On Bramble Hill

Homeschooling…you can feel like a real weirdo sometimes when you decide to do this thing called “homeschooling”.
You question everything…
Are we messing up?
Will they learn everything they need to know?
Will they be “weird”?  If they are do I really care?
Are they missing out?

Over the last 5 years we have never been more confident in our decision to homeschool.  It has simply fit our families needs perfectly.
Being with your child all day long everyday leads to several things but the single most important for me…
I know more about my tweens than I ever would have if they went to regular school.  There really isn’t a debate on that.
I am with them all day.
We rarely if ever fight…
I know that sounds strange but I really think the reason would be that we give them this freedom to just “be who they are”.
I remind myself about a million times a day “Is this your interest or theirs?”  By allowing them to have 2-3 hours every day to “go down the rabbit hole” and learn what THEY want to learn and have a real interest in I am amazed everyday by what THEY chose to learn.
No me telling them “YOU HAVE TO LEARN THIS!”
Real learning…retaining learning happens on this insane level when it is something THEY want to actually learn.
I was reminded once again this week just how clear it is that we have raised “natural learners” at this point.
They have this freedom and happiness that comes from it to learn what they want…at their level.  Not forced or pushed.
Of course we do the standard boring things each morning…reading, history, science, math etc… but truly those do not take a full 7-8 hours they would need in traditional school (add in another 1-2 hours of worksheets and homework).  That leaves half a day!

Yesterday when I went to check on their afternoon rabbit hole learning I found Adam clicking away on the computer…
See Adam is his fathers guts.
He is NOT a sports boy…that was hard for us…but sports are not what he enjoys.
There was this time where we had to accept he would never be the football player or skateboarder Daryl was…
We had to decide how much time on a computer was “ok”?
We came to this conclusion…an athlete is allowed to spend 2-3 hours a day practicing his art.  He is cheered on…told he is great…
Our traditional school system often gives athletes just about everything and anything they need.  They are golden.
But what about the computer kid?
The kid that could actually change the world around him via what they create not what they do on a field…
We decided that it would not ruin him to spend 2-3 hours a day on his computer BUT the rules are:
we have open access to his history…
He must be studying how to create something…
Watching Youtube videos on programming are ok…
Creating plugins for Minecraft and running his server biz are fine as well…
Playing video games does not count during this time period..he must be working.

I walk in yesterday to find him teaching himself Java coding….oh for the love of GOD!!
My 12 year old was running his first java program (or whatever you call it because it is far over my head)…jaw on ground.
This is real learning.  Freedom to learn what he wants to truly learn.
The smile on his face…priceless.

Touchdown!

His generation needs coding skills!!
They are right up there with Math…actually he is now more interested in his math lessons more than ever since he needs those sharp math skills for coding.
It is this big learning circle.  He is interested so he dives in.  His choice.

The next time your child wants to “play” on the computer…perhaps they are learning more than you would ever expect

A few of his favorite learning spots this week…
Brandonio Productions

Anything by Mojang especially these weekend bashes they have where they show how they create a video game..live stream!