The Word Worker

Tag: Homeschool

  • A Round Peg in a Square Hole: What is Learning?

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    by

    wordworkerrussell
    in ,

    Before any of my children were born, I had ideas about what education was supposed to look like. I had been homeschooled and knew I wanted to homeschool my own children, but I thought in terms of curricula, subjects, schedules, and grades. We were going to be academically rigorous and graduate at the top of…

  • No Limits

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    wordworkerrussell
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    When people ask me what grades my children are in, I have to stop and think where they would probably be assigned in the public school system based on their age, because we don’t level our homeschool in that way. Homeschooling multiple children of varying ages more strongly resembles the one room schoolhouses of 150…

  • Unschool

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    wordworkerrussell
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    We’re the unschool crowd. Nope, not the uncool crowd; those extra letters are intentional. We don’t have to waste our time in car line or on the bus. We don’t have to follow dress code or wear uniforms. We don’t have to be confined to desks for hours or locked in one room. We don’t…

  • It’s Not a School Day

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    wordworkerrussell
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    We have officially started our homeschool summer. No more assignments. No more schedules. No more educational obligations. It’s wonderful and relaxing, and we are having so much fun! When chores are finished the kids drag out my old violin lesson music and open the organ to pick out the little simple songs on the keyboard.…

  • Stories With Kids

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    wordworkerrussell
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    (I’d like to thank my kids for their contributions to this week’s prompted flash fiction. Sometimes the real life conversations are far funnier than any story I can come up with.” “Hey, kids, y’all wanna give me story ideas? They have to connect to this lighthouse picture.” “Me, me, me! Let me see the picture!…

  • Learning Outside the Box

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    by

    wordworkerrussell
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    I’ve always found it hard to explain to questioners what we do as homeschoolers. Not because I don’t know what we do, but because most questioners have preconceived ideas of what constitutes education. They want to know what grade a child is in, what their letter or number grades are, what subjects they are taking,…

  • The School Closet

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    by

    wordworkerrussell
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    Homeschooling is such a fluid undertaking. Unlike in a traditional classroom, where teachers repeat roughly the same lesson plans and teach the same skills year after year, homeschooling goalposts shift constantly as children develop and learn. Although some families maintain special “schoolrooms,” most of us don’t have the space in our homes for such a…