Back to School......Angst and Indecision 2

Yesterday I wrote about some of the reasons why we home school Zoe and rather than bore you with reading lists, unit studies, and text books I’m going to skip forward to trying to figure out what the best approach for the upcoming semester is. First of all, there are always two stages to outlining the year’s goals that really have absolutely nothing to do with one another. The first is completing our school district’s paperwork which simply consists of describing the subjects we’re going to cover along with a materials and textbook description. Once that’s presentable and submitted I move on to trying to figure out what we’re actually going to do. You know, what she really needs to learn, what our priorities are. This is where I’m torn. I’d love to actually “unschool” for the first time this year but I don’t think thats going to work out. At the beginning of the summer I had instructed Zoe to spend one hour each day reading, doing, or teaching herself ANYTHING she wanted as long as it wasn’t computer or video games, television or drawing (which she does on her own all day, every day). I thought that an hour each day of self directed activity might open the door to true unschooling (plus math). Let’s just say that that didn’t happen, which leads me to believe that we’re still in need of a structured academic schedule. The one area in which our path is pretty much set is Math. We’ve been using the Hake Saxon textbooks. They’re incredibly laborious but really thorough. Math is one of those subjects that I really want her to be proficient in (although I’ve got to say that I can’t imagine the immediate need for writing complex equations using scientific notation and don’t even get me started on what the point of prime factorization is!). So, no matter what I decide our over all approach will be, the daily bouts of Hake Saxon torture stays. Beyond that we could:

A) chart out an hourly schedule for reading, writing, science, geography, history, Spanish, and mythology and stick to using traditional assignments, text, and internet materials. The downside to this is it isn’t very engaging and she tends to do the work with little interest just to get it done.

B) She can complete the daily reading and math I give her and then work on various unit studies. The upside to this is that I develop the units to fit her interests and/or educational needs and she can work at her own pace rather than having to finish up and move on to the next subject. The downside is that preparing the units is hugely time consuming for me. I wouldn’t mind if they were really inspiring to her but they are largely met with the same apathy as the text work so thats frustrating.

C) She could complete the daily reading and math and then we could revisit my unschooling idea from earlier in the summer for the remainder of her “school” time. The upside is that it would force her to take some responsibility for her own education and would foster independence. The down side would be that I would have to hover and prod and enforce which I’m going to hate and will inevitably invite conflict and power struggles.

D) Again, she could complete the daily reading and math and then we could work on the curriculum one on one. The upside is that she is always much more interested and engaged when we work together. The down side is that it reinforces her need for my participation and encourages her dependence and attachment upon me and while that might be acceptable now, she really is going to need to work independently once she starts college. I mean we are together 24/7 as it is and the idea is for her to find herself not to become Sharon, The Next Generation.

Doc wrote an article a while back about homeschooling and being sufficiently prepared for college, here’s a short excerpt:

"The real point is, it didn’t matter if I was “prepared” or that I’d had very little science and math. I took them in college. If I’d had more math and science, I’d still have had to take them in college for the undergrad requirements. If every student in public school is so much more prepared academically, then why do they offer 100 level science and maths, and why are those classes always full? I can guarantee you this - not once did any of my professors ask me about my previous schooling - since I was in their lower level class, they assumed I didn’t know anything and taught me. It wasn’t a big deal."

I completely agree with her but at the same time I think it’s important to pry Zoe away from the computer for some period each day. If we lived in a more urban area with museums, classes, and other cultural activities there would be less of a need to force the issue but since we live quite literally in the middle of nowhere diversity and learning require conscious commitment and effort.

After I finished writing this I had her read it over so she could share her thoughts with me.

Me: "What do you think of this?"

Zoe: “It makes me want to die”
Me: “I know, but which option makes you want to die the least?”
Zoe: “C”

If you have even the tiniest thought or opinion I’m really, really interested in hearing it. What would you do???