Catholic Ecclectic Unschooling?!

I recently have had two realizations about our approach to homeschooling.  I'm slowly starting to take ownership of it and finding what works and what doesn't.  I'm glad that I'm using these preschool years to do this trial and error, so that once we start to report for kindergarten, we can hit the ground running.

Here is a list of subject areas that I am currently working with when planning out lessons for our preschool.

1. practical life skills
2. sensorial
3. literacy
4. numeracy
5. nature/science
6. culture/geography
7. health
8. physical education
9. music & music appreciation
10. art & art appreciation
11. languages (ASL, Polish, Spanish)
12. literature & poetry
13. religion (faith, morals, liturgy, prayer)

I come back to the way I utilize lesson plans after first discussing the first big overhaul of our approach to homeschooling, faith.

At last Sunday's homily, our pastor drove home the point that Christ needs to be at the center of our lives, and that religion cannot be merely one of the areas of our life, something I've been guilty of for sure.  The first thing that popped into my mind was that we needed to rethink our homeschooling approach. I pulled out the book on Catholic homeschooling that I got at the Catholic homeschool curriculum fair we attended and started reading.

We always said that we decided to homeschool for various reasons, none of which were religious.  But that doesn't mean that we are stuck with a secular homeschool for life!  One of the things that really struck me so far from the book was relating how children sent to secular schools to learn "real subjects" and only hearing about God's presence in their lives on the periphery come to think that God has nothing to do with what they're learning in school!  Science and History in particular have a way of pretending that God doesn't exist that is detrimental to a person's world view.

As catholic Christians, we believe that God created the universe and everything in it.  There is nothing science can discover that doesn't directly point to the glory of God!  Evolution (a theory, by the way, not fact) can nonetheless point to the fact that God's days are not limited to our 24-hour-periods, and perhaps the creation story is not something that happened thousands (or millions) of years ago, but rather something that is ongoing.  Just like God forms us in our mothers' wombs, but He doesn't stop working on us after birth!  To study science without acknowledging God's hand in it is to betray our Christian world-view.

Likewise with history.  To look at the events of human history without addressing the role of sin, virtue, and the human longing for something greater than itself is to again miss entirely how God is present in our daily circumstances.  Not that He orchestrates what happens, but that He is there with us.  That people turn to Him, and He listens.  That people turn away from Him, and He forgives (though not without meting out justice).  Eliminating God from a history curriculum is pretending that humans don't need God.  Again, this is a total contradiction of our Christian world-view.

Other subjects also can either serve to build up the spirit of a young Chrisitan or not.  What we read penetrates our imaginations.  Are we reading about what is true, good, and beautiful?  Or are we reading merely what has always been taught?  Just because certain works of literature are famous doesn't make them crucial to read.  Likewise for art and music.  I agree that there is an element of cultural competency that needs to be addressed, meaning that a person's education ought to prepare them to at least be aware of the existence of things that have shaped our society in meaningful ways - for better or worse.  After all, we study wars rather than ignoring them because of the violence, death, and evil it portrays.

But if presented without any commentary from the perspective of the catholic Christian parent, the child is left to possibly conclude that anything famous in the secular world is "good", or "true", or "beautiful".  I don't know if I completely agree with the adage, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder".  Some things are just plain ugly.  The same applies to what is good and true.  We live in a relativist society.  I am certainly a victim of this mentality.  There is no objective truth, therefore there's no objective goodness. Virtue is whatever best suits me, the individual.

***
I'm returning now to the idea of lesson planning.  I tried unschooling for several months when Antonio was born, and I was amazed how Natalia continued to learn in various areas without my so much as lifting a finger.  Yet after those few months, I decided that we couldn't unschool long term because one of the motivating factors for me to educate my children at home is that I get to teach them!

