For Mother's Day - Growing up together

Families grow up together.  As much as I’ve watch my kids grew up, they have watched me grow up too.  We’ve learned to communicate together.  I learned to be patient and flexible.  They have learned perseverance and forgiveness.   We’ve tackled hard times together.  We celebrated personal victories together.  To me that’s what being a family is about.  We share our lives for better or worse – learning and growing and letting go.  Even though my kids will probably be moving out soon and having more separate lives from us, I expect that we will still be growing up together.  They will watch me take on new adventures as an empty nester and they will see us grow old.  We will watch them start families and careers of their own.  We will answer their late night calls about sick babies or broken pipes just like my parents did.  They will help us understand the latest technology.   I never thought of myself as “the teacher who knows all” or thought of my children as “my apprentices”.   They have taught me just as much as I have taught them.  I’m so glad I’ve had companions to travel with me through my life.  I can see that we are never done “growing up” and I look forward to all of the lessons we will share in the future.

STOP!!!! Everyone just stop running, and pushing, and competing and racing!  

Where the hell are you going??

 Just stop for a few minutes.  It’s OK.  If other people keep running by you don’t worry.  They don’t know where they are going and even if they did, it doesn't matter to you.

What matters is where you are right now and who is with you. 

Really. 

Just look around…your children are beautiful and they want you to know them.  Your parents are aging and right now is the only time you have to spend with them.  

Look up.  The sun is warm on your face.  

Look around.  You have a place to live, food to eat and people who love you.  

You don’t need to run anywhere.  You need to live your life right here, right now so the world can experience who you really are not who you think you are suppose to be.  You need to teach your children how to know and trust themselves…teach them to stop living for some goal in the future.  It’s not a healthy way to live.  

Instead, teach them to play, experiment, to be in awe of this amazing world.  Give them time to know themselves, to discover their interests and passions and then support them any way you can, to learn and do that thing that they think and dream about all the time.  

Just stop and give yourself permission to be….just be.  

You may find that where you actually want to go does not require such a hectic, stressful lifestyle.  

You may find peace.

I can't wait for the film "class Dismissed" to be released!!  Here is a link to the trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL0kZ69LwNw

Don't get it confused with a documentary with the same title, about the history of the working class, that was released in 2006. (Although, it sounds like an interesting film as well)

I'm hoping it will help people think about education as something that happens naturally and not something that can only happen inside a school.  It would be wonderful if more people could embrace the truth that we don't need to fill kids heads up with facts because they have the answers at their finger tips.  What they need to learn is the confidence, creativity and skills to solve real problems.  I want children to learn to know the world and know themselves.  Then they can figure out what they have to offer - matching passion with need = a fulfilling life and would make the world a better place.

I'll let you know when the film is released.

Thoughts on the last day of 2011

It has been a HIUGE learning year full of self discovery which has prepared me and my children to learn tons of new skills next year.  It feels like we spent this year finding out a lot about our selves which has given us direction or in some cases opened our eyes to many new possibilities.   Things we are considering learning about in 2012:  web design, ballet, more Italian, traveling, public speaking, teaching others, advanced classical guitar, rock climbing, editing, sound engineering, glass blowing, playing the Blues on the piano and more self discovery.  As we settle into a schedule, I’ll post the specific classes we are taking and teaching and other learning adventures that we are pursuing.   Happy New Year and Happy Life Long Learning!!!

Self-discovery

Today my daughter returns from being away for a whole month to write a novel.  While she was away, I’m sure she found out a lot of new things about herself and the world.  The novel is really a sidebar.  The trip was actually more about finding out what she could achieve all on her own.  It was about doing something hard and scary – taking a risk.

If we are lucky, we continue a journey of self-discovery our whole life.  If we want, we can continue to learn about the world until our last breathe.  That is how I want to live my life.  Always learning and discovering.

While Tessa was away, I learned about who I am without her.  I was faced with the realization that I won’t always have my children near me or be so intimately involved in their lives.  I was forced to focus on myself.  It was unsettling at first but soon evolved into a sense of freedom and excitement. It became clear that I will always feel passion for issues involving education and children.  I learned that I have a lot more energy for my own projects than I thought I did.  I’ve just been using a lot of it to be a Mom.  This last month has left me feeling smarter, more capable and curious about new things I want to try. 

It turns out that the trip I invested in for my daughter was just as much a learning journey for me.

Puppy Tricks and Being Thankful

Thanksgiving is here and it’s a natural time to reflect on our lives.  Since this is a blog about learning/education, I would like to reflect about what my family has recently learned and why I’m thankful about it.

I’m learning how to teach my dog new tricks.  It’s so fun!  I really get a kick out of dog training!  My dog, Abby, is smart and energetic so she’s pretty easy to teach new things.  She loves the attention and stimulation…oh yeah; the treats are pretty awesome too!  Her newest tricks are:  balancing a biscuit on her nose, laying in her bed when I say “Go to bed”, giving me a “high five” in order to get a tummy scratch, and her most useful trick…she will touch her nose on the end of a stick so now I can teach her a bunch of new things.  The first one I’m going to try to teach her is to “Take a bow”.

