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insegnante
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| Posted: July 14 2009 at 1:27pm | IP Logged
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We're back to our year-round "homeschooling" after a longer hiatus than expected.
Of course they learn stuff when we're not schooling like pretty much all kids do, but I do still function according to a mindset of "homeschooling" and not "homeschooling." The former is mostly workbooky, sitdown stuff, although there's more discussion than assigned reading before the workbooks.
So today my 4yo was quoting something from this Hamlet takeoff in a VeggieTales video. I started talking to my 7yo about William Shakespeare. I remembered we have a poetry book out of the library that has some Shakespeare. I went to get it, and looked him up in the index and described his several poems that were included. I then decided we should say our homeschooling prayers before actually reading them, that this could be part of the "homeschooling" for the day.
So obviously I hadn't planned this Shakespeare thing. Concentration for discussion wasn't at its highest because our 4yo with his special needs was being very loud.
I started out reading a short selection called "A Violet Bank" that mentions different plants. I didn't know what most of them looked like or what some even were, so I was going to use the Internet, but with my son so distractable, it didn't seem like a great idea. I did show DS some violets, but the picture application on the site I chose wasn't even working, so only one not that great photo.
Plus I was thinking, "Wait, are we learning about Shakespeare, or about plants? Should we be focusing on literature or on pictures of flowers?" and really not knowing if this was useful or just likely to lead my son to have the kind of "junk drawer brain" I have, full of little bits of knowledge... I do have some "deep thoughts," too, of course, but maybe he needs more of a foundation in "ideas" rather than "William Shakespeare was a playwright and poet/thyme is an herb/violets are blue/let's read another poem by William Shakespeare on a completely different subject..."
which is what we went on to do, because "When Icicles Hang by the Wall" had caught our notice. So we read that winter poem, in July, without me even making some sort of "Winter in July" learning theme for the day. Talked about the poem and what it meant, again, just really off the cuff.
Then returned to the nature section of the poetry book to read "Tapestry Trees" by William Morris, mainly because he mentions a mulberry tree, two of which we recently discovered we have on our lawn (one of which produced some juicy mulberries for us to enjoy.) I talked about allusions in the poem like to bows for shooting arrows which the Web confirmed were or are often made from yew trees, and the apple tree "[bowing its] head to Adam's will".
Oh, and the pear tree's "burden sweet." That one led to me looking up the chapter and verse where Jesus said His yoke is easy and His burden light. Which led to the playing of two selections from our CD of Handel's Messiah.
And then we were back to Faith and Life.
I didn't know if my son really learned anything, and should I just have planned a Shakespeare lesson, poetry lesson, floral lesson if I really thought these were beneficial things to be "teaching" him about...
I don't like being so off the cuff. I wonder can it actually be a negative to jump around from subject to subject so shallowly like this, especially for an already distractable child like mine, or should I just not stress about covering things in this manner... if I don't have a "lesson" planned and something about Shakespeare just kind of comes up, should I just go with it, and not limit myself to making a mental note "Plan lesson about great poets, with a focus on nature poems; remember to mention 'Lyle the Kindly Viking' allusion to Shakespeare." Although, of course, I could plan something for later even if we do something less in-depth and more spontaneous first.
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Theresa
mommy to three boys, 3/02, 8/04, and 9/10, and a girl, 8/08
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JennGM
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| Posted: July 14 2009 at 1:34pm | IP Logged
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Theresa, I think learning is fluid and all interconnected, just like you describe. Sometimes I think segregating subjects is a false sense of division.
You just described a typical day at our house.
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: July 14 2009 at 1:37pm | IP Logged
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I think it sounds fabulous just as it was. Wouldn't change a thing.
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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Mackfam
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| Posted: July 14 2009 at 2:12pm | IP Logged
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insegnante wrote:
| if I don't have a "lesson" planned and something about Shakespeare just kind of comes up, should I just go with it |
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YES! I thought your day sounded lovely!
insegnante wrote:
| ... and not limit myself to making a mental note "Plan lesson about great poets, with a focus on nature poems; remember to mention 'Lyle the Kindly Viking' allusion to Shakespeare." |
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I think we sometimes think we need to have this whole thing planned out down to every dotted i...but actually the day you describe is likely to have planted more seeds of knowledge than you may ever know. And because it was so engaging to him, because you were "off the cuff" and just running with his interests, you likely captured his imagination.
insegnante wrote:
| Although, of course, I could plan something for later even if we do something less in-depth and more spontaneous first. |
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I think that would be a great idea.
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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violingirl
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| Posted: July 14 2009 at 7:59pm | IP Logged
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That is how my mind works, and our days often look like yours. I do plan some things and make planned introductions for things, but I like to follow the paths my son's mind takes.
I know that for me I have learned a lot more when I set out to learn something for myself rather than being asked to learn something. My mother tried to teach me to sew when I was in junior high and high school and all I took away was the basics of how to pin and sew a straight line. Just last year I bought my own sewing machine and I've been making all kinds of things and learning on my own (and calling my mom when I have questions). I think we learn a lot more when it is driven from our own desire to learn about the subject. :)
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Erin
DS (2005) DS (2007) DD (2012)
Mama In Progress
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Birdie
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| Posted: July 16 2009 at 12:23pm | IP Logged
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I think sometimes us Moms are making the connections in our own brains and going off in directions we see, perhaps trying too hard to connect things for our kids so they can see the connections we have made and possibly agree with us.
It takes longer to let them make the connections and have the ah ha moments themselves.
I'm not saying it's bad to go off and point out things just that maybe we don't need to, maybe we need to be still and let the kiddo's narrate and tell us what they heard more often. That is what I try to do, though I've done plenty of my share of matching up and pointing out and making themes around. 
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Susan (Birdie)
A Charlotte Mason Education
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: mini rabbit trails, or just disorganized?
