There are days I feel horrible guilt. Am I spending enough hours in the day teaching my children? Our cyberschool requires us to have 'school' 5 hours a day, 180 days a year. I figure we probably come close to that 5 hour number about once a week. When we transition to homeschooling next year, PA requires us to log EITHER 180 days or 900 hours (for elementary). I will no longer feel I am not meeting the goal! There is no definition of "day" in those guidelines. I know my kids are learning even when they are not being instructed by me. In fact, I often feel like they are learning more when I get out of the way.
Today JT was very resistant to my need to teach him. He happily worked his way through his math and then stalled completely on the school work. I gave him several different options. Nothing. Then he started telling me how he was working on designing a new musical instrument. Every time I was out of the room, he was rummaging through cupboards finding supplies. I kept directing him back to the work at hand.
We had to leave the house at 2pm for violin lessons. He still hadn't completed three assignments I had given him. When we came home, he rushed through the work and was finally allowed to begin his construction. By bedtime he had a new instrument created from paper towel rolls, rubber bands and popsicle sticks. He had also come up with a method of writing music for the instrument, composed a new song and written it down. He played his new piece for us before he crawled into bed. Overall, he spent about 2 hours in what I could consider 'school' hours. He spent about 5 working to design something he had created in his mind. Is that a full school day?
He had a sense of accomplishment that wouldn't have come from working hard on the assignments I gave him early in the day. After today, I am so tempted to toss everything we routinely do out the window.
How do I find the balance between old-school education and true learning?!
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Oh, my dear, I am so with you on this. We have a one-size-fits-all boxed curriculum and a family that doesn't fit that size. I find myself spending a day or two to thumb through pages to see if there is anything the boys don't know on the science units and weeks pushing them to complete the literature tie in. And all the while, I have this sinking sensation that the real learning is starting when we close the books and let projects come to us. I suspect I see my own cobbled curriculum in my future.
As for your hours dilemma, I'll be glad when you don't feel that stress. I'd feel the same way, but it sure seems to me that your son learned something yesterday. And isn't that what counts?
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