Baskets of knowledge

When I sat down to write this post, I was going to muse over learning styles and the importance of role modelling (with a dreary explanation as to an absence of blog-presence over this last school term).

But something better happened.

How the post started:

 I wanted to share where I had been the last few months:
 

These last few months (entire school term for those at school), I've been shrouded in cloak of single-minded-ness as I bumbled through a work contract and readied our whare (house) for sale. I took little time to 'stock take' how I was feeling, how things were going home school-wise, and forgot to make time for me. 

Where the post was going

Because I'd been so busy being a good worker and 'mum', I'd forgotten to recharge my batteries. This week, I've pushed aside everything in the evenings to work on a crochet project I've been wanting to try for months. I'm a novice when it comes to crochet, I only learnt this January, but I am fully addicted. Miss K was watching me flit round the rounds of the basket and lamented that she couldn't crochet.

So I offered to teach her.

First hurdle (simply holding the hook), she lost it.

We tried again.

Next hurdle (holding the yarn), she lost it.

We persevered.

Third hurdle (making a chain) the plot was completely gone.

At this point I'm not entirely sure if it's my teaching style or her learning style that isn't compatible. We talked about 'trying' and practice (I've already had to restart the base of the basket about four times!), but she's not really open to it. We leave crochet for now.

That evening, I race through and complete my basket. It's lopsided. Somewhere I added in too many stitches (ah the importance of counting and sitting in good light). I take a photo to show my effort, then undo it and show photo and unwound basket to the kids the next morning. Miss K is astounded that I'd done what looked like an 'ok' basket, but started again.

(I apologise for the quality of the photo, but you get the idea... it was supposed to look more like this one)

I explain it's not so much about the perfection of the finished product, but learning how to do it that is really interesting. I start off on the rounds again.

This evening, after careful scrutiny I conclude that I've done it inside out! - not that it matters too much with crochet...

While we haven't revisited the crochet 'lesson', I've persevered with my project and the house has become a hub of woollen activity. Miss K has pulled out her knitting needles and is busy making 'nest strands' for her 'Wild Aotearoa' production she wants to put on (she saw a local production of 'Cats' in the weekend)... and that's another post. Master A is doing full-body string games with yarn and the wee tot (turning one next week) LOVES the big balls of chunky wool to unwind and play in. (For those still thinking in 'educational terms', tick boxes for co-ordination, patience, perseverance, mathematics, logic and science and technology).

What I wasn't expecting:

And here's where good ol' serendipity went and manifested itself right into this post!

In the last weeks of the school term, the MOTH was involved in the Class 5 play at Te Ra, where he has been teaching. The play (most excellent) enacted many Maori myths, including the retrieval of the three baskets of knowledge by Tane. I liked the idea of my 'basket' sort of tied up with the idea of knowledge building/sharing and went online in search of the myth. There are many versions, but I liked this one, particularly this discussion:

To some it is a metaphor for the ideal life, a journey of striving for knowledge and education and enlightenment, to become better people...But it is more. It is also a metaphor for the archetypal inner journey of the mystic, as he or she travels inwards, seeking always to find unity with the universe, and to become one with his or her concept or knowing of Io or God or the Supreme Being or the Way...

 

In creating and thinking about this funny little basket I'm crafting, I am reminded of the truths that home-schooling teaches me and that I need reminding of. When I strive for knowledge, when I model different ways of being in environments, interacting with materials and people, and seeking my peace/place in the world, I am guiding my children as they create and fill their baskets of knowledge. When I fill my basket, I can better fill theirs because a calm, content and peaceful Mum is most conducive to learning.

 

What we do all day is less about the 'outputs' of the kids, and so much more about all the 'input', we as a whanau (family) contribute.

 Now to finish this project (finishing... a lesson I definitely need to revisit!)

Serendipity

Serendipity means a "happy accident" or "pleasant surprise"; specifically, the accident of finding something good or useful while not specifically searching for it. (wikipedia)

Homeschooling has somehow made me much more open to serendipitous events. Perhaps it's because I spend time looking for meaning and reassurances now, particularly when there are moments in the day where I start to question what I'm doing. In the midst of the struggle to juggle paid work and 'everything else', between yo-yoing from frenetic haus frau to bohemian-coolchick-homeschooling-mum (in my head), I do, like most homeschooling parents, have the occasional 'spaz out'.

We've had a bit of a 'feral' week. No goals, plans or predetermined outputs. It's ok for a bit, then I start to spaz out. I start to worry about all the things I think we (or I) should be doing, mentally going through the lists of learning outcomes and stuff we should have achieved and fretting that we haven't. And then serendipity finds me. Three times today.

Serendipity one

Eight month old Tama has suddenly become a cling-on. For every minute he spends commando crawling around, he spends at least two attached, or demanding to be attached, to me. Whilst cuddling him, I heard the two big kids counting to 150 together as they emptied the dishwasher. Numeracy and co-operation covered.

Serendipity two

Before we began homeschooling this year, Keilani could recognise the letters in her name. Other letters were a mystery. There's been very little direct teaching of letters (I tried and got as far as about 'c'), but resources have been laid about and made over the past few weeks (like the salt dough). I found this on her blackboard, completed sometime this week.  :-) Literacy ticked off.

Serendipity three

A lot of our days are spent reading - reading together, looking at books, me reading, Keilani spelling out words to read, Akira 'reading' his train books. I 'll blog about the books we're reading, but I'll focus on just two today, the serendipitous ones (both available in the Kapiti Library):

Why is the Sky Blue by Sally Grindley and illustrated by Susan Varley tells the tale of an old wise donkey 'teaching' a young bunny who is so excited to learn everything that he goes off on tangents. Old Donkey expects young bunny to sit still and listen. In the end, it's not just the bunny who learns!

The Wild Child by Jeanne Willis and illustrated by Lorna Freytag. A beautiful book with a real hidden message for a homeschooling mum... 

Why am I hiding and why must I run?

The grown-ups will catch me and ruin my fun.

They caught the wild children and put them in zoos

They made them do sums and wear sensible shoes...

They took all their wisdom and wildness away

That's why there are none in the forests today.

My wild children can count to 150, do the alphabet and revel in the joy of magical stories. The wild Mama needs to learn to focus on what is being done, not what isn't. Homeschooling is as much attitude as aptitude!

May serendipity surround you today ;-)