Our new program

We’ve officially begun our new homeschooling program. Although, officially, we’re not actually homeschoolers. The program is a registered independent “Distributed Learning” school, so DD is registered as a Kindergartener. However, the Ministry of Education is watching the program closely, and with interest, recognizing that it represents a very unique model for education.

As part of our requirements I have to complete an “Observation for Learning” form every other week. This is supposed to be a description of the things we’ve done with an emphasis on how DD felt about the activities, what her emotional state was and her energy level. Our Learning Consultant then translates this into “education-ese”, or “ministry-speak”, for the purposes of reassuring the government that we are actually “doing something”. Since I enjoy writing, this is not a burden to me, and the record of reports provides a personal journal of our learning experiences.

I also have to complete a “Weekly Hours” form, to document how many hours we spend on each type of activity. Being a very unschooling friendly program, our LC reminds us that this is really the equivalent of “attendance” for the Ministry, and is not meant to be incredibly accurate. After all, learning happens in bits and pieces throughout the day, and one experience (say, a trip to the local Bird Sanctuary) can involve various subjects, such as Ecology, spirituality (connecting with nature), logical thought (how to dole out the birdseed to maximize enjoyment), etc. But I’m finding that it actually isn’t hard to do the form – as a K student DD is only required to log 12.5 hours of learning per week. Between classes at the Ecology Centre, gym class, and various day trips it doesn’t appear to be hard to make up those hours. Many parents just consider it the price of being in this funded program, and getting our preloaded Visa cards with which we can purchase learning materials.

I’m already finding that being in this mindset is helping me get organized with our learning in terms of my time management. For example, today DD and I leafed through a magazine full of craft and decorating ideas for fall. I suggested we go to an art supply store and do a craft from the magazine. Normally this idea would sit in the back of my mind for weeks until an opportunity happened to present itself. But now I see a chance to log some “creative arts” time. So I sat down with my planner and have set aside some time this Thursday to do it. This is the sort of motivation I need to put our ideas into action, prioritize activities, and also try to vary DD’s exposure to various subjects. It’s easy to get completely wrapped up in her passion for science and nature and not make an effort to introduce her to other things.

A new project to get excited about!

I posted about this on my regular blog, but since it has definite value as a learning opportunity I thought I’d post about it here, too.

I’ve been thinking about getting a pet (AnnaB spoke my mind). I’m not ready for the commitment of a dog (and the landlords need to be convinced that Basement Suite Dude won’t run out and get one and have it penned up inside for 12 hours a day, saying “if they get one, I want one too!”). I find rodents boring (except rats, which are way cool, but only live for 2 years – too many funerals in my child’s lifetime). I had a cat and they are okay but frankly, I’m just not a cat person. Bunnies are cute but…what do you do with them, exactly? DD wants a lizard. I could do a gecko, but again what do you do with them? After a while it’s just another mouth to feed and another creature’s poop to deal with.

Then I stumbled across THIS and realized that not only would they be great pets but I could have my very own free range organic eggs as a bonus! I saw a video called Urban Chicken (scroll to the bottom of the page for the movie link) and they look like they would be fun. Not to mention they eat bugs that could get in your garden, they eat kitchen scraps, and their poop makes for good compost. Win-win situation, I say!

And of course the kids would get experience in caring for animals, as well as learning a valuable lesson about food and where it comes from.

Now I just need to figure out if I can get one, if I can convince the landlords to let me have one, if the city will let me have them, and if I can save up enough $$ for one. They are pricey, but oh so nice-looking. And when I consider what myself or any member of my immediate family would come up with given a hammer, nails, and a trip to Home Depot it puts the expenditure in a whole new light (think ugly chicken-shack that will rain-rot, fall apart, and allow local wildlife to dine on my hens!).

We’re in!

When the Silverdale program went all “ministry of education” on us there was a mass exodus of unschooling families to the SelfDesign program at Wondertree and I missed a spot before I’d even made up my mind to join. I found out today that they opened up some more spaces for registration this year. I’ve just completed the application and am very excited! So many of my homelearning friends are in this program and I am excited to have an excuse to start DD’s portfolio. Yes, I get off on that sort of thing. Sad, but true!

In other discoveries, yesterday I found out that the area we’re moving to has its own homelearner’s group that, by all reports, is fairly well organized. Some of my city-dwelling friends go to their meetings and events (our new suburb is very close to downtown), and we can still stay involved with our current homelearner’s group as well. There’s alot of overlap between the local groups. I’m excited about having a new community to visit without abandoning my ties with the city homelearners I’ve come to know and love. Most of them are in SelfDesign anyways, so we’ll also encounter one another in the “online village” that SelfDesign maintains.

I know I need this sort of structure to really optimize our time. I’m finding it too easy to get distracted by my own responsibilities and projects. And I’m really excited about sitting down with DD and creating a Learning Plan (see here for a great example).