The Walkabout education model is a self-directed learning experience that is based on an Aboriginal coming-of-age ritual. The core of the model is five "Challenges" (called "Passages" by the school we visited). These challenges cover areas of life: adventure, practical skills, creativity, logical inquiry, and community service. The student selects the specific project for each challenge (with the help of an advising group) and creates the plan to accomplish it.
To be clear, these challenges must really be challenges. The student must select challenges which are really hard, ones which force them to face fears or require a lot of physical and/or mental exertion. These things are meant to take years, not months. This is a plan for all of high school.
When they have completed these challenges, the idea is that they are ready for adulthood. They have proven their readiness to be a responsible member of the tribe. I highly recommend Maurice Gibbons' article introducing this idea http://www.selfdirectedlearning.com/walkabout.html.
This model seems quite logical to me as a road map for the high school experience. It creates an experience where learning has real meaning. There is a reason for the learning. The teen is highly engaged in her high school experience. By creating the challenges, she will grow as a person and learn along the way. This is not an easy way out.
As my daughter weighs the pros and cons of different high school options, we will incorporate all or some of the Walkabout model over the next four years. She will be an active participant in her education. She will do more than simply pick courses and satisfy requirements. Hopefully, when she is 18 years old, she'll have completed some challenges, faced some fears and feel ready to join the world community as an active and engaged adult.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Re-thinking high school
As my daughter finishes her 8th grade year, we are confronted with what to do for high school. It seems the beginning of middle school and high school are common times that homeschoolers enter "traditional" school. It has always puzzled me since, I feel, that as kids get older and have more maturity, the opportunities for learning in the community expand greatly.
However, as our family approaches this point ourselves, we are confronted with the reality that homeschoolers can have a difficult time finding peers with whom to socialize. The "easy" answer is to jump into a place that has lots of kids the same age: a school. But is it worth all the sacrifices: the loss of control over your time; the negative peer pressure; the bells, whistles, hurtles, hoops, etc.? These are the questions we face.
Parenting choices are rarely easy. This is merely one more in our quest to provide our children with the most healthy and nurturing environment that we can. We want to prepare our children for the adult world that they will eventually have to enter. What is the best way? Traditional school hardly seems the answer.
We visited a non-traditional school the other day. I was excited by their model. Thrilled to find an educational institution that did not seem like an institution. It is a wonderful place...if you have to go to school. However, no matter how wonderful the model, it is still, alas, a school. It still has the trappings of school: the shallow interactions, the peer pressure, the posing. This school, I admit, seems to have less than a traditional school, but it is still there.
This school, however, has introduced us to a potential model for our high school experience: The Walkabout. Read my next post to learn more.
TTFN
However, as our family approaches this point ourselves, we are confronted with the reality that homeschoolers can have a difficult time finding peers with whom to socialize. The "easy" answer is to jump into a place that has lots of kids the same age: a school. But is it worth all the sacrifices: the loss of control over your time; the negative peer pressure; the bells, whistles, hurtles, hoops, etc.? These are the questions we face.
Parenting choices are rarely easy. This is merely one more in our quest to provide our children with the most healthy and nurturing environment that we can. We want to prepare our children for the adult world that they will eventually have to enter. What is the best way? Traditional school hardly seems the answer.
We visited a non-traditional school the other day. I was excited by their model. Thrilled to find an educational institution that did not seem like an institution. It is a wonderful place...if you have to go to school. However, no matter how wonderful the model, it is still, alas, a school. It still has the trappings of school: the shallow interactions, the peer pressure, the posing. This school, I admit, seems to have less than a traditional school, but it is still there.
This school, however, has introduced us to a potential model for our high school experience: The Walkabout. Read my next post to learn more.
TTFN
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Sometimes, it is all about timing
My daughter wouldn't pick up a pencil to write anything (barely even her name) until she was about 10 years old. She hated writing. She got caught up in the misspelled words or word choice--the minutia. She couldn't see the big picture. Now, at 13, she is quite a prolific writer. She writes pages and pages. The change did not occur because I gave her writing assignments or forced her to write. It was serendipity--the right thing at the right time.
In April of last year, she attended a writing workshop (at my request) held by a dear woman who is gentle, yet firm. Some kids respond to her methods, some don't. My daughter responded--big time. I can point to that workshop as the day she became "a writer." She continues to attend these monthly writing workshops. They are stand-alone workshops with a rare optional assignment given. Today, my daughter's written stories are full of wonderfully descriptive words (many still misspelled), loads of detail and characters with personality. The amount of time she spends on writing ebbs and flows, but I do not give her any direction or "assignments." I am merely a consumer of her writing. I listen when she asks and give ideas when she asks.
She had a similar experience with reading. She did not really read until she was 9. The more I pushed, the more she pushed back. The day she said, "I hate reading," I pulled back. Then, on her 9th birthday, someone gave her a book that she liked and read. From that point on, she considered herself "a reader" and she enjoyed it. Now, she is always reading several books at once and loves to read. It was again, the right thing at the right time.
