I am a stained glass artist, in addition to being a homeschooling mom. It's been my hobby for over a decade, and I started my own business last January. If you'd like to know more about my art, check out my blog, A Glimpse of Grace. The reason I mention it today is that my family just returned from a two-week vacation, and we interacted with lots of art because of my own interest in it.

Joy, like most children, mimics those around her. When I set up my glass studio, I added a section for her and set up a painting studio. She and her friends LOVE the studio. They paint, mix paints, and generally make a mess... but it is art. No doubt about it. Joy takes her art very seriously sometimes, and I often use her artwork (with her permission, of course) to wrap my glass pieces in when I sell them. I "sell" her artwork with mine, and Joy is ecstatic!

Back to our grand homeschool field trip/vacation... We purposefully visited many sites with architectural art, painting, sculpture, stained glass, and other visual art. We know Joy loves art and being an artist, and we knew that she would love this part of our trip. It was easy to do this; it didn't even take much planning. Everywhere we went, we looked for art!

You could easily incorporate such a purposeful topic into any vacation, or even a trip downtown. It doesn't have to be art; that's just one of Joy's interests. (In later posts, I'll share how we included some kindergarten learning that wasn't based on Joy's interests.)

We especially looked for art that Joy could TOUCH and MANIPULATE, art that provoked thought, that wasn't a literal representation of an object. For example, the sculpture on the right is representative of people playing music, but there are no musical instruments visible. The people are "ripped open," as Joy called it. Why?  The artist's answer isn't the important one; Joy's answer is. This is critical thinking! We didn't tell her the people were musicians, but she knew. When I asked her how she knew, she said, "This one is playing drums, and they all look like they're dancing." True.

We lucked into finding a sculpture trail that you should visit if you're ever near Feshiebridge, Scotland. You can read more about it here. Joy adored touching the stone and wood sculptures; this was no art museum! We had in depth conversation regarding the meanings of the art. Since there are signs telling bits about the author's purpose and meaning, we read those and discussed whether he accomplished his purpose in his art. Deep stuff for a five-year-old, but she loved it! She had no idea that I was helping her develop her critical thinking skills. I also took photographs of each sculpture, and we will investigate them and the artist in more depth via the internet.

Joy herself found the painting to the right. It was actually an advertisement for a bank. We discussed how the artist used line drawings with realistic, almost photographic, people. She's already planning to make a drawing or painting like this.

The bottom line of all this is:
1) Start with your child's interest(s);
2) Learn enough about it to extend your child's knowledge and experiences;
3) Provide opportunities for your child to experience activities related to the topic; and
4) Be ready to use the experiences in multiple ways to extend your child's learning in many areas.

Here's an example of how I intend to utilize one set of experiences to extend Joy's learning in reading, writing, computer skills, comparing and contrasting, counting, adding and subtracting, and many more skills. In Scotland, we stayed in Newtonmore. They have painted and placed more than 130 Scottish Wildcats around their town: In windows, on roofs, in gardens, along footpaths, etc. The "game" is to find as many as you can. Joy had a great time searching for wildcats! I took her picture with each one she found, so we could...

A) Write a story about finding them using Publisher;
B) Count the total number;
C) Compare whether more were inside or outside;
D) Figure out how many we didn't find;
E) Make our own clay wildcats, paint them, and hide them around our yard and house for people to find.

And that's just the beginning. I will follow Joy's lead in creating even more activities based on the wildcats. We can learn about the real Scottish Wildcats online. We can evaluate which sites are helpful and which are not; which are reliable and which are not. We can use the map from Newtonmore to plan an adventure. And on and on...

And Joy doesn't even know we're "addressing the standards and benchmarks of the Common Core Standards for Kindergarten." And I'm glad! (And I won't test her, either!)

Observational Skills

One of the most important science skills is the skill of observation. We've been training Joy to observe things in the natural world since the day she entered our lives! It's not hard at all; children are naturally curious. So we just point out things to her:
*Look! There's an eagle! Look how it soars without flapping its wings.
*Whoa! That's a really cool gall on that leaf. Let's look at it with a magnifying glass!
*What weather do you think those clouds will bring?

After several years of this kind of conversation, Joy now begins these conversations all the time. Just the other day, she asked me what kind of bird a turkey vulture was. She asked if it is related to the eagle because it soars like one. That's observation!

Today we traveled out to our backyard where we have an ENORMOUS anthill. We didn't even know it was an anthill until International Mud Day, when we were hunting for dirt to dig up to make mud. I stuck a shovel in it, and Joy shouted, "Look! It's ANTS!!!" That was a couple of weeks ago, and today we revisited the anthill with some paper and a clipboard.

"Observe and then draw what you see, young scientist," I said. I want Joy to think of herself as a scientist. We aren't just learning science, we're being scientists! Here's what she drew:

She's got all the important facets of the anthill: a hill, ants, ovoid shapes that turned out to be ant eggs, and holes in the dirt. After she drew this picture (and wrote "anthill" in the top right corner on her own!), we looked closely at each element of the anthill and just talked about it. Joy got a stick and took interest in how the ants reacted to her movements.

I did not inform her that ants have six legs, that an ant group is called a colony, or instruct her on how to draw with perspective. My educational point is that scientists observe their surroundings and record their observations. I will certainly use the word colony, talk about the number of legs insects have, and work on perspective, but I wanted Joy to experience the observation and recording of information in the natural world.

Best of all, this was a positive learning experience that didn't take tons of preparation, can be done almost anywhere (Do you know many places without ants or other insects??), and gives kids experience with the scientific process. I'm sure the next time we go to the library, Joy will want a book on ants. We'll read it and it will lead us to another experience... and maybe even an ant farm!

