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No lesson plans? No problem
La Plata family finds unschooling a perfect fit
Friday, Oct. 16, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by EMILY BARNES
Evan Roscello, 11, measures the length his balloon rocket traveled while his mother, Zoa Conner, and sister, Maia Conner, hold the end of the tape measure for him.
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For the children of Zoa Conner and Walter Roscello, schoolwork isn't confined to a classroom.
Evan, 11, and Maia, 6, don't even really have "schoolwork," not in the traditional sense.
No, Conner and Roscello, both physicists, have concluded that the only way they will "teach" their children, is through unschooling, an offshoot of home-schooling that basically allows children to learn sort of organically.
They study what they want, investigate what sparks their interest at the moment (Evan fired off a blog post recently about Chernobyl) and go where their minds wander, soaking up information along the way.
No curriculum — the closest Conner comes to a lesson plan is organizing field trips and the advance notice is only to allow Evan and Maia to map out the route and think about landmarks and areas they'd like to visit.
"There is no particular reason to go to one place to learn," said Conner, referring to the brick and mortar buildings of a schoolhouse. "Kids learn all the time, anywhere. I don't prepare lessons; I don't decide what they learn. Their interest is fueled by their passions."
Once a month on a Friday, Conner tries to host a math and science lesson — complete with experiments — at her La Plata home for her kids and other home-schoolers who want to join in. She has experiments mapped out through December with descriptions of each at her blog, http://ssommd.blogspot.com/.
Recently, the kids participated in Blast Off, which explored Newton's Third Law of Motion, using balloon and pop rockets and the very exciting and very sticky Mentos in Diet Coke experiment. (Truth be told, as soon as Conner mentioned having rolls of the candy, the kids were more interested in popping those than baking soda and vinegar rockets.)
A college student by the time she was 16, Conner has taught on the university level and understands that science is a daunting subject for some home-school instructors to tackle.
Often, a lesson on Newton's Third Law — for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction — is relegated to a couple of paragraphs in a textbook and that's just no fun.
Go ahead and ask Evan Roscello as he attempts to inflate a balloon with a pump to send along a length of string staked in the family's front flowerbed. (It should be noted, that while Evan had a bit of trouble inflating the balloon, his little sister, whom he considers more than a minor annoyance to his existence — as big brothers are wont to do — has absolutely no problem with the task.)
"Science is my favorite subject ..." Evan said, before screwing up his face and adding, "but we're home-schooled so we don't really have subjects."
He has 11-year-old boy interests such as reading mysteries, playing soccer and video games, but he doesn't know where he would fit in at a traditional school.
"First grade? Sixth grade? Maybe ninth?" he said.
Being unschooled allows Evan the freedom to learn "first-grade stuff or college stuff," he said.
Conner doesn't tailor what goes on, even with the five-year age difference in her children.
"The 6-year-old learns what she learns, the 11-year-old learns what he learns," she said.
While the Maryland State Department of Education has regulations for home-schoolers — designed to keep those schooled in a living room on the same level as those in a classroom — most home-schoolers and unschoolers are of Conner's ilk. They realize that learning is a natural process for kids, a lifelong pursuit and they are serious about it.
With a 28-book set of encyclopedias stacked on the front porch, an astrophysicist and former George Washington University professor for a mother, let alone a "teacher," grouped with a natural curiosity, Evan and Maia aren't likely missing milestones in their education.
And despite their parents both being science-minded physicists, Evan and Maia aren't monitored to see if they have a predilection for the sciences.
"I think it's unfair to expect children to have the same interests as their parents," said Conner who blogs not only about unschooling but is the co-organizer of Enjoy Life Unschooling Conference.
"Everyone has different passions. Even kids," she said.
The family attempts to live as organically and self-sustaining as possible. Conner has an Etsy shop (a Web site for crafters to sell their homemade items) featuring wares made from recycled products — think a bag made of floppy disks which her kids helped her create.
Conner has also started a new challenge of sorts; she doesn't buy anything ahead of time.
It's a very "live in the moment" type of thing.
What if she dumped a bunch of money on materials that only induced yawns in her kids? With children, interests shift, harnessing their train of thought would be impossible, even for their mother who spends nearly every hour with them.
"It varies day to day," Conner said of the routine at the Conner-Roscello home. "We keep our eyes open to new and different things."
Learn more
Upcoming activities hosted by Zoa Conner are held 2-4 p.m. and include Base 2 and Beyond 2-4 p.m. Oct. 23; Colors and Chromatography Nov. 13; Small Numbers Nov. 20; and Crazy Comets Dec. 11.
To register or learn more, go to http://ssommd.blogspot.com.
