Chana is doing about 40 Rashis on this parsha. I estimate she knows the general idea of 80-90% and not very much of the vocabulary. I think she would be able to read more than half and remember what they are generally about.
I made a choice in the story of Miriam's lashon hara about Moshe to just do pshat. Chana didn't question extensively about the Kushite woman that Moshe married. I did remind her that we had learned about Moshe's wife and that she was from Midian. She did ask what that had to do with Miriam saying that they are all prophets. But she didn't seem overly curious so I didn't give her more information.
In the last few days, I forgot to do Pirkei Avos with her (Did I mention that I decided to do a little bit of Pirkei Avos every day after Chumash?). I put it away last week and I forgot about it. She reminded me to do it today. That's a good sign--it means that I'm doing it in a way that is pleasant enough to her that she asked to do it.
Sometimes she asks questions but doesn't have much patience for the answers. She asked, for example, what it means to make a fence around the Torah but she didn't really feel like thinking about what the possibilities could be. Today I asked her what fences are for. All the reasons she gave didn't seem relevant to a fence for Torah.
The main reason I chose to do Pirkei Avos is because many times in life I find myself thinking about personal development or about a political or interpersonal situation and some words of Pirkei Avos seem relevant to me. So therefore it seems to me that if Chana is familiar with the words of Pirkei Avos, they might seem relevant to her in some of life's situations.
Showing posts with label joy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label joy. Show all posts
Monday, October 27, 2014
Monday, March 18, 2013
mitoch shelo lishma ba lishma III
I'm not going to summarize because summarizing and clarifying take up so much space that I don't answer the question.
long term thinking
A lot of times I don't realize that you really have to think very long term with unschooling. Even a high school student isn't really an indication of what the person's motivation and attitude towards Torah will be in the course of his or her lifetime, as an adult. I've seen many times where people pressure teenagers to behave a certain way or do certain things, which is somewhat absurd when you think that you are forcing a behavior temporarily, and in a few years, when the child is no longer in his parents' domain, he will do what he really wants to do. In that framework, it makes sense to carefully nourish lishma motivation.
skills vs ideas
I've mentioned before the debate amongst educators as to how much effort needs to be put into skills in an era where everything is online and much is translated. Think similar to the bygone era where people used to memorize, before the printing press made that unnecessary.
A lot of pressure of education is making sure that the children have skills, which is a lot of drudge work and repetition. If you are a parent who puts a strong value on your child acquiring skills, unschooling can be a risk. Personally, I am gravitating more towards the notion that the information is to a large degree available, and hopefully the desire to learn will eventually motivate a quick and efficient acquisition of skills, or else the child will eventually learn enough to acquire the skills in the course of learning. In that case, my emphasis and goals would to make the learning experiences pleasant and very interesting. And I would be inclined to wait for the child to show interest, instead of trying to coax them into interest.
seeding the values of the home and naturally things come up
I read an interesting article that was somewhat opposed to "radical" unschooling on a message board recently. It said that all the parents who say that unschooling works spend a lot of time crafting a wholesome, organic (in the sense of emerging naturally) environment for the children. Sure, the children eat healthily, since that is what is in the house. You present all sorts of interesting activities to choose from. But what about the kids who have TV and junk food?
Not to get off topic, I do allow unlimited media and although we have a lot of healthy food in the house and not too much junk food, we don't forbid any junk food. But that point did get me thinking about how unschooling is not a free-for-all. The parents DO have clear values and there are expectations about respect, living in the community of the family, living in society, behavior, and all sorts of things. In a family where Torah is a value, there are many many situations where Torah emerges naturally.
trusting torah to be interesting
I think maybe my biggest fear that my child won't be involved in limud Torah is founded in lack of trust. Do I not trust that the Torah is infinitely interesting? Do I not trust that learning is one of the greatest pleasures and satisfactions that a human being can experience? Do I not trust that the intricacy of halacha is a framework that leads to a better and more satisfying life? Do I not trust myself to be able to present the Torah as l'tov lanu, for our own good? Do I not trust myself to be able to convey that the Torah is delightful?
שָׂשׂ אָנֹכִי עַל אִמְרָתֶךָ כְּמוֹצֵא שָׁלָל רָב.
long term thinking
A lot of times I don't realize that you really have to think very long term with unschooling. Even a high school student isn't really an indication of what the person's motivation and attitude towards Torah will be in the course of his or her lifetime, as an adult. I've seen many times where people pressure teenagers to behave a certain way or do certain things, which is somewhat absurd when you think that you are forcing a behavior temporarily, and in a few years, when the child is no longer in his parents' domain, he will do what he really wants to do. In that framework, it makes sense to carefully nourish lishma motivation.
skills vs ideas
I've mentioned before the debate amongst educators as to how much effort needs to be put into skills in an era where everything is online and much is translated. Think similar to the bygone era where people used to memorize, before the printing press made that unnecessary.
