Our latest venture (and technological discovery) is BrainPOP (www.brainpop.com).

Yes, I realize that many of you have known about this site for years. I had originally passed on it because it uses what I have regarded as a passive method of delivering information: it is basically a series of animated audio-visual lectures with accompanying quizzes. It covers more subject areas than Time4Learning but lacks the interactive features that I appreciate in that program. Still, the information is presented in palatable chunks and my son loves Tim and his robot-friend, Moby.

We decided to try a trial subscription on the hopes that it would spice up our daily routine. After watching a handful of videos, my son begged for a subscription.

No harm, I decided. What it lacks in interactivity, it makes up for as a good general introduction to a wide range of topics, sort of like an audio-visual encyclopedia. This, I realized, is important for my son, who is an excellent reader but refuses to read on his own. (We're still trying to figure out what is up with that, by the way.)

We continue to use Time4Learning but are happy to have a second option for online learning. I find that my son creates his own interactivity with BrainPOP by pausing the video and explaining things to me or asking questions. At the very least, he is actively engaged with the material.

Now, if I could just get comfortable with this open-ended "unschooling" business...

My nine-year old cannot tie his own shoes. And I just discovered that he is not alone.

During a conversation last night with the parents of another special needs homeschooler, the topic came up about what we do and don't worry about teaching our kids. Shoe tying was not a high priority for either of us, given the struggles our kids have with concentration, focus, motor skills and the like.  Neither are we rushing out to make sure our kids can write cursive now that they've mastered printing.

On the other hand, we've shared a commitment to making sure our kids learn to read, write (in the sense of creating text), and understand math operations so that they can develop the basic skills that make all learning come alive and grow.

The common theme underlying our decisions regarding what does or doesn't need to be learned? Our use of adaptive technology.

Adaptive technology doesn't have to mean anything complicated or expensive. Want to put produce text? Try keyboarding. Want to perform math operations quickly and correctly? Try a calculator.

Want to fasten your shoes? Try velcro.

The key has been to think strategically about what our learners need to accomplish and find the tools that will allow it to happen. This is no different than the use of adaptive supports for workers in the workplace. It levels the playing field so that what is inside of these kids can find expression.

Parents of special needs kids often struggle with how to unleash their children's gifts so that the world can benefit. For the parents I spoke with last night, it is a question of how to share their child's gift for crafting stories. For my child, it is how to share his talent for using technology.

Think of Anne Sullivan's work with Helen Keller. How much do we lose when we focus on what cannot be done as opposed to what can be accomplished with a little help from the outside?

Technology helps all of us reach beyond our limitations. Our challenge is to find ways to use it creatively in reaching our goals.

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.

I'm not sure what my family is going to do now that the Summer Olympics have ended.

It feels as if there's a bit of a hole in our lives now, one that I didn't realize was there before we turned on the TV set one evening and watched in amazement as Michael Phelps swam his way to yet another gold medal. (Did you catch the race where he won in what appeared to be the space of a fingernail? Absolutely riveting.)

We're going to miss the excitement of watching athletes compete who have devoted their lives to becoming the best they can be, to developing the potential within themselves. To be sure, the Olympics are about striving to see who is the "best." But hard work and preparation can only take you so far. 

Just ask the talented swimmer who came in second after Phelps in that fateful race.

There will always be someone stronger, brighter, or more gifted.  There will always be an "off" day. What matters in the end isn't whether we win or lose but whether we've made the most of what we've got--that we've learned how to recognize the opportunities in front of us and put them to good use.  That, to me, is the mark of a champion.

A "gold medal" education for my son will contain the very same elements that drive Olympic athletes--perseverance, high standards, and a love of the game.  It is my belief that a love of the game (in this case, a love of learning) will ultimately drive the other two.  My hope is that by teaching him to see the incredible array of learning opportunities in front of him, he will become a person who focuses on the possibilities, rather than the daunting odds. This is what makes an Olympic athlete great.  And, I believe, this is what will make for an Olympic-style education for my son.

Thank you, Dr. Van Eck, for recommending this video!

    

On a whim, I've decided to dabble in "unschooling" for a while to see what would happen. I realized that trying to hold to what most folks consider the proper way to do education has been a huge contributor to the stress in our home, which in turn contributes to my son's anxiety. 

Two days into the experiment and I'm beginning to wonder what planet I'm on.  I have a kid who actually complains because there isn't enough time to learn everything he wants to learn, is pleasant to be around (for us, this is a major deal), and jumps right into his work without any outside prompts. My own stress level has plummeted.

Not sure if I'm dreaming or if this is for real. School usually means a lot of hassle and trying to find new ways to get lessons across. Granted, we're in the very early stages but I'll take what I can get, when I can get it.

