Our Unit Study of Trees–Part 1–Coniferous

Recently I was introduced to a great new method of homeschooling that really seemed right for my kids. It’s all about getting outside and doing a lot more hands-on stuff instead of just studying dry old textbooks and doing a lot of filling in the blanks.

So far it has really worked with our family so I wanted to share some of what we are doing. Today was the first day of our study of trees so I thought it was a great day to start.

It began with a discussion of the two different types of trees – Coniferous and Deciduous. We then began looking in our yard for Coniferous trees and, thanks to buying a house on a very wooded lot, we found three totally distinct types of evergreens. We took some pictures and gathered some samples and this is what we found on our first day then we ran inside to identify the three trees. After some searching we found this wonderful site that helped us ID what we had found - http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu/tree-key/ . It took us a while to ID the Hemlock but we finally did using some other websites.

All in all we had a great first day and are looking forward to tomorrow! Stay tuned!

Eastern Hemlock

Eastern Red Cedar

Eastern White Pine

Keep checking back for some pictures of our lapbook (Jacob) and notebook (Joshua) and, of course, pictures of deciduous trees. Sometime in the future I will reveal more about the inspiration for our new study as well. Until then, maybe this will inspire you to get out and explore!

The Climbing Knights - A Schoolhouse Review Crew Review

I remember playing games as a youngster. It was a big family thing at our house. I know that there is a lot of talk these days about kids spending too much time on computers, tablets, and cell phones and not enough time with family. I tend to agree. Don't get me wrong, though. My kids are like a lot of other kids and spend much too much time on electronic items. For that reason, I look for any opportunity to play good family games with my kids. Since we are homeschoolers, my search for good wholesome games to play with the kids includes educational games. That's why I was thrilled to be chosen to review The Climbing Knights from Simplyfun.

We have reviewed some of the great educational games from Simplyfun before and have loved them. We found that not only were they fun but they indeed were very educational as well. The Climbing Knights is no exception. It is one of four newly released games by Simplyfun.



Let me tell you, I was just as amazed as my children as to the enormity of this game when I put it together. Now, I'm not talking about enormity as in the rules. The rules are quite easy. I'm talking about enormity of the size! Once put together the tower is huge. Never fear, though. The magnetic tower was super easy to put together and the game is super fun to play. As well as the tower, which folds easily for storage, the game includes four magnetic knights to climb the tower, three dice, two guards that walk along the walls of the tower, and eight flags (two for each knight) that the knights must climb the tower to retrieve.

As you can probably tell by now, the object of the game is to get your knight to the top without getting caught by a guard so that they can retrieve their flags. If they are caught, they must slide down to a lower level and begin their climb again. The rules are very simple. Each player rolls the three dice and moves the guards and their player accordingly. The grey dice is for the grey dressed guard, the black dice is for the black dressed guard, and the white dice is for your knight. Each guard moves in a different direction around the tower and if they land directly above or below your piece, or if you are on a walkway when the guard comes around the corner then you are knocked down a level. If, however, you are hidden by a ledge then you are safe. It is very challenging to be able to time your ascent so that the guards don't catch you. It requires a lot of strategy. The game is for two to four players ages 8 and up and the directions say that it takes about 30 minutes, but all of our games took over that amount of time. Maybe because we strategized too much.

We absolutely love this game. I was a bit unsure if my youngest would understand it or not, but he understood right away and was nearly better than me. Ahem . . . I said nearly! I love it because it requires my kids to think and use strategy. So many board games these days are all fluff and require no thinking. Video games sometimes require thinking, but when you are actually playing a board game and actively moving pieces around, you are using a different part of the brain than you are by simply playing a video game. Also the social interaction of a board game is invaluable. That's why I am a fan of board games and especially of The Climbing Knights. This game is definitely a hit with us. To find out more about this game and other games by SimplyFun click on any of the highlighted links above. To find out what other members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew had to say about this game and another great SimplyFun game click on the link below. Happy Game Playing!

   

App Schooling? Eight Great Apps that the Tinkels Love!



