Lesson 4: Home Preparation
Supplies and Stuff
“Unschooling families work to remain aware of how much we all learn from what we find around us. Part of this process means that we make sure there are plenty of interesting things around to learn from.” - Mary Griffith, author of The Unschooling Handbook.
Anything goes. Household objects, craft supplies, books, texts, encyclopedias, workbooks, videos, computers, Internet, video games, natural objects, gardens, etc., may all be used by your child for following interests. You can also purchase learning materials, borrow from your local library, purchase used supplies, or share materials among other homeschooling families.
“Whatever the specific items turn out to be for your family, maintaining such collections does not have to amount to a major expense. Thrift shops, yard sales, and hand-me-downs from family and friends can provide lots of materials, and local homeschool groups often end up swapping the same resources around for years as members’ kids get hooked by and eventually outgrow interest in them.” - Mary Griffith.
Another source of community giving of objects is the Freecycle program. Items are offered and requested at no charge among community members. http://www.freecycle.org/
Where a family lives, their proximity to community resources, and their finances may influence whether they choose to fill their home with an abundance of educational materials or whether to rely more on outside resources. Listed below is a selection of sources of materials you might consider. More suppliers will be listed at the end of this course.
“A great many homeschooling families end up making frugality a family challenge. They patronize yard sales and thrift shops, finding everything from books and toys to clothes and hobby equipment at bargain prices. The kids become experts at bargaining, and gain first-hand experience in determining the value of their money.” - Mary Griffith.
Educational Materials
- Center for Innovation in Education, http://center.edu/ ‘Teaching the way children learn.’ Math books, kits, manipulatives. CIE also offers math workshops and online forums for discussion of educational ideas.
- Key Curriculum Press, http://keypress.com/ ‘Innovators in Mathematics Education.’ Math educational materials including textbooks, supplementals, software, tools and manipulatives.
- Saxon Publishers, http://www.saxonpublishers.com/ Math, phonics and spelling, early learning, and physics educational materials. Saxon also offers a homeschool curriculum and online activities.
- Microworlds, http://www.microworlds.com/ ‘Global leader in constructivist educational technology.’ Software products in which children can create science simulations, mathematical experiments, interactive multimedia stories, etc. An article titled ‘Constructivism: From Philosophy to Practice,’ http://www.cdli.ca/~elmurphy/emurphy/cle...
- Resource Games, http://resourcegames.com/ ‘Smart fun for everyone.’ Award-winning, geography-themed educational games.
- DVD Homeschooling, http://mentura.com/DVDRentals/homeschool... Part of Homeschooling.com ‘Your virtual homeschool.’ A rental program for educational DVDs browsable by category or age/grade.
Books:
“Homeschoolers are greedy and voracious consumers of books, and unschoolers are no exception. But textbooks are one type of book you’re not likely to find a lot of in most unschoolers’ homes. (A few unschoolers even take the extreme view that anyone who so much as glances at a textbook cannot be a true unschooler, but most would not go that far.) Unschoolers prefer what we usually call ‘real’ books–books written by and for people who are interested in their subjects, without excessive concern about the level of vocabulary or sentence complexity, whether the book meets state educational guidelines, or how many supplementary workbooks, study guides, and coordinated manipulatives are available.” - Mary Griffith, author of The Unschooling Handbook.
Books may be one of the most easily accessible sources of information, and they can be one of the best sources when chosen carefully.
“With the world's bookshelves loaded with fascinating and inspired books, the very manna sent down from Heaven to feed your souls, you are forced to read a hideous imposture called a school book, written by a man who cannot write: A book from which no human can learn anything: a book which, though you may decipher it, you cannot in any fruitful sense read, though the enforced attempt will make you loathe the sight of a book all the rest of your life.” - George Bernard Shaw, winner of the 1925 Nobel Prize in Literature.
- Usborne Children’s Books, http://edcpub.com/ Educational Development Corporation. Award-winning activity and beginning-to-read books, appeal to all ages, infants to adults, on subjects covering hobbies, science, nature, parent's guides and more.
- Solterra Children’s Books, http://www.solterrabooks.com/ Gentle books for children birth to ten. Fiction, non-fiction, story tapes, music, categorized by subject and age. Solterra offers a book club.
- Chinaberry Books, http://www.chinaberry.com/ Books and other treasures for the whole family. Toys, games, stories on tape. Chinaberry offers items to support families in raising their children with love, honesty and joy to be reverent, loving caretakers of each other and of the earth.
- Klutz Press, http://www.villagebooks-mtshasta.com/klu... ‘The coolest books and toys for kids of all ages...’ Books and toys, tapes, prints, cards, music.
Arts and Crafts:
Your local college bookstore or art supply store may supply quality art and craft products. A roll of drawing paper to fit a dispenser or easel is an inexpensive way to keep your children supplied with paper.
- KidsArt News, http://www.kidsart.com ‘Hands on art education for home and school’. Art teaching booklets, children’s art supplies, free instructions for art projects. View the online KidsArt gallery.
- Budget Art Kids, http://www.budgetartkids.com/ ‘Jump into art!’ Non-toxic fine arts and crafts for kids ages three to adult. Art supplies, products, kits, games.
- Scribbles Kids Art, http://www.scribbleskidsart.com/ Learn about different artists and their artwork, do simple art projects, enter contests, win art supplies, play art games.
Music:
“How can you deschool music? Stop thinking about music as a thing to learn and start thinking about it as a thing to do.
“...In becoming familiar with an instrument and how you can use it, you should play with it as much as possible. I don’t mean practice it, I mean play with it. When you like, as often as you like or don’t like, for as long or as little as you feel like it. In this way you find how playing and making music fits into your life and what kinds of sounds you enjoy making.” - Mark Douglas, a deschooling advocate, exchanges music lessons for studio space in a learning center in Vancouver.
- Homespun Tapes, http://homespuntapes.com/ DVDs for musical instrument and musical style instruction.
- Suzuki Association, http://suzukiassociation.org/ Books, videos, and information on the Suzuki Method of music instruction.
- Remo Percussion, http://www.remo.com/catalog/kp.cfm Professional-quality children’s percussion instruments.
“I have come to feel that a period of several years is consumed in exploring and experimenting with ways to make music before anything like technical ‘practice’ can take place. The length of this period probably depends on many factors–the age of the child, how long they’ve been playing, their affinities, their home environment. I suspect that this period of experimentation lasts two to five years and ends approximately with the onset of puberty.” - Mark Douglas.