So I make lesson plans.  I try to make sure certain subject areas are covered.  I attempt to figure out the best schedule to implement.  And over and over I realize that everything always looks perfect on paper, but never works out in real life.  Finally it occurred to me that while I love to plan and organize, I also love to stay with a natural flow of learning, following whatever sparks Natalia's curiosity.  I tried to sit down with her and do X for a set amount of time one time, and it immediately felt artificial and not at all educational!  Perhaps this will change as she gets older.  But for now, for preschool, I'm starting to understand what my homeschooling method really is, and it's not any of the official methods out there.  I've said we're ecclectic before, but I think I fially understand what that means to me.

Ecclectic homeschooling to me means several things.  1) I make plans and goals so I know what to look out for in terms of library materials, outings, etc.  I plan and organize because I enjoy the very process of planning and organizing.  I do not intend to meticulously implement any of my plans, and I expect them to be altered and updated periodically. 2) I observe the natural interests and inclinations of Natalia.  I answer her questions and find resources for subjects she shows an interest in.  I do not interrupt her indpendent play unless absolutely necessary (say, it's time to leave for church).  3) I return to my plans periodically and take note of what has already been learned.  I then can move on to the next set of goals in a given subject as I reimagine the lesson plans.

So there is definitely a strong component of unschooling that remains.  I think the only thing that isn't "pure unschooling" with us is that I do have subjects in mind for Natalia to be exposed to, and certain skills and knowledge that I do intend for her to learn.  Nothing we do is done against her desires, though.  She is loving memorizing various things, so why wouldn't I take advantage of this stage of her development and try to surround her with things I think are good for every person to know by heart?  (Basic geography comes to mind.  She knows her contients and oceans, and we're slowly moving into the concepts of countries.  I'm not sure that she would've become interested in geography if I hadn't brought it up and if I wouldn't continue to bring in resources to build on this interest.)

I like labels, and perhaps that's what this is for me - a labeling of what was all along.  Ecclectic unschooling with a hint of classical?  Because I am drawn to some of the features of the classical approach/Charlotte Mason.  What finally did it for me and forced me to cut my emotional ties with CM is the feeling of guilt over not spending hours outside.  It just isn't for us, not where we live.  I couldn't shake the guilt, so I shook the label instead!

I also think that unit studies may be making an appearance.  As I think about incorporating God into our subjects and not just keeping Him in "religion", I instantly think of making unit studies around the liturgical year.  I see unit studies as supplemental to a core curriculum, though.  I don't want to tie myself to the idea of forcing ever subject into every unit study.  History and science may need to unfold along separate timelines!

I'm probably overthinking the whole preschool homeschooling thing, but it's for a good cause - the whole education of both my kids.  I think Antonio will benefit from this time, as I will hopefully have an idea of what crucial elements to include in his preschool in a couple of years.  I also think Natalia will benefit because by the time we have to officially report her home education in two years, we will have ironed out the details and can hit the ground running without having to second guess ourselves.

Speaking of state reporting, I had to finagle the terminology a little to get from the list of mandatory subjects to the list of our home school subjects above.  The mandatory subjects in our state are as follows:

1. language arts (literacy, literature/poetry)
2. math (numeracy)
3. science (nature/science)
4. social studies (culture/geography/history)
5. health (nutrition, safety, hygiene/disease control, exercise, rest, stress avoidance)
6. physical education (gross motor skills)
7. art (& art appreciation)
8. music (& music appreciation)

Confession time  - the title to this post just occurred to me, so I think I will address the nuances of this "methodology" in a future post.

Preschool Week 7

Outside Time

We grab what we can in regards to outside time.  We are certainly not outdoorsy people at this point, at least I'm not, but I try to celebrate every occasion we have to be outside.

Getting a jalapeno plant for daddy's dinner.

Observing moss and tree roots.

Watching a far off bird soaring.

Watering our pine trees.

We made a rainbow!

Language Arts 

Tea time!
I've started our version of tea time during breakfast to help encourage Natalia to stay at the table and feed herself, as this has become a daily struggle for us.  I collected all the books that have poetry I can see us using later on for copywork and memorization, and I've started reading from them during breakfast.  Below, we had breakfast outside, and we read a fantastic book in Polish that was all in rhyme, with wonderful illustrations, and lessons in geography as well as some character formation.

