She assumes she can do anything: If I asked her to build a rocket ship, she’d head to Google, willing to please. After an hour, she’d have a wrinkle above her nose and a tear in her eye, realizing that no matter how much she wants to please and how talented she is, she can’t … Continue reading
Having read Susan Wise Bauer’s hefty volume, The Well Trained Mind (more than once), I have reaped many ideas for writing possibilities. I love her classically educated focus, everything from latin to sequential historical learning to logic. I defy someone to suggest she’s not got everything covered, except maybe home economics. Having said that, her … Continue reading
When I attempted true unschooling for a time, I discovered the unbelievable…there is no way to get away from arithmetic. You need to understand math…add, subtract, multiply and divide, estimate, and understand decimals and percentages. Consumerism requires it. You want to decide how much produce you can afford? Then you need to understand weights and measurements. You … Continue reading
And then comes the curriculum choosing… What is it you’re hoping the formal studies are going to accomplish in their grown-up lives? Teach them to communicate? Enable them to have math literacy? Be exposed to different places, historical figures, understand the worlds’ events? So many ways to answer those questions, if they’re important to you. You get … Continue reading
I’ve always been resistant to answering the question, what curriculum do you use? because though I do use it, I don’t think there is one right book, one right way of tackling any subject. I don’t think in grades, so I am not familiar with the provincial expectations. What would it matter anyway? If I … Continue reading
I’m pretty certain I’ll never completely settle on a parenting philosophy. I am my own living proof. I’ve read from opposite ends of the spectrum and they all seem to have valid points, valid reasons for understanding the world the way they do. I’ll wade in with the tide, listen attentively to new theories, read … Continue reading