Keep your fingers crossed. I'll report more as we go along.

My son went to a family party last weekend. One of the kids walked up to him and asked if he wanted to play football. My son looked at the kid and said, "What's that?"

Yes, we 're a little illiterate in my family when it comes to team sports--at least my son is anyway. My husband and I used to play baseball, football, basketball, and the like when we were kids and we still maintain fitness routines. But, we're not the kind of family to take in a ballgame on the weekend. The result? Our son is totally clueless when it comes to this segment of society.

My son is not a couch potato--he enjoys swimming and biking and the kid can absolutely wear me out on a hike through the woods. But when it comes to team sports, he gets completely overwhelmed by the social demands. Still, we'd like him to have at least an intellectual understanding of what all the fuss is about.

So, long story short, I bought a Wii system yesterday--my sister-in-law insists I got a good deal--and we're going to try this out.  If you're not familiar with the Wii, it's Nintendo's latest gaming technology--amazingly interactive and designed to allow players to participate in popular team sports such as tennis, golf, baseball, and bowling.

My goal is to integrate it into our homeschool phy ed program this school year.  My 12-year old nephew and his buddy gave me a crash course in how to use it (I decided to go to the experts to get help figuring this thing out.) Now, I just have to find a way to introduce it to my son so that it piques his interest. 

Now, I wonder if Guitar Hero would meet the requirements for his music curriculum...

I spent the better part of yesterday smearing joint compound all over the walls in my family room--sort of giving it a "plastered" look, if you know what I mean.  I'd been struggling to find a way to get rid of peeling wallpaper that had been directly applied to the drywall by the past owners of our townhouse. This seemed a more convenient alternative to ripping out the sheet rock and starting over. But, I digress.

Not being one to let an opportunity to multi-task slip by, I decided to listen to some podcasts while I worked. To my delight, I came across an entire category related to educational technology on iTunes. Interestingly, several were from folks in Canada--Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Ontario specifically.

In among these, I stumbled across a fellow by the name of Rodd Lucier who podcasts and blogs out of Komoka, Ontario, under the moniker "The Clever Sheep." An experienced educator, Rodd shares thoughts and tips for integrating technology in education.  I sampled quite a few of his podcasts--each is relatively brief, perhaps five minutes or so--and found myself feeling as if I were talking with a friend. Rodd has an engaging style and his expertise in both education and technology is a real goldmine.

But, hey! Why don't you listen for yourself?  You can access "Teacher 2.0" at thecleversheep.blogspot.com.

A few days ago I talked about getting ready for the start of the new school year, albeit a bit early by most folk's standards. Well, it appears to be paying off in little ways that I hope will add up to something bigger.

For starters, I popped into our local bookstore while on a trip to the mall with my son. He watched me buy two new curriculum worksheet books, one for Grade Three (which he is currently in) and one for Grade Four. We also picked up a pack of multiplication flash cards and a set for division. To my surprise, my son pulled out the books and cards on the way home. He began talking about feeling excited about the coming "year." Out of the blue, he came up with a reward system for completing lessons, which led to a helpful discussion about goals and rewards for his schooling.

I've set up our work space (two adjoining desks in the living room) where we now keep our laptops up and running. I also brought home a couple of books and videos from the library, much like the kind we get during the school year. For now, I'm just leaving them lying on the coffee table, hoping they will help my son get back in a school frame-of-mind without putting on any pressure.

Other things are happening as well.  I'm beginning each day with our school schedule in mind, rather than my own projects. Seems like a minor thing but when we homeschool, I sometimes find it difficult to keep house and school activities separate.  I often find myself thinking, "Gee, why don't I just wash up those dishes while my son's watching that video" or "Wonder if I have any new emails?"  Next thing I know, we've deviated from our school routine altogether and it can be nearly impossible to get my son back on track.  I've learned the hard way that my son takes his cues from me as far as our priorities are concerned.

Come to think of it, the truth of this "getting back to school" business may have more to do with me making the transition rather than my son...

This past week marked the official start of "Back to School" at our house. 

Back to school starts early for us because our son has some neurological issues that make learning challenging for him.  For now, "back to school" simply means an occasional, gentle reminder that we'll be starting school again in a few weeks.  He's a bit nervous, yes.  Applying himself to academic tasks doesn't come easily.  But, he's also glad--relieved, may be a better word--that we've decided to homeschool again this year.

Last year marked our first year as a homeschool family with a special needs student. The decision to homeschool didn't come easily.  In fact, we maintain our son's IEP with the local school district. But after two years of watching him struggle in traditional classrooms (despite having the IEP and a well-meaning support team), my husband and I came to the conclusion that it would be much less stressful and potentially more productive to keep our son at home.

