Curriculum
General Overview
We initially thought this might be an easier part of the whole experience since we are both teachers, but what we have found is it is a much more encompassing, and at times, more intense, way to educate our two boys.
Our goal has been to let our travels be our guide in terms of education and while we have done our homework by officially verifying our intentions to homeschool the boys through Ryan's hometown, gathering materials and approaches through discussions with a variety of teachers, and trying to anticipate some of possible subjects by interviewing the boys themselves on what they are interested in (pretty much everything, as it turns out!), we have since learned that we have been unknowingly been following a larger movement called "place-based education" (PBE).
Specifics
'Our travels our are guide' approach has led to a series of readings, investigations and projects that the boys will complete over the course of the fall semester. As the 'semester' develops, the boys will periodically update their specific subject area pages to reflect what they have been learning as they travel across the western United States.* In addition, Ethan has had the opportunity to enroll in Johns Hopkins' Center for Talented Youth program and is taking a fall semester online course, entitled "Greek Myths Revisited", which has him reading D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths, The Shadow Thieves, and The Lost Hero.
Now, strictly speaking, we are tweaking the PBE model for while we are in line with the basic overview that PBE "immerses students in local heritage, cultures, landscapes, opportunities and experiences, using these as a foundation for the study of language arts, mathematics, social studies, science and other subjects across the curriculum", our travels have too much of a national scope to qualify with the more specific 'local place' focus as PBE strives to engage with and solve problems at the local or community level. This being said, we are searching for opportunities that would allow for "learning through participation in service projects for the local school and/or community" and we continue to stress to the boys that each component of study needs to reflect back to an issue in their community. In short, however, our boys so often feel like children of the world and even though they have a strong affinity to New Hampshire and the east coast of the USA, both of them feel and "think globally".
* this has been the slowest part of the website to update for us as parents!
We initially thought this might be an easier part of the whole experience since we are both teachers, but what we have found is it is a much more encompassing, and at times, more intense, way to educate our two boys.
Our goal has been to let our travels be our guide in terms of education and while we have done our homework by officially verifying our intentions to homeschool the boys through Ryan's hometown, gathering materials and approaches through discussions with a variety of teachers, and trying to anticipate some of possible subjects by interviewing the boys themselves on what they are interested in (pretty much everything, as it turns out!), we have since learned that we have been unknowingly been following a larger movement called "place-based education" (PBE).
Specifics
'Our travels our are guide' approach has led to a series of readings, investigations and projects that the boys will complete over the course of the fall semester. As the 'semester' develops, the boys will periodically update their specific subject area pages to reflect what they have been learning as they travel across the western United States.* In addition, Ethan has had the opportunity to enroll in Johns Hopkins' Center for Talented Youth program and is taking a fall semester online course, entitled "Greek Myths Revisited", which has him reading D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths, The Shadow Thieves, and The Lost Hero.
Now, strictly speaking, we are tweaking the PBE model for while we are in line with the basic overview that PBE "immerses students in local heritage, cultures, landscapes, opportunities and experiences, using these as a foundation for the study of language arts, mathematics, social studies, science and other subjects across the curriculum", our travels have too much of a national scope to qualify with the more specific 'local place' focus as PBE strives to engage with and solve problems at the local or community level. This being said, we are searching for opportunities that would allow for "learning through participation in service projects for the local school and/or community" and we continue to stress to the boys that each component of study needs to reflect back to an issue in their community. In short, however, our boys so often feel like children of the world and even though they have a strong affinity to New Hampshire and the east coast of the USA, both of them feel and "think globally".
* this has been the slowest part of the website to update for us as parents!