I just walked by Chen's bucket o' books spilling out. In addition to the ACT books and the physics books, there are the R' Winder series books that she asked me to buy for her (but to my knowledge hasn't opened).
I felt a sick feeling in my gut that the boys are never going learn Torah skills.
Immediately, I recognized it as the panic that periodically flares up for the unschooler.
I look forward to the day, decades in the future, when I can look back on this moment and know that either they did end up learning the skills, in their own way, in their own time, with great joy and efficiency. Or that they never did pursue skills and yet still turned into admirable human beings who pursue Torah, truth, and growth.
Purpose
I am planning to try to blog our daily chumash struggles, triumphs and activities. For grandparents, it will keep you updated on chumash progress. For parents (that's you, Ari) it will facilitate our parent-teacher conferences and give you a chance to input your opinion on how you want things handled. For friends interested in education of elementary school age children for chumash, well, there might be some of that.
How This Began
I am an Orthodox Jew and I've been homeschooling for fourteen years. Teaching chumash is one of the most important subjects, and one of the most challenging. We care so much that our children love Torah. v'shinantam l'vanecha. We want so badly for them to have the skills and the ability. Skills work is a particular challenge for homeschoolers, who have not accepted boredom as a fact of school. Or should I say it is a challenge for the mom/teacher...
My oldest "graduated" homeschool (her choice) and is in high school. When I started, I was teaching chumash to a 3rd grader, with a toddler and an infant for company. We now have one chumash learner, one preschooler, a toddler and an infant.
I largely "unschool" and when I started this blog, I was reading Alfie Kohn. Many of my posts explored this. Although I currently am not brave enough to unschool chumash, I am seriously thinking about it for the boys.
My oldest "graduated" homeschool (her choice) and is in high school. When I started, I was teaching chumash to a 3rd grader, with a toddler and an infant for company. We now have one chumash learner, one preschooler, a toddler and an infant.
I largely "unschool" and when I started this blog, I was reading Alfie Kohn. Many of my posts explored this. Although I currently am not brave enough to unschool chumash, I am seriously thinking about it for the boys.
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