Learning in the Absence of Education

Essays on Homeschooling

© Beverley Paine

Homeschooling Diary - A Week in November
(continued)

In the gift shop on Granite Island Pop and Grandma bought Thomas a model of The Endeavour. It rekindled his memory of having walked around the replica ship the Endeavour Bark on his Kangaroo Island holiday a couple of years ago. Thomas was keen to do some research on the Internet, and downloaded a lot of pictures and several pages of information, including the Captain's log of the recent transatlantic crossing. He then became very busy with the balsa wood and within half an hour had produced a small model of his own. The next day his ship had sails flying, and Thomas was talking about weighting down the hull so that his ship would float upright once he has sealed it.

Pop was obsessed with putting his feet into the ocean, living more than 200km from the coast, so one hot day we all went swimming. The water was cold, with a lot of seaweed floating around in it. Roger had to get out after about ten minutes as he had dived under a few times and the cold had given him a headache. Whilst floating Thomas got cold water into his ears and they began to hurt. Those that kept their heads above the water managed to stay in the water for more than half an hour. But it was good to start the summer swimming season off early!

A visit from Pop and Grandma is never complete without several games of cards. Pennies from Heaven is a game where partners team up and try to be the first to reach a score of twenty thousand. Grandma plays very competitively, and it was good to teach her a couple of new games, Rage and Chicken. Pop challenged Thomas to a couple of games of chess, giving him a fair few pointers about the game along the way. Later in the week Thomas played three games with Beverley, and won his first game ever!

Never far from the piano, Thomas managed to impress his grandparents with how far he has come with learning to play it in eleven months. Pop commented on his ability, noting how natural it seems to come to Thomas. Showing off Roger's keyboard rekindled the boys' interest in that and kept them busy for a couple of afternoons experimenting with the functions and inventing melodies.

When Thomas's grandparents left it was with some relief - Beverley is looking for a quieter week, with more computer playing and exploration for the boys so she can get some time to catch up with her growing backlog of

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More than 60 essays covering a wide range of home schooling concerns and issues, such as late readers, value of play, socialisation, learning maths, part time school, and thoughts on testing. Learning in the Absence of Education is an intimate and honest look at day-to-day homeschooling life spanning several years. Includes articles on learning maths, reading and writing, spelling, socialisation, part time schooling, fathers and homeschooling, value of play, grading and testing, coping with stress and illness, and much more.

"These essays are the real life experiences of a long term home educator and activist and make inspiring reading... a valuable resource for all those interested in home education.... What I particularly appreciate are the personal day-to-day stories that are so specific in the incident or outcome These are essays written over time that reflect natural learning (read life) as it really happens.

I really enjoy Beverley's writing style in this book. It is very direct, sometimes even challenging the reader. She tries to be scrupulously honest always so we read of advantages and disadvantages of whatever topic she is discussing. She will also point out the ideal situation and how she thinks she falls short. Sometimes she is self-deprecating; sometimes she glows with enthusiasm for their successful lifestyle. There are touches of humour and sometimes wry cynicism.

Hopefully this book will answer many people's questions and fears about natural learning. It is all in here: how right it feels when natural learning is working well, what happens when we have insecurities ourselves, and the results so far. By presenting the natural learning case in this essay style, Beverley has been able to reflect the different moods, the ups and downs, that make the book a valuable resource for all those interested in home education, whatever their current style."
Janine Banks, home educator, Qld

ISBN 1876651016, 128 pages... $22.95

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