Hackschooling?

The first time I heard the term "hackschooling," was on this video:

And, though our home education does not look exactly like this, I did pick up a wonderful facet to be added to our array of home learning.

See, the trouble began when our oldest daughter entered high school level.  Up until that point, learning had been a treat.  And I do mean TREAT.  Every day we were all diving into living books, being wowed by some amazing events in history, building castles, watching Mentos and Diet Coke explode to high heaven, creating new inventions, devouring poetry like it was candy....  And then high school came along, with its list of suggested curriculum, its long hours of tedious reading, and the ever-hanging-over-your-head let's-check-off-the-list set of guidelines.

That is when SCHOOL crept in, and learning went out the window.  Funny how that works, isn't it?

So one day my daughter tells me in a flood of tears, "I used to love history.  Now I hate it!!"  Ever have one of those moments when you aren't sure you're hearing correctly?  This is the child who, when we went on vacation last summer, lugged books about Abraham Lincoln so that she could research in her spare time.  So, to enter into high school and suddenly hate history...well, let's just say that red flags
went up, and the Mama alarm sounded.

Let me state that her history curriculum is not the typical boring textbook-ish type.  It is the best I've seen.  And yet there was a prevailing sense of you're-in-high-school-now-so-you-have-to-cram-this-stuff-down flow to the content.

And that killed learning.

Children (and adults!) retain what they make an emotional connection to.  That is why a child who is intrigued with sea creatures or the Civil War or the inner workings of a grand piano can spout off facts left and right, having never been forced to memorize those facts.  They remember, because they have connected to it.

The high school schedule is quite crammed.  A student has to study the entire history of the world in one year!  Think about that...the history of the whole world (THOUSANDS of years of events!) in 9-10 months of a school year!  In elementary levels, we have time to stop and make a pyramid or paint Chinese characters. But to follow the typical high school schedule, it's go-go-go through the material with no stopping for air from August to May.  Get it done to check off the box.  Then we can say that (PHEW!) they "learned" it (and thank goodness that is over!).

But do you truly think they are learning this stuff?  If you really want to know, then ask a recent graduate what they remember.  Really...try this.  It will make you rethink the forced flow of education. So, this led me to ask...is it better for them to spend the entire year reading every single word written in their world history books but then forgetting 99% of it...OR is it better to dive deeply into some areas and connect with those things so as to remember it long-term?  What is it we want in the end...a box that is checked off OR a child who truly understands and who has grown through the learning process?

Sometimes you have to step off the beaten path, even the beaten homeschooling path.  Enter in hackschooling.  I'm not much for labels, so I won't slap the title of hackschooling onto our education, but I am absolutely not opposed to skimming the cream off the top and enjoying it as part of the whole.  A couple of homeschool moms have asked me HOW we do this, so this is my attempt to put some flesh onto that concept.

Let me give a quick look at some aspects of our particular way of going about education, and then I'll come back to the concept of hackschooling in high school.

Our home education is quite rich to begin with.  If you could peek into our home during any given week, you'd see some traditional-looking learning going on...such as math being done on computers or in books.  This doesn't look a whole lot different than traditional settings...well, minus the school desks...oh, and the fact that we have 3 different math curricula for 4 children, each with a unique learning style and preference.  But you get my point here...we DO sit down and pull out some books.  But there are also very out-of-the-box things going on every day.  And THIS is where I consider most of the learning to be happening.  Like the time we built a cave and pretended to be early Christians hiding in the intricate system of secret tunnels...and then brewed some very strong tea to enjoy it like the Turkish people do.  They still remember this, though we did it several years ago.

Let's see...  There has been the making of Turkish Delight, inspired by the Chronicles of Narnia...

Learning bear safety in the Grand Teton National Park...  Ever touch a grizzly bear?

Getting their hands onto some really amazing things...

And here's a biggie in our home...IMAGINATION and CREATIVITY!  This day they were making a movie on the iPad.  These are Abraham Lincoln's sons, Tad (the young spoiled son), Robert (the older son)...oh and a cute little goat that belonged to Tad and would run loose in the White House (all facts!).  I highly doubt any of these children will ever forget President Lincoln and the ins and outs of his family life as well as his Presidency. (Side note: they are currently planning another movie based on one of the failed attempted assassinations of President Lincoln (did you know there were other attempts?).  Truly, there's never a dull moment in this house!)   And here's a key: THEY come up with this stuff, and Mama just rolls with it and makes sure they have what they need to accomplish what they set out to do.  If given the freedom to explore on their own, children will surprise you by doing things far beyond what you would have required or even dreamed of.

And here's our young comedian, giving his impersonation of the Confederate President...holding his Museum of the Confederacy mug, of course.  These kids KNOW the Civil War and can debate it with anyone who is willing.  Anyone up for that??

