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Following on from my last post about creating your own educational philosophy, I’m going to share with you some films to help inspire you to think about education, and what education you want in particular for your child.

These films are not intended to provide a model for your child’s education – rather just to get you thinking about what’s important to you with regards to your child’s schooling…

Etre et Avoir

- A beautiful wee documentary film set in a small rural French school that consists of just one composite class.  The film follows the class teacher’s final year leading up to retirement – cannot recommend highly enough

Dead Poets’ Society

- Could you have a list of films such as this one without Dead Poets’ Society?  So many aspects of education touched upon, and Robin Williams is just amazing.

Pay It Forward

- What I loved about this film is that it focuses on a classroom project, which one child takes beyond the school grounds to generate a positive affect on a much larger scale.

Horton Hears A Who

- Because a person’s a person no matter how small!  And also because sometime the invisible things in life are the most valuable.

Mona Lisa Smile

- Great period film set in a women’s college which raises issues of gender descrimination; however, what I’ll always remember it for is when Julie Roberts introduces her class to Jackson Pollock.

Bridge to Terabithia

- Altruism, empathy, imagination, friendship – such an incredibly powerful film that covers some very deep issues in a way that connects with the child in all of us.

Finding Neverland

- For me, free play is one of the cornerstones in my educational philosophy, and J. M. Barrie’s relationship with this little family really explores the importance of play.

School of Rock

- A bit of a fun one – Jack Black always makes me laugh!  However, at the heart of this movie are a few really key concepts behind education – doing what you love, collaboration, and allowing children autonomy.

Whale Rider

- Still one of my very favourite films!  Pai is a little girl marginalised within her community who ends up becoming a tribal leader. Gorgeous!

Take The Lead

- Saw this just recently, but thought that it raises some interesting issues surrounding male/female relationships, respect, practice, determination and a demonstration of faith in children’s abilities.

OK, so that’s my list – what film(s) would you recommend?

A Request For Your Participation…

Over the next couple of weeks, we’re going to be sharing some inspirational resources to help you construct your own educational philosophy which, like your approach, will be unique to you and your family. These resources have been selected to get you to start thinking about some of the following questions…

• What do you feel is wrong with the education systems you are currently familiar with?
• What do you want for your children in terms of their educational experience?
• What do you consider to be a well-rounded education?
• What do you believe the purpose of education is?
• How do you feel about your own education?  What was good? What could have been better?
• If you were the education minister of your country, what policies would you set?

Each of the posts in this series will offer 10 quotes or links or video clips etc. to kickstart your thinking on education and your core values/beliefs regarding what you want for your child.

What we want you to do is share your favourite educational resources in response to the individual series post topics. Why? Because we’re going to create our first Location Independent Parent’s crowd-sourced book!!

The plan is to collate all of your responses along with our own recommendations into a document, which will then be made available for sale with all profits going to Save the Children to aid in their international efforts to improve the lives of children everywhere. Exciting, hey?

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The truth is that if you are planning or already providing a Location Independent education to your children, then you probably already have an educational philosophy. Whether you’ve ever clearly articulated it for yourself or for others though, is perhaps a little less definitive.

An educational philosophy is a touchstone. It’s a way of clearly outlining what you and your child want for your child’s education, and equally what you don’t want. It’s a setting of your intentions, a clarification of your aspirations and a calming of your apprehensions. It’s a very valuable statement which will not only empower you, but will also empower your child…

Ok, you may be thinking that this is all very well but what do I actually need one for?

Well, for one thing you’ll need to get very used to explaining to others why you are doing what you’re doing. In the first instance, this may be broaching the idea with each other as parents. As we all know, open lines of communication are key to healthy relationships and you’re going to want to explain your reasons as coherently as possible to your spouse. Home schooling and home education when one parent is all for it and the other is reluctant, is rarely successful.

Now that you’ve made your decision together, you can present a united front to family and friends. This may be where you encounter most resistance and so you’re going to want to make sure that you have discussed this thoroughly with each other, set down some core values for your child’s education and agreed on answers to some of the more predictable questions. These will more than likely be, ‘What about socialisation?’ ‘What about their exams?’ ‘Are you mad?’

You may also need to explain your reasons for taking your children out of traditional schooling to the educational authorities. Now there are different rules and regulations regarding the education of children – please please please ensure that you get the best advice possible for your country and area. What you may find is that you will be required to share your educational philosophy with local education officials or some alternative local government office.

