Now, for those who are unfamiliar with the art and practice of home schooling, let me explain that there are many many different approachs and philosophies. We are what one might term 'eclectic unschoolers'. Unschoolers are folks who follow the advice given by John Holt, one of the earliest advocates of home schooling and an ex-Public school teacher who specialized in teaching reading. Holt argued that it was the structure used in schools, as well as the 'one size fits all' mentality that causes many of the 'learning problems' in schools. Holt argued for 'child led' learning, in which children choose their interests and parents supply the materials they need. This, Holt argued, would allow children to retain the joy and excitement of learning -- and with a little creativity, parents can make sure that kids meet state 'learning standards.' Holt believed that children, by nature curious, often learnt faster and better when their interests drove them.
The eclectic part comes from a variety of other philosophies which I have grafted on: (1) Charlotte Mason was a 19th century educational reformer. Like Holt, she believed that learning should not be forced, that children learn best what interests them. She advocated the 15 minute lesson -- unless the child was fascinated by the topic in which case she suggested that they be allowed to indulge their interest to its fullest extent. She argued for the need for 'nature study' and for the use of what she called 'living books' as opposed to 'twaddle.' Into the latter category, she placed such items as the McGuffy readers, and 'dumbed down' versions of classic literature. For the harder books, she suggested that parents read to the children until they could read them themselves. She also included the idea of narration for early readers -- having the children explain what they had heard/read in their own words, first in the spoken form and then later in the written form. She believed that one understood better if one could process ideas in one's own words. There are many other aspects of her philosophy but these are amongst the most central. (2)Classical -- this approach argues for the inclusion of latin and greek and for the study of classics. It argues for the use of copy work -- also an element in CM -- having children practice handwriting skills by copying actual sayings/writings of classical authors. Poetry too is included in the classical method of study. The Classical method is rather more rigid in its scheduling than CM and much more so than unschooling but there are aspects of it that fit well with my own preferences and beliefs so we include portions of the approach in our 'school'. (3)Core Knowledge -- this is the most modern of the approachs, deriving from the idea of academic standards of learning. The CK approach presumes that there is a body of knowledge that children must encounter in order to be comfortable/productive in their own particular society. This last approach I include mainly because of testing needs -- children unfamiliar with these standards might well find themselves in trouble should they ever have to deal with the PS education system. It is also one of the most pre-programed of the approaches which makes it an easy fall back for those times when I am too tired or sick to create my own curriculum.:>
Now why the mini-diss on approaches used? Well, I was thinking about how children learn -- and this because of both boys. Jason is learning to spell but NOT using standard spelling approaches. He is interested in writing -- stories, poems, signs etc. When he wants to spell something, he asks me. Usually, unless the word is hard to figure (like 'wear') I help him sound it out. He is quite remarkably good -- I suspect in part because he reads so much that he has seen the words he wants many times over and just needs a little reminding to see them in his mind.
Well, here is the latest news on that front: Xander, who LOVES letters and numbers and the writing of them, has picked up Jason's habit. Just a short time ago, he decided that he wanted to write the word 'Stolen' so he asked me how to spell it! It was really rather funny to watch him, pad in hand, writing out the word 'stolen' but he did it. Turns out he was creating a story about some robbers who were running around stealing letters...
At the moment, Jason is very kindly reading to his little brother. This is included in his 'schooling' as I believe that reading out loud is helpful in many many ways. So while I write this and handle 'business' matters, Jason is doing some 'home work'.
Enough for now. I am going to include a picture of the chyrsalis that we found on Tom's cherry tree. We collected it in a glass jar and watched it over days.
We all made guesses as to what it might be. In the end, it turned out to be..... 
A lady bug!!!! How wonderful. I had never thought about it before but it is lovely to think that ladybugs are living on Tom's cherry tree.
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