Homeschooling #2: some vague specifics

This is not just regarding homeschooling; this was a list we started awhile back, with specific life skills and academic skills we wanted for our son; with input from him; and where he’s at right now (at 12)

Although categorized, it’s interdisciplinary. Cooking = math = science = writing. Social skills = civics = history = art = propaganda = finance, etc. They might not be 1:1 equivalencies, but everything is connected and enmeshed.

All this is by no means accomplished; not seeking a pat on the head for curriculum nor a slap re the ‘dead white males’ aspect of authors listed (much more reading and source material than what’s shown). But I did want to give a further idea of what we’re doing, especially with regard to the prior comments re “what is learned from grades 4–10”.

Please feel free to leave responses, highlights, add notes, and of course recommend below.

Writing

• 5 minute journal every day
• morning pages
• creative writing
• scientific observation of nature / hives -write ups
• footnotes, citations
• 5 paragraph essay as taught in conventional school
• 5 page papers as taught in conventional school, footnotes and citations
• Writing topics to include commentary on all reading done, classwork, film and literary reviews, and all materials seen for ‘school’ or pleasure [shouldn’t that be the same?] [what about….Ironman!]
• will keep small notebook and pen in pocket and use throughout the day for notes, thoughts, ideas, sketches
• James Altucher’s X ideas per day

Math

• be 2 grade levels beyond current year math requirements
• pre-algebra and algebra, geometry, trig
• practical math: in daily living, finance, construction, shopping, etc
• mental math
• be able to calculate %s re tax, tips, proportion of pocketmonies
• can have an approximate total before a register adds it up
• be able to convert construction measurements re lumber
• preparation for sailing and navigation
• word problems
• metric / imperial conversions: volume, measure
• solve for time and distance
• calculate percentages of wages for savings, personal use, rainy day fund

Research

• can use Amazon and interlibrary loan to get a cross-section of sources and resources
• can call Museum of Natural History, Library of Congress, Smithsonian, med schools, etc to speak with curators and scientists in his fields of interest
• understanding of internet research / strengths and weaknesses

Science

• 1st level chemistry and labs [class]
• beekeeping and garden / plant observation(s) with notes and drawings

Computer skills

• ability with Word/ pages / Google dox etc
• page layout
• can use excel for financial calculations
• can use Evernote and Ical for time management / project management

Finance

• can read a simple profit and loss statement
• can read a simple balance sheet
• can keep a small personal ledger
• rudimentary understanding of how public companies function
• rudimentary understanding of how labor and capital function
• rudimentary understanding of relative economic value
• understanding of how taxes subsidize oil, farming, & etc and why and how (politics)
• understanding of how temporary work visas and migrant farm labor affect wholesale and retail prices
• the true cost of spending 3 hours picking and preparing from our orchard VS supermarket pricing [artificially low]

Biography, history, social studies

• George Orwell [including Down & Out in Paris & London / Orwell on rhetoric, etc]
• John Muir
• Rachel Carson
• Studs Turkel
• Oliver Sacks [memoirs and case study books]
• Buckminister Fuller [bios /esp Calvin Tompkins NYer article] and his own writing
• Richard Nixon || “Frost/Nixon”
• Winston Churchill bio
• social studies class / current events and historical background
• US precolonial and colonial history and economics

Reading

• Oliver Sacks
• Gerald Durrell
• DK Eyewitness philosophy primer
• reading for pleasure
• beekeeping instructionals
• blacksmithing manuals, instructionals
• outdoor survival books
• Eric Sloane books on colonial engineering
• Keep a list of all books etc read
• Graphic novels and magazines

Philosophy

• ‘A Guide to the Good Life’ [stoicism/ but some problems with this book + our notes]
• Walden
• DK survey of philosophy (with caveats)

Art

• sketching for design in blacksmithing
• sketching, drawing, coloring of plants and natural forms
• ceramics: introductory class at ceramics studio
• piano, guitar, ukulele; mandolin once X amount of ukulele songs are learned + ability to sing / play without feeling self-conscious (so far…seems to be ok)
• contradancing

