Other People's Homework

by Becky

Flat Isabella arrived in the mail last Wednesday.  She fits in a manila envelope and doesn't take up much space, but truth be told, she's becoming a bit of a thorn in my side. 

Jeff Brown wrote a book called Flat Stanley over 40 years ago.  In the book, Stanley Lambchop is a boy who is flattened one night by a bulletin board which hangs over his bed.  Not to worry, however.  Stanley and his family are optimists and quickly find that being flat has it's advantages.  Foiling thieves, recovering lost items from the sewer, and visiting far away friends via the US Mail, are just a few of the perks Stanley discovers in his newly flattened state. 

Second grade teachers all across the nation have discovered that this book is a fun way to fit some geography into the curriculum.  Kids make flat versions of themselves and mail them to friends and relatives all over the world.  Willing recipients then cart Flat Fred or Flat Wilma around town for a few days, snapping photos and gathering information about their hometowns.  The photos and interesting tid-bits are then mailed back to the student in the form of a scrapbook.  Ta-Da!  Instant geography lesson.

Ten or twelve years ago, when I taught 2nd grade, I would have done a project like this.  I would have been all over it.  Geography, literature, art, social studies, math, all in one.  It's a teacher's dream.  It's fun, it's creative, it has potential relevance to the student's life.  Today on the other hand, living our life without school, I'm finding that this project is an unschooler's nightmare.

It's not that it's not fun.  It was fun the first day.  Now it's beginning to feel more and more like homework.  We've been asked to draw maps and take photos of points of interest and write paragraphs about noteworthy people from our town.  Yeeeuuuck.  The kids enjoy propping Flat Isabella up and posing for pictures.  That's about it.  They've read the story.  It's funny.  They get it, and they're ready to move on.  My experience is that unschooled kids aren't dazzled by unit studies and creative geography lessons the way schooled kids sometimes are.  This makes it a bit tricky when it comes to follow through. 

I'd love to impress my childhood friend (father of the real, live Isabella) and mail Flat Isabella back in a manila envelope filled with beautiful drawings, flowery paragraphs and intricate maps, photos and memorabilia from our town.  But if I did that, it would clearly be from me, not my kids.  My kids have never done homework.  They have no desire to do homework (who does?).  If I asked required them to complete this project, they would look at me like I had two heads.

The whole idea was for a 2nd grader from California to learn something about the lives of three kids in a small town in Oregon, from them, not their mother.  I'm not sure we can deliver that particular portion of the lesson.  I know I could.  The teacher in me gets all fired up.  I can picture the captions on the photos and the fun facts I would insert throughout.  But I've been unschooling too long now to tackle a project like this with the expectation that my kids will participate with energy and enthusiasm.  There are too many opportunities for learning in our regular, everyday lives for me to fabricate the teachable moments.   I know that, and my kids do, too.

Oh, I'm sure I will mail it back.  I won't bail completely, but I've also let go of the idea that this geography lesson for Isabella is some sort of lesson for my children as well.  We don't do it that way.  When it's time to assemble the scrapbook and mail her back, I'll sit down at the table with my glue stick, markers, and scissors.  Chances are, one or more of my three children will join me at some point. If they want to help, great.  If not, that's fine, too.  We'll have some fun.  We may even learn something.

Becky is the unschooling mother of three (Janey, 11, Macy, 9 and Charley, 7) attempting to raise her children with compassion and respect.  She taught elementary school for 9 years before discovering unschooling when it was time for her oldest to go to Kindergarten.  She credits Sandra Dodd, Mary Griffith, Jan Hunt, and just about every other person she interacted with at her first HSC Home=Education conference 6 years ago, as her inspiration to find a more natural way of living and learning with children.  She is a Homeschooling Consultant, offering support and guidance to families looking to clarify their vision as a family of learners.  You can read more of what Becky has to say at http://lifewithoutschool.blogspot.com   She can be reached at homeschoolconsultant@gmailcom.

Comments

[Shez]

I don't think this has anything to do with the type of homeschooler you are. We're classical homeschoolers, not unschoolers, and we would also find a Flat Stanley a chore. I think it's because a Flat Stanley is so contrived. It's obligatory work, not "love to" work.

[Becky]

Yes, you're probably right about that. Obligatory work isn't fun for anyone.

