Progress That Is Slow Is Still Called Progress
So much of homeschool seems like a Grand Experiment to me.
I mean,
I won’t really know if my work was a success or a failure until the kids graduate.
Maybe not even then.
I might not know until Berg is thirty or Mosely is married with kids of her own or Piper Finn is running her own small country.
In other words,
I won’t know if this project called homeschool worked
until
it
is
too
late.
Tell me,
what other job works that way?
Anyway.
I feel as if some school projects seem as open-ended as school itself can seem.
Take, for example, our School of Keigley Nature Notes idea.
(It’s completely a Charlotte Mason idea, one for which I will take no credit in creating. I will only take credit for using the idea and placing our notes in a cute handmade wooden drawer as opposed to a plastic index card container. Oh – and the drawer was made by our talented friend Mark. He’s married to Cindy. She makes really insightful and kind comments on this blog sometimes.)
The idea is to set up a note card for each day of the year.
Your notecard simply has the numerical day of the month on the top corner.
And then, whenever something of interest having to do with nature occurs, you record it.
As simple as that.
On the card that says 3 on it in the month of March, you just jot down —
2011- First daffodil of the year spotted by Bergen.
We have recorded whatever the kids think is note-worthy.
First snows, animal captures, cardinal sightings, flooded streams.
We started this project in 2009 and it didn’t receive a lot of attention.
But this year it finally seems as if we are reaping some of the benefits.
We discovered, for instance,
when we recorded the first daffodil of the season this year,
that last year’s yellow flower didn’t bloom until March 22.
And we saw that on this same week last year we were looking at three inches of snow in our yard.
It was so rewarding to see that our slow and small labor of completing note cards was actually having a bit of a payoff.
To see progress in the long term.
Results.
Itsy-bitsy, perhaps.
But pleasantly rewarding, nonetheless.
(Maybe a little like those first buds of spring.
Or a little like homeschooling itself.)
6 Comments
Hilary
What a great idea-I am going to do this!
laceykeigley
I think I’ll comment three years later.
Did you do this?
Meghan
OOO! What a fun idea!! I don't homeschool but my daughter loves to find things out her window when driving to daycare and in the backyard!
And I was going to comment on the notes regarding a scrapbook or shadowbox but for whatever reason (I like to call it Mommy-brain) I think that I did not… but the summation of my comment is that I am not all the creative so my suggestions are very common in theme.
Also, I had a dream that our family came to stay with your family and that my daughter and Berg decided to be best friends…and it was a good time for all… is that strange considering we've never met? haha If so, consider it even stranger that I mentioned it!
laceykeigley
I’m on a roll – commenting waaay later. Maybe life slowed down a little. haha
I like all suggestions by the way – there are none that are too common.
Sally
gasp — brilliant, i tell you, brilliant! Doing this, oh yes!! So easy! Question: what do you do with your past year's cards? What if you popped holes in them and stuck them on a ring? or one of those cheapie photo albums? Or do you keep them in you box? (or did you already answer this question in the post, and i read it too quickly because I was was squealing in delight at the deliciousness of the pictures on the screen and idea that followed?)
(love the header and picture….glad to know that ours isn't the only family and won't (or can't?) all pose for a shot!
And, completely random, how do you like IntenseDebate for comments?
LaceyKeigley
So glad you like this – but we are kindred spirits in our homeschool idealism.
Plus – this fits the low-key, low-expectations that we love in reality!
There are no last year's cards – the one card holds several years at a time – which is what makes it so fun to compare year to year. We just write 2011 – the info. we find and then on the next line we write the next year.
eventually you'd need a new card for that date and i figure when that day ever comes, we'll just stick it behind the new card.
But honestly, we have only had multiple entires on the same day once or twice since it is really pretty random as to when we actually record what we notice – since it is spontaneous.
Yes – our family finds it impossible to all be in one shot.
I do like Intense Debate. I think it is is much easier than having to type a password every time, but I don't have loads of experience with other versions to really compare.