In school, kids are not allowed the luxury to wait for the "right thing at the right time." If they are not progressing at the normal/approved rate, they are labeled and everyone starts working on a "plan" to get them up to "grade level." Of course, this approach alerts the child to the fact that they are not progressing "on schedule" and there is something wrong with them or they are not smart enough.
I know that some kids have real learning struggles and I am not dismissing those that need special help in crossing hurdles. However, I do think that people are individuals and have different schedules for when they "get" things. Will it hinder my daughter in her life that she became a reader at 9, rather than 6? It doesn't seem so. However, would it have hindered her life if she had been surrounded by people telling her that she was "slow" or people who kept pushing her every day to read when she wasn't ready--making her feel dumb? I think so.
All the pushing in the world does not make the "right time" come any sooner. If kids are allowed to blossom at their own rate, I feel they will have the self-confidence they need to be successful.
In April of last year, she attended a writing workshop (at my request) held by a dear woman who is gentle, yet firm. Some kids respond to her methods, some don't. My daughter responded--big time. I can point to that workshop as the day she became "a writer." She continues to attend these monthly writing workshops. They are stand-alone workshops with a rare optional assignment given. Today, my daughter's written stories are full of wonderfully descriptive words (many still misspelled), loads of detail and characters with personality. The amount of time she spends on writing ebbs and flows, but I do not give her any direction or "assignments." I am merely a consumer of her writing. I listen when she asks and give ideas when she asks.
She had a similar experience with reading. She did not really read until she was 9. The more I pushed, the more she pushed back. The day she said, "I hate reading," I pulled back. Then, on her 9th birthday, someone gave her a book that she liked and read. From that point on, she considered herself "a reader" and she enjoyed it. Now, she is always reading several books at once and loves to read. It was again, the right thing at the right time.
In school, kids are not allowed the luxury to wait for the "right thing at the right time." If they are not progressing at the normal/approved rate, they are labeled and everyone starts working on a "plan" to get them up to "grade level." Of course, this approach alerts the child to the fact that they are not progressing "on schedule" and there is something wrong with them or they are not smart enough.
I know that some kids have real learning struggles and I am not dismissing those that need special help in crossing hurdles. However, I do think that people are individuals and have different schedules for when they "get" things. Will it hinder my daughter in her life that she became a reader at 9, rather than 6? It doesn't seem so. However, would it have hindered her life if she had been surrounded by people telling her that she was "slow" or people who kept pushing her every day to read when she wasn't ready--making her feel dumb? I think so.
All the pushing in the world does not make the "right time" come any sooner. If kids are allowed to blossom at their own rate, I feel they will have the self-confidence they need to be successful.
Closing schools and getting rid of "bad" teachers
I read yet another article about school reform that was about closing schools and getting rid of "bad" teachers. This seems to be a trend and mantra in the current wave of education "reform." Both of these strategies seem very flawed to me. I'll address "closing schools" in this post.
Why are we closing schools? Doesn't that mean kids will have to travel farther from home to go to school? I doubt they are closing the wealthy, high-performing schools, so most of the kids affected are probably from neighborhoods with "poorly performing" schools, ie poor neighborhoods. There seem to me many reasons to put our resources toward ensuring all kids have a quality school within walking distance of their house.
1) Family Time
With family time dwindling, shouldn't we be finding ways to give families more time together? Increasing a child's commute to school does not do this. Kids must get up earlier (which makes them even more sleep deprived than they already are) and endure long bus rides to and from school (up to 3 hours a day, I've heard!). The school already chips away at family time by filling evenings with homework. When is a family supposed to just hang out together? To have that "quality" family time, you must first have some "quantity." If kids lived within a short walk to school, they could even go home for lunch--like they used to in the past (and like they still do in some European countries).
2) The Environment
Aren't we trying to decrease greenhouse gases? Why are we increasing the need for buses and cars to get kids to school? I have personally witnessed long lines of idling cars on a cold day waiting 15-30 minutes to pick up kids from school.
3) The Cost
That gas isn't cheap and running the extensive system of school buses isn't either.
4) Neighborhood Cohesion
With no school in the neighborhood, or most kids "choicing out," kids don't go to school with their neighbors. This means families in the same neighborhood might be less likely to know and interact with each other (playing after school, attending school functions, etc.). Neighborhood cohesion can affect all sorts of "indicators" for a health community: crime and safety, neighbors helping neighbors, goods and services in the neighborhood, etc.
5) Parental Involvement in Schools
"Parental involvement" is always mentioned as an indicator for school success. It seems to me that the farther a school is from a family's home, the more difficult it would be to get the parents "involved."
6) Children's Health
This seems like a no-brainer to me. Isn't it healthier for kids to walk 10-30 minutes to school instead of riding a bus for 1 1/2 hours? Please, First Lady Obama, see the connection and work for strong neighborhood schools to combat childhood obesity!
7) The Next Step
Hopefully, the next step is changing the way school is "done." Keeping kids in the neighborhood, I believe, is a good first step. Allowing principals, teachers and parents to work together to create the school that is right for their neighborhood is what, I hope, will follow.
