Wonder World Classroom

Brianna has discovered her first strong school-type dislike: writing. Writing drives her crazy--the mechanics, forming the letters, copying sentences...all of it. Sit her down with a pencil and she yawns incessantly, kicks the chair, groans/whines/moans, and sometimes bursts into tears.

Back in my series about "Teachable Moments," I cited just this scenario and mentioned waiting until the child was ready to tackle a subject naturally rather than foisting it on them hatred-be-darned. Now that we've signed up for a home-based charter program, however, (which requires samples of progress in state standards and a school-wide essay assignment), this isn't a viable option. Time for Plan B.

In my quest to make writing "fun," I've tried several different games, writing with food (including Skittles Spelling and tracing letters into pink lemonade drink powder), as well as a workbook series titled Draw Write Now. (I considered Handwriting Without Tears, but heard mixed reviews as to just how tear-free the lessons were.) In Draw Write Now, each writing assignment includes a lesson in how to draw a picture based on the subject. I figured this fun art component would soften the blow of having to jot down all those pesky words. Still, she balks. Skittles and Lemonade spelling quickly because Skittles/Lemonade artwork/drawing, as she lost interest in forming letters. I had minor success with a game of "Guess What I'm Writing?" and taking turns with the magic slate, but she gives up on it in short order.

An assignment from Draw Write Now: Farm Animals

So now that I've succeeded in seeing my child come to hate writing enough to be happy never to see another word, what now? Enter my latest crazy scheme--I signed us up for the Young Writer's Program in the National Novel Writing Month (November 1-30), which challenges folks to write an entire novel in thirty days.


You might be thinking, "Have you gone mental? A 7-year-old writing a NOVEL--when they hate to write? You'll drive her over the edge!!" Well, I'm hoping to pull my daughter back from the abyss by bringing the fun connotation back into the word "writing." No longer will the term conjure nightmare images of x's that won't slant and hand cramps. Once again it will whip up pictures of magical stories, tales of wonder where she can be anyone, go anywhere, and do anything. In short, we're going back to formula on theory, rather than practical execution. She will dictate her story, and I will dutifully type it and wait for the sunshine and rainbows to return (we hope).

For those of you who haven't heard of this challenge, I highly recommend it. I've participated five years running, and this will be Bri's first time. Young writers can learn a great deal about Language Arts by participating, and the official site (http://ywp.nanowrimo.org) offers lesson plans by grade as well as a forum. A fabulous home school lesson plan idea for kid novel writing can be found at Little Blue School's blog. I hope some of you will find the fun in writing this November!

I'll be charting our progress here on the blog, as well as the end impact on her current Anti-Writing campaign. Wish us luck!

Broken arm stage 1=the soft splint

***Update: She finally got the cast off on September 9! The bone was 90% healed, so she wore a splint for an additional week. That meant a total of three months and one week of treatment, involving two hard splints and FOUR casts. What a summer!!***

There's an Alanis Morrissette song that talks about life as the process of learning: You Laugh, You Learn. You Cry, You Learn...etc. Bri found this out firsthand this past month when a simple romp in the grass with her new toy airplane turned into a broken arm. This doesn't mean she's learned to be careful while running (alas), but this rather cloudy kick-off to our summer has had the silver lining of providing a number of educational opportunities. Here's just a few things she's discovered:

1. States of Matter
The process of getting her fiberglass cast put on involves a substance transforming from one liquid to solid, so this was a hands-on chance to observe this in a new way.


Stage 2: the full arm fiberglass cast

2. Chemical Reactions
Also, she found out that the cast got warm while it was hardening up, demonstrating the principle that chemical changes involve the use of energy, which produces heat.

3. Bones and Body Repair
The doctor was nice enough to let Bri look at her x-rays and give us a copy that we can view at home on our computer. She learned about the two different bones in her forearm, and how one bowed (bent) and the other broke in half when she fell. We also have an anatomy book from my college days that has pictures demonstrating the process of bone knitting.


Bri has needed a lot more sleep

4. Health and Nutrition
Sure, we could have given a rote speech about recovery and health, but Bri has learned some things about the direct correlation between how she takes care of herself and her body repairing itself. She started sleeping more since the break, including naps that she'd long since left in the lurch. She learned that her body is diverting energy from certain "extra" activities in order to effect repairs. She's also been a bottomless pit of hunger, with special cravings for meats and dairy products. She discovered that protein and calcium are required for the body to create new bone.


