Issac waiting for a boat ride at the pond, investigating the metal loop that holds the boat to the dock.

I know this question well because we also struggled with it, and it is why we have been so slow to trust God on this whole unschooling thing.  Our conversations with God have gone something like this:

Us: “God, we know you are leading us towards letting the kids follow their interests but are you sure you don’t want us to have SOME structure? ”

God: “Do you trust me?”

Us: “Well yes but we really think they need to learn how to do basic computation on paper and a bit of spelling, and well, there are a few more things we really feel they should know.”

God : “Do you trust me?”

Us: “Well yes, but what about the boring stuff?   What about the stuff they hated doing when we did school the old fashioned way?”

God: “Do you trust me?”

Us: “Well yeah, but, what about all those battles that happened because they HATED the very things you are telling us to trust you about?”

God: “Do you TRUST me?”

Us: “Well, yeah, well, pretty much. Okay, well, yes, we trust you.”

God: “Then let go and let me lead them. Love me, love each other, show them your love for me, talk about me with them, talk to them about your interests, talk to them about their interests,  I will take care of the rest.”

Us: “Um, okay, if you are sure.”

God: “Trust me.”

Issac, despite owning multiple car ramps, built new ones from boxes he found and cut up.

We are trusting Him and it has been amazing.  While the kids still turn up their noses at the books and activities that we used for “school” they gather huge quantities of resources that they have not used before; text books, curriculum, activity books, how to books, language courses, whatever (many things I think are desperately boring).  Not only are they taking them but they are using them.

Issac using the Shark mini vac my grandma gave me to clean the ENTIRE downstairs floor, without being asked.

While cleaning the area we stored text books and workbooks the kids took ALL the educational books that they had not used for “school”  to their own rooms for further study–included in the books the kids secured are a high school math curriculum set which Rachel found fascinating and wanted for her own with promises of discussion of it with Daddy, several atlases and dictionaries in English AND Polish, numerous workbooks (Issac has been doing them at bedtime to fall asleep), lots and lots of blank notebooks for writing stories and comics in, lots of science books (which Esther confiscated and which I am finding everywhere–a sure sign she is reading them and leaving them where she finished them), word searches and other activity books, and a slew of other things I have forgotten.

Issac preparing to for a ride in the motor boat.

They are using those materials and others they have found around the house.  Rachel finished the first draft of her book and is waiting for me to finish her website before she edits it (she has decided that now that she can write by hand with no backwards letters and spelling mostly right she should learn to type.)  Esther wrote a short story and has been making me comic books ever since.  Then the kids each got a math kit (compass, ruler, etc.) from Target’s clearance back to school sale and started using them for drawing pictures and graphs and charts.  This prompted Rachel to get several math books on charts and graphs out of the nonfiction section at the library.  They started measuring everything in the house, including figuring out the area of the living room and hall so we could get laminate flooring.  They have been adding, subtracting, multiplying measurements.  Our household looks like “If You Give a Mouse  a Cookie” only with learning.

Issac building IKEA furniture

After that came the Polish curriculum I found at the thrift shop.  I spent a few months in Poland while in college and the kids love stories about that as well as about my grandmother’s Polish family.  I figured maybe I would use it to touch up on what I do remember.  Instead Rachel snatched it up and has been practicing ever since.  She has also  added the Rosetta Stone demo version of the Polish language lesson to her studies.  Esther has joined her in this study and they run around the house naming things in Polish.

Esther demonstrating her knowledge of boat safety.

And this is just the tip of the iceburg.  There is so much more going on than I can even keep track of.  Discussions have included: Scotland and Gaelic, square roots and cube roots, how mortgages work and the snowball effect, natural disasters and what causes them physically, how wind works, spelling and word order, reading big words and finding their meanings, adding and multiplying fractions (while baking), determining cloud direction, and a multitude of other things.  All of it has been interest led–the kids are running with this freedom to learn and explore, and are learning many things that I think are horribly dull and boring (but don’t tell them I said that.)

