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guitarnan
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| Posted: May 05 2014 at 3:49pm | IP Logged
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Quote:
| But also, I think that this is totally doable if you simply watch how you say things. It's not a lack of learning it's changing the focus of what and how we learn from assimilating facts to integrating the information we have and experiencing things more. |
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We started homeschooling when we were living in Italy, and I quickly learned that how you say things does really matter to people who don't "get" homeschooling. It didn't make sense to them that I would pull my children away from a group of their peers (Italy has a group-focused culture) but it made total sense to them that I wanted to give my children a Catholic education in their native language, English.
I've used similar tactics to deal with questions about lab science, the "S" word and other topics.
I think that if I had opted for a sabbatical, I would have described it as a themed year with a focus on [whatever we decided to pursue that year]. And then I would have gone on doing whatever our family had planned, or not planned, to do.
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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MarilynW
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| Posted: May 05 2014 at 5:34pm | IP Logged
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I think this is a great discusson. I believe we may need to clarify the scope of "sabbatical" - I am all in favor of a sabbatical from "normal school" (whatever that is!!!) as long as there is no sabbatical from raising our kids to be faith filled, hardworking, ordered, self-disciplined etc. I am hoping several of my children will take gap years and go and do mission work, study abroad, work for a year, or even take a year to follow their dream of writing or teaching, painting or whatever. What I would not want a sabbatical year to be is a year of "wasting time" - becoming slothful, overindulging in technology etc.
I think it comes back to Charlotte Mason's "masterly inactivity" - if we have learning homes and our children have been raised with truth and beauty, spend a ton of time outdoors, are raised with living books - they are more likely to benefit from a sabbatical. They are more likely I think to have a good curiosity and to want to learn different things.
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Martha
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| Posted: May 05 2014 at 5:44pm | IP Logged
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Yes. I had the good sense to not say, "woohoo! We've schooling into the wind! Wheeeeee! FREEDOM!" I didn't even feel like that about it. I was too busy feeling glad to finally catch my breath.
Rather I just kept my mouth shut (a miracle I'm sure) and didn't say anything. At the rare occasion someone asked what they did in "school" that day/week, I just said we were on a break. No big deal.
I suppose if one had invasive anti-whatever in their life type family or community, it might be slightly trickier after a couple weeks. But then again, imnsho, the problem there wouldn't be anything I was doing, but my low tolerance for their lack of boundaries in my life regardless of how we might educate our kids. (Have you ever noticed folks like that are just like that? You could ask them for a checklist to follow and follow it to the letter and they'd still be whatsits about your marriage, parenting, job, lack of job, and so on. They are just miserable people looking for company.)
*shrug*
The fact that perfectly decent caring people live in fear of even raising the eyebrow of CPS is a whole other issue that begs the question of how free we really are if we live with the fear of an impending bootheel pressing down on us lest a neighbor tattle on us to Big Brother. It's not freedom if you only feel free to do what you are expected to do under threat of an ominous phone all being placed. *shudder*
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Martha
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millermom1110
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| Posted: May 05 2014 at 7:59pm | IP Logged
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I've really appreciated reading all of the responses here. So many valid points! And so many ways of thinking that I hadn't already thought of.
I do live in one of those states where CPS is called on homeschoolers more often than in other states. It does scare me. I grew up in a home where CPS showed up every 6 months or so (sometimes for good reason, other times for false accusations), and it was traumatizing to say the least. They showed up all hours of the day and night and insisted on interrogating us on various aspects of our home life. I don't want my children to endure that, and so I think it does color the way I look at taking a sabbatical - and I admit that it's a fear thing.
On the other hand, some good points were made about HOW you talk about it. And the masterly inactivity thing. That gave me a different way to think about it. It's a shame that we have to be afraid of what might happen, but it's a valid concern, and it does happen, and when it does, it's really scary. I don't blame anyone one bit for simply wanting to avoid the possibility of that. It totally rots having those people knock on your door.
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Martha
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| Posted: May 05 2014 at 8:49pm | IP Logged
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To be clear:
I didn't say I blamed them for wanting to avoid it either. We all have children we love here, and I'm certain none of us can entertain the thought of not having them here without a mental freak out. 
But yet, if we all react that way, no one is free. Only those who fight for it get it. Maybe. Only those willing to fight for it can keep it. Maybe. If they stand alone bc of our fears, then who will be left to stand for us? No one. That's a certainty.
Masterly living = Montessori schooling is another term to use. I've seen some really insane expensive private schools billed as Montessori that if I were filthy rich and couldn't home school, I'd consider and that's why. Very relaxed atmosphere but it doesn't at all mean they aren't learning. No set required linear learning. But yet there's a basic frame to climb.
