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Unschooling All Summer
Dateline: 06/11/98
By Ann Zeise
"What! You make your kid learn in the summer, too?"
Well, yes and no. I don't "make" him, he just doesn't
stop because the calendar changes to June.
In fact our decision to switch from using curriculum to unschooling
started one summer. We were camping in the back yard, watching
a meteorite shower. To describe where we were seeing the meteorites
we all had to learn or relearn the names of the major constellations.
Of course, the strange names led to reading about the Greek myths
and Indian
legends behind the names. This led to the study of Greek
history and Scott read the D'Aulaire's
Greek Myths about the Odyssey. Greeks led to Roman city
planning and construction, and how they invented the conveniences
of modern life, such as running water and roads that drained.
We also bought a big history book call "Ancient
Inventions" at this time, and it is still often referred
to. Somehow the computer game, SimCity, entered the picture,
and hours were spent creating new cities. So, one day when out
and about, Scott asked where our town's commercial, industrial
and residential areas were. So I drove us to City
Hall to look at the city plan. The clerk couldn't answer
our questions, so dove into the back and brought out the city
planner. I introduced my son to him by saying he'd been playing
SimCity, and the planner questioned, "Have you solved the
transportation
problems yet?" I didn't get a word in edgewise after
that! We watched a "tilt-up"
shopping center going up, and talked about the
physics of the machinery necessary to lift the walls and
then hold them in place. Later on, we visited the architect's
office. They were thrilled to have a young visitor, as a
builder isn't often the subject of school field trips.
All this learning going on and it wasn't even September yet!
  Each summer our plans include
a trip to our cabin in Maine on the Kennebec, right across from
Swan Island, where Benedict
Arnold rested his troups on his way to (or was it from?)
Lake Champlain.
We'll explore the natural and historical features of the area.
We've befriended the family of a boat [baht] builder in Booth
Bay. Chet
Rittall will show Scott how to carve wood and might loan
us his wooden sailboat to take out for a spell. Later we'll get
a taste of Maine lobster [lobstah] steamed on seaweed in the
traditional manner. "Supah" will be followed by Gramps
telling the tallest of Maine Tall Tales. His daughter and her
sons homeschool, and will be groaning when they hear these stories
being told again.
Reading never stops around our house.
It is something fun we just do at quiet times mornings or nights.
We are fortunate to have a backyard swimming pool we call
our "chemistry experiment." Scott has learned to do
the water analysis and add the proper chemicals to "balance"
the pH of the water so that algae will not grow. The reward is
having friends over a lot for lazy afternoons swimming. The boys
"pay me" by helping out with the garden surrounding
the pool. Tired of the water? Clip away at the hedge for awhile!
Always something needs upkeep outside in the summer, or other
garden fun.
 Summer
also includes Boy Scout camp, where Scott will select and earn
a few more badges, but also have just a lot of boyish fun, singing
and putting on skits
around the campfire, and eating his own campfire-cooked meals.
Math takes the form of games
and tricks or more serious life skills such as shopping or building
projects. Scott was still about nine when he was able to do travel
calculations. "If the sign says 60 miles to our destination
and I can go 40 miles per hour on the average here, how long
will it take us?" I thought this would be hard for a kid
who hadn't yet mastered fractions. Took a lot of thinking, but
he did figure that we wouldn't get there in an hour, since we'd
only get 40 miles, and we still had half of 40 miles (20 miles)
to go; therefore it would take an hour and a half.
One unusual thing my guys do is help out at the "Hot Chips"
conference at Stanford. Scott and husband Fred help with registration,
with Scott running "go-fer" for the adults. They, in
turn, get to listen to all these scientists and engineers tell
about the newest computer chips. Scott gets a taste of the working
world of Silicon Valley this way and gets to meet some of the
Valley's more interesting scientists.
Scott has also announced that he is going to learn
to fish this summer. Success will be measured more in lack
of equipment lost and time spent with friends, than in actual
fish caught in city lakes.
Toward the end of summer, the whole family will attend the
Home=Education conference
in Sacramento. There will be a teen session running parallel
to the adult session, which Scott, finally a teen, qualifies
for! He'll get to do a variety of fun things with the other homeschooling
teens and find out how they do indeed unschool high school. If
I'm likely to find you there, email
me! I'd love to meet you.
More Summer Learning Links
Dear
Uncle CHiN,
I feel like we didn't get enough done during the "school
year." Should we homeschool through the summer?
Angst
Other
ways to ruin your child's summer
If your children could tell you what they really want to do for
vacation, you might find out that your meticulous plans to keep
them occupied this summer is all for naught. Mothers Who Think.
Stress-Free
Summer Plans
Or How to Homeschool Year Round without Noticing! ShhhI'll let
you in on a secret we've always homeschooled year round
but don't tell my children! By Tamara Eaton.
Unschooling
at the Beach
Lately people have been asking if we are going to take a break
from 'school' for the summer. Well, we took a break from the
house for a day, but as you will see, we didn't take a break
from learning!
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- D'Aulaire's
Greek Myths
- by Ingri D'Aulaire, Edgar Parin D'Aulaire
- No education is complete without a large slice of Greek mythology.
And there's no better way of meeting that literary quota than
with the D'Aulaires' book. All the great gods and goddesses of
ancient Greece are depicted in this big, beautiful classic, lovingly
illustrated and skillfully told.
-
- City : A Story of Roman Planning and Construction
by David MacAulay
- City brings the reader face to face with the problems,
challenges and triumphs of Roman engineering and construction.
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- Ancient Inventions
by Peter James
- British archaeologists James and Thorpe lay to rest the notion
that we who live in this modern era have a monopoly on the inventions
of clever machines, labor-saving devices, and brilliant engineering.
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- SimCity
- by Electronic Arts
- You create and manage the best virtual city you can, using
the colorful but simple interface.
 SimCity
3000
- SimCity 3000 Unlimited
The Unschooling Handbook : How to Use the Whole World
As Your Child's Classroom
by Mary Griffith
Unschooling, a homeschooling method based on the belief that
kids learn best when allowed to pursue their natural curiosities
and interests, is practiced by 10 to 15 percent of the estimated
1.5 million homeschoolers in the United States.
Learning
All the Time
by John Caldwell Holt
Holt is widely considered the father of the modern-day homeschooling
movement because he grew to believe that schools stifle the learning
process.
More homeschooling
books here
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