I’m also learning even more about education reform and how I might be able to help bring change to my own community.  Towards that effort, I am currently reading these books:  “The Element” by Ken Robinson and “Rework” by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier.  I’m also thankful for the opportunity to hang out and learn at the Innovation Lab with Monika Hardy.

I’m considering taking a workshop or class on public speaking.  Speaking in front of people is a personal weakness I’d like to remedy in order to be better at my job and to be more effective when advocating for the things that are important to me.  I’m still working up the courage to sign up for a class.  I’ll keep you posted.

Tessa is still living in a hostel with 18 other teens for National Novel Writing Month.  She is learning how to play and shuffle cards like a pro, partner dance, live without her family, sleep in a noisy house, and motivate herself to write a novel.  I’m sure there are hundreds of other things she has learned on this trip.  I’m inspired by her courage.

Lee is learning to play “Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd and “Aeroplane” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers on the bass guitar.

Jacob is meeting lots of new people, playing the guitar, and writing.  He is also troubleshooting for the Innovation Lab and mentoring other students.  Being out of college, working and negotiating his way through life and love has been a huge learning experience for him.  The lessons he learned in the last 6 months, he will draw from the rest of his life.

So today, I’m thankful for the freedom to learn whatever I’m interested in.  I’m also thankful that I can learn in the ways that are best for me as an individual and I’m especially thankful I can provide that freedom for my kids.  It’s gratifying to watch them discover new interests and develop new skills.  I believe they will continue to learn and challenge themselves the rest of their lives and that makes this Mom very happy.

The End of Make Month

So my Make Month is over.  I really slacked off at the end of the month and I realized it was partly because after making something little and simple everyday for about 15 days, I craved to make more complicated long term projects.  When I couldn’t finish something in one day it became discouraging because I felt like I was failing if I didn’t complete something everyday.  So I think I will continue this creative exercise but revamp it to be “work on making something everyday” instead of   “make something everyday”.   Make Month was fun though.  Here is a castle tower I made for a storytime I am doing later this month (The Grimm’s fairytale “Little Briar Rose”).  I also made the queen, which is the doll with the purple dress.  She still needs a crown and maybe a little more shaping.  The other dolls I made several years ago.  Not pictured is a doodle I made during a meeting and a sculpture made of sticks.  I hope my Make Month inspires you to be creative and to just go make stuff!!

Education Revolution

The education revolution I’ve been hoping for is slowly but surely taking hold.  Everyday I read articles in the newspaper and on the internet about letting children and young people follow their interests.  I see people writing about how experiencing failure and knowing how to move forward after hitting road blocks is an essential skill that our youth are not attaining in school.   Finally people are talking about letting young people take ownership of their own education and about building networks and true learning communities for young people to use as educational resources.   As a Homeschooling Mom, I’ve been trying to provide these things for my kids for the last 10 years but have been worried about their peers who were being forced to sit in brick buildings being spoon fed information and then regurgitating it for a test a couple of weeks later.  I’ve worried how these kids were going to be prepared to face the complex problems they will face when someone lets them out of their brick building. But I truly believe very soon there will be many opportunities for those kids to learn in freedom.  In the very near future, children will be learning in more natural, humane ways.   Education is changing mostly because it’s become so dysfunctional that kids and parents are just abandoning the current system and looking for something that makes more sense. 

The revolution is here!!  Books like “Secrets of a Buccaneer Scholar” by James Bach, “TheEducation of Millionaires: It’s not what you think and it’s not too late” byMichael Ellsberg and "DIY U" by Anna Kamenetz  and places like Thompson Valley School District’s “Be You” house and companies like Blake Boles’s “Zero Tuition College” are heralding in a new day in education.  Soon, the name of my blog, “Learning on the Road Less Traveled” will have to be called “Learning like everybody else”.  I can’t wait for that day.

Make Month - 19, 20, 21, 22, 23

In the last five days I wrote a poem (to personal to share), made lanterns, Made two flower arrangements, and drew a Fall picture that was inspired by picking the last flowers in my garden this week.  So I'm short one project over the last 5 days but still I'm feeling very good about thinking about being creative everyday for 23 days!  I've only not produced something on two days so far.  On those days, I'm sure I cooked dinner that should count for something, right??  Here's what I made Oct 19-Oct 23

Tissue paper lanterns

The last flowers of the season.

A drawing I did on my black board.

My lanterns with the candles lit.  I love how they glow.

Make Month - Day 18

I feel funky and happy!!  Here's my creation of the day - made from paper towels and tie dye leftovers.

Generalist vs. Specialist

Is it better to be a well rounded generalist or a motivated, happy specialist?  Why do we insist on trying to make children generalist instead of embracing their love of learning about that one topic in which they want to be a specialist? The one topic that makes them light up and motivates them is the one thing we don’t encourage.

