Reflecting

Well, I've been reflecting on the passing of summer and the upcoming school year. This year, I admit defeat. We will not even contemplate "doing school" in the summer ever again. It simply didn't happen. Mane still read me the occasional book, and we played a few math-related games. She's taken to reading a number of things on her own because she wants to know what they say (street signs, t-shirts, billboards, and comics). We read some books related to early American history as the 4th of July approached. And that was that. We didn't do anything else.

Well, we didn't do anything else on purpose anyway...

Mane's education, strangely, continued at a steady pace throughout the summer. Looking back, I remember conversations in the car about speed and acceleration, about credit cards and banks, and about the English language.

Mane is currently carrying out her own experiment with bean sprouts.

She learned about construction while helping Mango with the basement project.

She looked through Vespera's photos of Mexico attentively, learning about Vespera's birthplace and the culture of the Mexican people.

We received a poster in the mail the other day with a timeline of all the American presidents. Mane asked questions about elections, the legislature, congress, the house of representatives, and the various wars, in which the U.S. has participated. She even asked questions that led to a discussion of democracies and dictatorships.

We had long talks about theology, about various religions, about faith and tolerance.

Mane learned about birds, bugs, plants, and weather. We were out in it. We talked about it. We experienced it. She caught tadpoles and frogs, she observed flies (yuck!) and deer and chipmunks.

We saw the science museum film about Arabia.

We went to the Irish fair and learned about Irish dancing, native dogs of Ireland, sheep herding, and the Potato Famine.

The list could go on and on. I see now why some studies show an actual jump in learning over the summer for some public-schooled kids (this was true only of children of college-educated, middle/upper income parents, which is another discussion altogether).

My experience this summer is almost (but not quite) enough to make me believe that un-schooling could work for us. If I could trust the process (and keep up the energy and momentum), Mane could learn everything she needed to know the same way she learned over the summer. The truth is, though, that I think we both appreciate the structure that comes with a new school year. The different form of learning over the summer give us a rest and prepare us for the more focused work ahead. As with so many things in life, we need a balance.

Mane made me a list today of some of the things she'd like to learn about this year. At the top of the list is some family history. We'll be delving into some culture and making some family trees! And we have an excellent FIAR book planned to lead the way....