The girls often stay up in the evening working at their table, writing, reading, drawing, or in this case creating charts and graphs for the fun of it.

I think the problem, and the reason for the question in the first place, is found in ourselves and our perception of what is interesting or boring.  Any child that has been public schooled OR trained to think of school in those terms, will think that way as well–except for the odd geekling like my husband was, who at age 10, despite hating school,  spent hours and hours programming a friend’s TI because he wanted to, or like myself who at age 12 spent ALL my spare time reading and researching King Author or reading about whatever scientific thing I was currently interested in (though not what they were teaching in school.)

School trains us to think that school things, including math and grammar, are boring.  The thing is that they are only boring if you are not, at that moment, interested in them.  When, for whatever reason, something peaks your interest you are off and running.  Sure YOU may not want to learn about rocks and gems, but I was passionately fond of studying them–until I had a lesson on them in school which promptly struck that off my list of interesting things until I was graduated from college and got talking to some kids who found a cool rock and wanted to know.

Issac building a tunnel for his track.

So the question answers itself.  Don’t think of it as boring or hard stuff, talk about these things when you run into them.  Watch the kids cues.  Give them openings and opportunities.  If they show interest in something don’t get overly enthusiastic (that is one of those “school” things and will shut off that flow of imagination like nothing else), wait on them.  If you are just starting to move away from the “school” model it may take a while for them to jump in and take over.  Give them space.  Give them time to think of things without “school” or educational hanging over their head.  When you, as an adult, get interested in something you learn it because you want to, you don’t naturally think–”I am learning something, this is educational” you think, “This is cool.  I like this.”  Give your kids the same freedom, pray for wisdom, a lot, and let God open up their minds to multiple interests.  They may stick with something longer than you would expect or drop it in a matter of seconds.  Give them the freedom to do that (you would get nervous of showing interest in something if as soon as you did someone ran out and bought you EVERYTHING yo uneeded to do it–you want to test the waters first, see if it is for you–give your kids the same opportunity).  Find your own interests and passions and run with them.  The kids will learn to follow their passions from your example.  And with freedom to explore, resources at their fingertips, and the imagination and brain power God has provided them, they WILL learn–you won’t be able to stop them–even with the “boring stuff”.

Something I’ve really come to admire about T is how she’ll get an inspiration, an idea, and will go after it with gusto… whether it’s writing a story, making art, creating and researching an “experiment”, planning a project, or “training and showing” her animals. She keeps her eye on a goal and makes it happen, regardless of discouragement, doubts and sometimes a lot of waiting.

Here she is in 2005 (she was 6 years old, he was 6 months old!)  around the time that she first became interested in training and showing our dog… she meant business, whether we all realized it, or not.

…and another here.

For some time, she’s wanted to enter Samson in a local dog show (held just for fun and to raise money for the local humane society) during our city’s annual week-long “Fun Festival” celebration. Up until last week though, it hasn’t worked out, since for the past couple of years, Fun Fest has been during the same week as the annual week-long Summer Horse Camp that N and T’s riding instructor puts together and N and T have attended instead.

However, this year, we were able to attend Fun Fest’s Pet Dog Parade, and I do believe the timing was perfect for both T and Samson. She wouldn’t have really been big enough to handle his 100+ # self in such a public setting before now (and honestly, we even had our doubts last week, and went into it praying for them both) and Samson probably wouldn’t have had the maturity to chill out before this summer. But try and tell T that… the horse camps were a wonderful time in and of themselves, but also offered timely delays.

So, she had been working with him for months now, daily, entirely on her own, and had their routine all worked out. She’d been watching dog-training dvd’s, and reading some seriously mature books about understanding and training dogs. The big day came last Monday evening… and she was ready, but we wondered… was he? I’m sorry to have to say that even I cautiously discouraged her from going through with it, because I was afraid that Samson wouldn’t handle it well (visions of trauma, and her having to endure failure- he gets very protective and growly when we take him to the vet). She assured me that he would do fine, I relented- knowing that he’s a good boy, and I’m a bit paranoid- and we entered him into three different categories.