A lot of pressure of education is making sure that the children have skills, which is a lot of drudge work and repetition. If you are a parent who puts a strong value on your child acquiring skills, unschooling can be a risk. Personally, I am gravitating more towards the notion that the information is to a large degree available, and hopefully the desire to learn will eventually motivate a quick and efficient acquisition of skills, or else the child will eventually learn enough to acquire the skills in the course of learning. In that case, my emphasis and goals would to make the learning experiences pleasant and very interesting. And I would be inclined to wait for the child to show interest, instead of trying to coax them into interest.
seeding the values of the home and naturally things come up
I read an interesting article that was somewhat opposed to "radical" unschooling on a message board recently. It said that all the parents who say that unschooling works spend a lot of time crafting a wholesome, organic (in the sense of emerging naturally) environment for the children. Sure, the children eat healthily, since that is what is in the house. You present all sorts of interesting activities to choose from. But what about the kids who have TV and junk food?
Not to get off topic, I do allow unlimited media and although we have a lot of healthy food in the house and not too much junk food, we don't forbid any junk food. But that point did get me thinking about how unschooling is not a free-for-all. The parents DO have clear values and there are expectations about respect, living in the community of the family, living in society, behavior, and all sorts of things. In a family where Torah is a value, there are many many situations where Torah emerges naturally.
trusting torah to be interesting
I think maybe my biggest fear that my child won't be involved in limud Torah is founded in lack of trust. Do I not trust that the Torah is infinitely interesting? Do I not trust that learning is one of the greatest pleasures and satisfactions that a human being can experience? Do I not trust that the intricacy of halacha is a framework that leads to a better and more satisfying life? Do I not trust myself to be able to present the Torah as l'tov lanu, for our own good? Do I not trust myself to be able to convey that the Torah is delightful?
שָׂשׂ אָנֹכִי עַל אִמְרָתֶךָ כְּמוֹצֵא שָׁלָל רָב.
mitoch shelo lishma ba lishma II
I asked the question here about the issue of "mitoch shelo lishma, ba lishma" (start off doing it not for its own sake, to ultimately lead to doing it for its own sake) and how it is in conflict with unschooling. In unschooling, there isn't much encouragement to do things not for their own sake. All intellectual exploration emerges from an interest in the subject for its own sake.
In Judaic studies, that's a risk. If my child doesn't want to learn math, so you figure when math becomes relevant, she will acquire it easily. And if it's never relevant to her, then she'll work around it. There is so much to learn and explore in life, and being passionate about it and excited and capable of exploring it is the bedrock of unschooling. But I don't have such sangfroid about Torah. Passing on the ideals, principles, halachos, knowledge and system of Torah is very important to me. V'Shinantam L'Vanecha. An expression of how much I value the Torah is displayed by my passing it on to my children.
Before I go further, let me firmly state that I think Chazal are expressing a truth with their statement. Although I may be questioning it when looking at it with respect to unschooling, that doesn't mean that I discount these words and their wisdom. Many times in my personal growth and development and learning, I have thought deeply about this statement and it has given me great insight.
The question I ask here is: is it necessary for me to get my children involved in Torah, or is it a viable chinuch option for me to wait until they are naturally drawn to it, and to respond at that point?
But, to risk being like Queen Esther, I'll share my thoughts in the next post. Come to the party in the next post and מחר אעשה כדבר המלך.
In Judaic studies, that's a risk. If my child doesn't want to learn math, so you figure when math becomes relevant, she will acquire it easily. And if it's never relevant to her, then she'll work around it. There is so much to learn and explore in life, and being passionate about it and excited and capable of exploring it is the bedrock of unschooling. But I don't have such sangfroid about Torah. Passing on the ideals, principles, halachos, knowledge and system of Torah is very important to me. V'Shinantam L'Vanecha. An expression of how much I value the Torah is displayed by my passing it on to my children.
Before I go further, let me firmly state that I think Chazal are expressing a truth with their statement. Although I may be questioning it when looking at it with respect to unschooling, that doesn't mean that I discount these words and their wisdom. Many times in my personal growth and development and learning, I have thought deeply about this statement and it has given me great insight.
