What a lovely, honest response! But, Oh, How Sad!!!! And I didn't even know. I said to him, "But you love it when I read to you...."

"Yes", he said, "But that's not really school."

What does he see as 'school'? It's all the requirements I set for him which are no fun.
Now, I don't agree with the myth that "studying must be fun" because at times it is really hard work, but on the other hand, learning must be interesting!

Curiosity across the Curriculum

• Inspiring by setting up a rich, learning environment;
• Inspiring by modeling education ourselves
• Setting up Skills Classes

Bible

History

Read aloud to your children. Read biographies, living books on time periods. Choose a time period or work chronologically. Keep going with your reading schedule. This is the part of the day in which you can choose all the books you'd like to read and do it! Give them a love of learning, by finding interesting, fascinating, character building, historical fiction novels or classics to read aloud.

Suggest projects which you may work on. Do a project yourself. Who would like to help youbuild a paper mache Trojan horse? Who would like to help you make a Roman fresco? Get involved and love the learning process yourself.

How can a curriculum help you? Use a curriculum as a guide to good books to read according to the time period. TruthQuest History is a wonderful resource which recommends excellent literature as the story unfolds. Also, you may choose to use Mystery Of History or SOTW as a spinebook to read history and use as a springboard for further studies.

Science and Math

Read about scientists and mathematicians and their discoveries. Learn from them, test and experiment and discuss. Some books which are helpful here are: Mathematicians are People Too


Other books such as the John Tiner series can be found here.

Literature

Read, Read, Read, Read and read some more classics to your children. Then, discuss what you've read. Talk about the characters, the decisions they made, what was good/bad, compare/contrast, what would you do.... I have really enjoyed "Teaching the Classics"

Teaching the Classics (4 DVDs & Workbook) By Adam Andrews & Missy Andrews / Institute for Excellence in Writing No matter what your opinion about "good literature", this course will work for you, since it doesn't tell you what beautiful literature is, but rather teaches how to think with the skills of observation, deduction and evaluation. Students will use the Socratic Method of learning as they examine the five elements of literature: plot, conflict, setting, character and theme. Graphic organizers, book lists, discussion questions, excerpts and other materials are included in the workbook. The included 4-DVD set contains the instructional seminars that show students how to apply elements described in the text to literature. Concepts covered include preparing for literary analysis, plot & conflict, setting, character, theme and practice/scope & sequence. Elementary-high school. This kit includes: 97-page workbook, softcover, spiral-bound. 4 DVDs in plastic case.

Discuss what classic your child will read next and you read it too so that you can discuss it. Inspire and suggest how they could do a project on what they just read or learned. After my 8 year old read the full version of Cinderella, it was her decision to write it into a play. I showed her how to do it using Write on Track and she wrote it step by step. Perhaps they would like to make a costume or create a background set; Draw a story map; Copy an illustration; Write a book review or story themselves. Add it to the Homeschool Gallery or their own mini-site.
You Inspire!

I just wanted to leave in the poem we enjoyed by Roald Dahl on Television. Here's a way to stifle their curiosity as he so aptly says:

Here it is:

Television

The most important thing we've learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is never, NEVER, NEVER let
Them near your television set --
Or better still, just don't install
The idiotic thing at all.
In almost every house we've been,
We've watched them gaping at the screen.
They loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until their eyes pop out.
(Last week in someone's place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.)
They sit and stare and stare and sit
Until they're hypnotised by it,
Until they're absolutely drunk
With all that shocking ghastly junk.
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They don't climb out the window sill,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink --
But did you ever stop to think,
To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
IT ROTS THE SENSE IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!
HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!
HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE!
HE CANNOT THINK -- HE ONLY SEES!
'All right!' you'll cry. 'All right!' you'll say,
'But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children? Please explain!'
We'll answer this by asking you,
'What used the darling ones to do?
'How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?'
Have you forgotten? Don't you know?
We'll say it very loud and slow:
THEY ... USED ... TO ... READ! They'd READ and READ,
AND READ and READ, and then proceed
To READ some more. Great Scott! Gadzooks!
One half their lives was reading books!
The nursery shelves held books galore!
Books cluttered up the nursery floor!
And in the bedroom, by the bed,
More books were waiting to be read!
Such wondrous, fine, fantastic tales
Of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales
And treasure isles, and distant shores
Where smugglers rowed with muffled oars,
And pirates wearing purple pants,
And sailing ships and elephants,
And cannibals crouching 'round the pot,
Stirring away at something hot.
(It smells so good, what can it be?
Good gracious, it's Penelope.)
The younger ones had Beatrix Potter
With Mr. Tod, the dirty rotter,
And Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland,
And Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and-
Just How The Camel Got His Hump,
And How the Monkey Lost His Rump,
And Mr. Toad, and bless my soul,
There's Mr. Rat and Mr. Mole-
Oh, books, what books they used to know,
Those children living long ago!
So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks,
The screams and yells, the bites and kicks,
And children hitting you with sticks-
Fear not, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They'll now begin to feel the need
Of having something to read.
And once they start -- oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowly growing joy
That fills their hearts. They'll grow so keen
They'll wonder what they'd ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
Will love you more for what you did.

Roald Dahl (1916-1990)

Writing

The same is with writing. Show them the lists you are writing, the shopping list, the cards, the letters. Encourage them to sit next to you, practice their letters, send a card to someone, make a list.