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guitarnan
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| Posted: May 05 2014 at 9:02pm | IP Logged
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Martha, I did some observations at Montessori schools when I took a child development class, and I loved watching the young children choose their own learning activities and work with the materials at their own pace. I was very, very impressed.
I've homeschooled overseas and in two different states, and it's been a real education in government oversight vs. government overreach, not just with homeschooling families but in the local public schools as well. We do all need to support each other...that is exactly why I am here at 4Real. This is the most supportive online Catholic homeschooling community I have found, and the only one I have stuck with consistently over my 11 years of homeschooling (so far...one more year to go  ).
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: May 06 2014 at 6:13am | IP Logged
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I was at a work event for dh this weekend and had two great conversations related to this topic.
The first was with a young man who is engaged to be married this summer. He was unschooled, and as his parents most resistant child, he refused to do a lot of things when young. His parents were quite radical and sort of threw their hands up and said they couldn't make him learn, and he ended up learning to read fluently at 11, and while all his siblings were taking classical music lessons in three instruments for and early age, he refused until he picked the guitar at 15 but was performing for hire within a year. He now works for an educational non-profit and reads more seriously as an adult than any of his siblings do. It was refreshing to see the success of his parents "letting go." He spoke of how he and his fiancee would likely not unschool because of her temperament, and I introduced him to Charlotte Mason, which he wrote down to tell her 
Then I spoke to the new educational director, aseasoned scholar whose children are grown up, hisoldest being 33. He and his wife homeschooled throughout, and when I told him about this idea of a sabbatical, he was so intrigued! He thought it was splendid, and he was sure he wanted to tell his daughter in law who is very type A and only just started homeschooling their 5 year old.
I agree with Marilyn that a sabbatical year will be more fruitful in an atmosphere already given to learning. I can imagine, too, that if it is a matter of semantics, comfort level, etc... If we as non-unschoolers assign those years as unschooling years where we are more radically relaxed but still help facilitate the learning that wants to happen (probably mostly through the acquiring of books or hobby supplies), we could still benefit by just refusing to let ourselves make educational plans.
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Kathryn
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| Posted: May 06 2014 at 11:09am | IP Logged
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JennGM wrote:
| We are BLESSED that we can homeschool legally, but it's not exactly a privilege to allow us our God-given right. |
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Yes, is it a blessing but it is also a definite privilege. In Germany, it's obviously not a privilege. I see that blessing and privilege here as a freedom. We are FREE to homeschool our children as we see fit. We are FREE to educate our family as we see fit. Is this a difference in a semantics? I'm not sure.
jenngm wrote:
As I happened to take a sabbatical this year, I could have taken what you posted above as very hurtful. At one time I would have never considered such a thing, but God does bend us to be pliable and be molded. I had big plans for our homeschooling, and I turned out to be more unschooling Charlotte Mason approach. And I always thought of "unschooling" in a negative context and here I am!
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I absolutely clarified my comment that *I* would not take a sabbatical unless a major family catastrophe were the cause. I know you underwent significant health issues and appts. and the surgery out of the area and recuperating. I'm sorry if my statement was hurtful but I would most certainly describe that as a major family catastrophe.
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Kathryn
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| Posted: May 06 2014 at 11:17am | IP Logged
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And to be clear here, I'm not "afraid" of government reaching into my home. I tend to bend toward a more traditional approach to schooling so that's another reason this doesn't appeal to me. Not b/c of some "fear" but I believe in the value of an education framed within a traditional setting. Really and truly I've not met any homeschooler that appeared to just throw caution to the wind and "do nothing" so maybe it is all in the wording and interpretation. But I've also never met anyone that said "we're taking a break from school for a year" so again maybe it's the semantics of that phrase that SEEMS to say "yeh, we're just doing nothin' for a year."
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Kathryn
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| Posted: May 06 2014 at 11:27am | IP Logged
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JennGM wrote:
I am reminded often of this Bibical passage from Isaiah, God says: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are my ways your ways." One of my favorite quotes from Mother Mary Francis (Poor Clare) was she remarked that Isaiah must have been smiling when he wrote that. 
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That is def. true. It applies to whether a sabbatical might work for some and not others and it also applies to families that may choose to fully enroll in an on-line program, or be a Charlotte Mason enthusiast or even, if for a time, use a traditional brick and mortar school.
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Kathryn in TX
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4Real Forums : Philosophy of Education
Topic: Taking a Sabbatical Year