The question I ask here is: is it necessary for me to get my children involved in Torah, or is it a viable chinuch option for me to wait until they are naturally drawn to it, and to respond at that point?
But, to risk being like Queen Esther, I'll share my thoughts in the next post. Come to the party in the next post and מחר אעשה כדבר המלך.
a little bit about how we evolved into homeschooling
One of the reasons I got more and more "unschooly" as the years went by is because, as we were living life, the only conflicts we seemed to get into revolved around me pushing for academics when they weren't interested. We would be having a thoroughly nice day, relaxing and enjoying each other's company and pursuing whatever activities we were pursuing, when I would start pushing "school." We have to do math. We have to do Chumash. We have to learn this, do this, write this. Or we'd be leaving for a trip and I wanted to make sure they got their daily assignments in. And that would cause stress and strife.
Always, when looking back at the day and the conflict that we had, I would go to my still silent voice and ask myself what I want my children to get from their homeschool experience. And always, always, it wasn't a specific skill or piece of information (beyond the basic reading, writing and arithmetic). It was that I wanted my children to have emotional health and the ability to lead lives filled with wisdom, exploration, joy, and healthy relationships.
I found that pushing my educational agenda was often counter-productive to that goal.
I found myself focusing on my relationship with my kids instead of on schoolwork. I found myself choosing to spend pleasant time with them instead of having them do "work."
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
RELAX
we did an hour and 10 minutes of chumash with a couple of breaks (nursing etc) plus chana could chat as much as she liked. for some of it, aharon was sleeping. the other 2 were playing--elazar had this plan for coloring popcorn on paper towels or something. this was how homeschooling idyll is in my head, when i envision it. the boys playing something creative, chana asking questions and chatting, and keep returning to chumash. intimate conversation, relaxing, enjoying each other's company, enjoying the learning.
for chazara, i read the pesukim expressively (yesterday's 6 pesukim) and she slowed me down or asked me about words she didn't understand. she enjoyed that so much, she said she wishes we could always do it that way. i balked, because i think her reading and translating are skills that are important, but i did think in terms of unschooling and pleasure, her idea has merit. i should try to incorporate that whenever i can. let's see if i'm able to.
anyway, in this relaxed environment (with the inducement of finishing bereshis because her computer is rapidly declining), she did til the end of the aliya, 10 fairly difficult pesukim. (a problem i have with covering so many difficult pesukim in one day is that she doesn't really learn the new words so well, or the flow of the translation, and then we need to do a lot of chazara, which is boring.)
we talked about yosef's interview techniques, how he asked them about their family. i told her to imagine she is yosef, and me and my siblings were accused of being spies. and her putting us in different rooms and asking us if we have any other siblings. she said, "and you'd say, malkie." i said, yes, but if we were actually spies, i wouldn't be sure. is there another sibling? is jj going to say there is? should i say we have one? should i say we don't?
she remembered "hitmahmahnu" (delay--sorry, i'm not sure of the actual shoresh) (also sorry for my mixing of ashkenaz and israeli pronunciation; maybe one day i'll post about our journey with that, the decisions we made, and what ended up happening) by when i sang it with the shalsheles, referencing Lot delaying leaving s'dom.
we were talking about chazara of the entire bereshis when she's done. she asked if i was going to make her go through the whole thing, "because i would DIE." i said i would die, too. which sadly is a testament to the pain that it is to acquire these skills.
on a tangent to that, in the beginning of today's learning, we were doing the pasuk: "and they said, "the man interrogated us (really asked) and to our birthplace, saying, 'is your father still alive; do you have a brother..."
and chana asked: what does that mean? he asked to us and to our birthplace? how do you ask our birthplace?
so i popped her over to rashi, who says it is asking about the family: "l'mishp'chosenu." she had trouble with it; she kept reading it wrong (and we are using rashi w/ nekudos). i kept gently telling her to try again, and she kept fuming that she wanted me to tell her. as she was getting pretty upset about it, i remembered my mother telling me that it annoyed her when my uncle told her to look it up; she just wanted to be told. and i wondered if i should just tell her. the other side of me felt like it is satisfying for her to have the experience of reading it and seeing it and discovering what it means. but if she is getting so annoyed, doesn't that mean she is not having the satisfaction? or does it mean that i'm having her exercise right past her comfort point and this is good stretching? (yes, i know, i ask this a lot. i imagine any serious one-on-one educator does, and i think it is an important question to keep asking.)