They did quite well together. Chris and I were so proud of T as she took him into the ring all by herself, answered questions asked of her by the channel 10 news man. We were also proud of Samson, as he went along so obediently, and played nice. We were all pleasantly surprised (except T, who’d expected it all along) with how well Samson did in such a public setting, surrounded by hundreds of other dogs, and people!

1. Handsomest Male: He tood 2nd place, out of 27 dogs! A dalmation took 1st, over him? Yeah, but YAY Samson and T!
2. Best Costume: Samson and T received an honorable mention in this category. The competition was steep, with extravagant costumes on dogs and owners alike. T was dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood, and Samson was the Big Bad Wolf, naturally, dressed up as Grandma. I thought they were absolutely adorable, T with her red cape that her Aunt Barbara made for her, and Samson with a scarf over his ears, definitely the cutest pair out there!
3. Best Tricks: Samson and T took 2nd place again! She did so good, competing against adults even. She had him sit and lay down by silent command, shake, do high-five/down low, jump up for a treat, and the clincher that made the crowd go “Whoooo…Aaaah” was when she balanced a treat on his nose, and he sat there with it, until she said “okay” at which point he tossed it up into the air and then caught it in his mouth (which she’s taught him to do). A little schnauzer jumped through hoops to take 1st place, literally. She belonged to another homeschooling family that are friends of ours, so it was fun to have them place before us. They deserved it!

As we left the show, N was triumphantly proclaiming, “Homeschoolers dominate!” Once again, T’s big dreams and tenacity have paid off, and once again, she has inspired her older brother… along with the rest of our family. N has now already started working with Samson for next year’s show, which he’s claimed showing rights for.

And speaking of big… I took T shopping for new shoes last week, because only her flip-flops still fit her, and I am fumbling over the fact that she- at 9.5 years old- is now a size 8.5 in women’s!  Our little girl is not so little anymore… *sighs* And it’s apparent to me that it’s not only her feet that are growing… I only hope that my own faith would someday fill her big-sized child-faith-shoes. Once again, she’s humbled me… and I am the one who’s learning here- from her. I am learning to step back and see her with fresh vision, through eyes of faith… to validate her dreams with belief.

If only I could maintain and apply that same amount of faith that she has in our dog’s ability to accomplish much… to believing more in her innate abilities, in her brother’s, in the effectiveness of our relaxed approach to schooling, and in God’s ability to bless my meager efforts to give and guide when and how I am able to in a meaningful way. If only I could dream that big with my husband today, and everyday, to joyfully invite adventure by taking more risks! Truly, to have the faith of a child… ‘twould be good. I must remember, as did my determined little big girl, that it simply begins with following through on an inspired vision, the committed work of giving a whole lot of little bits of daily efforts, and then ignoring all the smart big people voices that discourage, “it won’t work, you’re not ready, etc., etc…”

Some of the most beautiful accomplishments my children have made have been those that they’ve done of their own accord and inspiration. As they are getting older, I am finding renewed vigor and validation to relax and enjoy this adventure of learning together, all the time!

And He called a little child to Himself and put him in the midst of them, And said, Truly I say to you, unless you repent and become like little children, you can never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever will humble himself therefore and become like this little child is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

~ Matthew 18.2-4

Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith will it be done to you”;

~ Matthew 9.29

My prayer today is this:

Lord, help my unbelief, touch my eyes that I may see and believe as a child does… and let not my lack of faith be a stumbling block to others. Help me to inspire and come alongside my children in meaningful ways, that I would never stamp out their sparks of interest, nor squelch their faith to go after big dreams, and stunt potential accomplishments. I know that you can do this… I do not want to get in the way.