Maps
A year or two ago, Taliesin, my now twelve-year old, was in a Sunday school class. One of his teacher was concerned because they had studied something that had to do with maps, and Taliesin was confused about "states" and "countries." I explained to her that Taliesin's dyslexia made things like that difficult for him.
I tried to remain calm in front of her. Being a former school teacher, and her husband being a former school teacher, she often felt it was her place to bring concerns about Taliesin's learning differences to me. A big one was "he doesn't want to read in class." Every time I explained to her that if she focused on Taliesin's strengths (for instance, the fact that he could answer nearly every Bible-related question they asked), that would help him a lot.
As I said, I think I did a pretty fair job of remaining calm in front of her; but inside I was stressing - because she was a former school teacher and because her husband was a former school teacher and because I know of other homeschoolers who had experienced major problems in this same situation.
After a couple of years, I did leave this church. In fact, after leaving this church, we began housechurching, which has been wonderful for us. (My ten-year old, social kid - the one I was worried about leaving the organized church because of his love of socializing - told me recently that he is glad we started housechurching). I left for several reasons, none of them truly major. But this concern on the part of Taliesin's teacher was part of it. I often left church feeling very stressed because so many people do not understand our unschooling lifestyle.
That leads me to yesterday. Taliesin loves what are called Scary Places books. They are kids' books that tell of abandoned amusement parks and haunted hotels and old insane asylums. Anything creepy.
Yesterday, while we were running errands, Taliesin brought his Scary Places collection. We were reading them and discussing them as a family. (We got into conversations about slavery, prohibition, the psychological effect of fear, among others because of our reading together). Later that afternoon, he also brought them to the park. As we sat by a stream, he told me he was going to write these events on his timeline we began the other day that coincides with our St. Patrick and Ireland study. Then he got the idea to write these events on maps to coincide with the locations at which the events occurred.
And that's just what he did. When he got home, he began writing dates on the maps and drawing lines to show how far these events occurred from Kansas (our home state). He had no problem distinguishing between states and countries. In fact, he had very few on which he had to ask for help. I thought I would have to help him find Ukraine. Nope. He pulled out the correct map and spotted it by himself. He knew which continent to search.
As I watched Taliesin perform this activity, I could not help but think of what I love about unschooling. Just a year or two ago, I was stressed because a teacher did not feel he was where he should be. Now, he's doing it on his own and loving doing it. One more to add to my list for the next time I allow someone else's comments to stress me out.
I tried to remain calm in front of her. Being a former school teacher, and her husband being a former school teacher, she often felt it was her place to bring concerns about Taliesin's learning differences to me. A big one was "he doesn't want to read in class." Every time I explained to her that if she focused on Taliesin's strengths (for instance, the fact that he could answer nearly every Bible-related question they asked), that would help him a lot.
As I said, I think I did a pretty fair job of remaining calm in front of her; but inside I was stressing - because she was a former school teacher and because her husband was a former school teacher and because I know of other homeschoolers who had experienced major problems in this same situation.
After a couple of years, I did leave this church. In fact, after leaving this church, we began housechurching, which has been wonderful for us. (My ten-year old, social kid - the one I was worried about leaving the organized church because of his love of socializing - told me recently that he is glad we started housechurching). I left for several reasons, none of them truly major. But this concern on the part of Taliesin's teacher was part of it. I often left church feeling very stressed because so many people do not understand our unschooling lifestyle.
That leads me to yesterday. Taliesin loves what are called Scary Places books. They are kids' books that tell of abandoned amusement parks and haunted hotels and old insane asylums. Anything creepy.
Yesterday, while we were running errands, Taliesin brought his Scary Places collection. We were reading them and discussing them as a family. (We got into conversations about slavery, prohibition, the psychological effect of fear, among others because of our reading together). Later that afternoon, he also brought them to the park. As we sat by a stream, he told me he was going to write these events on his timeline we began the other day that coincides with our St. Patrick and Ireland study. Then he got the idea to write these events on maps to coincide with the locations at which the events occurred.
And that's just what he did. When he got home, he began writing dates on the maps and drawing lines to show how far these events occurred from Kansas (our home state). He had no problem distinguishing between states and countries. In fact, he had very few on which he had to ask for help. I thought I would have to help him find Ukraine. Nope. He pulled out the correct map and spotted it by himself. He knew which continent to search.
As I watched Taliesin perform this activity, I could not help but think of what I love about unschooling. Just a year or two ago, I was stressed because a teacher did not feel he was where he should be. Now, he's doing it on his own and loving doing it. One more to add to my list for the next time I allow someone else's comments to stress me out.
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