Summer Vacation
by Beth Klarreich Corwin

Summer vacation and Monday mornings hold different meanings to home schooled kids and those that attend school. This has become quite evident to me this summer as I watch my own home schooled children who are frequently asked how they will be spending their summer vacation. They almost appear rude as their bright faces go blank and they shift uncomfortably hoping I will answer for them. Being the talkative type as well as eager to educate others about home schooling I usually do answer for them. Depending upon my mood and the questioner I have a variety of answers.

“ Life is a vacation for us. We don’t separate time in the usual way.” Or I might say “Life is learning , learning is life and it certainly keeps going right on through the summer.” The later reply is also used when people ask me if I continue to teach the children during the summer.

In fact I have been finding out that sometimes the summer provides even more of an opportunity for learning. This week was the July fourth week and I really love learning right along side my children. What a great opportunity to brush up on the United States history, the founding fathers, the Constitution and past presidents.

We have an audio tape called “Take your hat off when the flag goes by.” It is filled with songs and facts about these very subjects. It also comes with an illustrated booklet that contain questions and answers. Well, my two sons ages seven and five listened to this tape three times in a row in the car. When we arrived at our destination , the beach , my oldest son wanted me to bring the booklet so that we could answer all the questions. There we were on the beach on a beautiful day, you know the kind most kinds want to splash in the waves and build sand castles, and I spent a good forty five minutes asking my son, basically quizzing him about the tape. Who were our founding fathers? What do we call the document which is the basis for our government? America does business based on what system? He passed the “test” beautifully, singing the lyrics to insure answering correctly. He was digging his toes into the sand or munching on mouth watering grapes as he thought and answered, happy to be learning in his own way on his own time. We had joined up with some friends on the beach that day and there was another seven year old girl and her five year old sister. They both were curious about this colorful book I was holding as well as my five year old son and they all joined in the fun. I laughed silently as I thought about how I was now offering a course called Learn U.S History 101 on the beach with Beth. After I had asked them all the questions and the book was complete we moved onto Oceanography 101 and the study of sea life as we all began collecting hermit crabs and building habitats for them. It was a smooth transition and flowed naturally . Which is what I am finding out happens when I relax a little and allow the kids to be . To be themselves , to learn on their own time and to do activities that allow them to express themselves fully. Kids naturally want to learn. They are like little sponges and are ready at any moment to gather facts and information and to make sense of them in their own way and in their

own style. They need grownups around just to facilitate learning and to provide a safe environment . Not to check up on them and badger them into learning things they have no interest in or are not yet ready to process. Their minds , I believe, are both fragile and hardy. Fragile in the sense that they develop uniquely and all at different rates and hardy in the sense that whatever it is they want to learn about they will. They are unstoppable and once they are tapped into a subject they are passionate about you cannot provide enough opportunities for them to gain all the information they crave.

It was 9:30 in the evening and we had had a very full day when my seven year old son picked up our current math book, a non traditional one called Play Ball filled with story problems about animals and fun activities like swimming and baseball. We became so engaged in this book getting out rulers and beans for counting that bedtime became completely ignored and happened to take place an hour later than usual. Without any struggle or breakdown my son saturated himself with the knowledge he was craving and when he had enough he knew it was time to relax and unwind in the appropriate place, BED! We were privileged to do “math” with musical accompaniment as the five year old decided he would use that 9:30 time slot to practice his piano lesson.

It is very liberating to be able to learn at any time of day or night and not have time schedules to govern or restrict you. So our “life as vacation “ lifestyle keeps right on moving no matter what !