If your scholar child is studying a classic which needs note-taking or outlining, you should take notes too - so that you can compare and talk about it together. Place the author into the historical context. Write a short bio of his life, before you begin to read the classic work. Encourage your child to do the same. Read his/her work. Discuss. At this age - you must require quality work, so you either say, "Good work" or "Do it again." That is how it works with musicians, athletes, anyone on a one-to-one individualized, mentored program.

Recitation

Art, Crafts, Music

Why not learn an instrument yourself or listen to wonderful music - point out what you love about it. Let them know you are thinking, reading about the musicians for your own interest and education.

Do you a place where your children can create and play? Have materials (paper, scissors, paint, playdough, clay, wire, hole punches, tape, glue, magazines for pictures, stickers, cardstock) accessible for your budding artists - have art books, prints, craft books, step by step drawing books all readily available and in sight.

Read about artists and musicians according to time period. Read biographies of them and practice some of their techniques yourself. Encourage your children to join in.

Create a Skills Class. (see my page on design your own TJEd) Write down the skills you would like to teach in a drawing class and ask your children if they would like to enrol in the class. Skills could be: drawing a straight line, drawing circles, drawing ellipses, using shapes, creating texture, using perspective and so on. Use an art curriculum to guide you. When your child has completed the specific skill you add the date. When all skills have been completed, you may decide to give badges or awards. We are thinking of creating badges with fabric paint on denim or coarse material and then sewing that onto a pillow or wall-hanging. The pillow or wall-hanging will be a collection of all the skills classes they have participated in and completed over time.

Other Skills Classes in Art could be photography, pottery, card-making, scrapbooking, etc

Practical Living

Explain the tools you need to do the jobs you are doing. Where are the tools kept? How can you make up a cleaning solution for window cleaning - show them how.

Create a variety of Skills classes. The Love of Learning Phase as described in "A Thomas Jefferson Education" (8-12) is a time to pass on a whole range of adult skills. You can make these into classes.

For example some classes we've created are: Cooking Class, Baking Class, Sewing Class, Advanced Sewing Class, Lawn Maintenance Class, Tool Shed Class (naming, using, cleaning, packing up tools) , Computer Hardware Class (my eldest son can teach this - connecting hardware, naming components, building a computer), Computer Software Class (Programs such as Word, Photoshop, Powerpoint etc) Pottery Class, Photography Class and so on.

Your children can enrol and you can pick a day/ afternoon when you will teach these classes. Of course, you can't run all the classes at once. At the moment, my children are enrolled in Cooking, Baking, Sewing, Lawn Maintenance - and when they complete a skill (i.e. cook a meal with me and then on their own,) I write the date and tick the box; When all the skills are completed in the class - they receive a badge and sew it on a pillowcase or a wall-hanging.

The skills class may have quite a number of skills to be achieved before it is completed. For example in cooking - you may choose 10 or so meals - which you want your children to know how to prepare, and cook. Therefore, a skill may take quite a few months /year to complete - depending on how frequently and intensely you teach the skills classes. This is ideal for the ages 8-12.

(The answers to my own questions)

Do parents still have oversight and direction?
Yes - we guide. We know the big picture, we set the atmosphere of learning, we buy materials, we write our family's goals, we write a classics list, we encourage, read to our children (following what we see is important), read the books they are reading in order to discuss, discuss and mentor our children, set a framework of goals which will be fleshed out in skills classes in the love of learning phase and study times in the scholar phase. (see my page on designing a TJEd)

Won't our children just choose to be lazy?
Firstly, we have to remember that our children are created in the image of God. Yes, we are all fallen creatures, but God has created us to be curious and interested in his world. We also need to remember, that in this process, we don't pull out and ignore their education or their character development. Rather, we sit down, discuss their goals with them, make a list of realistic goals to pursue and help them to formulate a plan for each day. We structure the Time (allocate how many hours a day they should study - ) not the Content (what they study). Then, we also make sure they complete what they have set out to do. They are accountable to us to complete what they have set out to do.

Will there be gaps and will our children ask to do ... Spelling/Math etc?
As we sit, model, inspire, encourage, we can also explain the importance of certain subjects in accordance with their short term or long term goals. My son, who wants to be a pilot, said, "What do I really need to learn to be a pilot?" I said, "Well, Maths and Science are very important." That was encouragement enough for him to add Math and Science to his goals. All of education is useful, and we need to help our children to see good reasons to study and learn.

I'm not here to give you reasons as to why you need to change your approach, but rather writing the thoughts and answers I came up with to my own questions. As always, set your goals for your family, find the approach which works for you and follow God's guidance.

"Show me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day." Psalm 25:4-5 KJV

Organizational Tips

• Build a great home library and visit your library often with a list of books you'd like to read.
• Teach your children where books are kept - so they feel free to resource their interest.
• Organize your books into sections for accessibility: The Art Books, Science Books....
• Learning Areas:
  • Art Corner
  • Music Area - have instruments (percussion/drums/recorders etc) available and ready to play. Purchase a music stand.
  • Do your children know what kitchen utensils they can use? Do they know how to use scales, measuring cups etc? What can they use for science experiments?
  • Do you have a microscope? - have it visible and use it yourself.
  • Have a place where children can listen to books on tape or CD? Teach them how to get themselves organized - where the tapes and CDs live - how to pack them away again.
  • Games - have them visible or in a particular games cupboard or box.

Coming soon...