So, I have a copy of Lori Pickert’s book Project-Based Homeschooling: Mentoring Self-Directed Learners to give away.
Lori sent it to me ages ago, but I wasn’t sure how to do a giveaway, to be honest. And then when I was drafting this post about our love affair with tape, I realized it would be a perfect post to pair with the giveaway.
What does tape have to do with Project-Based Homeschooling? Well, let me tell you that it’s been one of the most valuable tools in our homeschooling journey thus far. Perhaps second only to time. Yes, time. Time, and tape; essentials to our homeschool experience.
For us, Project-Based Homeschooling boils down to three important elements:
1. Accessible and quality tools and supplies.
I’ve read nearly all the books there are about homeschooling, unschooling, and how learning happens outside of the standard brick-and-mortar system. While I read, I wasn’t shopping for a system, because since quitting high school myself, I knew that I wanted to offer my kids life itself as a classroom, and not a school-at-home substitute.
“Think about your space. Does it attract? Does it inspire? Does it tell the story of your child’s work and interests? Is it the workspace of an active, independent, creative person? Is it the space of an explorer, an investigator, an artist, a scientist?” - L. Pickert, Project-Based Homeschooling
Ever since Esmé was born, we’ve focused on open-ended toys as a way to foster a rich imaginary world for our kids. When Esmé wasn’t going into preschool along with most of her peers, I got more serious about setting up our home as a place that fosters creativity and independent learning.
I looked for ideas and inspiration, and that’s when I found Lori’s book, in the spring of 2012. After I read it, the first thing I did was make all the art supplies accessible. I brought out all the crafty goodness — including my professional grade art supplies — and organized like items into open bins on low shelves.
With a baby in the house.
And it all stayed organized.
Even when that baby became a toddler and started to get interested in all the sparklies and pretties and pokies and paper and gluesticks and pipecleaners and TAPE. So instead of shutting it all away, I moved the scissors and glitter up higher, and left all the other stuff at his level.
By growing up with our family atelier as a respected, organized and — most importantly — oft used space, Hawk learned to treat it as such. And lo and behold, as soon as he could understand the sorting, he happily obliged. And so we’ve had all our art supplies out in the open and free for unfettered use for years now, which is a lot better than tucked away and forgotten in cupboards or closets or drawers.
2. Long stretches of free time.
Now that we’d turned the dining area into a working atelier, the kids got busy. Cue the importance of long stretches of free time.
When I was a new mom, I took Esmé to drop-ins, library story times, and pretty much any kid-focused event in the neighbourhood. Which was a lot of events. I was exhausted, she was overstimulated, and I didn’t really want to be that busy, but I thought it was the done thing.
When I read Project-based Homeschooling the first time (I’ve read it and highlighted and underlined a lot since then), one thing jumped out at me as the thing I needed to change the most.
“Try to avoid pulling attention away from your child’s project (his deepest interest) with random, one-off activities. Save casual field trips and similar activities for times between projects. The less you distract your child with random activities and interruptions, the more engaged and focused he’ll be.” – L. Pickert, Project-Based Homeschooling
I’d been so busy getting out of the house that I wasn’t using our house as a home. We needed to be home more often in order for it to truly fulfill the role as the place where we can dig deeper into our individual interests while being together as a family.
There’s a big push in the homeschooling community to come out and do all the field trips and classes and park days and workshops and groups. When we say no thank you to the invites, I get the sense that we’re swimming against the current. But we need the time, and we can’t afford to spend our time doing field trips just for the sake of perhaps stumbling on a new interest when there is just so much work and learning and inspiration happening already at home.
So we dig deep, rather than look for new interests, or strew new materials or resources that will only distract our kids from their true and self-identified interests.
3. A family culture of self-directed learning.
We had this to begin with, and because of it we wanted to set ourselves up with a sustainable style of homelearning that complimented our family values.
The trouble with curriculum is that it has to be purchased or sourced, and then followed (if you want to get your money’s worth) even if it has nothing to do with your child’s interests. The trouble with distance learning attached to prescribed outcomes is that it takes away the possibility for inspiration genuinely originating from the child. The trouble with drop-in homeschool programs is that you have to interrupt your child’s work at home in order to get dressed and get there and participate in something that might not be of any interest to your kid.
“Spend some time thinking about your family culture. Does your daily life reflect your vales? Think about your goals for your child. What kind of thinker, learner, and doer do you want your child to be? Put these goals front and center and reflect on them often.” – L. Pickert, Project-Based Homeschooling
PBH is practical for us too. It doesn’t require heaps of money. It doesn’t require us to set-up lessons or crafts or random outings. It allows me to work from home while the kids spend time on their projects, with minimal interruptions for me to assist them with things like cutting or researching or other tasks that require my help.
What are our PBH responsibilities as parents? First and foremost, lead by example; pursue our own interests and work on our own projects. As well, I make myself available, to listen, to read, to assist, to document, to facilitate. I keep our atelier stocked, and our home life conducive to project work. I photograph and journal their projects, and keep track of questions they want to investigate, or components they require. We prioritize activities related to their interests, and direct available time and energy and money to those.
And speaking of money, we don’t have a lot to spare, so having a focus makes it easier to say no to all the tempting homeschool goodness in our community. Classes, field trips, and lessons all cost money (even if it’s just bus fare to get there), which we don’t have. We do have time, space, and energy, which doesn’t cost a lot of money. We ask for supplies and tools for birthdays and Christmas, and we look for cheap ways to stock our atelier (recycling, thrift-stores, hand-me-downs, reusing, etc).
In a nutshell, Project-Based Homeschooling works for us.
“Authentic project work is genuine. It isn’t coerced or assigned. It grows out of your child’s ideas. It’s rooted in what’s she’s learning and thinking about. It isn’t suggested or required — it’s planned and designed by your child to meet her own goals. It isn’t superficially busy work — it’s meaningful work.” - L. Pickert, Project-Based Homschooling
Back to the subject of tape.
Without a doubt, tape has been the most used item in our atelier since day one. We have Scotch tape, masking tape, duct tape, foil tape, washi tape, double-sided tape, packing tape, electrical tape, painter’s tape, hockey tape, paper tape, even cloth tape left over from Terminal City Roller Girls (thanks, Andrea!).
My kids use tape every single day, in so many creative ways that it would take ten posts to list them all. It’s only noon, and already they’ve used tape to block a doorway, stick tools together, make a wind chime, build a cement mixer, and construct masks to keep out deadly pathogens.
So I leave you with some pictures.
And a giveaway.
Comment on this post and be entered into a draw to win a copy of Project-Based Homeschooling: Mentoring Self-Directed Learners, by Lori Pickert. I’ll pick a name on Friday. How does that sound?
Friday, October 3: Congratulations to Brandee! She won the copy of Project-Based Homeschooling: Mentoring Self-Directed Learners.
If you don’t know Lori’s work, go check out her blog and the forums on her site. Lots of inspiration and support!