Social Experiences

In addition to her weekly Skype session with my mom, the biggest socializing took place at the end of the week, during Daddy's birthday party.  Natalia was a champ, and has confirmed my suspicions that she is an extrovert, meaning she is energized by being around other people.  She met a ton of new people, and enjoyed spending time with some friends as well as family.

 


Nature Study

Growing cucumbers!  I bought a little kit at the dollar store and we prepped the soil and I had her push in the seeds and water them.  We essentially put it into a mini green house (closed plastic bag) and set it on her windowsill, where it's getting plenty of sunlight.  To our surprise, the seeds started to germinate within 48 hours!  Now a week later, there are five tall sprouts that she gets a kick out of checking on every day.  Here's hoping we are able to keep it going and end up at the harvest :)

 

Math

Natalia pointed out the number "0" on her daddy's birthday card.  Unprompted.  We had recently read a numbers book a couple of times that starts with the number zero.  I'm loving how these early math skills are just sufacing on their own! She's got a solid hold on the number "1", pointing out she's got one dog, or there's only one cupcake.  We have been reading another book on numbers as well where we go through and point out on each page how many of some object are on any given page, which combines repetition of the number from that page.

Art & Music Appreciation

We put in a frame a print out of a lovely painting I found on A Well-Trained Heart, and we talked about it a few times.  I'll leave it on a low shelf for another week and then swap out the image. The idea is just to expose her to beauty.  We're not doing artist study per se right now.

We practiced singing the happy birthday song in English, Polish, and a little bit Spanish (it's too long still) in preparation for Daddy's birthday, which was on Friday.

Crafts

We've been neglecting these as I've tried to figure out how to be more deliberate about the types of crafts we'll be doing.  But this week, we made a birthday card for Daddy!

 

She was also surprised by a bouquet of carnations from one of the birthday party guests, so we got to do some flower arranging as well!

Independence

We had a rough day early in the week, and upon reflection, I realized that I need to fill Natalia's love bucket before expecting her to feel comfortable playing independently.  So rather than trying to get through my to-do list first thing in the morning, I've started reading to her during breakfast (while pre-loading her spoon and encouraging her to feed herself - something she's stopped doing a few months ago, presumably a regression in anticipation of becoming a big sister), and then I give her my attention for about an hour before trying to do anything that would require her to entertain herself.

In related news, she's started wanting to go on the toilet more, and I've had to bring out the toilet seat reducer, something I thought we had another year before I'd need.  I still supervise her bc it's a bit flimsy, plus I don't like the idea of giving her free access to the bathroom without supervision for safety reasons (I'm thinking falls, as the cabinets are child-proofed).

ASL

Among the guests at Daddy's birthday party, there were two deaf coworkers.  Not only did Natalia get to see the entire office using sign language, but when one of the deaf coworkers came to say hello, she signed that she remembered him! It blew my mind!

Spanish

Natalia got to practice her Spanish with someone other than Daddy.  She was able to see the usefulness of the language (just like ASL above) outside of just our home, by speaking Spanish with her aunt, uncle, and several cousins.

Preschool Week 6

 

HABITS

Natalia has been helping me, as usual, with the various chores around the house.  Usually, it's something in the kitchen.  Here, she's rolling up baby sausages in croissants.
Not sure if I mentioned this previously, but she has started to be very independent with her potty routine.  She's been potty "trained" for over a year, since 18 months (ie. no diaper day or night while at home, and only a back-up pull-up on outings).  Around 2.5 yo, we finally got brave and quit using pull-ups all together, with zero accidents in or out of the house in over 3 months.  That said, she's recently taken it upon herself that there's no need to announce her need to go, or to request help or company (she would want books read to her during #2s).  She goes to her potty when she needs to, never says anything about it, and I have to learn to periodically check to see if the potty needs emptying!