Yep, the Civil War is a big interest, so we took many opportunities to visit the Atlanta History Center...

Here, they were deep into recreating a scene they had read about in the book Rifles for Watie (which is a book I HIGHLY recommend if you want to really get into the mindset of a soldier during the Civil War).  

Here is my blossoming golfer being wowed and inspired by golfer Bobby Jones...

And who wouldn't want to climb onto an Olympic podium and imagine for a few minutes??

Here you can see where strong winds brought down a huge tree on our property.  The next day, they were climbing down into the hole to inspect the roots.  Some seriously raw science!

Did I mention creativity?  Here was a silly Christmas skit...

Our youngest son took an interest in piano and began learning via Piano Wizard.  Soon, though, he was very interested in moving on to more difficult pieces of music.  Using a self-teaching keyboard, he took to hours daily of learning some quite intense Beethoven music.  The keyboard can be heard at almost any hour of the day around here.  This also led to researching Beethoven's life.  And now, he is researching how to build a grand piano someday.  Dreams are very big when spaces are wide open!

And there have been many Chronicles of Narnia-inspired moments.  Costumes were created by our oldest daughter...everything from the dress to the quiver, arrows and bow...all very close to exact replicas from the movies.  This also led to her researching and learning archery. 

Our oldest daughter made this costume also.  And, the three oldest children took up sword fighting.   (Those are latex swords, so sword fighting can be done safely...fewer gray hairs for Mama!)

And here she is in the middle of a painting that she is creating for her new room.  She drew Narnia characters onto canvas and is now painting it (self-taught).

And let's talk about honing the habit of self control...  For a child who is naturally busy and full of energy, it takes some seriously calm self-control to put together a 2-story house of cards.

Now, with that little glance, you can see the direction we naturally go with our home education.  But what about these crammed high school years?  And if you let a child hack their own education, then what do you do if they are not at all interested in the French Revolution and would never take it upon themselves to learn about it?  Some people say force them to read it.  Some go the opposite extreme and say not to make them learn a single thing they aren't interested in.  For us, we tend to walk the middle of those extremes.

Here's an example.  Our daughter has recently come across the section in history about the French Revolution.  She has zero interest in this naturally.  So how do we hack this thing?  First, she gets a general idea of what the French Revolution is by reading some in her text.  If you can read about something and then tell someone about it, you internalize the information.  It will not be essential for her to remember every event of this point in history, but it is nice to at least know generally.  Then, as she's reading along, she comes across Marie Antoinette.  She's intrigued with this one person, so she pulls her iPad out and looks up Marie.  She's interested, so she digs into it, begins to bubble out information, "Mama, did you know that _______?" And while reading about Marie Antoinette, she is absorbing so much about the French Revolution.  This she will remember.  Why?  Because it is now something she has a connection with.

I flipped through the next several pages in her history book to give you a snapshot of other points of interest on the route.  This short snippet on Rembrandt may inspire some research on him...which may then also lead to getting out some art supplies and mimicking his style of art.

And Jane Austen...who can resist her classic literature?  You guessed it...  Pride and Prejudice is on the menu in the next few weeks.  (See...sometimes the child initiates an activity, and sometimes Mama sees a moment and offers some token nuggets of pure gold to be relished!  Pride and Prejudice will be handed to her...not as a chore but as a rich treasure to dig into.)

Coming up soon is a section in her history book about Ireland.  Being of Scotch-Irish decent, this will naturally lead into some discussions about family roots.  I have done some brief genealogy research at the Edinburgh Castle in Scotland, and that will most likely be a topic of discussion.  This could lead to making a family tree or studying genealogy.  I'm not sure what interest it will spark in our daughter, but as you can see, it's quite loaded with possibilities when you think of hacking into it to grab the most meaningful learning experience.

And here's another subject that is soon to come up in her history book... George Muller and his home for orphans in the 1800's.  We adore his life story, so I have no doubt that this will indeed be an area where diving in deep will be fruitful and amazing!

William Wilberforce is also awaiting discovery.  Because our children are so drawn to President Lincoln and his role in freeing slaves, I imagine they will take interest in Wilberforce's role in the slavery debate also.  This one is just begging to be explored in deeper detail.

It's not about reading every word in a textbook.  It's about really understanding the whys and hows and being able to grow from it.  It's about digging deeply as one would search for buried treasure.  And truly, if you lose the conventional restrictions of education, there's amazing freedom and wide open spaces to light the blaze of learning.

Celebrating Down Syndrome

You've met our Asian princess who is blessed with an extra 21st chromosome...  And since yesterday was World Down Syndrome Day, I thought I'd celebrate by posting some recent photos from park day.  

