Homeschooling With Ben

As an uptight overplanner in love with the idea of unschooling but married to the restraints of a classical education, I embraced the lessons of Benjamin Franklin. His education, initially self-directed and informal after just the barest fundamentals of math and grammar learned during a brief stint in a conventional schoolroom, and later, still self-directed but more formal using classical materials and underpinned with a study of virtues, is, to me, the perfect balance of homeschooling.

At the end of last year, in anticipation of the coming year’s education of my youngest, and to appease the government officials responsible for overseeing our efforts, I drafted a simple curriculum inspired by Franklin’s autobiographical blueprint. There would be a Commonplace Book where Elle could daily record interesting bits, a basic grammar with short lessons tied to her reading, a few classics thematically tied to the historical era under study, and a manipulatives-based math program. Anything else would be up to her interests and enthusiasm. Books were carefully considered and a select few made the final cut. Plans were submitted for approval to the powers-that-be. Materials were collected and bundled to be flown back with us to Australia.

Then plans changed, not the written ones, they were still in the hands of the authorities pending their stamp of approval, but our life plans. We were returning to Australia but only to pack up and head back to the States. Dragging books halfway around the globe only to have them take up valuable packing space on the return trip was a waste, so they were left behind. Now though, logistics indicate we may end up here a bit longer than the 30 day turn-around first proposed, and bells are ringing. School bells. I feel the pressure of the government mandated public education schedule and want to officially begin getting some work done, but, of course, I have no materials.

So, what’s an uptight overplanner to do? How attached to my scheme am I? There are loads of books here to use, but they weren’t part of The Plan. (And let me make it perfectly clear, I have no qualms about changing The Plan as far as the state stooges are concerned. Their miniscule human resources have been stretched thin by vacancies and staff changes; their priority at this point is self-preservation, not administration.)

Elle has been passionately writing in her Commonplace Book... We’re still reading aloud... She’s already had a couple years of formal grammar and math... We're always working on increasing virtuous behavior...

Actually, it seems we’re following Ben’s plan more closely than ever.

U-turn

Time for a post, I'd say, maybe even one slightly relating to home education.

I've spent most of this week -- when I'm not off visiting or cashing in gift cards or making returns or just enjoying the heck out of my big comfy bed -- reorganizing my bookshelves. Many books have been culled. Many books have been added. Many books had been pulled and packed in anticipation of our return to Australia. Oh, but it is not quite so easy as that, because plans, they are a-changing.

After a homeschool friend years ago recommended I read Eckhart Tolle, and after placing him on my To Be Read list, and then promptly misplacing the list, another friend actually put his book in my hands last week and today I should be finished with it. One of the lessons reaffirmed from this book is to accept what is; do not fight it, do not worry about it, just accept it.

Therefore, I have come to realize that the situation we find ourselves in, with Jorge now planning to stay and work in Florida indefinitely, and me and the girls planning to return to Australia to continue on with our lives for at least another year, will only be a fight. We are totally resisting the reality of what is: A 60% depreciation of property values in our (FL) area, the estimated two years it may still take for our market to bottom out, the expense of maintaining a third residence (when we have two perfectly fine ones to begin with) in a country with a strong economy and where everything costs more, with a weakening US dollar and a strengthening Australian dollar.

Dealing with hardship we can do, but this is no unforeseen adversity, this is us making our lives more, and unnecessarily, complicated. Keeping the girls in school over there and enjoying the safety and stability of the area was my priority, and though it is certainly worth sacrificing for, and I know military families live with long separations all the time, it will do nothing but make poor Jorge's life more difficult. He's willing and able to accept the challenge, but it's not fair. The girls and I need to accept what is.

We have our five year visas, we can ride this out. Jorge, fortunately, has more work available to him than he can handle in an economy that has most other builders singing the blues. We still have our idyllic little island house as well as a land base, that until this trip was always referred to as The Green House (or, The Duck Poop Green House, if you are Elle) and functioned purely as a sleep-in warehouse for the stuff that didn't fit out on the island, but is now simply called Home.

This will be another learning experience for the girls, dealing with sometimes unpleasant reality and realizing it's not "all about me." We are considering Sarabelle's options, possible early admission to the local community college or homeschool with participation in the high school's sports and music extracurriculars or getting her tested "gifted" to attend the gifted school (with Grice, in that case.) Grice, assuming Sarabelle has no interest in attending the gifted school, and Elle will resume homeschooling.

To buffer the disappointment and fill in the time until the new terms begin, we are seriously considering a Grand Tour intermezzo. Friends, beloved and sorely missed homeschool buddies, are already potentially easing the adjustment (still as yet unknown to Sarabelle and Grice) by taking the girls on nature hikes, farm tours, and craft classes, and tonight, weather permitting, a visit to the observatory for stargazing. One has even given Sarabelle the book to study for her driving learner's permit.

In case Bee's mom reads this before I have a chance to speak to her on the phone, let me just say:

Don't worry, Em, we are returning with your daughter!

But the plan at this point looks like we will be back only as long as it takes to wrap up loose ends, sell vehicles, ship books and clothes, say farewell to friends, and fly me, the girls, and Lulu back to Florida.

So, blame it on the comfort of the sanctum sanctorum that is my bedroom and library, or Tolle, or the economy. Or don't. Just accept it. And don't worry about finding room to pack all those extra books.

2007 Read-alouds

A Child's History of the World
The Amber Spyglass
The Subtle Knife
The Golden Compass
Mr. Popper's Penguins
The Australian History Collection
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Little Women
The Secret Garden
The Phantom Tollbooth
The Jungle Books
Just So Stories
The Wind in the Willows

My 2007 Reading

God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
How Children Fail
Asimov's Guide to the Bible
Middlemarch
The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric
Permaculture Book of Ferment & Human Nutrition
* The Prince (Machiavelli)
How Children Learn
Learning All the Time
Instead of Education: Ways to Help People Do Things Better
* Acts of the Apostles
* Gospel of Matthew
* The Confessions of St. Augustine
Teach Your Own
Age of Innocence
* Politics (Aristotle)
* Plutarch's Lives
Franklin: Writings
Benjamin Frankin's the Art of Virtue
* Ethics (Aristotle)
* The Republic (Plato)
* Lysistrata (Aristophanes)
* Clouds (Aristophanes)
* Crito (Plato)
* Apology (Plato)
The Paideia Classroom: Teaching for Understanding
Parenting the Strong-Willed Child
Dark Ages America: The Final Phase of Empire
Paideia Proposal
1-2-3 Magic: Effective Discipline for Children 2-12
The Twilight of American Culture
Homesteading: How to Find New Independence on the Land
(* Great Conversation selections)

Finally, A Happy New Year

I've easily put on at least ten pounds in the past two weeks, cramming food down my gullet in a sometimes successful attempt to suppress all those dark holiday-inspired thoughts and feelings and not say something regrettable to any number of people.

But now? Bliss.

I am back in my own house, on the coast opposite to one with all the conflicts and ugliness, sleeping comfortably and peacefully in my own bed, surrounded by shelves and shelves of my beloved books, and hooked to the internet with a high speed, wireless connection. I have been busily ordering more books in anticipation of my return trip to Australia and the resuming of our home education efforts (although I have not heard any word yet from the Queensland's powers-that-be as to whether or not we have been officially approved to continue...) What more could anyone want? Oh, yeah, three-fourths of my charges are sleeping over a friend's house tonight.

Fat and happy I am. Cheers!