The Beginnings: Part B

Yesterday I wrote about the systemic reasons for choosing to homeschool our kindergartner. Today, I'm going to tell you a little about the child-specific reasons for choosing to homeschool our kindergartner. We'll call her Joy because she's our great joy! She was a surprise and a blessing and is 20 years younger than any of our other four children.

Joy is a GREAT kid! She is curious and intelligent and caring. She is a busy, active girl who doesn't much like to sit down. She has a wonderful memory, high enthusiasm, and loves to try new things... as long as she can succeed.






If Joy sees something that she thinks is "hard," she shuts down. She refuses to attempt the task or breaks down into tears, saying she can't. And if she doesn't like an activity, she pretends not to know how to do it, even if it's easy. There are myriad reasons for this, none of which matter. This is who she is right now.

My husband and I know our daughter very well. We avoid her oppositional behavior most of the time because we know her triggers. But when she's in dance class, swimming lessons, piano lessons, or gymnastics class, the teachers sometimes push the wrong button for Joy. Then she shuts down, melts down, or get sassy (like sticking her tongue out at the gymnastics teacher last week!).

None of this is acceptable. We do not allow her to act like this without consequences, but we can't hold her accountable for her behavior if we are unaware of it. And in a classroom of 20-25 kindergartners, the teacher will not have time to figure out whether she really doesn't understand the concept or she's pretending. I wouldn't expect a teacher to wait for Joy to comply; it's not feasible in a group setting!

But I also do not want Joy to be labeled as a behavior problem. She's not! She has had experiences that have taught her to react in these ways. She simply needs to learn to adapt her reactions so they are more socially acceptable. And she has made MAJOR progress in this over the last year! She's learned so much in the year I've stayed home with her, homeschooling preschool.

And I don't want Joy to miss instruction because of her shutdowns. Those foundational building blocks taught in kindergarten can't be missed without serious learning problems later. Given all these factors, in addition to the probability of our family moving within the next year, we have decided to homeschool Joy for kindergarten. In fact, we've already started!

One day a couple of weeks ago, Joy said, "I want to do kindergarten now!" I said, "Okay! We start kindergarten today!" We have had kindergarten for about two weeks. The first two days were fabulous, then the oppositional behavior started in. "I don't like this!" and "This is no fun!" But what Joy doesn't realize is....

All day long she's learning what she needs to know for kindergarten! The short time we "sit" and "do school" is a very small part of our "curriculum." In fact, I only make her "sit" and "do school" because she needs to learn how to do that if she's going to attend public school someday. The longest she "sits" at once is 10 minutes or so, but she learns 24/7!

That's why I call this Stealth Kindergarten.  Joy is excited as can be to use the Play Doh to build landforms and waterforms, then play with Squinkies on them so she can learn their names. "Meet me in the valley!" brings her Squinkie down the mountain (perhaps by sliding down the river) and into Snake Valley (so named because it was originally made by a Play Doh snake being squashed).

If you are interested in how to get your reluctant learners to engage in learning....Stealth Kindergarten is a good place to be. If you are concerned that your little learner is missing bits of the curriculum due to testing mania... Stealth Kindergarten will give you ideas for activities to do around the house, yard, and community to fill those gaps.

Join me on this journey! It'll be a blast!

The Beginnings

I didn't start out to be a homeschooling mom. In fact, I was a public school teacher in two states, four districts, for more than 20 years! My older children went to public school in Iowa, and I was very satisfied with most parts of their education. I believe in public education, and I hope someday that my "surprise" child, who is now 5, will attend public school, but I'm not so sure.

Part of that reluctance is specific to her, and part of it is general to public education in this era. In the last decade, The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law has led our nation's public education system on an insane wild goose chase. I have NO problem with accountability, either for the nation's teachers or for the students. Both should be held accountable for the learning that is essential to an adult in the USA.

I saw lots of good come from the idea that teachers are professionally responsible for their students' learning. Monitoring student learning and adapting teaching methods in a collaborative team environment is an AWESOME way to teach! But as time went on, NCLB's requirements led to punishments of teachers, administrators, schools, and districts, which leads to fear. And fear is the death knell of a collaborative environment.

The idea of effective instruction gave way to the pressure of achieving "success" on the test. And in the last few years, at least in some places, "succeeding" on the test was the only thing that mattered. To the point of teachers being told to stop working with certain students because "they weren't going to pass the test anyway." That to work with them was "a waste of time" and that the teacher's time should be spent only on those students who "had a chance at passing the test." To me, that's a crime.

Then add to that atmosphere the budget cuts that are nationwide, and you get school systems that are struggling to provide the basic services to children in classes of 36 or more in elementary school. What is happening is a very narrow focus on the tested skills, which leads to a very narrow curriculum that is delivered in a non-collaborative environment to too many students in a classroom. Ugh. My last couple of years teaching (2009-10 and 2010-11) were very difficult ethically for me.

I strongly believe that teaching is a broader undertaking with a much more general goal than passing "the test." That the curriculum must include the social sciences, the arts, and a basic understanding of how to get along with people. That the child should determine the curriculum as much as feasible: his needs, her interests, and their passions should be allowed to affect what is taught and learned in a classroom. Yes, we teachers should be held accountable for teaching the prescribed curriculum, but we should be allowed to do it in a way that allows all participants to be fully engaged in their own goals, not simply pushing them through an assembly line school.

For these reasons, I am reluctant to teach in a public school, and even more reluctant to send my 5 year old to a public school.

I think I'll save my more child-specific reasons for homeschooling for another blog entry! Welcome to Stealth Kindergarten!