Out of the box...

We made our semi-annual trek to Legoland in CA this week. The kids were in absolute heaven. My boys just dread the usual textbook-workbook-must-write-in-my-journal school day. They absolutely shine on field trip days! Here are they are in a Robosports class, goofing around and learning at the same time. In a perfect world, we would be unschoolers, traveling the land, caring for our animals (although we have none), harvesting the "back 40," and learning as we go. But alas, my children have parents that are both Educators. We Educators have a hard time getting out of the "box." The "box" gives us tangible growth (gotta love those worksheets and textbooks!) and good test scores but the "box" gets stuffy and tight and is just plain boring most days. We don't always fit well in the box--we need to stretch and move a bit, grow bigger than the box will allow. But there is value in learning the skills required of being in the box, skills we believe are important to know in this world....what a strange paradox I am stuck in! (What a rambling mess this blog has turned into!)

I must admit that I am comfortable in the box--it shows me where to go, what to do, how to assess. My boys are having trouble writing--the "box" helps me teach this difficult subject. But how I love the freedom of leaving the box for short periods of time--we love lazy reading days, cooking together, visiting new places, exploring our interests on the Internet....ahh, freedom! But then I find myself looking back at the box, missing the structure, wondering if we still fit, husband begins asking how we are doing in the box....so back in the box we go!

One of my goals for this next year is to live in the box of state standards while making each moment there as exciting and enjoyable as possible. My goal also is to really, truly take advantage of those out of the box days when they come. To enjoy the structure of the box and the freedom of being out in the world. I'll let you know how I do!