Independent play hasn't been terribly succesful this week, we'll refocus again next week.


LANGUAGE ARTS

I've noticed that Natalia has been bringing us books to read at various times of the day, something she didn't really do much before.  She has her favorites that she likes to read over and over until they get old.  Then we rotate them out.  I try to humor her whenever she asks, if I'm not really tied up otherwise, to encourage this.  That said, I'm looking into story-telling as an aspect of literacy that I want to incorporate into our routine, which includes letting her tell the story without me literally reading the words on the page, and/or acting out what's going on in the story (forthcoming).

Reading with Daddy (+ outdoor time!)

MATH

I'm amazed how easily Natalia is picking up counting and actual numbers of things without formal instruction (imagine that!).  She still stumbles over the correct numerals-to-items, but she is very enthusiastic about it, so I am not going to squelch that with instruction!  Usually, she'll point to some group of objects with the correct (or incorrect) number of fingers and say the number out loud (which may or may not correspond to the number of fingers or objects!).  If one of those is correct, I say "that's right", and repeat the correct number.  If neither is correct, I just preface my correction with "silly goose" (a term of endearment she likes to use).  She is choosing counting books as well as bringing up numbers of real world things throughout the day.  For instance, she informed us a few times that we have only one dog.  On walks, she's pointed out how many dogs different neighbors are walking.  These are all self-initiated observations.

Color sorting finger puppets - her initiative

 I was pleased to see some (albeit limited, as usual) interest in blocks.  Above, she decided to pick out all yellow little blocks and put one on each finger.  She picked out all red ones for me to wear on my fingers.


 SCIENCE

The weather got hot and humid again, unfortunately, so we were unable to start daily walks as I had hoped.  But we did find a (dead) butterfly on our walk.  We carried it back home and put it on our rose bush, though we found it on the ground the next day.  We looked it up later to see what kind it was, but I must say that I'm going to have trouble with death-related facts of life when they are staring at me like this.  I teared up thinking about this dead butterfly, but I'm going to blame pregnancy hormones on that!

Found Red Spotted Purple butterfly

 We decided to make one last ditch effort to inspire Natalia to build with blocks, something I keep reading about as a stable in preschool aged kids and how much they love them.  We decided that perhaps if not her, her brother may be into blocks, so it was worth the $13 to get these.  She proved once and for all that an engineer she is not.  She used the blocks as phones to call her imaginary friends and she personified them into mommy and baby pairs, mostly.  Well, we tried.  It did prove that she is very imaginative, if there was any doubt before.

new foam blocks

ARTS & CRAFTS

Not much to report here.  After a couple of requests for dry erase markers so she can write on that side of her board, I've decided to leave them out for her and just need to remember to be checking that she's closing them all the way to prevent them from drying out too quickly.  She isn't using them on any forbidden surfaces, so that's good.  Below she is pointing to the belly button of the pregnant lady's tummy.  (I always ask what she drew, never assume.)

Own initiative: "pani z brzuszkiem" (lady with belly = pregnant lady)

FOREIGN LANGUAGE

I finally have some ASL photos to share!  We were excited to be clocking in some outside time on the hammock in the evening, after a thorough anti-mosquito spray down, when she spotted the crescent moon in the sky.  She proceeded to sign "moon" in its direction - something she learned from one of the Signing Time videos she watches periodically lately.

Signing "moon" when she spotted it in the sky.

Bonus: outside time!