In my work at the library, I often see parents who want their kids to read books about topics their children don’t want to read about.  In the interest of privacy, I have created a fictional person to illustrate what I experience.  A woman brings in her second grader who is not a strong reader but he loves books about fishing.   He has read several books about fishing already and still wants more but his parent feels like he should read something else.   She wants him to read about history or dragons or time traveling kids, anything but the one thing that is motivating him to read.  She is worried that he won’t be “well rounded” enough; that focusing on one thing is bad so she strongly encourages him to read something besides fishing books.

I understand wanting to expose children to as many different things as possible and highly support it but that can be done without negating a child’s intense interest in a particular topic.  Read aloud to them, have books and magazines about many different things around the house, take your child lots of places, watch documentaries, meet interesting people in different fields of work but don’t suggest to a child that they should stop investing so much time in the thing they love.

Doesn’t it make more sense to let him read everything he can get his hands on that’s related to fishing.  It will improve his reading ability and his feelings about reading.  Perhaps through reading about fishing, he will also learn about other things like river ecology, biology and who knows what else.   If he grows up to be an ecologist, will it really matter if he read “Little House on the Prairie” or “Charlotte’s Web” when he was 9 years old?   When you go to the doctor, do you want someone who is fanatical about medicine or do you want a doctor who is pretty good at medicine but also knows how to cook, do geometry, spell obscure words and tap dance?   I will pick the specialist every time.  I think aiming to make kids be generalists is basically the same as educating for mediocrity.  It also makes learning not fun.   If kids loved what they were learning about, they might just learn more not less.  If a child is interested in what he is studying, he will remember it, may be led to learn about other things and will have the benefit of also being a happy person.  Isn’t that what we really want for our kids is happiness?  Happiness is doing what you love, being really good at it and being valued for that skill and knowledge. 

If a kid is crazy about something, then help him/her get his hands on as much info about that topic as possible.  You will be surprised how far a motivated, happy person can go!

Make Month - Day 15, 16, 17

Day 15 - I wrote the blog post titled "Generalist vs. Specialist"

Day 16 - I took these photo graphs of my daughter's balloon trip and created an album.

 Day 17 - I made this delicious banana blueberry bread which I will have to give to someone else or risk eating it all myself!

Make Month - Day 11, 12, 13 , 14

Day 11 - FAIL   I didn't make anything today so on Day 12 I made two Artist Trading Cards

 On Day 13, I made this sign from a post I saw on my friend Tina's Facebook page.  I really liked it so I wrote it out with water color pencils then added water to bring out the color.  It is  hanging on my refrigerator to remind me to live my life with purpose.

I was just about to turn in tonight when I realized I still needed to make something so I made this ponytail holder by knitting this beautiful wool yarn.  I think it looks pretty cool.

Make Month - Day 10

Today I made signs to protest corporate greed and government corruption.

A Day in the Life of a Teen Unschooler

Today Tessa worked on her Halloween costume until it was time for us to go to Loveland to meet Cristian at the Innovation Lab  (Be You House).  We arrived around 10:00am.  Cristian taught us about the rules of soccer, soccer terminology and then he took us outside to show us some soccer drills to practice.  We both learned a lot!  Then Tessa taught Cristian how to juggle.  We left some beanbags for him to practice with and then headed to Ft. Collins. 

In Ft Collins, we purchased a new soccer ball, had lunch and then went to the “Occupy Ft. Collins” demonstration at Maple and College.  We spent the afternoon with a group of people of all ages hoping to affect change.  It felt good to do something that might make a difference.  It felt good to participate, in a small way, in our democracy. 

At the rally, Tessa created her own sign and enjoyed hanging out with the people there.   Many people honked in support and only 2 or 3 people voiced their displeasure of our efforts, including one guy who gave us the finger.  The day was an overwhelmingly positive experience and I hope to participate more.

On our way home, we stopped at a fabric store where Tessa purchased material for a design project.  (She wants to decorate her backpack)   At home, I rested while Tessa went outside to pick tomatoes from her garden. Then she went up to her room to study Algebra.  Later she made a sauce from her tomatoes and served it over polenta for her dinner. 

Make Month - Day 9

Finished a felted ball I have been working on.   Blue swirls on soft yellow wool.

Make Month - Day 8

Learning more about Surrealism for a class I'm going to teach so I made my own surrealist art with magazine clippings.

Make Month - Day 7

Pumpkin raisin muffins!!! Yummmm!

Make Month - Day 6

I made this right before bed.  It's a thank you card made from a watercolor painting.

American Government Class in the real world

Tomorrow, Tessa and I are learning about expressing our right to assemble and freedom of speech.  We will be joining "Occupy Ft. Collins" to protest corporate greed and the corruption of our government.  We will learn more from this experience than we ever could being confined in a classroom, reading from a textbook.

I don't know anyone else who will be there and I don't know what is going to happen. If feels exciting and scary  but I have to show my daughter that people care.  I want to give her hope that all adults don't think that what is happening is OK.  We all are responsible to make a difference no matter how small.

I will send an update on our experience soon.