KidSchool

After our morning exercise (A very wise home schooling Mom of 5 boys once advised me to do 3 miles of exercise with the kids before school every day. It's the only way to get boys to sit for any length of time! It totally works!), we head home to drink our green smoothies, have a light breakfast, hold our family devotional (scripture study, prayer, family business), complete any other family work (cleaning, food prep, laundry, etc.), and then it is time for KIDSCHOOL!

Kidschool is something I have been fighting since the beginning our journey with Leadership Education. It was one of those "things" that I just didn't think I could add to our schedule, and frankly, I didn't see much value in it. What is kidschool, you ask? In "Leadership Education, The Phases of Learning" Oliver and his wife, Rachel, describe kidschool as a time for Core and Love of Learners (approximately ages 0 to 11) to gather with Mom (or Dad) and learn about whatever Mom or Dad chooses. It is a time for Mom (or Dad) to share what Rachel coins "Is Mine." It can vary from day to day, it can be short or take all morning, it can consist of books, games, or field trips- BUT it is always centered around a topic that the parent is passionate/excited about.

At first, I thought, "Why would they want to learn about what I am interested in? Could that even be fun or age appropriate?" I really didn't get it. And like most things that are valuable and enriching, once I just took a leap of faith and tried it out, I was completely blown away at the level of learning and interest that occurred.

Right now we have a pretty scheduled morning until family devotional, then we have reading time and I still have one-on-one time with each child to help them master skills or "play" games/activities that THEY choose before lunch time. It seems like a lot, but nothing really takes a large block of time, and each activity seems to flow pretty nicely into the next. But when I mentioned adding kidschool to the morning schedule, I received a bunch of grumbles. Savanna immediately asked if she had to participate, Ben sighed, and Bradley informed me that kidschool sounded dumb and he wasn't interested either. I held back my initial instinct of telling them, "Too bad, sit your butts down," and calmly changed the game plan in my head. I let them know that they could choose to do something else, but that our 1st kidschool was going to be focused on one of my main passions- Cooking- and that I was going to try out a recipe for peanut butter cookies. But, only participants in kidschool would be sharing them with me. Bradley and Benjamin perked right up. Yes, it sounds like bribery...okay, maybe it is bribery- but it worked! Ever since that day, we have played games, read parts of books, recited poetry, practiced our memorization- and when I announce it is time for kidschool, the boys literally cheer (Savanna is still in Love of Learning, but because of her age I let her decide based on our activities each day if she wants to participate or not). Bradley quickly recanted his original sentiment and told me, "I didn't know kidschool was going to be this fun!"

It is not hard at all for me to come up with ideas for kidschool. Right now I don't even plan it ahead of time. I simply think of things that I want to learn about, or am learning about it, and find a fun way to practice/play with the boys using that as a theme. For instance, I never learned Geography in school. I'm not sure how this is possible, and it is a little embarrassing to admit this, but I don't know where hardly anything in the world is located. So I've decided to learn it, and I'm taking the boys along on my journey. We are beginning with The United States. I pulled out a U.S. puzzle we had in the learning closet and some flash cards from the dollar aisle at Target, and we began playing a couple of different games where we had to identify where a state was, we memorized capitals, we learned about famous landmarks...it just seemed to progress on it's own. We even borrowed some additional books on some of these landmarks from the library the next day.

And here our my boys using two of the States as weapons...I think Tennessee is Ben's knife and Oklahoma is Brad's gun! Boys will always find a way to make any game violent! That wasn't part of kidschool, by the way!

Emma joined us for music one day (see the video below).

Ben built a cool temple that Emma enjoyed tearing down while I read.

And, we've been enjoying our library's summer activities. Here a drummer taught the boys about the history of drums and let them try them out!

Overall, it has been a success. It has also left me feeling more satisfied. I'm not always catering to the children and their interests. It is a way I can fit my passions and studies into our learning time, and we can all benefit. Plus what a great way to incorporate the "You, Not Them" principle. I am showing them that even as an adult learning is necessary and fun. There is never enough hours in the day for everything I'd like to learn!

July 14 - 25, 2011