The stay-at-home order, order to homeschool, has brought household dissension. It has parents looking to the summer with a painful grimace, anticipating a fight for routine and responsibility; fending off the zombie persona threatening to take control of their child. I know being your child’s teacher assistant is exhausting and summer doesn’t look like much of a break; as vacations and getaways are being cancelled. What we hoped would be brief is turning into a marathon.

Can I tell you a secret? I can’t wait for my son’s “remote learning” to stop. So we can finally put this online skills-based practice behind us and kick-off a summer of authentic learning! Last night I was laying in bed with my son and we were chatting about our curiosities and all of the knowledge and connections we’d gain this summer.

He said, “Ugh, how much ‘school’ do I have left? I just want to start this now!” I totally agree with his grief. I’m giddy for this opportunity I have to learn and grow beside my family. This stretch of remote schooling has exposed a problem with today’s curriculum. American public schools are mainly focused on developing skills and leave behind the ingredient that adds the fun in learning — exploration. The exploration is where the students gain knowledge and make connections. How many times do I have to read plotless two paragraph stories about Johnny and Patty to show you I can find the main idea? Too much of this and the joy of learning is snatched away. How many of us can’t wait to get to summer, so we can start the real learning? 

I won’t geek out about my interest in curriculum design but basically all of these ideas are summarized in the book The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America’s Broken Education System – and How to Fix it. This book goes a little overboard but it makes the valid argument: school’s are neglecting content knowledge in order to teach and practice skills. There’s been many studies that have shown background knowledge to be critical for a learner’s understanding. Sorry, I couldn’t help but delve in to this issue a little.

Lead a Summer of Learning

 Curiosity drives learning and one interest leads to the next. As you make connections across disciplines, a broad knowledge gained.

Here’s our plan:

1. Start with an interest. 

Wes recently read a graphic novel about a civil war battle. So we’re going to dig in and discover everything we can about the causes of the war and the developments of it. 

2. Explore questions.

Being a teacher I have so many resources and tools that will deepen our learning. I share many of them at the end!

3. Branch to other disciplines.

This is my favorite part! What’s something that interests Wes in the civil war? The weapons, of course. So we’re going to pivot to science and study forces. I thought we’d also use our bow and arrows to explore this concept too. He also has a model rocket we still need to build, which I’m guessing would be an engaging way to learn about force too. 

4. What new interest is sparked?

I can’t wait to see where this learning journey takes us. If we consider the big concept of cause and effect there are so many different paths we could travel. Being an English language arts teacher, I’m sure we’ll squeeze in some time to study plot. If curiosity and exploration lead the way, then joy will follow.

Trough of Resources

 We’ll start with an overarching text that will give us a base camp of familiarity with the topic. https://www.coreknowledge.org/curriculum/ Most of these textbooks have free pdf downloadable versions. I’ve already sent the social studies civil war book and the science forces book to Wes’s Kindle Fire.

If you want to make some current connections to our world newsela.com is a great place to start. Each article they have is offered in about 4 different reading levels. If you’re unsure where to start with your child, you can simply start at Newsela and see which articles they find interesting. https://www.readworks.org/ is another place to find information appropriate for the K-12 student. 

The online resource world can be overwhelming. Start with museums and organizations as those are reliable and during the days of quarantine many have expanded their virtual experience offerings. A social studies teacher friend suggested that I check out Ford’s Theater with my son. We spent a quick hour following the John Wilkes Booth manhunt and we even got to read out of his diary! 

Think about the activities and things you might have present in your house that could demonstrate and develop a deeper learning experience. Or if it’s not at your house, take a little family field trip. Maybe my family will make it to Gettysburg! I look forward to sharing our summer journey. Where will your family’s learning take you?

Excitement in the exploration