I'm going to tell you the truth. I had never thought about writing a blog post about our favorite learning apps for our phones and tablets until The TOS Review Crew invited all who wanted to write a post about learning apps for a blog round-up that they are doing. I don't know why I never thought about it, though, because we love app schooling! It may not be our major way of learning, but it is one of our favorite ways of learning.

Apps are perfect for on the go schooling and for downtimes during our regular learning. Since we use learning apps as a resource and not for our regular curriculum, I always try to choose ones that are geared to what the kids are interested in at the time. We are very delight directed learners anyway so this is a perfect fit. Here are the recent favorites of my two youngest along with a couple that I am enjoying as well.

Our middle child, Joshua, has been fascinated with geography for quite a few years now and, for several reasons, fell in love with Russian. One day a friend of ours was visiting. She and her husband had been missionaries in the Ukraine and were both fluent in Russian. As we were sitting in the yard chatting, Joshua came running out and began speaking to Karen in Russian. He didn't say a lot, it was only a word or phrase, but it was clearly Russian and Karen understood it clearly. We were all shocked! He ran back inside and came out a few minutes later with another phrase. After questioning him, we found that he was looking up Russian phrases on his tablet, remembering them, and then coming out to try them on Karen. So, a search for Russian language apps began. There really aren't that many Russian language apps that a kid can use but we did find a couple.

 

Russian Language (Bravolol) - The first is called Russian Language by Bravolol. I have to admit that I have never really used this app, but Joshua has and has learned a lot from it. It has common Russian words divided into different categories such as Eating, Emergency, Greetings, Shopping, etc. You can listen to the word as many times as you want and it also encourages you to record your own voice to compare.

Learn Russian  (babel yak) - This one is a bit more advanced than the Russian Language app from Bravolol. Learn Russian has actual lessons. They can be either audio or video lessons though I'm not quite sure what the difference is. I haven't talked to Joshua about this one much but I know he has used it and likes it. He is now s-l-o-w-l-y working his way through an online college Russian class so he hasn't used this one in a while.





I mentioned above that Joshua also loves geography. So a search was begun for a couple of good geography apps. Unlike the Russian apps which are few and far between, there are a ton of Geography apps. We have tried out quite a few and these are our favorites.

World Geography (Tsegai Corp) - Gives you information on almost anything you can think of about any country. Joshua was even fascinated that you can listen to the national anthems of each country using this app. He has sat for hours playing with this one. This one is great.

Geography Master Quiz (Primestar) - Is an app that quizzes you on different aspects about a country. You can take a quiz on flags, capitals, identifying a country and more. Joshua's favorite is the flags. He is a whiz at that and can identify almost any flag from around the world.

 





Jacob, on the other hand, loves animals and I didn't want him to be left out so I waded through the dozens, if not hundreds, of animal apps that can be found for android phones. Here are some of the ones that he really likes.

Animal World (Absologix) - Animal World is a really neat app that divides the animals into categories and then, in each category, shows the name and picture. That is perfect for Joshua since he can't read very well. Once you click on the picture it gives a brief description of the animal and then gives you a short audio clip of what the animal sounds like. When no one is around he loves to listen to the animal sounds. When I am around I also read the brief description to him.

Animals (Squalala Team) - Also divides the animals into categories. After you click on the category, though, it gives the name of a particular animal, then shows three pictures and you are to choose the right one. We aren't talking about showing three totally unrelated animals like a lion, monkey and elephant, though. With this game it shows three different types of monkeys and wants you to pick a specific type. It might show you an orangutan, chimpanzee and a howler monkey and want you to pick which one is the orangutan. It's very challenging.



Not to be outdone, Big Daddy (me) had to download a couple of apps for himself. I really try not to play frivolous games, although I do have a couple downloaded onto my phone. Instead, I try to choose games that may be fun but also stretch my mind. Here are two of my favorites.

Duolingo (Duolingo) - I took Spanish in high school and loved it. Unfortunately, since I didn't use it a lot, I forgot much of it. A couple of years ago I found Duolingo. It is a fantastic app where you can chose between several different languages. I begins with very basic words and then, as you go along, progresses you to more complex phrases and sentences. This isn't a one or two weeks and you are done kind of thing, either. It may take a couple of years for you to completely learn each language depending on how quickly you work your way through. Each lesson is about 20 questions. They will introduce a category of words such as foods. At first they may just show you a few pictures, say the word, and then have you choose the correct picture. Then, though, they progress to you having to right the word or translate the word both individually and in sentences. This is no simple elementary course, this can be difficult. I have learned a lot.