I'll talk about those "bad" teachers later.
Why are we closing schools? Doesn't that mean kids will have to travel farther from home to go to school? I doubt they are closing the wealthy, high-performing schools, so most of the kids affected are probably from neighborhoods with "poorly performing" schools, ie poor neighborhoods. There seem to me many reasons to put our resources toward ensuring all kids have a quality school within walking distance of their house.
1) Family Time
With family time dwindling, shouldn't we be finding ways to give families more time together? Increasing a child's commute to school does not do this. Kids must get up earlier (which makes them even more sleep deprived than they already are) and endure long bus rides to and from school (up to 3 hours a day, I've heard!). The school already chips away at family time by filling evenings with homework. When is a family supposed to just hang out together? To have that "quality" family time, you must first have some "quantity." If kids lived within a short walk to school, they could even go home for lunch--like they used to in the past (and like they still do in some European countries).
2) The Environment
Aren't we trying to decrease greenhouse gases? Why are we increasing the need for buses and cars to get kids to school? I have personally witnessed long lines of idling cars on a cold day waiting 15-30 minutes to pick up kids from school.
3) The Cost
That gas isn't cheap and running the extensive system of school buses isn't either.
4) Neighborhood Cohesion
With no school in the neighborhood, or most kids "choicing out," kids don't go to school with their neighbors. This means families in the same neighborhood might be less likely to know and interact with each other (playing after school, attending school functions, etc.). Neighborhood cohesion can affect all sorts of "indicators" for a health community: crime and safety, neighbors helping neighbors, goods and services in the neighborhood, etc.
5) Parental Involvement in Schools
"Parental involvement" is always mentioned as an indicator for school success. It seems to me that the farther a school is from a family's home, the more difficult it would be to get the parents "involved."
6) Children's Health
This seems like a no-brainer to me. Isn't it healthier for kids to walk 10-30 minutes to school instead of riding a bus for 1 1/2 hours? Please, First Lady Obama, see the connection and work for strong neighborhood schools to combat childhood obesity!
7) The Next Step
Hopefully, the next step is changing the way school is "done." Keeping kids in the neighborhood, I believe, is a good first step. Allowing principals, teachers and parents to work together to create the school that is right for their neighborhood is what, I hope, will follow.
I'll talk about those "bad" teachers later.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Where does creativity come from?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNwMut3-z1Y
Here is a great link about creativity.
Have a good Thanksgiving. We will spend the whole week with our extended family--another benefit of homeschooling and telecommuting!
Here is a great link about creativity.
Have a good Thanksgiving. We will spend the whole week with our extended family--another benefit of homeschooling and telecommuting!
Saturday, November 13, 2010
what will it take for radical education reform?
What if they built a school and nobody came?
Is that what it is going to take for "a radical rethink of our school systems" (words borrowed from Sir Ken Robinson)? In many neighborhoods (even good ones), people decide to "choice out" of their local school. Homeschooling is only one of many ways.
Will everyone have to abandon the public education system before there are radical changes made in the way we educate our children? Watch some of Sir Ken Robinsons' stuff to get inspired about what education can and should be. (http://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution.html , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U, http://sirkenrobinson.com/skr/) I just wonder how we can get to a place where the majority of our children (not just a small minority) are taught in safe and loving environments that encourage and reward creativity and thinking outside the box.
Is that what it is going to take for "a radical rethink of our school systems" (words borrowed from Sir Ken Robinson)? In many neighborhoods (even good ones), people decide to "choice out" of their local school. Homeschooling is only one of many ways.
Will everyone have to abandon the public education system before there are radical changes made in the way we educate our children? Watch some of Sir Ken Robinsons' stuff to get inspired about what education can and should be. (http://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution.html , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U, http://sirkenrobinson.com/skr/) I just wonder how we can get to a place where the majority of our children (not just a small minority) are taught in safe and loving environments that encourage and reward creativity and thinking outside the box.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
What about those families who teach their kids that evolution doesn't exist?
I say, let them.
The homeschooling parents who are teaching their kids this information were probably educated in a traditional public or private school. Attending a traditional school did not keep these parents from developing their extreme views. There are all types of extreme views and kids are going to hear them from their parents, whether they are homeschooled or not. Finally, with all the media out there, it is harder and harder for people to isolate themselves (or their kids) from mainstream ideas---whether they are good or bad. So, I say let parents teach what they want to teach, within the confines of the state homeschooling regulations. Their kids will eventually develop their own views--perhaps to their parents' chagrin.
The homeschooling parents who are teaching their kids this information were probably educated in a traditional public or private school. Attending a traditional school did not keep these parents from developing their extreme views. There are all types of extreme views and kids are going to hear them from their parents, whether they are homeschooled or not. Finally, with all the media out there, it is harder and harder for people to isolate themselves (or their kids) from mainstream ideas---whether they are good or bad. So, I say let parents teach what they want to teach, within the confines of the state homeschooling regulations. Their kids will eventually develop their own views--perhaps to their parents' chagrin.
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