Читать книгу Homeschooling For Dummies - Jennifer Kaufeld - Страница 56

Especially if your kids are coming into your homeschool after emotional or physical trauma at school, they need time to chill. Childhood burnout is a real entity, and kids show it in much the same way as adults: exhaustion, indifference, anger, negative attitudes. If you think about the times you’ve experienced extreme stress or burnout, you know what that feels like. Do you want to jump into new projects? (I know when I face times like these, I’d rather sit and mindlessly eat enough peanut butter cups to count as dinner.)

Homeschoolers have a term for taking time out to de-stress. It’s called deschooling. Deschooling isn’t the same as spending the day staging I-can-eat-more-chocolate-than-you contests. It’s not sleeping the day away in an attempt to forget about the school experience you just left. It is, however, a complete change in routine that allows your new students to regain their grasp of their own schedules and their lives.

A deschooling family explores together. You might:

 Visit local parks or hike through some trails. Exercise together is always good.

 Spend hours immersed in the literature of your choice, whether that’s a graphic novel, mystery stories, science fiction, or something else. While you’re at it, get to know the library and everything it has to offer, from classes to some genre you’ve never read.

 Watch movies together, especially those movies you always wanted to see but never had the time. This is a great time to explore comedy!

 Practice an old hobby or pick up a new one. You might opt for individual hobbies or one everyone can get their hands into (like small engine repair).

 Spend time in the kitchen cooking, developing recipes, or exploring a new cuisine. Breadmaking is chemistry, art, and culture all rolled into one neat and tasty package.

As you can see, these are all learning activities. They are not, however, academic subjects per se. You can still learn while allowing the children time to relax, catch their breath, and remember who they are.

Be gentle with yourselves during the transition. De-stressing from a traumatic educational experience could require several months, or more, of low-key family engagement time before the student feels like she can face formal learning again. If you end a school year intending to homeschool, three of those months occur over summer vacation, but it still may not be enough time for a middle or high schooler to feel refreshed and ready to go again.