Ecotopia, a life model.

The decision to Homeschool... 

(or how the hokey pokey makes a difference)

We all know the stereotype of homeschooled kids. They are awkward, don't know how to make friends, are endlessly nerdy and have no idea what pop culture is due to their massively sheltered lives :)

I never actually thought I'd end up homeschooling. Especially once I found Montessori. Then 2 things happened. First I found the book called Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach and second, my little sister came to live with us. 

First: Ecotopia. This book Blew My Mind. It truly was a life altering read. For those who are not familiar this is the books synopsis: 

Ecotopia was founded when northern California, Oregon, and Washington seceded from the Union to create a “stable-state” ecosystem: the perfect balance between human beings and the environment. Now, twenty years later, this isolated, mysterious nation is welcoming its first officially sanctioned American visitor: New York Times-Post reporter Will Weston.

Skeptical yet curious about this green new world, Weston is determined to report his findings objectively. But from the start, he’s alternately impressed and unsettled by the laws governing Ecotopia’s earth-friendly agenda: energy-efficient “mini-cities” to eliminate urban sprawl, zero-tolerance pollution control, tree worship, ritual war games, and a woman-dominated government that has instituted such peaceful revolutions as the twenty-hour workweek and employee ownership of farms and businesses. His old beliefs challenged, his cynicism replaced by hope, Weston meets a sexually forthright Ecotopian woman and undertakes a relationship whose intensity will lead him to a critical choice between two worlds.

A hippy book? (as my husband calls it) Yes. But amazing none the less. The 20 hour work week was particularly interesting to me along with the notion that "school" is more like summer camp/homeschooling/unschooling. In Ecotopia, life is about honesty, conservation (of the land and of the self) and community. These are tenets that rang true and deep for me. 

I told my husband that I would move to Ecotopia in a heart beat and realized how sad I was that I couldn't, what with it being an imaginary place and all... I feel that way after reading lots of books with fanciful worlds but Ecotopia seems possible to me. 

My 3 homeschool students :)

Second: My little sister came to live with us. She is 12 now. She was 11 when she came and we got to experience her 6th grade year of public school. It was amazing. We spent the first semester fighting nightly, over homework, until we quit helping her because she was so rude. But the deeper problem was that she was getting assignments that she couldn't complete on her own because public school had failed miserably at "teaching" her prior to her 6th grade year. They made sure she 'knew' something for a test and didn't care if she retained, remembered or held on to it for life. But then expected her to find that information in August for the next grade. This was infuriating. She was expected to fall in step with kids who were beyond her understanding AND keep up. It wasn't until we got her final grades during the summer that I officially lost it. In the first month of school she was put into a math support class. So she attended her normal math/science class AND she then went to another math class where they went over all work from the normal math class. Sounds great, right?! A whole other class that assists her in getting her math homework done. It was brought to our attention through, observations of her work and inability to complete simple math equations, that the math support class was simply "going over" the work, which resulted in the giving of answers.... not the learning of skills. So her grades came and she had failed math... but aced the math support class. She also failed 2 other classes. 

And they were passing her to 7th grade!! Lets pass her till 12th grade and then hold her diploma till she "learns" how to pass the tests. 

Now, I don't blame teachers... mostly. I blame the system. (now, if teachers stood up for individual students rights and needs and say... went on strike to force a reform... well there's a story, but I digress). 

I believe the public school model is out dated, and I'm not the only one.

Trevor Eissler has a few takes on the subject

Ryan Normandin, staff writer for The Tech online edition 

Has a few thoughts.

Ken Robinson: 'How school kills creativity' Is funny but serious and brilliant.









These are just a few of examples. Take a moment, watch, read and most of all think.

So there I am, Ecotopia on the brain and a sister who failed 6th grade and is still passing. My own daughter would have started 1st grade in public school this year, based on her birthday. So I did a bit of research on homeschooling before we made the choice. I first went to the Hawaii Department of Education website... if I was going to homeschool I needed to know what standards were expected of us. I read over the 7th grade set... then the 6th... then the 5th, there I found mostly where my sister was. Except in math... she was below 5th and I couldn't bring myself to set her at 4th grade standards, so we took the Montessori approach, assessed her as an individual and made our plans from there.

Then I read through the 1st grade standards to see what my daughter should be learning. I could count on 1 hand the number of 1st grade standards that she didn't already know... as a kindergarden graduate. So I went into the 2nd grade standards and found where she was in math... but still not in language or world languages or technologies... I didn't go to the 3rd grade... I gave up. I have the standards printed for each girls respective "grade level" (1st and 7th) but we rarely reference them. And I felt bad about that... at first.

Then I got a dose of Montessori memory. Montessori assesses each child, plans for them and teaches them, period. No "standards" or grades. So why was I suddenly guilty about not adhering to the standards... and the guilt was gone. I believe the public system is flawed, so why would I follow the standards of a flawed system? Because I've been conditioned, brainwashed to follow it.

