Unschoolyness
One morning I found Brigid sitting at the table with a crayon, paper, and a book. I asked her what she was doing.
"I'm doing my copywork."
I looked at her paper and saw that, yes, she had copied the words on the page. A few days later, she was at it again with a different book. She can't read at all yet, but she was choosing pages where there were words written in all capital letters.
With Myles this school year, we've been continuing a lot of the same programs we have already been using, like Singapore Math and Story of the World. Last year after reading Melissa Wiley's endorsement of it, Brave Writer was added to our mix. Every month there is a new book to read with corresponding language arts lessons and weekly copywork and dictation.
Brigid sometimes listens in on the stories with us, but she doesn't have any associated work to do with Brave Writer. She created her own work using her own books, based on what she saw Myles doing. She even called it "copywork."
So often homeschooling is a chore for me. Frequently I feel like I am so ready just to abdicate all this responsibility to someone else, someone who believes it to be their vocation. I specifically chose to break with family tradition and not become a professional educator when I was in college. It is ironic, then, that here I am now, homeschooling my children and living in a place where my only opportunities for work outside the home is to teach school.
Sometimes, though, it gives me moments of awe like this. Children, like hobbits "really are amazing creatures....they can still surprise you in a pinch."
"I'm doing my copywork."
I looked at her paper and saw that, yes, she had copied the words on the page. A few days later, she was at it again with a different book. She can't read at all yet, but she was choosing pages where there were words written in all capital letters.
With Myles this school year, we've been continuing a lot of the same programs we have already been using, like Singapore Math and Story of the World. Last year after reading Melissa Wiley's endorsement of it, Brave Writer was added to our mix. Every month there is a new book to read with corresponding language arts lessons and weekly copywork and dictation.
Brigid sometimes listens in on the stories with us, but she doesn't have any associated work to do with Brave Writer. She created her own work using her own books, based on what she saw Myles doing. She even called it "copywork."
So often homeschooling is a chore for me. Frequently I feel like I am so ready just to abdicate all this responsibility to someone else, someone who believes it to be their vocation. I specifically chose to break with family tradition and not become a professional educator when I was in college. It is ironic, then, that here I am now, homeschooling my children and living in a place where my only opportunities for work outside the home is to teach school.
Sometimes, though, it gives me moments of awe like this. Children, like hobbits "really are amazing creatures....they can still surprise you in a pinch."
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