Word Chums  (PeopleFun) - Okay, I know this really isn't an educational app, however, it does stretch your brain. Word Chums is a lot like the game scrabble so in a way it is educational. You have to know how to spell, and you learn a lot of complex words in the process. I have played in online Word Chum tournaments and am currently in a Word Chums league.

Well, there you have it! Our eight favorite learning apps for android. There are a lot of other TOS Review Crew members that also shared there favorite learning apps. To find out all of their choices click on the banner below. Happy homeschooling!

The Overton County Heritage Museum–A Hidden Gem of Middle Tennessee!

 

Quiz Time!

1. Who was the first white man to be killed in Overton County and who killed him?

2. What Overton County woman helped build the Atomic Bomb during World War II?

3. Name the only Tennessee state park in Overton County and tell who built it.

Most of you probably have no idea what the answers are to these questions now do you probably care. More than likely only those of you who are from Overton County are even remotely interested in the answers. The answer to those questions and a host of others can be found at the Overton County Heritage Museum in my adopted hometown of Livingston, TN.

Every summer, our family goes on a ministry trip/vacation to Canada, New Jersey and other places between. It’s a time of ministry, relaxation, learning and a time away from video games. We read, talk, listen to books on tape and visit neat places that we otherwise wouldn’t be able to visit. We always have a good time together and learn so much but then, it is a big let down when we get back home. We usually fall back into our same old routines of being couch potatoes.

This year I was determined not to allow that to happen. I decided that we were going to go on a field trip every week and that we were going to try to pick someplace that was within an hour or so drive, something that was fairly inexpensive and that we were going to start off with things that were local. My first choice was the Overton County Heritage Museum.

This small but excellent museum was founded in 2003 and is located in the old Livingston jail located at 318 W Broad St, Livingston, Tennessee 38570. It was amazing the things that we learned about Livingston and Overton County. From the Native Americans that lived in the area before the town and county were founded to it’s early days to present days, this museum has it all.

What was even more amazing were the things we learned about history in general. Remember, even if you go to a small town museum that only talks about that small town, you learn about what life is like in most small towns in that region. However, the Overton County Historical Museum was unique in the fact that when it talked about Overton County’s participation in the Civil War, it also educated my boys on the Civil War in general. And, not just the Civil War, but WWI, WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The museum has clothing, weapons, musical instruments, tools and other artifacts from all historical eras. Do you know what a “Shaped Note” is? Do you know what years the Civil War was fought? Have you ever heard of Turkey Boots? All of these things apply to people and places out side of Overton County as well and you can find it all at the Overton County Heritage Museum.

I would highly recommend you visiting this “hidden gem” of Middle Tennessee if you live within driving distance. It is open to the public every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 9am – 2pm. The Overton County Heritage Museum’s phone number is 931-403-0909 or 931-498-2551. They have an awesome bookstore as well with many books about the area for sale.

Perhaps you don’t live close to Livingston. Here is my advice to you. Don’t overlook your own area. Look around for small museums, state parks, antique stores, historic attractions, natural attractions, etc. in your neighborhood. Many folks plan the whole year to go to a National Park, major historical area, or major museum but never visit the museums or parks in their own areas. Look around for the unusual and out of the way places in your neck of the woods. You may find a “hidden gem” like we did!

Quiz Answers

1. Robert Crockett – A Long Hunter – was killed by Indians in the area.

2. Lyda Speck (An awesome lady that I personally knew).

3. Standing Stone State Park in Hilham, TN was build by WPA workers (Works Progress Administration) as part of the New Deal during the Great Depression.

And, speaking of Standing Stone State Park. We visited that hidden gem yesterday and I’ll be writing about that next week!