I went back to my Montessori roots and planned our curriculum for the year WITH the girls. We made a list of things we were interested in learning about. This is where 'only passionate curiosity' was VERY helpful. This blog gave me a few pages to get me started on organizing my thoughts and plans. Once I had that all planned out. Daily lessons came fast and furious. Take a look at her simple pages and use them to get your homeschool experience organized and moving.

I know homeschool is not for everyone. And realistically, if we weren't on an island that had NO Montessori programs for my sister... we might not be homeschooling, they would probably be in a Montessori school. But now that we're here and doing it, I wouldn't trade it. At all. My daughter is still moving at a pace to be reckoned with, reading into the 2nd grade level and my sister has taken up cooking, do you realize how much math is in cooking?? Even though she constantly has to add or subtract fractions, convert teaspoons to tablespoons and reread recipes when she tries to tell me we need 10 4oz packets of ranch mix for our dressing... she sticks with it. The ability to use what she loves to teach has made a great difference in her learning to love learning.

Which is totally Hokey Pokey (what it's all about).

ING
!jen

Turning 'toys' into shelf work.

Making Work for the Shelf

(how to turn any TOY into a job)

I'm often faced with teachers who say "that's just a toy, it shouldn't be on the shelf." To them I reply "that's just your lack of creativity talking, watch." Then I show said teacher exactly what my kids are getting from that "toy" on the shelf.

So this is a little intro to making any toy into a job for the shelf of your classroom, wether that classroom is in a center based program or your own home, the principles are the same.

I once took over a classroom in a performing arts school and though the owner knew a little about Montessori philosophy the teacher I took over from, did not. The result was a slew of 'materials' that were just toys being rotated every few weeks with no real intention behind what was chosen, when it was rotated or how it was displayed. So I became unexpectedly adept at turning "toys" into jobs. 

The classroom had a pretend stove and fridge in the dramatic play corner. I broke them up. Turned the stove into a practical life shelf. And the fridge became our sensorial (on the left side) and beginning math shelf (on the right side). I spent a few hours cleaning out all the fake food that was shoved in and on every shelf. Step 1 was to organize the food and decide who much was actually being used. I tried several different variations before making a final decision. I had to weed out what they weren't using and categorize what they were so they could actually play with all the pieces... novel idea!

Next we were on to the "toys". The first step there was 'purpose'. Determining a purpose (or lesson) for each material. Most "toys" can be very versatile.

Like the plastic keys in 5 colors could be a color sorting work but the keys also varied in size (and shape)... a size (or shape) sorting job, or I could place keys in various patterns, take pictures, laminate the pictures and then we have a patterning work. Once choices are made as to the purpose of the material, setting up the tray and placing it on the right shelf are much easier. I decided to make the keys into a color sorting job (sensorial shelf), as a few of my kids were pretty little. I left the rings out... again, little hands got frustrated with the intricate task of placing keys on the rings and snapping the rings closed. Then I put all the keys into a bucket on a tray, with color labels. Labels get placed on the rug and keys sorted under them. After this job rotated out and back in, I changed it's purpose. You may ask "weren't they confused by the change in lesson?" NOPE. With the job being off the shelf completely for a time, it was easy to reintroduce. Additionally, if kids are using it in the old way, it was ok. As long as they are being respectful with the materials... I'm pretty flexible on HOW they use them.

Another example.

I currently have a magnetic doll set. Now some teachers, even Montessori ones, would take that nicely separated tray that 'Melissa and Doug' sell their magnetic doll in and place it right on the shelf. Which is fine. It allows for creativity and maybe even teamwork if you have the set with a boy and a girl in it. However, it could be so much more. A matching work: take pictures of predetermined clothing combinations and have students try to match the outfits you made. A sequencing work: laying out 'bottoms' from shortest to tallest or laying out tops, least colors to most colors. A patterning work: lay all clothes out in predetermined patterns (take pictures before hand) or let students make their own patterns (top, pants, shoe, top, pants, shoe or shoe, skirt, shoe skirt). Also don't be afraid to eliminate a few pieces, especially for younger children. Like for my son  (2), I'd only put out the clothing pieces he needed to do the job, no distractions and less pieces to loose.

We do similar things, now that we're homeschooling, with our play kitchen. Right now it has a 'pizza serving' work and 'ice cream serving' as part of our serving others/ manners curriculum and 'cooking utensils' as part of our creativity curriculum. These rotate as we find new things on sale or at goodwill.

What areas of your playroom or classroom could use a sprucing? Go shopping at places like Ross or Goodwill to find great deals on "toys" that you can turn into a fun new job.

If you have a material in mind but need a bit of inspiration as to how to put it on the shelf, please email me. I LOVE getting inspired by what others are doing and offering a bit of that inspiration back.

 ING
!jen