when she finally figured it out, she was mentally exhausted. happily, we were pretty relaxed today, so she was able to recuperate and nobody was interfering or demanding and we weren't rushed. so it ended up being just a very minor blip and not affecting the rest of the learning.
back to chazara on the entire sefer. i asked her what she hoped to get out of sefer bereshis. she said, "a computer." (she did thank me for pressing her to finish so that she can get her computer more quickly.)
the fact is, she has no particular interest in gaining chumash skills. she has no interest in reading, translating, insists that she already knew the story (though admitted that she knows it better now and in more detail--but again, she had no yearning for that, so no great gain in her mind).
i told her my goals were that she can read and translate, and read rashi, and know rashis, and know the story.
she did point out to me last week (with some satisfaction) that she remembers when it took her weeks to do a pasuk. and now she can do so many pesukim so quickly.
i wonder what my goals actually are, so that i can decide what kind of chazara to do on the sefer. i would like to think of a chazara that is interesting and fun, and cements some of the skills and vocabulary.
after all that, we haven't done rashi today yet. it's going to take a while. probably 8pm we will get to it.. maybe before?
for chazara, i read the pesukim expressively (yesterday's 6 pesukim) and she slowed me down or asked me about words she didn't understand. she enjoyed that so much, she said she wishes we could always do it that way. i balked, because i think her reading and translating are skills that are important, but i did think in terms of unschooling and pleasure, her idea has merit. i should try to incorporate that whenever i can. let's see if i'm able to.
anyway, in this relaxed environment (with the inducement of finishing bereshis because her computer is rapidly declining), she did til the end of the aliya, 10 fairly difficult pesukim. (a problem i have with covering so many difficult pesukim in one day is that she doesn't really learn the new words so well, or the flow of the translation, and then we need to do a lot of chazara, which is boring.)
we talked about yosef's interview techniques, how he asked them about their family. i told her to imagine she is yosef, and me and my siblings were accused of being spies. and her putting us in different rooms and asking us if we have any other siblings. she said, "and you'd say, malkie." i said, yes, but if we were actually spies, i wouldn't be sure. is there another sibling? is jj going to say there is? should i say we have one? should i say we don't?
she remembered "hitmahmahnu" (delay--sorry, i'm not sure of the actual shoresh) (also sorry for my mixing of ashkenaz and israeli pronunciation; maybe one day i'll post about our journey with that, the decisions we made, and what ended up happening) by when i sang it with the shalsheles, referencing Lot delaying leaving s'dom.
we were talking about chazara of the entire bereshis when she's done. she asked if i was going to make her go through the whole thing, "because i would DIE." i said i would die, too. which sadly is a testament to the pain that it is to acquire these skills.
on a tangent to that, in the beginning of today's learning, we were doing the pasuk: "and they said, "the man interrogated us (really asked) and to our birthplace, saying, 'is your father still alive; do you have a brother..."
and chana asked: what does that mean? he asked to us and to our birthplace? how do you ask our birthplace?
so i popped her over to rashi, who says it is asking about the family: "l'mishp'chosenu." she had trouble with it; she kept reading it wrong (and we are using rashi w/ nekudos). i kept gently telling her to try again, and she kept fuming that she wanted me to tell her. as she was getting pretty upset about it, i remembered my mother telling me that it annoyed her when my uncle told her to look it up; she just wanted to be told. and i wondered if i should just tell her. the other side of me felt like it is satisfying for her to have the experience of reading it and seeing it and discovering what it means. but if she is getting so annoyed, doesn't that mean she is not having the satisfaction? or does it mean that i'm having her exercise right past her comfort point and this is good stretching? (yes, i know, i ask this a lot. i imagine any serious one-on-one educator does, and i think it is an important question to keep asking.)
when she finally figured it out, she was mentally exhausted. happily, we were pretty relaxed today, so she was able to recuperate and nobody was interfering or demanding and we weren't rushed. so it ended up being just a very minor blip and not affecting the rest of the learning.
back to chazara on the entire sefer. i asked her what she hoped to get out of sefer bereshis. she said, "a computer." (she did thank me for pressing her to finish so that she can get her computer more quickly.)
the fact is, she has no particular interest in gaining chumash skills. she has no interest in reading, translating, insists that she already knew the story (though admitted that she knows it better now and in more detail--but again, she had no yearning for that, so no great gain in her mind).
i told her my goals were that she can read and translate, and read rashi, and know rashis, and know the story.
she did point out to me last week (with some satisfaction) that she remembers when it took her weeks to do a pasuk. and now she can do so many pesukim so quickly.
i wonder what my goals actually are, so that i can decide what kind of chazara to do on the sefer. i would like to think of a chazara that is interesting and fun, and cements some of the skills and vocabulary.
after all that, we haven't done rashi today yet. it's going to take a while. probably 8pm we will get to it.. maybe before?
