So this is what I am thinking about our homeschooling right now (beware I may change my mind!)

I feel that there are so many wonderful things to do out in the world or with our own time and of our own choosing that something has to be very important for me to spend our time "teaching" it to Z.

I think that bike rides and nature walks, a building sand castles at the beach, ice skating with friends or playing dress up are, at this point in Z's life, as important as any other thing she could be doing with her time.

I think that having free time to pursue her own endeavors is probably more important than anything I can impose upon her.

I am not talking about unschooling though. I am talking about justifying to myself why I am teaching her what I am teaching her.

This is one of my favorite article on curriculum design. I read it first about three years ago and everytime I reread it I end up doing a major over haul of my method, usually throwing out stuff that some other curriculum designer (think TWTM) sold me on.

Everyone has their own reasons, based on their child's strengths and weaknesses and their family values for why they are teaching what they teach, or at least they should. Tonight I came up with a pretty short (compared to my old list) list of subjects to teach.

1. Math
Why should I attempt to teach math almost every day to my five year old? My reasons might be incorrect according to some data but I do have a lot of research on my side. Kids need to memorize their math facts. They need to have that stuff down cold. They will have trouble ever applying more complicated maths and theories if they still have to work on the basic functions. Also math can, perhaps, best be taught sequentially. I know it has been taught out of order with success but I am going to do it, for the most part, building one thing upon the other. There is a lot of math to learn and higher level sciences require a background in higher maths. It is important to me that Z will be prepared to pursue a career in a hard science or in technology or engineering should she wish to. So, math is an every day thing.

2. Foreign Language
I wrote previous that I would like Z to be a polyglot. I think that every language she learns would be a benefit to any future career she chooses. But the only reason we attempt this is becauze Z loves langauges. If she didn't have a passion for them I think we would just do Spanish (or Chinese) for practical reasons, some basic Hebrew and be done with it. This is the age to teach her too. Many other subjects can wait and she will appreciate them more when she is older but 5 years old is a perfect time to work on becomes fluent in a foreign language.

3. Piano
Piano teaches Z so much more than merely making music. Piano teaches Z discipline. Piano is something that Z has to work hard at and do repetition after repetition to make it beautiful. It is also a subject of beauty, where attention to detail creates something more beautiful. Piano trains her fingers and mind to be nimble and think ahead to the next keys. Piano is expressive. Music is historical and music is mathematical. Music is the language that Z speaks in much of the time.

4. Visual Spatial Development and Problem Solving
These two areas are closely linked. I am talking about jigsaw puzzles, mazes, chess, Sudoku, building with LEGO's, origami, etc. Z has a gift for visual spatial thinking, I want to exercise that area of her mind. I want to present her with critical thinking problems to solve. I worry that in todays schools children are not taught to think, nor how to look at things and figure out how they might work. The ability to do deep and thoughtful thinking as well as rapid intuitive thinking can help a person in endless ways.

5. Memorization
I am not sure about this one. But memorization comes so easily to Z that I would like to offer her beautiful songs, poems, verses, speeches, etc to add to her memory bank. I am not sure if this is really important though. But it is something that seems to happen almost naturally due to the amount we read.

6. Reading classics
Some books just must be read. I am sure you know what I mean. If not then you probably never will. (sorry, just being flippant, but this subject really doesn't need an explaination does it?)

7. Everything else including history and science
This we are going to do haphazardly with the idea that want Z to enjoy these subjects and find them interesting. We watch a lot of science and history programs on television that are very interesting to the whole family. Those topics often lead to doing more research in books or online. We also own literally hundreds of books on science and history that we read often and discuss. There are some great kids magazines like Kids Discover that Z loves. My goal right now is for Z to continue to enjoy learning and to make connections between ideas and to have the free time to think about and incorporate what she has learned. Z loves to act out being a cave person or an arthropod or a little girl during the Revolutionary War. I want to just "play" with these ideas with her. It doesn't work for us to be too rigid in the order we introduce history and science (or geography, etc) to Z. Maybe when she is tolder we will do things more orderly but now this is what works for us.

I enjoyed asking myself why I am teaching Z what I am teaching her. I need to remember to reevaluate often.