Screen Learning

I have said before that fear of the children not learning usually has me running for the textbooks and workbooks. I also worry about trying to explain unschooling to people steeped in the education system. So yesterday I lied. Someone asked me if I get my curriculum from the UK and I said yes. It's only a little lie and I have got textbooks from the UK that we never use or use occasionaly but the truth is I just don't want the hastle of trying to explain it to people.

Most of our learning is conversational learning inspired by TV series or Films usually. Lexy also does a fair bit of on screen learning on the computer. With Lex there is a lot of input and not much output other than dialogue. She draws a lot and writes occasionaly, I am glad I don't have a HE inspector demanding to be "shown work".

I read the HE blogs of people out in fields and museums all over the UK and think about how much of our Home education is actually done in our home. I worry that we are all too screen dependant, myself and K included. My computer is always on and I love TV and films. K loves computer games. The kids all love screens. Movies as Kiki now calls films are her favourite thing in the world.

The other thing they do- is watch the same movies over and over again. Why is that? I can only assume they are learning something that really interests them. When I talk to Lexy about it she says it is because you notice different things and especially in a long TV series like Alias there is so much in it that when you get to the end you want ot go back and watch again. When we watch a series we do talk about everything in it. For example, Re-genesis. I cannot actually recommend this as the amount of bad language was horrendous - I didn't know Canadians swore so much but the topics Lexy and I discussed were vast and there was so much science in it. When she watches movies she also talks a lot about how they are made and how they are written; about plot development and character development. About the use of music in film. We talk about genre and about putting a new spin on old ideas. We discuss why we don't like something- Firefly- just couldn't get into that series.

We talk about the things I am learning about as well and we all three enjoyed watching Pride and Predjudice together. Lexy watched that about 8 times too. She likes to read the same books over and over too, so I think repitition of familiar material must be important to her learning style. I am so the opposite I am always hungry for new things and new ideas.

Not all days are screen days. Some days we are baking together or like yesterday we went to a talk on Persian carpets and saw some of the most beautiful carpets and learned how they were made. We occasionaly get out in the world and meet real people. We met an interior decorator turned art teacher yesterday and Lexy was thrilled as those are her two dream jobs at the moment.

Finally relaxing

This year Eid- al Adha and National Day coincided to give us a week long break. K has been working non stop since Sept and was glad of the break. We mainly chilled out and did nothing but we chilled out and did nothing on the beach in Dubai one day and chilled out and did nothing at the zoo another. We took the kids to the Hilton a couple of times where we chilled out and did nothing. I say nothing but now when I am reading I am no longer doing nothing but am intently studying as I have signed up for another course with the OU for feb. The best thing is reading for "work" feels much the same as reading for chillin'. Yet I get to feel like I am using my time wisley instead of wasting it.
My first assignment recieved a gobsmacking 94% leaving me only one way to go from there. I have submitted my second assignment and we will see how that goes.

The next course I have signed up for is Approaching Literature (A210), so in order to get a head start I am reading Great Expectations atm. It was all going well until yesterday while I was sitting in the car waiting to pick the kids up from school I read that Mr Jaggers lived in Little Britain. I realised that I had read the next two pages with that bit of the brain that reads things without having a clue what they have just read while my imagination was off thinking about the TV show little Britain and if the writers were Dickens fan and was it the modern take on Dickensian style satire of the state of our nation but mostly do those guys just really like dressing as women.
I have know idea if Little Britain was a real part of London in Victorian days or not but am glad I am finally reading great expectations as like most people I am vaguely aware of the plot but have never got round to reading the book.

I was really tied between taking the Philosophy course or the Lit. one but opted for Lit this time round plenty of time to pursue philosopy in my spare time. I have been getting into philosophy bites podcasts. they are little 15 minute interviews with various philosophers discussing a particular area of philosophy. Really accessible - I even understand what my brother was babbling about that night a few Christmasses ago when he was drunkenly trying to explain Plato's cave.