Cades Cove and Pigeon Forge With Three Unique and Crazy Boys

I have written numerous posts about how we like to turn any time into an adventurous time with our kids. Any trip, even a trip to run errands, can be a field trip where a learning experience can happen. On this particular day journey we experienced three things: History, Nature and Engineering Ingenuity.  Have fun reading and remember that you can turn any trip into a learning experience too! 

We are very blessed to have Sarah's mom live close to Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Oak Ridge is a unique town in and of itself, but is also very close to Knoxville and, of course, The Great Smokey Mountains National Park and the tourist towns near to it.

We love going to the Smokeys, especially to Cades Cove and today was a beautiful day to go. It also was a day ripe with opportunity for each one of the boys to show their unique personalities and their favorite things.

Joshua went through a short stage where he was fascinated with cemeteries - especially old cemeteries. Well, he has since moved on to other fascinations, but, as with most aspergers kids, once they've had an interest in something, the interest never totally goes away. We've explored the old graveyards in the cove before, but, today, he wanted to stop by one again. No one else wanted to explore, so it was a great occasion for just Joshua and me to spend some time together. I was amazed at the little things he remembers. As we were walking he mentioned that one of the graves up ahead has a picture of the person buried there on the grave marker. Sure enough, a few steps more and we saw it. He was very pensive and a bit sad as we looked at the head stones. He seemed to spot every marker where a child was buried. One section was especially somber as there were two tombstones side by side. One was for a baby girl born in September of 1916 and died two months later in November. The other was for a baby boy, brother of the little girl. He was born October of 1917 and died January 1, 1918. Two years in a row a mother gave birth to a baby only to lose the child a few months later.  Joshua and I had an interesting discussion about how hard life was back in those times for people who lived in the cove. It wasn't necessarily a depressing and morbid time that we spent walking, just a time for each of us to be together and reflect together. It was a good and special time.



A few miles further down the road we stopped at one of our favorite places - The Cades Cove Visitors Center. Although we knew it was Saturday, we had forgotten how much weekend activity there is at this beautiful spot that contains an old mill, forge, a settlers cabin and other historic buildings as well as the Visitors Center and shop. Today they were also having a lot of demonstrations and nature classes. We were blessed to make it just in time for the "WILD Program" which is a short talk on the wild things in the park. First a ranger talked about what the National Park Service was all about then another ranger set out several pelts and furs from animals found in The Great Smokey Mountains National Park. As she talked about each animal and pelt, all three boys were fascinated (as was I) but Jacob was especially enthralled. He is our resident animal enthusiast. Afterward, the ranger invited us up to touch the furs and ask questions. We were even permitted to try on the fox fur which, although from the park, was almost 100 years old and originally made to be a ladies stole. Later, Jacob wanted me to ask one of the workers how to become a National Park Ranger and then I bought a Junior Ranger Program book from the shop so that he could work on the requirements to become a Junior Ranger. Hmm. . .my son the National Park Ranger. . .I kind of like the sound of that.

As we were finishing the Cades Cove Loop the topic of discussion turned to what to do next. The day was still young so we decided to drive through Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. When we mentioned Pigeon Forge, John Allen's ears perked up. Somehow, John Allen has become a fan of the Animal Planet television show "Tanked" where a group of aquarium builders are hired by different individuals or businesses to build a custom aquarium. John Allen remembered one show in particular where they were hired to build a special fish tank for the Hatfield and McCoy Dinner Show in Pigeon Forge and asked if we could stop by. So, off we went trying to find the dinner theater. We drove through part of Pigeon Forge and then Gatlinburg and finally decided to look the address up on my phone and plug it into the GPS. Soon, amongst great excitement from the boys, we arrived. The outside is fascinating by itself with live animals, porches with rocking chairs, and an outhouse that talks to you as you look in, but, then, you arrive in the lobby/gift shop area, and there stands the tank. It is shaped as a giant moonshine jug. All three, but especially John Allen, were thrilled to actually see a tank that was designed and built by the Tanked builders. Hey, I even thought it was pretty cool!

So, how much did this fun filled day cost? Well, outside of the gas and the picnic lunch that we bought at a grocery store, it was absolutely free. NO! I take that back. I spent $2.50 on Jacob's Junior Ranger book. So, there you have it - $2.50! I think it was money well spent for a great day with Grandma, Sarah, and especially our Three Unique and Crazy Boys.