Cooking

• can cook eggs
• can make salad dressing
• can pick and wash salad
• can make a cake
• can make pasta
• can make any number of nice sandwiches
• can make mayonnaise or aioli
• can gut and clean a fish
• can gut and clean a chicken
• can grill a piece of meat
• can grill vegetables and fruit
• can use fish and chicken knowledge on larger animals if need be.
• Not squeamish [please do not comment re veganism / no veganism]
• can clean up after himself in the kitchen
• has good knife skills, can improve them
• can sharpen a knife
• can dice for sauté
• can sauté
• can scrub and clean burnt pans
• can lay and light a wood cooking fire
• can make a charcoal cooking fire in the ceramic oven / grill
• can cook from a recipe
• can read through a cookbook and flag recipes for later
• can assemble a meal with several components / or make a 1 dish meal

Household

• can split wood
• can make stove wood and kindling
• can build a fire in a wood stove and keep it safely running
• can make his bed
• can put things away
• can do laundry, wash, dry, fold
• can use hammers and screwdrivers
• sometimes remembers tighty righty, lefty loosey
• can use drills
• can use screw guns
• can use a handsaw, albeit not well
• uses a vise
• can use clamps
• can use a plane
• can sharpen blades with files and with sharpening stones and strops and hones
• can measure for and use dimensional lumber
• will learn to hang drywall
• will learn to run wiring
• will learn to sweat copper joints
• can hang paintings, mirrors, etc on wall with anchors, mollys etc as appropriate

Personal care

• 1st thing make bed / we build on each successful thing we do and it is lovely to get into a cool made bed at the end of the day, including when living outdoors in a tent.
• can sew buttons, hems
• can sew leather with a threaded awl / speed-stitcher
• will learn to use sewing machines overlock machines

Physical culture

• training in boxing, jujitsu, judo, wrestling
• training in self defense, making the quickest exit, determining who is an antagonist, determining the quickest least painful way out
• ‘everyone has a plan until they’re hit in the face’
• 3 x a day, pull-ups, pushups, squats, handstands, kettle bell,mini-workouts for strength training [puberty will help this]
• mindful breathing practice [only a little bit to start with]
• Ashtanga yoga in small bits if / when possible
• soccer
• contra-dancing

Social issues

• be first: first to smile, first to say hello, first to volunteer , first to offer help
• can speak with anyone comfortably
• be friendly
• how to deal with bullies
• handshake and warm smile
• be first to introduce oneself
• respectful of elders
• understand that one, particularly a child, can learn much more by listening than by breaking in with “I think X” / “what does Y mean”. Learn to listen

Blacksmithing, welding, fabrication, ceramics

• small furnace use
• can make hooks and small implements
• can make garden tools
• good hammer skills
• [expand]
• survey of hand building
• basic throwing on a wheel
• lap joined construction of boxes, shelves, tables, stools etc
• Green carpentry wood course (1 week)

Garden

• understands composting
• identifies garden plants
• identifies trees by bark and leaves
• identifies habitat and micro-climates
• can build wooden garden beds (as assistant (since age 5))

Beekeeping

• uses bee suit properly (ie it’s shut in all places)
• doesn’t panic if stung
• can use bee smoker
• can use hive tool
• can use hive brush
• written observations

Biking

• will think of using bike for trips of up to 5 miles (we’re in a hilly rural area)
• can repair a flat
• can carry school books on a rack
• can carry 20 lbs of cargo in panniers
• can ride comfortably at night with lights
• knows what to say and how to react when hassled by drivers (ie nothing)
• can ride in urban areas when we take our bikes into cities

Navigation

• can read paper maps
• can give directions with street names
• can write directions in a list
• can review train and bus schedules
• can organize a trip to a large city with a list of where to go and in what order / plan 3 trips per year: transit, activities, museums, shows, costs
• can organize his own schoolwork, homework, chore schedule, to get X amt of tasks done in a week, a month,
• can use a wall chart calendar
• can use Evernote and Ical for time management / project management

Please feel free to leave responses, highlights, add notes, and of course recommend below.

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