In May we registered the kids with SelfDesign, a independent distributed learning school. It wasn’t a difficult decision; we’ve almost made it now two years in a row!
We’ve re-arranged our lives in the last few years to spend more time with the kids and we realized that we are sending the kids off to “work” and waiting for them to come back. With bus time, it is almost 40 hours per week away from us!
The elementary school’s principal, Phil J., was superb when I notified him in May. I’ve been sitting on the School Improvement Plan committee for several years so I had some inkling of how hard he and the teachers work to improve learning in the school. I made it clear to him, and to the kids’ current teachers, that this decsion was NOT based on a negative experience at the school, but rather a desire to make the most of the years left to us with the kids at home. He immediately offered to include them in as many extra-curricular activities as they wanted and for that Chris and I are extremely grateful.
The SelfDesign program is a bit different but we liked the fact that it is overseen by BC certified teaches who ensure that all learning outcomes for each grade are met. We are eagerly awaiting the chance to meet and select our children’s teacher for next year!
In early June we went to Surrey with friends Paul and Irene Kempter to attend a home schooling trade show. Wow. This is big business! We learned a lot and picked Paul and Irene’s brain. They’re moving into year 4 of homeschooling; this fall their fourth and youngest child will start grade one at home.
So, even more changes for the Newton family. We are excited!
Hi Sandy – I wondered if you guys would do this… it seems a logical extension of your time at home. What I am curious about it how the kids feel about it. We talked this idea over with Sophie because, while I am happy with the elementary education they are receiving, I know things change here in Jr. High. I posited the idea that we home school with another family who has reservations about formalized education in Japan, sharing teaching duties among the parents – I could handle, say, English and Canadian Social Studies. Mie, the Japanese mom, could handle Japanese language study and social studies. We’d collaborate on science. The Dads could trade off with math. Anyway, it was a fledgling idea as an extension of our Saturday learning circle, where we’ve been teaching the kids English literacy for over 10 years. Sophie considered the idea quite thoughtfully, but then said that while she enjoys the Saturday group very much and wants to continue that, she prefers to go to school at SCHOOL. She likes the classroom dynamic, clubs, organized sports, etc. I was a bit surprised, knowing how much she values the learning circle… I thought she might be more receptive. But we have to consider her feelings and desires, too. Phil and I have talked a lot about this and have decided that we’re willing to give jr. high a go, but that we are not going to scramble to fit the school’s system. We will use the system as it suits us — if we want to pull the kids out for a camping trip or to go back to Canada for a term (like we did a while ago), we’re going to do it. I think sometimes it causes the kids grief (trying to fit in again after having been away – I do worry that it makes them even MORE “different”), in the end the richer range of experiences they have as a result of our activities is going to benefit them. We are also going to keep going with the home schooling in English literacy — I am proud of the progress the kids have made over all these years. I know that there’s a lot of debate about the usefulness of the FSA tests in B.C. but our visit happened to coincide with that testing and I was so pleased that Sophie tested at or above average for her grade level — home schooling WORKS!!! It was a great sign for me that we are on target with what we do in the learning circle.
Anyway, I know several home schooling families and they have a wonderful lifestyle – one Mom we know in Cranbrook says they get a day’s material (provided by the Ministry of Education) done in just a couple of hours in the morning, leaving the rest of the day free to do whatever they like, which usually involves life skills stuff – gardening, building, exploring – and lots of arts (Mom’s a photographer). She said that when her kids went to the local elementary school, her very active son spent more time on the bench in front of the principal’s office than he did in the classroom because the teacher couldn’t accommodate his learning style, which was sort of 15-20 minutes on task, then burn off some steam, then back on task, etc. etc. She said home schooling made a huge difference for him.
ANYWAY, blah blah blah… good for you guys!! I am really enjoying following your blog and can’t wait to see the progress you’ve made when we see you in the summer.
It’s been amazing how many other families have admitted to considering home schooling once they heard we’d made the leap! I think it is being considered for a variety of reasons. In your case, culture and language play a big part. For us it was lifestyle and quality of family life.
Home schooling isn’t so “out there” as it used to be. I’m amazed at the resources that are available to us and the Elementary school principal has been wonderful.
We are looking forward to incorporating our home project into the kids schooling. The display they produced on the house (that won first place at the Energy ; a day of kayaking/sailing on the Shuswap) was the start of the home schooling experiment. So far, so good!
We, too, have heard that home schoolers typically spend only a few hours a day on formal learning. I’m not sure how that will work for us…we are still in the process of learning about the program we’ve registered with. It seems to be fairly heavy on learning based on life but we hope to incorporate a bit more formality into their days…
We’ll talk more when you get here! We’ll have some shade; the roof is about 20 percent decked as of tonight! Pictures in the next few days….
I wish you the best with your home schooling adventure. This will be year two for my family. You are right, home schooling has become big business.
When I talked to you before about home schooling we had just started using The Well Trained Mind by Susan Bauer as a guide. I have been using Phonic Pathways and the Bob Books. My youngest has gone from being a reluctant non-reader to reading at nearly a grade two level. This happened in a little under four months.
http://www.welltrainedmind.com/
My eldest is using the Calvert home schooling program but is wanting a more Classic Education approach for next year. Whenever she has some difficulty, I re-read The Well Trained Mind for tips. It has been a very helpful book. The girls really love the Story of the World. Using history to tie all the learning skills together is working very well for us. Here is the curriculum map for Classic Education:
http://www.welltrainedmind.com/store/curriculum-guides/curriculum-map.html
Hi Caroline, I do remember you mentioning Calvert. We just went through the process of selecing a “Learning Consultant” and are waiting to see which one we get…who did you have? We are playing things very much by ear right now, trying to keep an open mind, but knowing how our kids learn the best. I keep storing everyone’s suggestions and comments and always write yours down on my list! We had a look at Math U See which is a neat system, but when we talked to a few people they said that it didn’t meet the learning outcomes in some of the grades. Nobody said it was a bad system, just not well suited to the BC system. At any rate…I will post about our home-schooling adventure as it unfolds!
My Learning Consultant this year is Frances Honsinger. She specializes in Classic Education so she was my first choice. I also had contact with Angela Kinsella-Jones. She was very helpful and I would have enjoyed working with her too.
If you come to Kamloops, come and see me. Here is a link to a map: http://www.goboxstorage.ca/map.html. I can show you what I know about SelfDesign’s intranet. The intranet is a confusing system of interconnected websites. I can show you sample 04Ls from last year which may be of interest. I can give some advice about Learning Investments.
If you are interested in more information about Classic Education you have to contact Frances Honsinger to get access to the Classic Education Forum. This forum is closed to the SelfDesign Village. My understanding is most of the organizers of SelfDesign are Unschoolers.
It would be useful to read Self Design: Nurturing Genus Through Natural Learning by SelfDesign’s founder Brent Cameron. This will give you an idea of the dominant ideas in SelfDesign.