Friday, December 2, 2011
erev shabbos chumash
erev shabbos. a short shabbos. tough to get work in. we aren't having company, so food is fairly minimal. chana woke up at 10. we negotiated to do work at 11. i have to make a decision between fractions and chumash these days. after 6+ months of hiatus in math, chana is finally grasping it again. i am doing it the way i wish i could do chumash. slowly, pleasantly, with no agenda in mind other than that she fully and completely understands what we do. and to stop before she gets overloaded.
i haven't come to that place regarding chumash. it's about skill of translation more than understanding, i feel rushed to press forward, i want to accomplish.
all of these things remove the joy and relaxation from chumash can cause it to be something that is a chore rather than a pleasure.
practically, chana did shlishi today and then zipped through the old rashis (which we are still doing with nekudos) and then did 4 new rashis with much complaint. the last two, she just read and i translated for her. she griped, "but even if we do that, you are still going to ask me the shoresh, and i'll say i dont' know, and you'll say try, and i'm going to get annoyed." i agreed.
hopefully we can chap a couple of new pesukim today after candlelighting, but if not, not.
i haven't come to that place regarding chumash. it's about skill of translation more than understanding, i feel rushed to press forward, i want to accomplish.
all of these things remove the joy and relaxation from chumash can cause it to be something that is a chore rather than a pleasure.
practically, chana did shlishi today and then zipped through the old rashis (which we are still doing with nekudos) and then did 4 new rashis with much complaint. the last two, she just read and i translated for her. she griped, "but even if we do that, you are still going to ask me the shoresh, and i'll say i dont' know, and you'll say try, and i'm going to get annoyed." i agreed.
hopefully we can chap a couple of new pesukim today after candlelighting, but if not, not.
Friday, September 3, 2010
yes it's the 18 minutes before shabbos but i'm sitting here nursing and there is so much i wanted to share. chana was so on today. we had a trip to see animals so i tried to get some done before we left. we did a massive pasuk (32 words!) and she translated fine, but it was a lot for her to keep track of, even with the white board.
she asked some good questions. regarding hashem smelling, i asked how He could smell. she said he can do anything! i said can he make himself a body? oh. i asked how he could smell, and she said, "he can smell something fishy!" which i enjoyed because of the metaphorical use of the word smell.
then she asked about adam being Ra from youth. but adam didn't have a youth! (after i explained what "youth" means ;). then she said she didn't think that young children who can't control themselves are bad. good questions.
and it turns out my rashi is a good choice after all. because she kept getting stuck on the lashon of "don't you admit that hashem sees the future?" she said it should be "do you admit that hashem sees the future." saying "don't you admit" implies you don't.
that was an excellent catch, chana. so i explained to her that somebody was trying to trip up the rabbi. don't you agree hashem knows the future? YES. but it says hashem was sad when he was going to destroy Mankind. yes. but why was he sad, if he knew the future.
oh, seeing chana's eyes light up with total agreement and understanding is a joy to behold.
good shabbos. this was one of those erev shabboses where jack and elazar are crying and i'm trying to cook while doing school. ha. we're going to finish chazara on shabbos.
she asked some good questions. regarding hashem smelling, i asked how He could smell. she said he can do anything! i said can he make himself a body? oh. i asked how he could smell, and she said, "he can smell something fishy!" which i enjoyed because of the metaphorical use of the word smell.
then she asked about adam being Ra from youth. but adam didn't have a youth! (after i explained what "youth" means ;). then she said she didn't think that young children who can't control themselves are bad. good questions.
and it turns out my rashi is a good choice after all. because she kept getting stuck on the lashon of "don't you admit that hashem sees the future?" she said it should be "do you admit that hashem sees the future." saying "don't you admit" implies you don't.
that was an excellent catch, chana. so i explained to her that somebody was trying to trip up the rabbi. don't you agree hashem knows the future? YES. but it says hashem was sad when he was going to destroy Mankind. yes. but why was he sad, if he knew the future.
oh, seeing chana's eyes light up with total agreement and understanding is a joy to behold.
good shabbos. this was one of those erev shabboses where jack and elazar are crying and i'm trying to cook while doing school. ha. we're going to finish chazara on shabbos.
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