BIRTH PREPARATION

I couldn't think of where exactly this should go, but it definitely deserves to be here, so I thought its own category might be most appropriate.  In preparing for her brother's birth, we have been watching both her birth video and birth videos online.  Last week, she started asking for scissors to "cut the umbilical cord" off all of her stuffed friends, and I figured it was only a matter of time before the pretend play evolved, and here it is.  Her largest stuffed animal, Giffy the giraffe, has been popping out babies left and right yesterday and today.  I have been assisting (by propping Giffy up, providing "pushing noises", and giving the relaxation cues from my HypnoBabies preparation).  There have been big sisters and big brothers, and explanations of why Mommy (Giffy) can't play with them right now (because she has to focus because she has a baby). She starts the birth play by checking the baby's heartbeat with her stethoscope, usually putting the ear of one of the big siblings on the tummy to hear as well.  After a bit of pushing noises (courtesy me), she says she sees the head, and next thing you know, she's putting baby on Giffy's tummy (at this point one of the big siblings magically transforms into the newborn) and covers mom and baby with a blanket.  She assists with nursing, after some time (I asked if it was time several times before she finally agreed), she cuts the cord, and finally, wraps baby up in a blanket.  I am just swelling with pride, and hope she is this calm and reasonable (!) at her brother's birth. :)

"I'm the midwife"

immediate skin-to-skin contact

helping with first nursing

cutting umbilical cord

wrapping up the newborn

OUTINGS

Swimming classes started this week, with Daddy.  The next day, she pulled out her swimsuit from her little hamper and said it wasn't dirty.  Next thing you know, she's wearing it.  Hence, the photos above of her wearing a swimsuit for seemingly no reason.  

Natalia has also indicated that she is prone to cabin fever.  On our way back from an appointment, she asked where we were going and was disappointed to hear "home".  She asked to go to the store or restaurant!  Daddy obliged. We also had a grocery run where she and her dino helped put items in the cart, and a meal out where she noticed at the end the indoor playground and asked to go in the car they had up in the air.

OUTDOOR TIME

We didn't start getting regular good weather yet, like I had hoped, so only the first couple of days did we spend any meaningful time outside.  Natalia has started to decide for herself if she finds it comfortable or too hot to be outside.  She lets Bigos (our dog) out through the deck and goes out to see if we can also go out.  When doing laundry, she wants to go out with me to hang up the clothes on the line, but after the first trip, she realizes how nasty hot it is, and opts not to join me on subsequent trips.  One day, she actually fell asleep on the sofa while I was getting the clothes.  It was naptime, and she said she was going to wait for me.  If only all falling asleep would be that easy! 

Preschool Week 5

LANGUAGE ARTS
Natalia is enjoying bringing me or Daddy a few of her favorite books to read together.  We may need to be focusing more on bedtime reading, as she has gone potty independently several times without the usual "come read to me" request.  I've stopped rotating her books on a weekly basis.  Instead, if there's books she hasn't touched, I try to bring them to her attention at the start of week two, and keep reading whatever books are holding her current interest.  I'll play it by ear when we rotate.

MATH
Natalia is enjoying counting things and telling us how many of something there is, even if it's not always accurate.  She has been working on measuring, in particular with feeding the dog.  Yesterday, I noticed that she double checked herself the way I usually do.  After scooping a certain amount of dry food into Bigos's bowl, she poured it back into the measuring cup to see if it was indeed just one and not less or more.  Not sure what would've happened if it weren't the right amount, but it was an interesting development. An interesting development in currency awareness included finding a lucky penny (twice!) on our walks and putting it in her horsey-bank.

just added her lucky penny to her bank

I was interested and pleased to find that she liked perusing the "general store" window at the playground, and we began a simple goods-for-currency exchange game where I ordered something, and then asked how much it was, and pretended to give her that much.  I was pleased to see she alread has a rudimentary idea of currency.

SCIENCE
This week, we lucked out with a couple of days of great weather, so we clocked in some serious-for-us outside time.  This included meals on the deck, one of which led to a rainbow discovery.

 




It also included a trip to the playground when there weren't other kids to compete with, and we talked about some of the workers we saw - a man cutting the grass, a man picking up the trash, the sewage truck emptying the porta-potty.  

 

We also observed a toad, ants, mushrooms, tried to follow a bird, smelled roses, and picked various goodies for her treasure chest in her nature corner.

Can you spot the toad?  It just jumped into the grass.

When she saw Daddy working on the sidewalk, she jumped up and exclaimed that she wants to get her shovel, which she promptly did, and began helping.