Adjustments are needed for normal activities

5. Cause and Effect
Certainly there was the immediate lesson of Running Without Looking=Broken Bone, but there have been numerous cause and effect opportunities in the aftermath. There's the cause and effect of having to curtail activities, select wearable wardrobe, alter how she does things, etc.


She's learned a good deal more, of course, but this is just an example of how living is learning, and how one event can teach a variety of concepts.


Bri has been less than thrilled to lose out on swimming and other summer activities, but she can still have goofy fun!

I talk a lot on this blog about how for unschoolers, the world is our classroom and life is the curriculum. Now I have a confession to make: We use workbooks and assignments sheets. A lot.

Does this mean we're not unschoolers? Nope. In fact, the reason I started using these was child-lead: Bri wanted them. Not always and not for everything, but they come in handy to augment her "life curriculum."


Just a few of the workbooks we use.
How I use worksheets/books in our "unschool" setting

In our unschool we believe strongly in teachable moments and child-lead learning and use these far more often than rote instruction-on-schedule. However, I also like to bring opportunities to Bri's attention, because one never knows what could become the next big interest. So while many of our activities involve topics she herself has expressed a desire to learn, she will also often respond to prompting with an interesting "potential" activity of many types, including worksheet learning.

Sometimes I'll spot nifty looking workbooks while I'm out shopping. I've picked these up at Barnes & Noble, Discovery Toys and Joann's, as well as for a steal at places like the dollar store and Wal-Mart. I also have some favorite websites I browse for interesting activities and worksheets, and I save loads of them to folders on my flash drives as I run across them. Then when Bri is working on a particular topic, I'll browse my files and print out sheets that look promising. Or, I'll browse when we're in between her specific topics to see what might tickle her fancy, and I'll offer it to her.


Our "in" and "out" boxes for assigned and finished work

Often Bri will pull out a book and ask to work on it together, but because she sometimes likes a "school" feel I might "assign" a page to her (generally before leaving for my swing shift job). We have an inbox for assigned work, and when complete she places it in the outbox for me to check over. I don't force a page on her if she sees it and tells me she is disinterested, nor do I make an issue of it if I come home and she has not completed her assignment. However, I will ask her to identify why she didn't get to it, so we both have increased understanding of how, when, and for what she feels best motivated to do her work.

Do I feel that by not requiring completion or keeping her to a deadline that she is failing to learn about timeliness? No. She has many other opportunities to learn this, such as getting up on time for a special activity, keeping appointments, bedtime, chores (she loves cleaning her room with a timer set), and games involving a time limit.

All in all this has shown me that workbooks and assignments are not necessarily out of the question for an unschooler. Different children have different ways they like to learn, and if a child wants to use these tools, then chances are very good they will learn from them.

Here are a few websites I use for worksheets:

http://tlsbooks.com/
http://www.learningpage.com
http://progressivephonics.com/
http://www.homeschooling-ideas.com/free-homeschooling-worksheets.html
http://homeschooling.about.com/od/freeprintables/qt/printables.htm

Image courtesy of Stock Xchg

I was tossing some old receipts out of my purse the other day, marveling at how fast the little beggars stack up in my tote. I hit on an idea for a math activity that I know isn't quite new, but one I want to try and maybe add a couple angles to.

We'll be saving all our receipts for one month. That's every single one, from the 75-cent candy bar at the mini mart(remember when they were only a quarter?) to our endless loop of tape at the grocery store. All fast food. Every gas purchase. You get the picture.

Each time we bring home a receipt, it gets taped to a wall set aside for that purpose. I'm betting our new wallpaper will spread like wildfire. After the month ends, it'll be time to add up the number of receipts collected, as well as the total spent. (Good long hand or calculator practice!)

From this, several lessons can be taught (not all of which will be just to my child, I'm sure!)...

1. The sheer math value of counting/adding money spent.
2. The tie-in implication of budgeting (we could buy more toys, but this is what we spend).
3. The environmental considerations of our spending habits.
4. Sorting and categorizing of expenses. (What gets bought the most?)
5. How to save strategies (what if we bought less fast food meals next month?)

...and so on. With a little ingenuity, I'm betting all school subjects could be somehow tied in to this activity.

I think this will be an eye-widener for parents as well as kids, and something we can all learn from. I'd love to apply this on a broader scale, such as making this a year-long project if the one-month trial goes well. And just think, come tax time we'd have all our receipts handy!