Somewhere during the past few weeks our unschooling experiment began to unravel. Sure, we've done our share of projects and field trips outside while the weather is still nice. My son even built an entire city out of Legos, complete with skyways and tunnels.  But what I noticed after a while was that he started spending more and more time with his YouTube videos during school time.  And then--the nightmare of all homeschool parents everywhere--he began daily marathons of Super Monkey Ball!

(Super Monkey Ball, by the way, is a fun little game for the iPod. It just isn't "school.")

I didn't intervene right away. I'd promised to watch how he learns, right? After about a week of listening to him grunt, groan, and scream in frustration (the little monkey ball is really hard to keep on the track without falling off), I decided that enough was enough. I was going to put an end to the games and get back to work.

That's when he came running up to me, all excited, and announced that he'd managed to finish all of the levels. What he said next was absolutely unexpected and completely priceless:  "Gee, Mom. It's amazing how you can get better at something if you just keep working at it a little at a time."

Not such a bad lesson after all.

Just a quick note to say we've been trying out a new "twitter-like" online program called "Edmodo" (edmodo.com) in our homeschool. It allows teachers and students to send short messages back and forth within a self-contained universe. Teachers set up a free account and students can access it via passcode. It allows for events and assignments to be posted as well.

My son loves it. Not exactly sure why since we've been using it more like a private email system. We're able to attach our pictures to our accounts, which makes it more fun than traditional email. We'll keep experimenting because it just has that feel of "potential."

My plan is to try developing a short lesson that teaches writing skills using Edmodo.  Not sure just what that will entail but thought it would make a great project for a class I'm taking right now in instructional design. As always, will keep you posted.

I have to admit that being "standards-free" makes me nervous, even if it is only for a relatively short time.  How do I know that my son will learn what he needs to learn to keep up with the rest of the world? How will I know if he learns broadly enough across subjects and deeply enough within critical subjects to prevent significant "holes" in his knowledge base?

For now, he appears to be keeping pace with the state standards for his grade-level, at least in language arts, math, and science. Social studies--especially as far as history is concerned--is a different matter.  Much of the content (i.e., dates, historical figures, significant events) doesn't come up as a topic of conversation everyday and it is not immediately apparent to a nine-year old why this information would be useful.

Come to think of it, maybe we teach history backwards in traditional school.  Instead of starting with facts and details about people and events long gone, we might do better to start with where we are now in time, with current people and events that are real and relevant.  From that base of direct experience, we could then add examples of how people and events transpired in the past, perhaps compare and contrast what happened then with what is happening now.

Oh well, this isn't my area of expertise.  Just musing.

Any history teachers out there? I'd love to learn about the rationale for history curriculum as it is presently taught.  In the meantime, think I'll go give my kid a pop quiz and ask him who the major party presidential candidates are.

As you may recall, I decided (almost capriciously) to try "unschooling" with my son this year.  Unschooling, if you are not familiar with the term, has also been referred to as "child-centered" education.  In its simplest form, this means letting students drive the content of instruction, rather than the teacher.  No standards, no predetermined curriculum, and no assessments.

(For those of you who have been following this journey so far, I'm happy to report that my son loves this approach and has even been known to "do school" on the weekend.)

Now, you may be thinking, "Why in the world would you take such a risk with your child's future!"  Let me explain.

Last year, we homeschooled using the Time4Learning curriculum (Time4Learning.com). It's an impressive online program that can be used to supplement a traditional classroom education or can serve as the basis for a homeschool effort. We made good progress and my son still remembers a great deal of what he learned, as evidenced by occasional "pop quizzes" in the field.

The Time4Learning curriculum contains a series of lessons grouped together under units of instruction and, more broadly, under four general subject matter areas--Language Arts, Mathematics, Social Studies, and Science.  These lessons are constructed with an eye towards grade-level national standards.  This is pretty much the way lessons are planned and taught in traditional classrooms (albeit according to state standards). The main difference with Time4Learning is that students can access the course content anytime, anywhere, and at their own pace.  Actually sounds ideal for a kid with special needs. So, what's the problem?

It became apparent over the past year that my son's unique learning needs made the traditional curriculum challenging--no, make that nearly impossible. We spent more time trying to fit the curriculum to his learning style than we did covering the content of the lessons.  I found myself working constantly to embed his individual lessons into a broader context so that he would find the content relevant and would thus pay attention. And, much of the text presented for the third grade-level student read like a page out of a textbook:  lots of words, few pictures, and small print. Not the best presentation for a student with multiple neurologically-based issues.

The decision to try "unschooling" came from an observation that my son, left to his own devices, is actually a highly efficient learner who has managed to amass an unusual amount of skills and knowledge for someone his age. You don't need to take my word for it--ask anyone from the school district who has given him a norm-referenced achievement test. 

For now, I'm sitting back and watching him learn, looking for clues that will help me transform his education from one of learned helplessness and frustration to one of self-mastery and enjoyment.  He's far enough ahead right now to give us a little "wiggle room" as we explore what he needs to become (remain?) a self-determined learner, one who can recognize what he needs to learn and knows how to go after it, whether its about how to grow a spruce tree in a container on the deck or how to convert fractions into decimals.

I'll worry about the standards and curriculum later.  For now, my son has a lot to teach me about what it means to learn.