The change has been remarkable. His stomachaches went away. He's been the healthiest he's been since before his preschool days. There is room in his day for the tics, obsessions, and compulsions that annoy him and the flexibility to make sure he gets the food, exercise, and rest he needs to keep them at bay. His curriculum comes in a package that plays to his strengths--computer and auditory based--while we use his intense interests to practice skills that are more difficult (e.g., composition). We are able to minimize sensory distractions and take frequent breaks.

Even with these supports, school can be difficult for our son. He's a bright kid but his brain won't allow him to focus like a neurologically-typical kid. A large part of our work this past year has centered on teaching him how to recognize when he needs a break, how to take the break, and then how to get right back to work--instead of acting out. We've also been working on how to recognize when his vocal tics and behavioral compulsions are getting out of control and how to take a break from social situations when this happens. Then we go right back in and try again.

Similarly (and this is for those readers who fear we're limiting our son socially by keeping him out of a mainstream classroom), we work constantly on social skills.  Every moment of every day is a lesson in social skills for our son. He is with an adult at all times who works constantly to build up his social skill repetoire one small step at a time, across a range of social situations. An interesting discovery this past year has been that he actually has a fairly respectable set of basic social skills. They are masked by his tics and obsessions which, unfortunately, are aggravated by the stress of social situations.

For now, back to school means we are getting ready for the coming change. I've decided this year to try reintroducing school gradually, starting with an hour or so a day a couple of weeks before Labor Day. We can build from there.

Someone once used the phrase KISS--Keep It Simple Sweetheart. That's exactly what I intend to do.

I just got back from spending a couple of days swatting itsy-bitsy ghost gnats at a county campground. No computer for over 24 hours. Thought my computer-addict son would go nuts. Instead, he spent his time filling up sandwich baggies with water to see what would happen when he threw them up in the air and let them come crashing down to earth. (No, they didn't always explode on impact. Go figure.)

The time away led to an epiphany on my part as well.  I recently spent some time searching through the research literature to see what had been done in the way of homeschoolers and instructional design. Well, there doesn't seem to be much out there (on any topic related to homeschooling, actually) and I started to ask myself why. 

I suppose one reason is that there probably isn't much funding for a topic like this--after all, it runs counter to the conventional wisdom that all kids are better off in traditional classrooms with licensed teachers.  Another reason may be that homeschooling has tended to be seen as the province of ideologues who choose to homeschool out of religious conviction or a profound distrust of public institutions (see Lange, C. & Liu, K., 1999. Homeschooling: Parents' reasons for transfer and the implications for educational policy (Research Report No. 29), National Center on Educational Outcomes, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN).

I thought a little bit more and realized that times are changing fast--more and more parents are choosing to pull their kids out of established venues for education and instead school from home, either one-family-at-a-time or in co-ops of like-minded parents. How could this be happening?

In a word:  technology. (See Isenberg, E. J., 2007. What have we learned about homeschooling? Peabody Journal of Education, 82(2-3), 387–409).

We can now access the kinds of information and resources via the internet that only a few short years ago required intensive time and training to obtain. One example is Time4Learning.com, an internet-based curriculum that presents mathematics, language arts, science, and social studies in short, targeted lessons, complete with frequent assessments and a comprehensive tracking system for Kindergarten through 8th grade.

The epiphany came when I realized (cue slap to forehead) that what I thought was a focus on homeschooling as a legitimate and powerful option for special needs kids may, in fact, be a broader issue of individualized instruction for all. Technology (the internet, in particular) is the key.

Think about it. Our whole world is about individualized choice these days.  I can walk into my neighborhood Caribou Coffee and ask for a small half-decaf/half-whatever’s freshest with “this much room” for 2%. What if they looked at me and said, “We’re sorry, no-can-do.  We only serve a large regular coffee straight-up. Looks like you have special needs. Let’s run some tests to see how we can help you learn to drink your coffee black and in large quantities.  And, if you can’t handle the caffeine, maybe you should try meds.”

Instead, when I place my rather complicated order at Caribou, I’m greeted with a smile, offered friendly banter, and given a cuppa Joe exactly how I want it. Everyone wins--they get my money (repeatedly, actually) and I get coffee the way it tastes good to me.

What if education came the same way? Think of the possibilities! We could spend more time focusing on helping learners learn. We could (gasp!) broaden our notion of education from an 8:15AM-to-3:15PM-daily-during-the-school-year enterprise to an every day-every way kind of adventure.

Yeah, I know--I’m dreaming. But, I’m not the only one (see Levine, M. The classroom revisited. Psychology Today, June/August, 2002).  I just wonder how the world could be different (for typical kids and especially for special needs kids) if we explored ways of customizing education to the individual student, rather than trying to customize the student to our current standard of education. We’ve got the tools. We can learn to use them.