Saturday, January 31, 2015

Day 7: The Secret of Learning To Read - Revealed!

As I said in the previous post, we attempted to teach Hunter how to read with reading programs and books like 'Dick and Jane'. Though he would participate with us because he liked doing things with us, he never really actually enjoyed either the reading programs or the books.  I found that I had a lot of conflict with his not wanting to read because I had this idea that he needed to read as soon as possible and at the same time, I experienced guilt for pushing him to do something that he was struggling with and didn't want to do.

Despite my guilt, my sense that it was best to allow him to develop his ability to read on his own terms, and his telling me that he 'wasn't good at reading', I reasoned that there were simply things that we had to do in life - that we had no choice about - and reading was one of them.  Additionally, I attempted to hold him to my idea that in order to be 'good at something', we must practice doing it.  So, I argued my case with him with these ideas and beliefs.  He understood what I was saying but it did not change him, his perspective, nor his approach to learning how to read.

Reading became a chore and a burden for him.  Each day that the books came out, he would go into resistance with yawning, he would say that he was tired, or he would distract himself from the books with playing with whatever he could fit in his hands, doodling, or initiating random conversations with me.  After several months, we made some progress to where he could sound out small words but he continued to struggle with certain sounds and letter combinations.

Around this time he was learning about Minecraft - a creating and building game that is played online with others via an XBOX LIVE account on the XBOX 360 gaming system. Here he began playing with kids of all ages from here in America to across the world - and in order to play and comprehend what was going on in the game, he had to read what was on the TV screen.  During this process, he may have asked me a couple of times how to read something though there's nothing I can recall specifically as he took the point on himself and was reading clearly for himself within a few weeks.  In two months, his previous reading programs were below his reading level and now, three months later, there have been few words that he hasn't been able to read or sound out on his own and he reads fluidly.

Hunter playing a game called Kinect Party on the Xbox 360 where kids play with virtual games, toys and costumes.
From this reading process, I realized that for Hunter to learn naturally and with ease is for him to see a purpose or need for what's being presented.  Which is quite a fascinating point because when I look back to when I was in school, I didn't see how most of what I was learning was useful.  Further, I did not retain the majority of the information that I was taught in school, aside from the things they had us repeat over-and-over-again.  I did not see how these things benefited me or applied to what I was involved in at the time.

Like many other children, I was miserable within the classical school education system which brings up a question for myself: Why do I continue to attempt to push upon another young individual subjects and systems of learning that, as myself as a child, I saw as the worst possible use of my time when I could have been doing and learning about things that I was actually interested in?

In the next blog, I will go into why I have been doing this and open up a potential solution that I have been working with.  In the meantime, if you have a moment, check out Radical Self-Unschooling - Day 340 to see how another has been questioning their beliefs about the education process and establishing a whole new level of self-trust.

Here are some other gaming resources that assist with reading, spelling, and typing:
Download version of Minecraft for PC and Mac.
There are also pocket versions of Minecraft available for Android, iOs, and the Kindle.

Multiple versions of Scribblenauts for the PC, iOS, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, and WiiU.

Here is a video of a teacher using Minecraft in the classroom to demonstrate the differences between Solids, Liquids, and Gases.


Thursday, January 29, 2015

Day 6: Interest Based Learning

By the time Hunter was 18 months old to 2 years, he had learned all of the letters and sounds of the alphabet.  He did not learn this by order with the usual reciting or singing the  'ABCDEFG' song that other children have been learning.  He knew each letter by sight and would sound them out when he saw them.  He also could differentiate between complex shapes and would say their names when he saw them in his external world.  Our family and close friends were excited and amazed by this - they would often express to me how smart he is.

I would have liked to have taken credit for this however, his ability to learn this information had nothing to do with any education processes we were doing together at the time.  It was all him seeing and getting into things that he was interested in.

A friend had given us a Leap Frog gaming system which I noticed that he really liked how the characters looked and sounded.  Unfortunately, the game system was very buggy and did not work as well as we would have liked, so I went on a search for other Leap Frog products and found the video Talking Word Factory where the story focused on some Leap Frog characters, letters, and their sounds. He enjoyed this movie so much that he asked to watch it 2 or 3 times per day. Within 2 weeks, he had learned all of his letters and sounds.

From here, I attempted to move him into some workbook activities with his new skills and found that he didn't like this.  He was also introduced to other reading programs by me and other members of our family which he would do with us because he liked doing things with us though I can say that he didn't actually like the content and would have to push himself to get through a few pages and unlike the video, he never asked to do these workbook activities or reading programs.

It was the same with his learning shapes.  He liked watching Nick Jr. on TV which was focused on pre-school education and presented shapes, animals, art, science, numbers, math, and information about other cultures.  When I took what he was learning and applied methods of classical education with reading, worksheets, and book work, he was not as interested and eager to move on to other things like baking with me, helping his father with projects, dancing to electronic dance music and perfecting the art of woodcutting and making chainsaw sounds.



It was around this time that we started mentioning to our friends and family that we were considering homeschooling Hunter and we found they were either in complete disagreement, they had concerns, or they saw it as one of those 'on the fringe' of society kind of things.  Through the years they've all come to accept that we're homeschooling though they do not trust it and often ask, "How's homeschooling going? What is he learning? Has he learned how to do this yet?", "Are you guys keeping up with everything?", "What grade is he in now?", "He needs more time with other kids," and/or "You really need to start teaching him about this."

Obviously, it would be pointless to attempt to judge our friends and family for their concerns because they are all concerns that I have had myself and I realize that they come from fear of the unknown and our beliefs about education that we have been ingrained with from the beginning of our learning process with adults - who, in-turn, as children went through the very same learning process with adults. 

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Day 5: My Decision To Homeschool

I will admit that my decision to homeschool was based on a foundation of negative past experiences with the education system, a fear that what I had been seeing in the education system would not provide Hunter with a proper education and make him into a mindless working drone that didn't ask questions, the inconvenience of school hours, me not liking the idea of turning him over to other adults whom I did not trust would make decisions that were best for him, and my desire to keep him with me.

I have realized that my starting point was from a fear of loss and self-interest.  Additionally, I had been able to reason my fear and self-interest with many arguments about how it was best for him.

See, realistically speaking, I have come to know many cool, interesting, and amazing people that have gone to public school.  So my arguments that support the idea that the public school system will traumatize or hold back Hunter in anyway have been debunked by seeing real people doing real awesome things in the world.

When I take away the fears, beliefs, expectations, judgments, imaginations and justifications about public school and homeschool, what's left is the self-honest point that I simply want to be with Hunter and take the opportunity to explore alternative education processes to see what potential unfolds.