 

We observed her plant, in particular noting that when she overwatered it, the excess was stored in the base container but was soaked up by the next day. 

A bit of Reggio Emilia inspiration, nature's treasure chest goodies and a mirror.

Bubbles and sidewalk chalk completed our outdoor activities.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Natalia continues to surprise me with new signs she picks up whenever she watches the available Signing Time videos.  She uses certain signs along with the oral word in one of her languages often unprompted.

CRAFTS & SENSORY
I've not organized any artsy-crafty activities this past week.  Still need to get some real-world ideas from my mom.  For sensorial, there was water play, both in the tub and in the kitchen sink.

She also often helps me with meal prep, and this week it included mixing flour and egg to make nalesniki (crepes), something she didn't love as it dirtied her hands!  She likes cracking eggs and handing them to me to empty into the bowl.



Also with sensory experience, I'll have to mention that one of our outdoor times was spent barefoot, her request.



PHYSICAL FITNESS
I'm loving it when she participates with me in my daily yoga practice.  She likes to point out when I'm not following the instructor exactly.  Her favorite poses involve a chair.  We've also started dancing, but she doesn't seem quite as excited about it as I had hoped.  She does dance a little with her "sisters" (four main toys - a dino puppet, a plastic triceratops, a stuffed kitty, and a stuffed reindeer).

About to eat an apple found on a walk (under an apple tree).

SOCIALIZING
We had a vet appointment this week, and she was very interested in the injuries of one particular dog that was there, as well as the three small dogs riding in a stroller.  We also met with my midwife.  In the waiting room, there were other kids, older, playing, but she seemed to not be interested in interacting with them much.  Which, if you consider what I'm rereading right now in "Hold Onto Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More than Peers", is nothing to worry about and in fact something to be glad about.

INDEPENDENT PLAY
This is still a work in progress.  Some days are better than others.

HABITS
My biggest challenge right now is getting Natalia to feed herself.  We used the baby-led weaning approach, so her current refusal to feed herself must be a regression in light of becoming a big sister soon.  We have observed her putting her shoes away and some of her toys away, completely unprompted by us, which is wonderful!

"CHARLOTTE MASON PRESCHOOL"
Don't look surprised, but this may not make it onto my permanent list after all.  Yes, we made it outside thanks to weather permitting, but I'm not going to shoot for no 4-6 hours daily.  2 I think is plenty, on most pleasant days.



I'm not sure if tea time is for me, as I'm not a very formal person.  The idea of making something fancy just for the sake of making it fancy, eh.

I'm also having second thoughts about the need to play classical music regularly, or read poetry or the Bible.  There are rhymes in some of the books in her regular book rotation, so I think that is sufficient.  And she hears me reading some of my prayers and a Scripture verse every morning as part of my morning prayer, so she does hear God's word, and it's a bit more contextualized, as she knows I'm talking to Jesus, and when I'm quiet and have my eyes closed, I'm listening to Him.

Natalia has not wanted me to sing much of anything lately.  At night, she insists on stories instead of singing, so there's been no hymns incorporated.  I'm thinking I'll add this to my own regular prayer time, and expose to them that way.

Just like with classical music, I'm having second thoughts about needing to do a proper art study.  I don't know what all the classics are, and is my life really that much less rich because of it?

I still have to talk to my mom about the real-world crafts we can plan.

I'm not much of a game person, so I haven't looked into those yet.

Practically speaking, what I really need to be focusing on right now with Natalia is as follows:
* independent play
* self-feeding
* dealing with apparent start of self-weaning (note I said "dealing with", not necesarily "encouraging" - this warrants its own post sometime soon)
* figuring out some sort of workable sleeping "schedule", to nap or not to nap, and a consistent bedtime/wakeup perhaps? (this is in part related to the self-weaning, so should be covered together)
* preparation for her brother's homebirth
So as you can see, there's no reason to complicate things with premature academics when real-world learning is in order :)