#hack schooling

April Showers bring May Flowers...

In early April, Dylan and I took our monthly walk to the library to stock up on some homeschooling material for the first half of April.  Here is what we found; In our house we believe that learning about all religions of the world, as well as all cultures, is fundamental to breeding peace and tolerance of other’s belief systems.  Our son knows that there is a God, but he is also learning that…

April Showers bring May Flowers...

When I was feeding horses in the dark on cold February mornings, I swore this georgous weather would never come.  (Although I am better, God and I still have conversations about my patience) But come it has and thank you Lord for the beauty!

In early April, Dylan and I took our monthly walk to the library to stock up on some homeschooling material for the first half of April.  Here is what we…

Home Away: Happyschool on the Road

It’s been a few months since my last post, and I’ve been itching to get back to this dashboard to update the goings-on of our happyschool.  There’s so much I want to share, so I’ll start with this…

I’ve titled this post Home Awaybecause we returned less than a month ago from a three-week trip to New Zealand, which in many ways feels like a home away from home to us.  We took our first trip there…

I've gotten this question an unfortunate amount of times. 

Everyone wants to know what I could possibly be showing Christopher that a school doesn't. This is the post, if you're curious, in which you can find out the answer to that pesky question.

Basically, I stand by the fact that each child is different; As such, every single person on this Earth can benefit from a different combination of teaching methods. For my brother, the following model has been the most effective. Keep in mind that the exact purpose of The ESWY method is to base the child's education around the child themself- Never the other way around. I believe that humans are NOT robots, and as such, we should not be expected to learn in one homogenous way. 

The following is Chris' curriculum.

On weekdays, Christopher attends school between the hours of 8 o'clock and 3:30. During these hours he studies Math, English Language Arts, Science, and History. Some of the subcategories he's studied this year include (but are NOT limited to) Earthquakes, Tectonic Plates, limited vocabulary, Egyptian culture, Jewish cultures, Greek culture, and about the early humanoids and their development into modern day humans. 

At home, on Saturdays and Sundays, I teach Christopher in a very different manner.

I began our sessions by setting him up with an email he could easily access from his tablet. I created a new email for myself, to cater exclusively to this experimental teaching method. We use this email to have what I like to refer to as 'discussions'.

The first thing I chose to discuss with him (because that's what teaching him consists of- 'discussions' and thought provoking conversations) was what, exactly, hack schooling is. I started with sending him THIS video. Along with that link, I requested he respond to my email with three sentences describing thoughts he had whilst watching it. His answer was interesting, if not unexpected. He simply told me that he was curious about this method of learning, and that he would like to begin as soon as possible, so long as I didn't force him into learning anything he found boring. Naturally, at least to me, I acquiesced.

Some of you may roll your eyes at this. My mother, for instance, said to me "Well then, that was nice while it lasted. If he can choose what he wants to learn, you'l never get him to learn what you want him to." But I never have seen it that way. To me, that was Chris' way of asking me to make learning interesting. I do so by attempting to relate the course work to things he already cares about. For example; In the link I sent him, the boy describes how relating finances and math to snowboarding made him interested in both of those subjects.

Following that, I created a basis, off of which each lesson would branch. 

The basis is as follows (though in no particular order):

1) Cultural Diversity

2) In Depth Sciences

3) Literature

4) Real Life

5) Health

6) Social Activities

7) Productiveness

8) Math

Each of these has several sub-categories. And each of those sub-categories has a method which I follow to educate him the most thorough way I can. 

For example:

1) Cultural Diversity

a) Other cultures traditions

-THIS link will take you to the first video in a series about India's Rickshaw Race. I sent this to Christopher.

-Following that video, I asked him to send me back at least three questions that entered his mind while he watched it. 

-Next, I told him to google the answers to these questions and to send me a paragraph where he answers the questions himself. I checked this paragraph, both for correctness and for grammar.

-Finally, I asked him to relate this to something he's more familiar with. I asked him to explain to me what about those two things he connected and associated with each other.

This is just one subject, and one method for exploring it. Every base subject has a slightly different manner in which we approach it, and sometimes we even switch up our methods if something isn't computing. 

Science includes experiments; health involves cooking and exercising; Productiveness involves volunteer hours.

So on and so forth. I'll get more into detail with each assignment I give him. For now, I hope this cleared up some of the questions regarding our methods.

My name is Erica Odenweller. I am a 19 years old college dropout. And I have a bit of a fight to pick with the modern education system. 

You see, I have a 11 year old brother. He's currently is the sixth grade. His IQ is through the roof. He reads nearly two novels a week. Theoretically, he is what most people would refer to as brilliant. And, yet, he was failing most of his subjects this year.

This is where my story starts.

When I first learned about my little brother's failing grades, I was disappointed and frustrated. For such an intelligent child, he can act so foolishly at times. I began tutoring him, in an effort to bring his grades up and to alleviate the disgruntled expressions my parents continuously wore, every time they were in his presence. 

As soon as I began this endeavor, it occurred to me what the real issue was; Christopher wasn't learning because he wasn't being taught.

To me, being taught is certifiably different than having words and phrases spoken at you, not to you, and being expected to memorize them. Being taught is, to me, the situation in which you are guided through a subject, by an outside entity (a teacher, a computer program, even a book). For some students, having someone recite information to you may be enough. For me it wasn't enough. And for my brother? It is absolutely not even bordering on enough.

After this realization, I decided to research the best methods to use when teaching him. Our tutoring sessions quickly came to nearly replace any and all education he was receiving from his school. Within two months, he was several lessons ahead of the other students surrounding him. At this point, something borderline unbelievable happened. His teacher contacted our mother. Not to congratulate him on his accelerated learning. Not to question his scores. No. 

She called to complain. Evidently, Christopher being ahead of the rest of her classes was causing her inconveniences. For instance; "Your son raises his hand near continuously. He answers every question I ask with more detail than I ask for, as well as giving examples that I had no intention to cover. He causes the other students to ask excessive questions, which derails our classroom discussions and forces us to focus on topics longer than the curriculum accounts for in order to prepare them for PARCC (an updated version of the MCAS, or Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, a standardized test to determine students in Massachusetts' education status.)."

Now, some of you may be thinking that her complaints were validated, or even reasonable. Sure, when worded that way it seems almost logical that she would find fault with him. Until you translate it into laymans terms; 'Chris is causing the other students to want to learn, and that isn't what school is about.' Essentially, she is openly admitting that the schooling system does not care so very much about educating children in ways that will help them in life as it does about creating students who will pass state exams. 

By now, you've probably realized I can be pretty cynical. And you'd be right, if you thought that. I am cynical. But I'm also creative. So, within a few days, I had done enough research to practically write a book on home schooling. I'm not claiming to be an expert or authoritative figure, here. I only claim that what I've researched and put into effect has yielded staggering results.

As of six months ago, my brother was failing most of his classes. When I had been tutoring him for just under a month, all of his grades were Bs or above. Within 2 months of that, Chris had surpassed both his teacher's expectations and the other student's accomplishments. But at that point, I realized that he could be more. He could do more. And why stop with him? I could use this method to teach myself, as well. Our generation, Gen Z, has the benefit of the computer and, my favorite part, we have goole. Anything we want to know is just a few clicks away, and yet our generation seems to have a serious lack of education at times. (Again, this is all from my personal observations.)

You may ask, 'What is Chris' status now?' Well, I'll tell you.

Christopher now has straight As. He also studies from home, where I give him assignments based off of the hack schooling structure, in addition to what regular schooling's curriculum teaches him. I'll discuss what the points his current education touches upon in a future post.