This is a happier kid

Why did we pull Trevor from seventh grade mid year?  This is a question I've been asked a few times. Here's the gist of it, we had one burned out, grumpy kid on our hands.  Everyday was a battle to make sure he stayed organized, he was studying and he was turning in his homework.  Everyday he was chronically grumpy, holing himself up in his room and snapping at everyone.  Yes, some of this is teenager hormones.  But we had no relationship with him at all.  I could barely drag him out of his room for dinner and every conversation was a discussion about homework and what was due and when.

This was no life to have with our son- to battle with him until he went off to college.

So we pulled him.  And it was the best decision we have made.  We have more time to talk and Trevor is less stressed.  We are in an eclectic mix of deschooling with some mild structure.  So what does that mean?  It means that Trevor is deeply suspicious of anything that might constitute a requirement... or learning of a subject.  When he first thought about homeschooling he assumed I would be structuring his day and giving him things to do.  Instead, I surprised him by saying "What do YOU want to do?" Well, personally, I am not comfortable with him watching Youtube videos and playing Halo all day (even in deschooling.. afterall, I do believe I have to turn in something to the state at the end of the school year).  So instead I asked him what he would like to learn.  He didn't know.  He was so stressed from school he didn't know what his interests were anymore.  So I took the initiative and signed him up for a class on WWII and battle strategies.  The kids apparently build a diorama and learn from there.  It looked right up his alley since I know he likes history.  He was thrilled.

On his own he decided to learn more about the Holocaust.  He has been watching a series we found on Netflix, reading the Diary of Anne Frank (I sometimes read aloud to him, too), and generally researching as the mood strikes him.

On his own he decided to research the history of DJing, write a power point and give us an oral presentation.  He gave the speech to me yesterday, I gave him some feedback and he is working more on it.

I suggested that he might like a free HTML class.  He agreed and has had lots of fun casually taking the classes and practicing that.

My only requirement is that he plan his day and that I would like him to work downstairs with me sometimes so I can answer questions he may have.  I also must study and write papers and discussion board posts.  Frequently we chat back and forth about what we're doing.  I read him my discussion board post about Freud's defense mechanisms (he even gave me an example when I couldn't think of one!) and I helped him find a picture of Anne Frank's house so he can replicate it in Minecraft (his current project).

In fact.. this was our morning... Trevor has been having problems with his laptop so he worked on fixing it this morning.  While he did I read to him from Anne Frank- which we chatted about for a bit. He got his laptop fixed and went upstairs to practice beat matching while I studied.  He then asked me to listen to his mix he practiced.  Then he came downstairs and he says tentatively "Mom, I know this is going to seem pointless and like I am not doing anything, but can we look up Anne Frank's house online?  I really want to try building it in Minecraft.  Would that be okay?"  OMG.. THAT is, to me, what homeschooling is all about.  It is NOT pointless to study Anne Frank's house and build it. Learning doesn't have to be all memorization and reading.  So he is currently listening to his electronic music loudly and building in Minecraft.

Smiling cheesily for the camera.  I'm working on taking pictures with more than my iphone.  

I have more things we've been doing and maybe I'll make those another post later.  But right now I have things I must get to!