If you want to find out more about any of the places we visited and make some memories with your unique and crazy kids just click on the highlighted links above.

Have fun and leave a comment to tell me all about your special time!

This post is part of the following great blog hop from the Schoolhouse Review Crew. Please click on the banner to check out other great nature studies for your homeschool from other great Schoolhouse Review Crew bloggers.






I also participated in: 

Please click the above link and check them out!

John Allen's Amazing Christmas Gift

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a two part series wondering if our family was an unschooling family. Here's the link to the first post - Oh No! Could We Actually Be. . . *Gasp*. . .Unschoolers?!?  I won't tell you what the answer to that question is, you'll have to read the posts, but I will tell you that in that two part series I described how Sarah and I will look at what our children are interested in and then allow them to run with it. We often will build almost their entire homeschool curriculum around that interest - math, science, geography/history, English. . . everything will revolve around the present topic that excites them. We have had to do that especially with Joshua since he is an aspy and when he becomes fixated on something you may as well embrace it instead of fight it. I revived one of my old Angelfire blog posts about that a couple of days ago called "Oh! The Strange Ways Our Children Learn!"



John Allen, our oldest, is a more traditional learner. We have pretty much stuck to a more conventional approach to learning with him although from the beginning we have chosen his curriculum based on his strengths. We have, though, deviated occasionally, and last fall and winter was one of the times that we deviated.

It all started a little before Thanksgiving when he asked for a Latin Bible for Christmas so that he could read the Bible all the way through in Latin. John Allen is in no way fluent in Latin, but he did take three years of it in grades 4-6, and we decided to pick it up again for his two years of high school language.

The day after asking for the Latin Bible, though, he came to me and said "Dad, I've been thinking. Before I read the Bible in Latin, maybe I should read it in English. I read through Genesis today. How many chapters would I need to read a day to complete it by Christmas? "

We figured it out and it was 26 chapters that he would have to read per day. I was thrilled and very impressed with his desire to read the Bible so I wasn't about to tell him that most people don't even get the Bible read in a year and for many it takes years for them to read it through, let alone four or five weeks!

I was very pleased to see him really sticking to his plan. He was faithful in doing it day after day. This was one of those times when I just let things go with the flow. He was spending a couple of hours a day reading his Bible and I wasn't going to stop him just to work on math, Latin, or anything else. He even took his Bible to McDonald's to read when we were babysitting our pastor's kids and took them to the play place to play. We allowed him to just go with his interest.

He would have gotten it done before Christmas if the owner of our ministry building and home hadn't decided to sell the property and we wouldn't have had to move. John Allen was my right hand man the whole time in our move and, although he was faithful in reading, had to cut down on the amount of chapters he read.

I am very excited to say, though, that he persevered and on January 19 he finished! Many people never read the Bible through but John Allen was able to finish it in about two months! I am super proud of him!



During that time I was telling my sister about what was going on. She called us up one day and said that she was sending a check to us. She wanted to pay for John Allen's Latin Bible. Last week he got it and has already started to read it. It is very slow going. He really needs to finish a couple years of high school Latin in order to understand it more but he is trying. I am amazed! John Allen has inspired me to try to read the Bible through maybe a couple of times this year.

I'm beyond confident that taking a break from his regular homeschool schedule and letting him follow his own interest was very well worth it!

 

Oh No! Could We Actually Be...*Gasp*...Unschoolers?!? (Part Two)

 

If you missed Part One of Oh No! Could We Actually Be...*Gasp*...Unschoolers?!? where I talked about how we arrived at the conclusion that we might be...*Gasp*...Unschoolers...then click on the link above.

