Deschooling and Home Learning

Homeschooling books talk about the importance of deschooling. They say it takes one month for every year of traditional schooling to deschool. I don't want Maizie to regress so we are doing home learning whenever and wherever it seems to happen.

I am not using any curriculum yet. I have a few things ordered. Even with the curriculum we will be doing the less structured form of learning during the deschooling process. We will not recreate a school like environment here. It will be important for Maizie to experience a sense of creative freedom. She needs to feel comfortable making her own decisions and trust her abilities.

My main concern was helping my social butterfly make some new friends. At school Maizie loved helping and bonding with the children in her special needs classroom. The first couple of weeks she cried wanting to return to school. I had to assure her that we had made the best decision, to trust us that homeschooling would bring less anxiety, more fun and strengthen her skills and ability to learn. We have begun getting together with some children nearby that home school and going to The Learning Garden here in town when we can. Playing with cousin Christian and other friends is always fun too. We visit the libraries in town weekly. Maizie loves to read.

On Wednesdays I have bible study and Maizie gets to help out in the nursery. She really likes to help care for the babies and toddlers.

My biggest fear regarding homeschooling was the dreaded issue of socialization. When people ask about it my husband Joe says, "Don't worry we are in the process of hiring some bullies to come over and properly socialize her." The school socialization she was experiencing was not terrible but it was too much of an overload for her.

Maizie is a singleton so I have the extra pressure of making sure we don't become hermits. Well, I don't know what I was worried about since it seems we could be on the go...socializing...all the time. Maizie requires lots of quiet time to relax and play. When she was in public school there was no time for this. She has come to appreciate playing quietly alone in her room. I hear her speaking and role playing in new creative ways. I am thrilled with this!

Learning continues through review of known skills and creating positive learning activities through play and experiences. Journaling in a blank book has become a favorite for Maizie. We are building self esteem, verbal skills (focusing on describing and having confidence to share thoughts), learning to play alone and discovering her limit for daily activities.

I studied the method of Charlotte Mason and applied some of her ideas. It seems we will follow a more eclectic form of homeschooling. Maizie requires diverse ways to learn material. It is great to have this freedom. Deschooling is strange and difficult. I really want to push her to produce work and make detailed lesson plans. But, I know this would not be a benefit. We will wait and just 'be' for a while. This is hard for me.

The biggest benefit is that Maizie can sleep in as late as she needs. Maizie has always had difficulties sleeping. When in school her anxiety was so severe that she would often awake for hours in the middle of the night. Since starting homeschooling she has only had insomnia once. I strongly believe that by letting her have more control over her sensitivity issues she will increase her ability to handle experiences that are over stimulating for her. With the sleep she needs and extra quiet time she has been handling social situations with a renewed sense of calm and happiness. We still have struggles with transitions but nothing like before. The other bonus here is that we get to sleep too! After almost nine years of never sleeping through the night we deserve it!

It is also a relief to me that with sleep and less stress there will be fewer seizures. Maizie has struggled for so much of her childhood to be healthy. Due to her seizures not being diagnosed until she was six, her intolerance to stimuli, emotional and communication issues Maizie was further delayed developmentally. What a blessing to be able to take this time to enjoy being a child and fall in love with learning. Best of all, we are enjoying spending more time with Maizie.