Explaining Unschooling

I changed internet providers and our internet keeps going out. It's so annoying!!

Okay, that's off my chest now--I can move on. I'm sitting in a cafe while Jerry has his first Japanese lesson since his old tutor, Mei (who we both loved!) left for Japan last year. His new tutor, Jason is a 23-year-old American guy who has lived in Japan. Jerry seems to like him so hopefully he'll want to stick with it.

We've really enjoyed having our new housemate, Xiquan, living with us. We invited him and some of his friends to have dinner with us on Sunday night and it was really nice. He doesn't take classes at Caltech since he's a Ph.D. student, he just works in the lab and what he's working on is so cool--it's a microscope that's the size of a dime!

He knew that we homeschooled but I'd been dreading trying to explain unschooling to him. This morning he asked about how I teach Jerry, so I told him about how we don't really do "school" at all and how there's very little teaching that goes on. I cringed a little as I explained that sure Jerry would have gaps in his knowledge but we all have gaps blah, blah, blah (you know the drill, I'm sure). But his response really surprised me.

He told me that when he was in high school in China his teacher told him that if he wanted to pass the physics test that would allow him to go on to the school he wanted to attend he would have to teach himself because what he would be learning in the classroom wouldn't be sufficient to pass the test. So he took the book and learned what he needed to know. On his own. And now, in the lab, he says there are things he has to teach himself all the time. He thought it was great that Jerry was learning from such an early age that he doesn't need to rely on other people to learn what he needs to know. I was so relieved! I always expect people to think I'm crazy (at best) or completely negligent (at worst) when I tell them how we home school.

But even this morning, when I was telling Jason (the Japanese tutor) about how we home school, he thought unschooling sounded terrific. So maybe I need to stop being afraid of what people will think. Well, of course I do. Now that I write it out like that it seems so obvious. Duh.

In other news: We didn't have plans yesterday (I love not having plans!). When Jerry woke up he said "I want to see Violet today." (Jerry met Violet at the Life is Good conference.) So I blasted off an e-mail to Violet's mom and several hours later we were down in San Diego county at Violet's house. The kids played pokemon, went swimming, picked plums and tomatoes from the neighbor's garden and had a great time. Hopefully we'll see them again soon.

I'm still trying to figure out how to get a bit more physical activity into Jerry's life but I can honestly say that's the only aspect of our home schooling that I'm worried about right now. That's not too bad considering where I was a year ago. Today is our home schooling birthday, by the way!!

WE DID IT!!

We built a computer!We spent a few hours each day last week assembling the components we had purchased before Jerry left for camp.I tried to follow the instructions in our book, Building the Perfect PC, but since we were using different components than they used in the book it was a little tricky.
We ended up using a combination of the book, the manuals that came with the components, and various You Tube videos.
Basically, I read the instructions and Jerry did all the assembly.
During the building process we discovered that one of the architects that's been working on our deck started out as a computer engineer so we asked him to take a look at what we had done before we plugged in the PC. He said it all looked good but I was still worried.

I hemmed and hawed and checked connections and re-read manuals until Jerry finally said "Mom! Quit stalling! Let's just turn it on!"

So I held my breath as he hit the power switch. I was waiting for a small explosion but nothing happened. Nothing at all. Then Jerry remembered to hit the power switch on the back of the tower as well and I held my breath again, still waiting for the little sizzle and spark that would end our PC building project. But instead I heard the gentle whir of a fan and saw blue lights illuminate the sides of the PC tower and the screen came to life. It worked!

We jumped up and down and watched the screen, then realized we didn't know what to do next. The windows disc was in the CD/DVD drive but nothing was happening. I spent some time trying to solve the problem on my own while Jerry kept saying "Let's just ask Shawn" (he's the architect/computer guy). But we had come this far on our own and I didn't want to ask for assistance just yet. In the end we went out for a scone and coffee to settle my nerves and came back and asked for help. Shawn adjusted some settings in the BIOS and the computer was up and running in about two seconds. It was amazing.

Once Windows had loaded Jerry was busily clicking through screens and setting things up while I stood behind him saying "Wait! Did you read that? What did that screen say? Don't go so fast! What did you just put in the trash? You might need that!" He finally stopped what he was doing and said "Mom, you're ruining all the excitement. You need to calm down. Come sit in the living room."

"I can't," I said. "I have to make lunch." And I went back to stirring the pasta that had been cooking on the stove.

Jerry sighed and shook his head. He came over and started massaging my shoulders as I stirred. Then, in a very relaxed and mature voice he said, "Calm down, Mom. You're really taking the fun out of it. It's going to be fine." And it was fine. Until Jerry threw something in the trash that shouldn't have been trashed and Windows didn't work any more and nothing we did would make it work again. But that didn't happen until Sunday. I'm talking about Friday right now.

So Jerry stopped me from outwardly freaking out and I patted myself on the back because in spite of the fact that I'm a complete spaz, I must be doing something right in the parenting department because that was a very impressive display of maturity coming from a 12-year-old.

Of course, when Sunday came around and windows wouldn't open and we kept getting the same cryptic message over and over again I started freaking out all over again. I really, really, really had to work hard to keep myself from shouting "I TOLD YOU SO!" Though I'm sure I said a few things that imparted a similar message. In the end though we thanked our lucky stars for our new housemate because when Xi Quan came over to pick up his keys Jerry asked him to take a look at the computer and he fixed the problem in no time at all. Having and electrical engineer in the house is already making our lives easier!