 



You might be wondering, after making all of those observations about how we homeschool, did we, indeed, decide that we are unschoolers? I decided to do a little research before I actually came to that horrifying *insert smiley* conclusion. Here is what I found when I researched the definition:

This is what Wikipedia says:

Unschooling is an educational method and philosophy that advocates learner-chosen activities as a primary means for learning. Unschooling students learn through their natural life experiences including play, household responsibilities, personal interests and curiosity, internships and work experience, travel, books, elective classes, family, mentors, and social interaction. Unschooling encourages exploration of activities initiated by the children themselves, believing that the more personal learning is, the more meaningful, well-understood and therefore useful it is to the child. While courses may occasionally be taken, unschooling questions the usefulness of standard curricula, conventional grading methods, and other features of traditional schooling in the education of each unique child. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unschooling)

Hmm...how does this apply to the Tinkel family?

Well, as mentioned before, our kids definitely learn better when the learning includes their "personal interests and curiosity".

We travel a lot and learn a lot through our travels. In fact, here are a few links to some of our travel blog posts:

Lions and Tigers and Bears! Oh My!

Our Crazy, Mixed Up, Fantastic, Wonderful Trip to Kansas City, MO

And my "5 Days of Traveling With Kids" series (click on the banner below):

We read all of the time (I really do need to update that Amazon book widget in my blog column. It's way outdated.).

We make use of internships and work experiences and mentors. In fact, Joshua is about to start an apprentice/mentorship at the sporting goods business of a friend of ours.

We do a lot of things as a family but social interaction...well, let's just say that social interaction can be challenging for an autistic kid, but they do learn a lot from it!

The kids even learn a lot from play and household responsibilities. That is, when we can get them to actually do their household responsibilities.

Another Unschooling website that I looked at also emphasized helping your children set goals and then helping them to reach those goals. As I was writing this our friend, Kendra, reminded me that we did that recently with our oldest, John Allen, when he recently set a goal to read the Bible through in a six week time period.

While I was reading and doing my research I realized that we were doing most of the things that Unschooling embraces to one extent or another. I also realized that there are a lot of kids that could benefit and learn more with this type of learning. Don't get me wrong. I am a product of public education and, for the most part, loved it and learned a lot. I also worked as an educational therapist at a private, Christian school for 11 years that produced outstanding graduates. I'm not knocking traditional schools or traditional methods of learning. I do, however, think that if kids aren't all "cookie cutter" kids then why should all education be "cookie cutter" education? That's why I like homeschooling so much. You can pick and choose how to teach your children and what to teach your children with. John Allen did fantastically well using traditional homeschool curriculum. Joshua and Jacob, however, haven't done as well using those same methods.

So, is the Tinkel family, indeed, an Unschooling family? Well, yes and no. While we do embrace many Unschooling methods, we do often use standard curricula and conventional grading. However, as I mentioned in part one of this series, when I originally began to research curricula for John Allen, I did try to choose curricula that taught the way that he liked to learn. That is what we try to do with all of our kids. Since Joshua is interested in geography, countries, and languages, we choose curricula that embraces those subjects. Right now Jacob's interest is in animals so that is what the books reflect that we chose for him. We don't always stick to the syllabus and suggested lesson plans, but we do use them. The state of Tennessee requires all homeschoolers to be registered with an "umbrella organization" and most of those organizations require you to list what curriculum you are going to use with each child and then have you send in grades for each child, so we can't abandon traditional texts or grades altogether anyway.

I would say that, instead of being Unschoolers. the Tinkel family is more of an "eclectic" family when it comes to homeschooling. We pick and choose the books and texts that we feel are right with each child. We kind of go with the flow, are very flexible, and relaxed but don't abandon structure all together. My feeling is that all children are different. For example, John Allen thrived using structured curriculum. Joshua is more (but not totally) an unschooler, and Jacob is someplace in between. My opinion is that's the way it should be in all homeschools. Teach to your child's strengths. God made each child an individual. To try to force a child to be something he isn't and to learn in a way that doesn't suit him is being very counter productive.

So there you have the answer to the age old question of whether the Tinkel family is an unschooling family or not. Well, maybe it isn't an age old question, but it has made me wonder for quite some time *insert another smiley*.

How about you? What do you think? Are you an Unschooler? Do you agree with or disagree with something I said? Leave me a comment. I love comments! See you soon!

 



Oh No! Could We Actually Be...*Gasp*...Unschoolers?!? (Part One)







Say it isn't so! Have we really succumbed to that dreaded method of homeschooling known as...oh, I just can't bring myself to say it, but you know what I mean!

