Recently, people have been asking about unit studies, so I've been directing them over here. In doing that, I've been coming here as well, and seeing over and over again just how much FUN we had. It's pretty amazing how God works. My boys are now in middle school/Jr. High. We had so many fun unit study adventures over the years (too many not captured here, boo), but as they got older, I felt the need to do longer, more "serious" studies. So, our unit study days slowly fell by the wayside, and semester and year-long subjects took their places. Over the summer, I planned out the 2017-2018 and was feeling pretty excited. But, my boys were not. They started dreading school, not liking it, and actively voicing their displeasure over starting back. I chalked it up to being a teen, but it bothered me because my boys (and I) have always been super pumped to start back to school. They love(d) learning. What happened? Well, I was hit over the head several times with the answer.
The first blow to the head came with Lucas was looking at the TimeHop app on my phone. He loves looking back at the pictures from year to year. That particular day was photos from a huge soap study we did a few years ago (which I didn't blog about, d'oh). He looked up, showed the picture, and said: "Look, this was back when Turning Point Christian Academy (our school name) was in it's PRIME. When school was really fun and learned a lot stuff." Ouch. He didn't say it to be rude, he was just so excited to look at the pictures and he remembered all about our soap making, what we studied, etc. He was speaking the truth. That really was when learning was fun, and we learned a TON.
The second blow came through a conversation with my mom. We were just chatting about the new year, and she said something along the lines of not being able to believe Lucas (my youngest) was now in Junior High, and would be doing 6th/7th grade level work. She exclaimed that all he really talks about is cars, trains, airplanes, etc, and she couldn't imagine him doing a "typical junior high course of study". When she said that, I realized...yes. He talks about all the things we've done unit studies over because he went on to learn so much more on his own afterwards. He was engaged and sought out additional information until his own curiosity was fed. He read, researched, found field trips, and spoke with experts in the field. He learned so much more than what we studied together. Many of the topics we've studied have worked their way into his every day life by his own desire to learn. Andrew as well. Most of his current interests are from past unit studies that he's taken and ran with, and learned way more than I ever taught them. That's true education.
The final straw was when I realized that we had a once-in-a-lifetime trip planned (a cruise to Alaska with my parents) and I was so concerned about our set courses and schedules that I had NOTHING planned as a lead up to it. Nothing. Zilch. Nada. What a waste. Especially since my boys dive into hands-on learning and units. And, oh my, what an end of the unit field trip we're taking!!
So, I scrapped most of my plans (we still have set "core" work and a rotating subject) and have decided to, once again, use unit studies as the base of our school plans. Along with that, I decided to once again blog about our adventures. I might not be the best blogger, and I really don't get around to posting much, but it's been so much fun looking back over the evolution of our school, and how much we have accomplished. The boys are already excited for school to start again. And that makes this mom's heart happy.