[Angelina]

We too had a friend mail us her flat self. My kids only wanted to take a few pictures with her doing what they did that day. Of course that included sitting on the couch together watching TV and playing in the snow. There were no long stories about what they did and why they did it. Our little friend who is in Early Intervention Pre-K has an unschooling brother so their family loved our very 'busy' day of watching TV and playing outside.

[Robin]

Going out on a limb here because we have never hosted a Flat Stanley... but we have friends who have. I've gotten the impression that it can be fun to have your Flat (you, favorite animal, etc on a stick) travel the world and exciting to see where your Flat has been through photos and momentos you receive back upon Flat's return. I know that some people can get pretty elaborate if they choose and some may expect something elaborate in return, but that does not have to be the case (and there can be some folks who actually enjoy elaborate.. not talking about making a lesson of it because that is beyond my personal perspective and comfort zone). A Flat on a simple adventure to Japan and back can be fun. Then, I've also seen it be a drag to pull the Flat out once again for another photo opt. I think it all depends on what we as individuals enjoy or are willing to do for another's enjoyment (or school lesson... although I think the trick if to have packets prepared and it is an exchange of lesson plans for folks who do it that way), and in the end it is all about personal decision and personal perspective and then all about learning what makes us feel good about ourselves and our lives. If we ever did a Flat Stanley, I would be concerned that the recipients of our hospitality would be disappointed if looking for more than a travelogue of pictures with a few captions and a momento or two, knowing that Flat's are sometimes used very seriously as teaching tools and much can be expected in return in that regard. Then if we did it once and didn't enjoy it, that would be our lesson.

[Shauna]

I hosted my younger cousin's Flat Stanley when I was in Australia and almost lost him in the Sydney Harbour as he posed beside the Opera House--instant journaling fodder! I also hosted several homeschoolers' Flats, and my daughter sent one out her first year of homeschooling. It was a fun project all around (much more fun than the book itself). The hosts can be as imaginative and creative as they want to be, and I seriously doubt that any sender would want a host to feel obligated to participate.

[beth]

Someone sent us Flat Stanley. I thought it was a really cool assignment but we didn't get around to it for 3 months. We didn't have time for all the stuff that was asked. We ended up hurriedly slopping something on him just to get him off on his journey. Everyone was mad at us. It's interesting to have family living 500 miles away but sometimes that's not really far away enough.

[Jennifer]

We've done Flat Stanley over and over and the key to it is to just say up front on the yahoo list that you are willing to host a flat but it will only be pictures that are sent back. That's what I do. In fact, all I do now is just email them back the pictures that they can print on their own and links for the places we visit. Nothing more and we have fun and the other people seem pleased as well because that was all they expected.

[Dawn]

We received a Flat Stanley in the mail. I never put our experience to words....but you've all done it so well! The same thing happened in our house.
1. Receive the envelope: Oh cool!
2. Put it on the counter
3. Forget about it for weeks
4. Go through the pile of paper and realize we've really dropped the ball
5. Quickly take some pictures write a few things and send it back feeling guilty that we wrecked some poor kid's project

Oh well....back to regular life...

[Diane]

Our family recently took a 7 hour drive from San Antonio to beautiful Alpine, Texas to show our boys where their dad received his masters degree in geology. My son took his two favorite bears and we have the photo to prove it. I think taking your "best friend" with you makes learning geography more special. :)

[Julie]

We had lots of fun with our cousin's Flat Mariah, but all we had to do was take goofy pictures of us with the dinosaurs at the natural history museum. Grandma typed everything up and organized it before sending it. We actually have two "flats" out - but as we have no deadline, people can take as much time as needed to take a couple pictures, and be as simple or as elaborate as they please.

[Sara]

We have done several flat travelers for other homeschoolers, through the yahoo group. My son is 5 and he enjoys getting packets of souvenirs from his flat travels, and then we find the spot on the globe and he gets a short geography lesson. As far as hosting the other people's flats, I do that part of it. I want to send back a cool packet, because that's the kind of packet we want to receive and I'm trying to build up good flat karma. Unfortunately, we have lost about 7 travelers who went out into the world and never returned, so we've also learned the lesson of disappointment. I think this project could work really well for unschoolers (we aren't, but we are only in Kindergarten so we are "very relaxed"), but the adult does have some work to do.