God really has a sense humor. As I grow older that is becoming more and more apparent to me. When we first began homeschooling John Allen, I researched and researched homeschool curriculum and styles. I was determined to think outside of the box. I did not want some cookie cutter curriculum but wanted things that would enrich him but also taught to his strengths. Thanks to some wonderful teachers that he had in the public school from grades k-3, he loved to read, so that was what I looked for first - curriculum that was based on reading good, wholesome books. I remember that we chose Sonlight history, and Learning Language Arts through Literature as our main curriculum, then supplemented with Apologia science and Applied math. I also wanted him to learn a language beginning at a young age so we added Latina Christiana to the mix. We did wonderfully! There were a few bumps, but basically our homeschooling started off with a bang. I thought we had it made. This was what we would do with all of our kids.

Ha ha! That's what I thought! God had another plan. He gave us two wonderful children named Joshua and Jacob. One being on the autism spectrum and the other being developmentally delayed. Unfortunately...or maybe fortunately...all of my previous thoughts on homeschooling were thrown out the window.

Let's talk about Joshua first. Joshua has a form of high functioning autism known as Aspergers Syndrome. Kids that have Aspergers may have some learning delays, but their main disability is that they are socially disabled. Just as someone who has a mental disability may be delayed academically, someone with aspergers is socially hindered. Joshua, for example, does not always know how to socially act around others. He has problems reading body language and he doesn't understand idioms and nuances. He is very literal. "Aspies" are also sometimes known as "little geniuses" because they often become hooked on a particular thing and want to know everything they can about that topic. When Joshua was younger he loved Thomas the Train. Everything had to be Thomas. He memorized every character, had all of the movies and books, and collected the toys. Soon his interests became trains in general and then helicopters. To this day, he can look at a helicopter and I.D. what type it is. Other interests have been bowling, football and WWE wrestling. You may think that the WWE wrestling phase was one that we would rather forget, but it was actually a blessing because it led to the interests he has had for the past three of four years - geography and languages.

Joshua excels at geography. He knows every flag from even the remotest countries of the world. He discusses the religions, politics, locations, history, and landmarks of places around the world. He has become interested in Russia especially and is even beginning to learn the Russian language.

Jacob, although different than Joshua in many ways, is also the same in many ways.  Even though the specialist said that Jacob was "someplace" on the autism spectrum, being developmentally delayed and very sensory seem to be his major challenges. His schedule of learning was totally different than a typical child. From potty training to learning his ABC's, things have been different. Some things are ahead of schedule and some things are behind schedule.

Then, this past year, we began going to the library again after having to take some time off due to Joshua's medication allergy scare. We asked Jacob what kind of books he was interested in and he began naming off all of these animals. So, we carted several books about deer, goats, and antelopes home. Then, after reading those books, he expanded to other animals. He devoured the books and we were amazed at what he was learning.

We realized that both of them had something in common. They both learned better, no, they excelled, when something that they were interested in was involved.

A couple of years ago Sarah was lamenting to a friend of ours about Joshua's math learning difficulties. He suggested incorporating the things in which Joshua was interested into his math lesson. So she started teaching using math word problems.

"If Peyton Manning threw a pass for 6 yards then, on the next play, ran for 5 yards, how many total yards did his team gain?"

Again, he excelled.

Could we be on to something? Should we really scrap the traditional curriculum that John Allen loved? Is this really a good way to teach a child? Is it even a way to teach? We have struggled with that for a couple of years.

Then, a blogging (and personal) friend of mine blogged about how she has taught her son for years. I know her son. He is incredibly intelligent. I had no idea that she was an...okay, I've got to say it...gulp...unschooler. I had always read disparaging things about unschooling, but what she was describing was wonderful. And, many of the things she talked about was exactly what we were trying.

Oh no! Could we actually be..."Gasp"...UNSCHOOLERS?!?

I decided to do a little research my self and tomorrow we'll talk about what unschooling is and I'll, hopefully, answer that incredulous question.

Click here to get to Oh No! Could We Actually Be...*Gasp*...Unschoolers?!? (Part Two)