Sometimes I am be-bopping along in my little world, blissfully unaware of cold hard facts.  One of those facts is that Down Syndrome is seen by many people as a negative thing.  This revelation may not surprise you, but it always has a way of dropping my jaw.  You may as well tell me that brownies are inedible or that the sky is polka dotted.  Saying that Down Syndrome is anything less than an amazing blessing is so opposite of the truth I know.  Sometimes I just want people to have a peek into my days with a special needs child...a reality show of sorts to set the record straight.  Hear me say this: DOWN SYNDROME ROCKS!

Here's our little friend J.  (Really...super cute, right?)   When I was going back through my tons of photos from this park day, this one picture just made my heart extra happy.  Seriously, can you look at this photo and not feel some happiness that bubbles up from the depths of your being and spreads into a smile on your face?  I dare you not to smile.  See, nearly impossible, right?

And here comes more sunshine down the slide...

Can you not see the sheer joy of feeling the wind through her hair?

J's turn to swing...

And up they go climbing the stairs to the biggest slide on the playground.  There's nothing holding these little guys back.  It's all gas and go!

Sometimes they need a buddy to take their hand.

And sometimes they need an extra push to get going.

But the pure, unfiltered joy they exude is beyond words.  I could write all day and never hit on the amount of love these children have.  I'm convinced that that extra 21st chromosome is an extra bulging package of love.  The kind of love that most of us don't know how to give.  The kind of love that forgives instantly...and gives sacrificially...and loves unconditionally.  Yes, we may help them cut their food into bite-size pieces...or help them pronounce a word correctly...or help them cope with sensory issues.  But it is they who have the greater work.  They are the real teachers, because they model for us the love that Jesus lived out daily.  They may not even possess the words to be able to express the love in their hearts, but their actions scream it from the rooftops.

If only the world could work together the way these special friends do...

 (Okay...side note...  Are they not super cute in their glasses?  These are the best glasses in the world...MIRAFLEX....practically indestructible...and they come in zillions of colors.  Here you see the princess modeling pink and the handsome prince decked out in blue.)

And I'm always amazed at the connection they have.  Look at the body language here...

J spotted our daughter's cup, and without a word from either of them, he reached across the table to give it to her.  Why?  Because that's what you do when you see a friend whose water is too far for her to reach.

And again...this amazing connection.  She reaches out to J quite often, I've noticed.

And in case you were wondering the logistics of gathering 8 energetic children together for a group photo, here you have it...

Take one...  

Take two...

 Take three...

And take four...  

Notice the burst of extra chromosomal sunshine in this photo...as if on cue...  LOVE IT!

Some Unconventional Math

As some of y'all have pointed out, my blog has been silent for awhile.  It's been a season of redirection, with many upcoming changes in the wings.  I took some quiet time, but I'm back.  More about those changes soon...

In the meantime, let's talk unconventional education (ahhh, one of my passions!).

Remember...true education is not simply getting through a textbook and passing the tests.  Most of us grew up like that, so we accept it as the definition of education.  But think back...really ask yourself what you remember from your many years in a classroom.  To learn it is to own it.  How much do we own from those textbooks of days gone by?  Or did we merely store it in short-term memory until test day, spit it out and move on?

Sometimes education does beg to be redefined, and we have found our family to be always on the path of discovering and honing the definition of true learning.

Yesterday we embarked on a fun activity making a pop-up card.  Sounds simple enough.  Construction paper, scissors, and glue littered the coffee table, and they looked at some directions on how to make a triangle fractal cutout.  So, with brows wrinkled in concentration and hands busy, the questions began to surface.  What is a fractal?  Is this math as well as art?  Whoa...check out what mine looks like...how does that work?  (Remember...Mama is a facilitator here, letting them probe and discover)

When they were finished with their triangle fractal cutout, they wanted to understand fractals.  We looked up information, learned about how a French mathematician discovered the concept, and then looked at a gallery of math fractals.

When Daddy arrived home from work, it was the first thing they talked about.  "Look what we made today.  Do you know what a triangle fractal is?"  Right in the middle of the kitchen, they educated him on fractals with bubbling excitement reserved for only the coolest of discoveries.

Their cutouts were set out on the kitchen counter, and they discovered that when the light shone through them, it decorated the counter with repeating patterns.  And little lightbulbs went off in blossoming minds: "OH!  Look at the pattern on the counter!  They were right...a fractal really IS a repeating pattern...see how it repeats and gets smaller?!"

Could math get more delicious than this??  And fractals are now part of the rich treasure chest in their minds.  They discovered it, and they now own it.  How much more vibrant and real than to simply read the definition in a textbook and memorize it for a test?

frac·tal  (frăk′təl)

n.

A geometric pattern that is repeated at ever smaller scales to produce irregular shapes and surfaces that cannot be represented by classical geometry. Fractals are used especially in computer modeling of irregular patterns and structures in nature.