The Uncomfortable Place!

http://images.clipartpanda.com/stop-sign-clipart-z7TaM5XiA.png

Today I decided and acted on this one word.

STOP!

The truth is that although I had these amazing ideas to un school or to de school and in reality we have to a certain extent, the teacher in me.... the fearful one in me... the voice that worried about the " what if " won and so we have been soldiering on with Maths and some English .

Last night, after a darling friend dropped off some maths to peruse , I decided to STOP. And so today we did out last maths for the year.

I can spot the gaps and I can see the cracks as he works but hey, next year is another year to begin a fresh and get going.

STOP!

The firmest and friendliest word I have said!

So we blew up balloons and made  a tactile balloon ball with cornstarch  that did not work as well as the bloke on Youtube made it work.

We made those beaded iron shaped goodies and we bought some dough to make "Suzzelle" bread tomorrow.

While I explore Project Based learning , lets get some projects going.

As Jets fellow grade 4 kids write exams and have Christmas assembly  and all that jazz, I have to say that strangely, none of that feels at all as though we are missing out.

I think it is because of this one all pervasive truth.... Jet is still singing, loving art and drama, joining in and did I say singing.

A friend popped by that has known Jet since birth. She spent some time with Tom and Jet as I was teaching art and then she came through. Her eyes all shining and happy as she shared with me how totally happy Jet is. How engaged and chatty. My eyes brimmed with tears. 

He may very well NOT be getting the absolute best of education but can we put a price on this boys  deep happiness?

Lets get Doing!

This is week 5 of the term. For us as a family we are busy as bees with exams. Our older two are writing grade 8 and 10 exams respectively and the third is about to begin grade 6. For those who do not know, Grade 6 exams are the ones the high schools use to decide if a child is the "right" fit for their particular school , or not.

I find exam time both slightly stressful and also great. The kids get to come home early  and I loving having them around. The banter and fun amidst the learning and serious stuff is a delight. Our school going kids are lead extremely full lives. Some of this is great and other parts are not. Learning to juggle,balance, pace , re-adjust and even say no are things that they are each learning along the way.

In the midst of all this, this is the de - schooling term for our Jet.

As I am still juggling art classes in the mornings , we have had to swish and swash through some days and really plan others.

I am a person who finds education exciting. The different ideas, shifts,offers, and thoughts on what should be and is really inspire me.

I also find children interesting. Having an ADHD family has forced me to investigate alternative brain diversities and learning methods. I am still trying to get my head around some of the workings out of these.

As I sit with Jet, his thinking process fascinates me. There is much about how he learns and engages I do not yet know BUT a picture is revealing itself and it is one that was puzzling and concerning me .

If you know anything about ADHD children you will know that their learning and engaging with the world is different and complex. ADHD that we experience is the tip of the ice berg and below the ice berg are many complexities unique to each child. 

As I watched him think I could literally see the frustration and anxiety one day as we did some maths. This was AS his meds kicked it. But , as soon as they  had, he was off.

Settled?

Not really. One of our aims in taking Jet out of school was to Switch him on to learning again because we are all designed to learn and love it, to inquire and ask questions and yet that was not his experience.

Partly his ADHD played into it and partly not. ADHD people experience a great deal of bordem ( I have written about this on my ADHD blog). Jet was extremely bored. Not because he is supper bright or the work was dull but because he struggled to engage it.

Coming home I can see that struggle still exists. So now I have a problem. I kept thinking that there must be another way. A way to engage him that is really going to get to him.

Last night I found it.

As I have been working with him, I can see the difference between his engagement on project work and making stuff as apposed to a simple written task. While he will need to do some of these, there is another way.

Project based learning

and its fellow friend 

Inquiry based learning

These are not the same thing but both engage the child in the learning process although in different ways. There are overlaps. 

This is all new thinking to me and I am really excited by it all.

For the first time I think we may have hit on something here. I was thrilled to see schools are using these two approaches in the USA and they really seemed to be places of awesome learning.

Isn't that what we all want. Places that kids actually learn and enjoy doing it? 

There is so much more for me to explore here.

But for now, God has answered our prayer in this regard, in a day actually.

Thanks be to God!