And then you will always get random strangers questioning you at the bus-stop, at the supermarket checkout, the library desk as to why you’ve made your decision, what about your child’s socialization, are you qualified and do you follow the state curriculum. Of course, it’s up to you whether you choose to respond to this line of questioning; however, I’m generally of the belief that the more I inform others about alternatives in education, the better!

Knowing exactly what it is that you believe and value, will give you enormous confidence when engaging in any of these conversations.

A Request For Your Participation…

Over the next couple of weeks, we’re going to be sharing some inspirational resources to help you construct your own educational philosophy which, like your approach, will be unique to you and your family. These resources have been selected to get you to start thinking about some of the following questions…

• What do you feel is wrong with the education systems you are currently familiar with?
• What do you want for your children in terms of their educational experience?
• What do you consider to be a well-rounded education?
• What do you believe the purpose of education is?
• How do you feel about your own education?  What was good? What could have been better?
• If you were the education minister of your country, what policies would you set?

Each of the posts in this series will offer 10 quotes or links or video clips etc. to kickstart your thinking on education and your core values/beliefs regarding what you want for your child.

What we want you to do is share your favourite educational resources in response to the individual series post topics. Why? Because we’re going to create our first Location Independent Parent’s crowd-sourced book!!

The plan is to collate all of your responses along with our own recommendations into a document, which will then be made available for sale with all profits going to Save the Children to aid in their international efforts to improve the lives of children everywhere. Exciting, hey?

Image by yomi955

Here at Location Independent Parents, we stress that there is no ‘best’ way to educate all children; there is no magic formula of curriculum material + free play + project work + educational outing + socialisation = best education ever!

There is no one-size fits all approach, and we will never recommend one to you…

Because the truth is that there are as many ‘best’ ways to educate your child as there are children.  Now, I completely understand that when you start out home-educating your child, this can seem bewildering at best, and downright chaotic at worst.

When my husband and I started to investigate the possibility of home-education, what I really wanted was someone to swoop in and say, ‘This is the way that you’re supposed to do it, and if you follow my example, you’ll have happy, intelligent, independent, free-thinking children!’

Now, I’m not saying that no-one did swoop in to say that – there are an awful lot of people out there that believe that they know best – but what I am saying is that if someone does tell you that, please don’t fall for it.

Only you will know what is best for your child.

You know the way that they learn.  You know the rhythm of their energy flows, their need for variety, their capacity to absorb information.  As a switched on parent, who is engaged with their child’s development, you are best placed to devise an approach that will best suit your child.

And I should add here, coming from my perspective as a mother of 3, you may find (in fact, you’ll probably find!) that what works for one of your kids does not work for the other. Flexibility is one of the greatest gifts that we give ourselves and our children when we choose home-education, so don’t lock yourself into rigidly applying an approach to your entire family, as it may not work.

So what kinds of approach can you take?

The Home School

This is when the rhythms, curricula, ethos of a school are transplanted from a school environment and replicated at home. This can be good for kids who respond well to this kind of structure, who are planning to reintegrate back into an educational system after a period of away time, or who struggle to find focus when the structure is removed entirely, as it is with autonomous education (unschooling).

Autonomous Education

This is the opposite extreme of the home-school where there is no structure whatsoever, and the child is allowed to determine their own route through their education. In this case the parent takes the role of supporter, facilitator and co-learner. It’s a very free-form of education that places emphasis of the importance of free-play and which actively avoids the imposition of structure.

Somewhere In Between

To be honest very few families adopt either of these extremes. In my experience, and maybe you will tell me different, most home-educating families choose something somewhere in between.

The approach that we have chosen to take with our own children has been a combination of curricula for maths, project work for language skills (based on whatever their current passion is), music lessons, foreign language lessons (currently Hungarian) and then a healthy dose of free play.

It’s an approach that works for us on many levels, as we have some structure so both the kids and I gain confidence in their progression, we have some child-led learning so the kids can develop independent study skills, and free play so we can enjoy creativity, spontaneity, serendipity. This is the way that works best for my family, but I will never tell you that it’s the best way for your family.

The best way for your family, will be unique to your children, and the way you will figure it out, will be through trial and error. Have fun exploring what works best – it’s truly a great adventure where the learning for both parent & child never really ends!

Image by HckySo

Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Eva Gill from Gill Adventures

As I began this journey of planning for living location independent as a family, I found many bloggers who had left a breadcrumb trail I’ve been able to follow. For many questions, this made answers magically appear with little effort on my part, and I am extremely grateful. One path that was not so clearly marked as I set off was choosing home school curriculum for our teenager…

Many of the families I found who had home schooled on the road had younger children. Others with older children had no intention of stepping back into the life they left behind, or returning to a public school system at the end of their travels.What we needed was a curriculum that would allow our children to learn independently throughout our travels, before transitioning back into traditional education when we return.

