It has been a bit quiet around here lately as I have been busy preparing to enter deschool mode for the second time, but this time it is with DN, as last week was his last attending public school. He is 15 and in the 10th grade so this situation will be quite different from KM's as he is older and not here full time, but we are hopeful that this will be the direction that leads him to where he needs to be.
When I received the call a few weeks ago requesting that I help file the paperwork for his ed plan, I jumped on it and had it written and ready to be delivered within an hour - I was not letting anyone change their mind! Since then we have been discussing what he wants to learn and where he would like to see himself in the future. We have devised a plan and are finding ways to implement it that will work for him and our unique situation.
When I was deschooling with KM I realized that her retention of facts and information from school was similar to Swiss cheese, with lots and lots of holes, however DN's seems to be just the opposite random bits with little connection between them, so my hope is to string those bits together with meaningful connections. I am looking at like there are all these keys and I just need to find the one that will unlock his mind and engage him. I know I may have to try every last one before I find the one that works, but there has to be one!
As they are only a year apart I had hoped to combine some of KM's and DN's subjects - at the very least science and history, however he has a hard time retaining nearly anything - even simple story lines from his favorite book series - so I am going to have to go down an alternative route for subjects like History, which he claims to detest and with very little knowledge base there is no way that he can keep up with KM in science, but they can do their labs together which was one of our beginning areas this week. They will also be doing Logic & Geography together and will be following similar time lines in history in order to watch movies together.
I helped him set up an account for Khan Academy and he has been blowing through that the past few days, I hope that his enthusiasm holds once he gets to the more challenging areas. He was taking Spanish last year in school and really liked it so he is going to try the Spanish Conversation Demystified that I had gotten for KM before she decided on French and will supplement using the Mango online through our library network. So far that is our plan - go with what he is interested in and work from there! I really hope that he is able to embrace this lifestyle and truly learn.
So as I take this journey on again, I realize that I am in a COMPLETELY different place than I was when I did this the first time through with KM. I am going to use all the wisdom and experience that I have accrued over these last four years to help this young man discover how incredible learning really can be! I apologize if it seems as though I am neglecting my blog, but I must focus on other areas at the moment, but will be sure to check back in often with updates on how things are going. WISH US LUCK!!!!
When I received the call a few weeks ago requesting that I help file the paperwork for his ed plan, I jumped on it and had it written and ready to be delivered within an hour - I was not letting anyone change their mind! Since then we have been discussing what he wants to learn and where he would like to see himself in the future. We have devised a plan and are finding ways to implement it that will work for him and our unique situation.
When I was deschooling with KM I realized that her retention of facts and information from school was similar to Swiss cheese, with lots and lots of holes, however DN's seems to be just the opposite random bits with little connection between them, so my hope is to string those bits together with meaningful connections. I am looking at like there are all these keys and I just need to find the one that will unlock his mind and engage him. I know I may have to try every last one before I find the one that works, but there has to be one!
As they are only a year apart I had hoped to combine some of KM's and DN's subjects - at the very least science and history, however he has a hard time retaining nearly anything - even simple story lines from his favorite book series - so I am going to have to go down an alternative route for subjects like History, which he claims to detest and with very little knowledge base there is no way that he can keep up with KM in science, but they can do their labs together which was one of our beginning areas this week. They will also be doing Logic & Geography together and will be following similar time lines in history in order to watch movies together.
I helped him set up an account for Khan Academy and he has been blowing through that the past few days, I hope that his enthusiasm holds once he gets to the more challenging areas. He was taking Spanish last year in school and really liked it so he is going to try the Spanish Conversation Demystified that I had gotten for KM before she decided on French and will supplement using the Mango online through our library network. So far that is our plan - go with what he is interested in and work from there! I really hope that he is able to embrace this lifestyle and truly learn.
So as I take this journey on again, I realize that I am in a COMPLETELY different place than I was when I did this the first time through with KM. I am going to use all the wisdom and experience that I have accrued over these last four years to help this young man discover how incredible learning really can be! I apologize if it seems as though I am neglecting my blog, but I must focus on other areas at the moment, but will be sure to check back in often with updates on how things are going. WISH US LUCK!!!!
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