The social experiment needs a change

It has been said that school is the biggest social experiment of the time of humans.  I see the President calling for "Education reform"  I see zero tolerance policies expelling small children for toy guns, I see the NJEA claiming to care about students but seemingly caring more about Superintendents inflated salaries and I see bullying gone so far as to cause young people to take their own lives.

Oh yes we need reform but not in the form of longer days, stricter classes, harder tests.  We do not need more school.  We need less.
Children need one on one supervision and care.  Children need to be heard.   Children need to play and they need to wonder and they need to make mistakes.
They need adults to guide them and show them right from wrong.

You can't win a battle with a bully by legislating behavior or using zero tolerance polices or lenghty assemblies on bullying.
Bullying starts and ends with self confidence and an abiltiy to  feel empathy.  This is milestone and kids don't have it immediately.
Throwing them all together in a classsroom where emotional needs of all can not be met is the makings for bullying. 
I know not all kids can be homeschooled.  It's just not reality.    However while the subject is on Education reform, let's stop and think what the kids need not what we think will make them into smarter faster little robots that can outperform other countries.
Let's slow them down, let them create and show them that the adults around them care about them and will guide them through difficult feelings.  Show them we care more about how they feel  than we care about math grade.
Sounds like an impossible plan , I know.; However as long as reform is on the table let's really reform it and not just make it stricter and firmer. That's not reformation.  That's just more of the same.

Socialization is the number one question people ask about homeschooled kids.  How will they make friends everyone wonders.   My biggest mistake in homeschooling was letting the worry about making friends more important than family life. It's not that I don't think kids should have other kids to play with but it isn't the be all end all that we sometimes think it is.  I think there is a school mentality that is so pervasive that it influences how children are raised. School is not the answer to social children.  With cliques and bullies the experiment shows over and over that children's basic needs are  being neglected yet the rules just keep stricter and kids are being expelled b/c the school can't deal with any infraction (Hey they might get sued for the 5 year old bringing the toy gun to school) 
If the school can not deal with teaching the child then maybe that's where reform needs to start.  Not with grades not with test scores but with making the school enviornment one that meets children's needs.

Let them play let them learn. 

So how do you like your parents?

A shoulder shrug.  A bored or irritated expression.  So the asker wonders, "hmm I guess they don;t like their parents.  They would probably be better off with other parents.  If they had other parents these kids would answer, 'We love our parents!!  It's great and so much better than having other parents'
Or maybe the inquisition begins with, "So how do you like life?"  Again my kids stare off wonder about this odd question and get bored and want to leave this place where people ask strange questions and make them feel "on the spot"  

Well my kids aren't asked those exact questions but they are sometimes asked, "So how do you like homeschooling?" 
Of course it would be great if my kids gushed on about how great it is and how we go to so many museums, and have so much free time for playing and they learn at their own pace  but sometimes mommy rushes the pace but we understand b/c we are well adjusted (more so than you school types)  and incredibly bright for our age. 
..but they don't.

My kids stumble on that question everytime and I see the wheels turning in the askers head. "AHA!" they think.  These kids would rather be in school" 
My kids have never been to school so the question "how do you like homeschooling?" requires a comparison my kids can not make. 
They would prefer not to be interviewed about ths homeschool stuff and would rather go on not feeling different.  They feel like regular kids and do not know why people are so hung up on this subject. 

September

September is looming around the corner and of course my thoughts are of, "Back to school".  The weather changes and my body can feel the back to schoolness of the air.  For some this feeling might be of exccitemet of new beginings, of clean pristine notebooks and paper ready for the new student who is going to buckle down this year.
For me,I still get nervous and I like reminding myself, "You are not going back"  I generally have to remind myself this until the end of September. 

For my kids though, September is just one more month closer to Johanna's birthday and Christmas, which they count down all year long. 
I try not to make September sound like the beginning of anything and hope they feel the same about September as any other month.  We enjoy the back to school sales in August and we celebrate the 1st  day of NOT back to school at the zoo each year on the first day of our town's first day back to school. 
In my head though the plans are reeling for the "school year" which we do not follow but  my own habits wont let me relinquish.  

I try and introduce my kids to various subjects and see what sticks throughout the year.  My kids dont; know that in September I get his urge to "buckle down"  to "do" school.  I'm pretty sure it is really just that clean notebook smell in the air that makes me want to get down to business.  So I placate myself with trips to Staples for "back to school" supplies; which include glue sticks and pens and rulers and oh those lovely brand new notebooks.  10 cents a piece!!!!  I love those notebooks because they make me feel ready to face the world because I can write things down and take notes and make lists.  I will conquer homeschooling,oh I mean eclectic homeschooling, no no I mean unschooling, whatever it is called I can conquer it with those notebooks. 

...And then I remember; there is nothing to conquer.  September is merely about "almost fall"  and my birthday and one month til Johanna's birthday and 3mos 'til Christmas. 
I'll keep trying to save the "New year" for January. 

 Michael snapped the above pic with a camera he got for his birthday.  )

The best way to to get Johanna interested in any subject (Ok except handwriting)  is to bring animals into it. 
Recently we discovered on youtube some wonderful Animaniacs videos that starred some very cute and funny but most importantly very bright cats.
these cats, Yakko, wakko, and Dot through their very catchy lyrics have taught my kids the all the states and their capitols, the nations of the world, the planets , all the presidents up until Bill Clinton and some information about the universe.  (Note to Steven Spielberg; you're missing out on cash cow not making these songs into CDs. )
My kids are glued to maps and globes and USA puzzle maps.  The latest car game is "guess the state!" and both kids can correcty give clues as to East. West or Mid West , although Michael sometimes gets confused or maybe jsut an't remember which state he WAS thinking of they have the right idea.
Geogrpahy is fun!  These are also not lessons that end. They go on all day for days with kids learning things about states and making up new games.  "Guess the state bird is a new game these days.  We have some maps from "Which Way USA" and they give littel bits of info on them including state birds.  One day Micael yelled out to me "What is the state bird of Oregon?"  while staring at the map. 
"Um oriole?" I guess, wondering if he will try and read it or if he even can
"I can't it read it he yells back"
"Spell it to me"
"Ok " he says then very slowly he says, "S-t-a-t-e  b-i-r-d"  At least he was in the right place on the map.


 Another oldie but goodie game is license plate identification, which has us yelling out out of state license plate as they pass by or taking the long way out of the parking lot so we can see , "yup Illinois has President Lincoln on it" Speaking of Abraham Lincoln did you know he is Johanna's favorite president?  

This book tells the story abut how Lincoln was an animal lover and pardoned the 1st turkey on Thanksgiving.  

If it is true that the way to man's heart is through his stomach then the way to my kids knowledge is through animals.