Researching Our Options

Our first step was to look at any state provision of off-campus education. Oregon, like many states, offers an online public school. Although I understand that some states will allow a child to enroll if they have been attending school in that state and plan to return at the end of travels. Oregon does not. The requirement here is that the materials be used physically in the house to which they are sent; domicile and tax status notwithstanding.

I would suggest that any parent from the USA planning a limited time, location independent experience look into the availability and requirements in their state.

After surfing around unsuccessfully online, I turned to my sister-in-law, who had home schooled her children while living in Japan for seven years. Her experience looked much different than ours would, as she had a permanent home where the boys could keep stacks of textbooks and desktop computers were set up at three stations in the living room.

From her came the first and probably most important piece of advice: start with the school your child will be returning to. Contact the counselor there and find out exactly what they will accept.

From the counselor at our local high school, we found that the best way to assure that Hannah could step back into class with her peers was to choose an accredited program that will issue transcripts. This is not so important for elementary and middle school, as they have more flexibility.

Refining the Search

An online search for home school curriculum and private online schools produces a flood of results, which I found overwhelming. Comparing programs based on company websites was sort of like buying a car by looking at it through a keyhole. Hannah and I made a list of our priorities:

• No books - As we will be living from one suitcase and one carry-on per person, we won’t have room to lug books around. The girls must be able to access what they need electronically, via computer or Kindle.

• Teacher support - If Hannah does not understand something, there needs to be someone available who can help. We understand that this may not be 24 hour availability. After all, we’ll be in a different time zone, and sleeping during “school hours” back home. But, at least, someone available that we can e-mail or chat with through a forum.

• Accredited – To be able to return without worrying about testing or the need to repeat anything.

• Mid-year start – We are leaving in February, so will need to start for the second semester. As Hannah is currently in the 8th grade taking both high school Spanish and Algebra 1, we will need to enroll her in these two courses to finish the school year, and full time as a freshman in the fall.

We found a couple of online private schools that look like great programs. In Ojai, California, is a private prep school called Laurel Springs which specializes in expatriates and families who are traveling extensively. They can offer a lot of support and even customize curriculum to learn about places we would be visiting.

We could enroll at any time, classes are on the schedule of the student. This is a very attractive program, and, sadly, expensive. Not by private school standards, but for those of us accustomed to free public schooling. It would be a great fit for a family with a bigger budget.

Another private online school is offered by k12.com, with either a complete package or individual classes. This program seems to have a little less support and is not as customizable as Laurel Springs. I understand that this company is actually the service provider for several of the public online school programs.

They also offer their program via private school for those of us who do not qualify for online public school. This also translates to private school tuition, albeit a bit less than Lauren Springs.

So, we added another priority to our list:

• Cost – We need to be able to afford the schooling without choking. Although keeping up with schoolwork and not falling behind is a priority, much of the learning over the next two years will come through the experience, not the curriculum. We don’t have to pay for “the best,” we just don’t want to lose any ground.

Even with the list, sifting through websites was a huge undertaking. I turned to an association I am a member of, which has a special interest group for home schooling families. I posted the question on their forum, explaining our plans and what we needed. Connecting with people who have been homeschooling and know some of the programs available was very helpful.

Curriculum Options

There are several very good curriculum options out there, some of the non-accredited are even offered by accredited schools, such as Aleks Math and Thinkwell. For families who don’t mind going through the process of home school testing, these are outstanding. For us, we want the simplicity of transcripts from an accredited school.

Finally, we settled on Compuhigh, which is an online division of an accredited high school. It is fully portable, and teacher support is available as we need it. They will provide transcripts in the end, so returning to public school will be simple. Enrollment and completion dates are flexible. And, comparatively, it was a decent value for the price.

There are great improvements on their way that will change the face of schooling on the road. Current programs are one-way. Interactivity with instructors through the programs themselves is working its way into online college curriculum, and will trickle down into high school and younger. Huge libraries are being digitized to be made available online. Between Google, Gutenberg, Kindle, and Nook, we will have access to much more information from anywhere.

Yet, even today there is so much more available than a couple of years ago. So, as we head out, I’m casting a few of my own breadcrumbs, hoping that they’ll make the trail a little easier to find for the next family.