Now Enrolling

Well, here we are! Rayan's a homeschooler. Technically, he's enrolling in a private school - we are in the process of signing up with The Farm School @ Home Satellite Campus Program.

Our plans, at the moment, are to use an interest-based independent study program, similar to what we've been using with Morgan. I've been researching the subject pretty thoroughly over the past several years, and I feel confident that this approach will be just as beneficial to Rayan as it has been with Mo.

The tricky part, at this stage of the game, is that, since Rayan hasn't been living with us, we don't really know what all his interests are. Plus, since he had developed such an adversarial relationship with the school, he's not in the habit of self-motivating. That's pretty typical of schooled kids, though. The standard "remedy" is a process known as deschooling.

During the deschooling period it is widely recommended that the parents not attempt any "academic" work with the student. This allows the family to spend time reconnecting and learning how to live together as full-time homeschoolers. It also gives parents and kids a chance to explore "non academic" interests - especially important to an interest-based learning program.

It has been consistently shown, in a variety of educational environments, that students learn best when their interests are engaged. Schools and other academic programs attempt to do this by selecting materials and topics they hope are of interest to students. Interest based programs start from the interests themselves and teach students to develop the real-world skills they need to pursue those interests, most importantly the abilities to learn independently and self-motivate. These abilities, more than any others, will propel our young people into the adult world with confidence.

Once the initial, deschooling period is over, Rayan's work may continue to bear little resemblance to standard academics. This is typical of the type of program we intend to pursue, but it does make it difficult to record and measure "progress". The purpose of this blog, therefore, is to provide a place to record some of the ways that Rayan is learning and exploring.

In the few days that Rayan has been home from school we have enjoyed seeing him take the first steps in investing his energy in projects and developing goals and skills at his own initiative. This is very exciting to all of us and bodes well for the future.