The Storque is almost a year old! In celebration of this, we'll be reposting some favorites. Last September 20, 2007, GreenMamba offered to give us a more in-depth picture of what it's like to live a homeschooling lifestyle. This is the third of our series on Etsy homeschoolers. Please see  Etsy Youth Sellers: Not Back to School and  Handmade Education: Creativity & Homeschooling.

My kids are, naturally, handmade. So is their education. We’ve been a homeschooling family for 24 years. Okay, maybe I’m fudging a little. But I tend to count all the time spent with my children as a learning experience. I first began ‘formally’ homeschooling my son, a first-grader, after a dismal year in kindergarten, where the open-concept school he attended didn’t allow the children to make any noise and advocated — in the late 80’s — that every child should write right-handed. My son was one of two lefties in his class. After spending the entire year trying to work within the system — volunteering, bringing issues to light and offering helpful suggestions, joining brainstorming sessions, and (unexpectedly) being nominated to chair the local PTO, I respectfully declined the nomination and happily brought my son home to learn.

That first full year was wonderful! A couple of neighbors, intrigued and inspired by my daring decision, joined forces to rotate ‘classes’ in an informal co-op to provide our kids with a variety of learning opportunities, such as music and arts-and-crafts, as well as a change of scenery. The tiny group included my son, his younger sister, and three other children.

The next several years brought many changes, several relocations, and two more children. Homeschooling was an on again-off again affair, depending on where we were living and what was going on in our hectic lives, but, the summer between my middle daughter’s kindergarten and first-grade years, I made the decision to commit for the long haul. I have been homeschooling my two youngest consecutively for more than ten years now. It’s the best decision I ever made.

Our days, early on, were pretty structured and organized. We even created a mini-classroom out of a little corner of the living room. But, as time passed and I became better acquainted with the girls’ academic needs, as well as individual learning styles and strengths, we became less conventional and more adventurous. By the time my girls hit their teens, we were doing mostly interest-led learning, often called unschooling — though we never strictly met that definition, as we continued to include mandatory subjects, such as math and science. Once, we had a guest-student, the daughter of a co-worker, who joined us for three months — just in time for a crash course in basic algebra.

Eschewing traditional schooling has given us the flexibility to enhance and personalize our learning experiences. One daughter studied pirates (Arrrgh!), Japanese samurai, and period fashion. Her sister voraciously devoured biographies of famous impressionist and post-impressionist painters. It was a special treat when we visited the Art Institute of Chicago, where she was able to view many great works up close and see for herself the texture and vibrant color only hinted at in photographs. We are all three inquisitive readers: we make regular trips to the library, at least twice weekly. We also share a love of foreign language films, giving us a peek into other cultures, customs and perspectives.

But our learning has never been confined to the home.

For instance, Kaelin, who is an avowed animal lover, did a stint at a local no-kill animal shelter (minors were required to have a parent present, so we worked together), walking the dogs, feeding and watering the animals, and mucking out the cages and veterinary rooms. Later, she volunteered at a local horse therapy facility, again feeding and watering the horses (and other miscellaneous animals), assisting with miniature-horse therapy for the young handicapped clients, and was even given the task of socializing and training a rambunctious corral of young Caspians. This experience was followed by a summer-plus-several-months of volunteering at the Houston zoo. While other children were waking and getting ready for school, she was already up and helping to feed and care for the zoo’s population of small mammals, which included — among many others — a fennec fox, three warthogs, a reclusive fruit bat, a colony of vampire bats, and an affectionate tamandua. Later still, she worked at a stable in exchange for horse-riding lessons, and spent a day with a local vet where she observed routine care procedures and a couple of surgeries.

My youngest, Erin, is more art-inclined. She and her sister brainstormed, proposed and helped coordinate a Talent and Interest Expo (TIE) — an annual event where children of all ages are invited to showcase a talent, acquired skill or hobby — for two area homeschool groups. She participated in a 6-month mixed-media art class at a small music and arts studio, and later took a 6-week drawing course. Other than that, she is pretty much self-taught. Her artistic interests include outdoor photography, animation, and manga-style sketching. Being a hands-on gal, she loves experimenting with a variety of media, and was inspired to create her own soft-sculpture-sock-monkey version of ‘See no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil’. Her aunt fell in love with the monkeys, so Erin made another as a surprise — which in turn netted her an order for a custom sock monkey from one of her aunt’s co-workers. Both monkeys grace the workstations of their respective owners.

A sampling of our many away-from-home activities over the years includes such experiences as performing in a homeschool play; speech and debate workshops; a literature (short story) discussion group; museum trips; camping excursions; beach outings; a blacksmithing demonstration; fencing; a single-engine flying lesson at a small local airport; plays, concerts and festivals at the Miller Outdoor Theater; trips to the Texas Renaissance Festival; and violin lessons. In fact, when the girls were younger, the music instructor at their father’s middle school (didn’t I mention he was a public school teacher?) learned that they played violin and invited them to practice in the mornings with the school orchestra. So, for two weeks, they traveled to school with their dad, practiced for a couple of hours, and I picked them up afterward. They not only performed in the school’s spring concert, but were given guest billing as well.

Current interests include various artistic pursuits, Latin dance, and a love of all things manga and anime. They’re also big costume fans. I’ve been custom making their outfits for Halloween every year since before they could walk. Now, Kaelin and Erin design and create their own cosplay costumes and props (with a little help from mom) to wear to anime conventions. And — for something completely different — they would like to look into adopting and sprucing up a tiny abandoned cemetery tucked away in the middle of a nearby city park.

[Animation is by GreenMamba's 12 year old!] 

 [All rights reserved on the photos in this piece! Contact GreenMamba for more info.]

Post in the comments if you're NOT going back to school in the fall!