children care about, their interests matter to me, and I am available to talk with them about anything. I see screen time as not just a great tool for learning, but also for building relationships. These items make our worlds bigger and more interesting, taking them away or limiting them only makes your child's world smaller and less fun.

I have often mused that if we worried about, limited, screened, controlled our children's reading habits like we do other things, we would be wondering how to get our kids' noses out of books. I would be exclaiming that all my daughter does is study wildlife and draw. She has her nose in a book for hours each day and sure, she creates these beautiful things, but surely she isn't old enough to process their meaning yet. Or I would worry that my son is simply spending too much time messing with that tool. Does he understand the basic principles of engineering? Isn't that activity too mature for him? Maybe I should redirect that interest to make sure they are learning other things, to make sure they’ve mastered the basics first, or to make sure they aren’t getting involved in something beyond their ability to master.

At the core of unschooling is the belief that my daughter can spend all day delving into how Morgan horses differ from Palominos. She can read any mystery novel she likes. She can crochet, write a story, visit with her big sister, watch TV, catch up on email, and all of those projects are equally worthy. My son can spend all day on a new project with his toys, finish a software adventure, or read a book with mom. All these things are of equal importance because they, my children, care about them. My job is to value those things with them, not to prioritize or judge them.

Most of all, my job is to open their world up so they can meet their needs in the many ways they will discover. I don’t want to make their world smaller, or less sparkly, by taking things away.



This article was published in the May/June 2007 issue of Live Free Learn Free.

Halloween Parade ~ 2006

pumpkins courtesy of Karen & Rebecca

Ghost Bride ~ Evie, age 10

Ancient Briton ~ Andrew, age 13

Darth Vader ~ Deven, age 8

Furry Winged Demon ~ Issac, age 9

Genie ~ Erinn, age 7

Gladiator from Pompeii ~ Kaman, age 5

Gypsy ~ Karen, age 12

Gypsy ~ Victoria, age 10

Pirate ~ Maddie, age 8

Pirate ~ Benjamin, age 6

Robin, of Teen Titans ~ Joshua, age 4-1/2

Witch ~ Alison, age 13

View the 2007 Halloween Parade

Kansas City Area ~ Things to Do

We have a nice collection of links for Kansas City area activites at the KSHomeschool.net website. Thank you, Tracie Drake.

Changing My Mind about Screen Time

by Tracy Million Simmons

Our local unschooling list has had some wonderful conversation, of late, regarding television and the role of “screen time” in an unschooling world. It’s been an excellent opportunity for personal reflection on two levels.

First, to recognize just how much my mindset about television has changed in the last few years. Second, to reflect on how much my mindset has changed, in general, in the 8 or 9 years since my first introduction to unschooling.

It wasn’t all that long ago that I was still sorting television programs by those that were quality and educational and those that were not. I was still falling for a bit of the “good mom” cultural message that goes something like… good moms don’t let their kids watch too much television, or better yet, any television at all. I limited the time my kids spent watching television. I avoided channels that were heavily commercialized. And I had good, solid excuses (involving one television, small space, “important” things needing to take priority) for staying on top of the television habit in our household… or so I thought.

Thankfully, I never stopped seeking input from experienced unschoolers. I didn’t necessarily consider television a “problem” in our house, but I kept bumping up against advice that was pointing me in another direction, and I must have never been fully comfortable with the way we handled TV watching, because I kept trying new things (new restrictions, guidelines, tactics for getting three kids through a day, happy with their TV options).

The answer, of course, was right in front of me all along. Unschooling was working for myself and my children in so many wonderful ways. The fact that I still felt a need to control the television and its contents was… well, complete silliness, one of those “rocks in my head” as I’ve come to think of them… a notion that remains, though all the evidence I have about trust and life learning and healthy relationships with people (my children in particular) show me that my “wisdom” on the matter is not sufficient to give me power to dictate television rights.

We still live in a small house. We still own only one television. We still have to share and to coordinate and to be considerate of four other people in the house. Yet, I can’t remember the last time we had any problem balancing television time with whatever else was going on in our world. Some days I still marvel that an entire day has passed and the television hasn’t been on for a single minute. The kids no longer worry about getting in their daily TV time, because it’s available to them at any time. I see now that I had raised the value of screen time by limiting it. Other days I marvel at the programs my children discover, or the pieces of information they pull from the shows they watch. I find myself stopping to see what they’ve found and my kids, better than I, seem to know when it’s a good day to just curl up with a blanket and the remote and snuggle in with a good movie.

Finally, I am free to have true discussions with them about my thoughts on television. I can express my amusements and my distastes. I can explain why I dislike particular kinds of television and I can listen to what attracts them. We only found this freedom when I was finally able to step back and treat them as equals, allowing them the same power to choose that I have. Trust with television programming and screen time should be no different than trust with anything else.

The whole email conversation on television has led me to think back to my early introduction to unschooling. I was just beginning my journey as a mother, but I already had a lot of ideas about the type of mother I wanted to be and the kind of relationship I wanted to have with my children. When I first read about unschooling, it was a little spark that just wouldn’t go out. It felt true and right, yet I approached it cautiously. It was so different, after all, from all the other advice that was out there.

My first experience on an email discussion list was with a group of unschoolers. They were radical and amazing, thoughtful and full of words and ideas that inspired me… and perhaps frightened me a bit, as well. Looking back, I must have been exhausting to them at times. I wish there was a way to contact each and every one of them, to let them know just how much I appreciate their continued conversation, their words of wisdom and their gentle shakes to help me empty all those “rocks” from my head.

Now I continue to frequent those lists and I encourage others to do the same. Sometimes it takes an outsider looking in to help you recognize just where you still carry rocks in your head. You may think you have it down, thinking you are unschooling in the finest fashion, and then someone asks a question or gives an answer that makes you stop and ponder your take on a particular topic all over again.

Keep asking questions. Keep listening to the answers. As parents, we have at least as much room to grow as our children do.