As I contemplate homeschooling for my son… I want a plan. I have read with interest the unschooling philosophy of no curriculum, no plan, just curiosity and learning. However, I want a plan, I want a goal – perhaps a never-ending, never-reaching goal, but a goal nonetheless. So here’s my plan for today – version 1.

The big goal… the mission statement… the vision… the grand plan… here it is!

I want Peter to be a good learner.

A little anti-climatic ain’t it? I can flesh it out a little; I can expand and expound.

What skills must a good learner have?

• reader
• writer
• calculator
• questioner
• connector, collaborator, cooperator, communicator (participatory culture, democracy)
• critical thinker
• creative thinker
• information literate

Why is learning so important?

• We learn for life
• We learn for work
• We learn for pleasure
• We learn everyday
• We learn because we were “made” to do so
• We learn because learning (and growing) makes us happy

Now that I think about it… there are a couple goals that don’t perhaps fit under the “be a good learner” mantra.

They might fall under be a good person.

• empathy, kindness, compassion
• helping, serving others

Those skills dovetail with the collaboration skills; but they are distinct.

Be a good steward (take care of, take responsibility for)

• respect your body – be healthy
• respect your community – be active, see “be good” above
• respect your planet – be green

As I write these, I realize these are all my hopes and dreams for my children (I’ve got a younger daughter too). Perhaps that’s what education is. It’s holistic. It’s values. It’s culture. It’s not just reading, writing, math, science, social studies, and art. The separate parts do not equal the whole. Learning is community. That’s part of why public education no longer works. In a regular classroom, there is one teacher and 20-30 learners. What happened to the parents and grandparents and neighbors? It’s our job to be a part of our community’s education. Our culture is rapidly becoming antithetical to community. We are rugged individualists. We can do it for ourselves. We don’t need help. We compartmentalize; we box things up and stick ‘em on the shelf. We take a kid from his family and stick him in school for reading and writing, and stick him in the baseball league for baseball, and the soccer league for soccer… And then we go to the store and buy boxes to replace the community we once had: TVs, VCRs, and video games. ‘Course I’m as guilty as any… And that was far too preachy. Sorry.

That’s all for today. Next I’ll tackle curricula.

[tags] education change, homeschool, unschool, goals [/tags]