Experimenting with "slowing down"

Last week I decided to experiment with the idea of "being in the moment" and not rushing off to the next thing. I avoided the phrase "hurry up" during our school hours (it wasn't easy, let me tell you!). It meant longer meals, a whole lot of chatting through breakfasts and lunches. It meant cutting out work that did not get done at the end of the day. Here are some of my findings:

Poly definitely benefited from the extended mealtimes where I interacted with him through discussions. His research project for the semester is on World War II, and though reluctant at first to plunge into such a vast topic, he was able, with minimal guidance, to navigate through various sources of information and is now excited about his discoveries. He can't wait to tell me about his latest findings, and over meals I challenge him to think about the reasons and the long-term ramifications of each detail of the war. One morning he told me it was unethical for Germany to use poison gas, and I asked him if dropping the atomic bombs on civilians was ethical. Such debates, though seemingly frivolous, were invaluable because to learn about history is to learn to evaluate it and determine its applicability to the present and the future. For Poly, slowing down the pace was giving meaning to his education. Though he may have done less, he was thinking and absorbing.

Chee-Chee, my easily-distracted child, had a hard time finishing his short list of school assignments each day. Having been reading up on dyslexia, I know this will always be a challenge for him. However, I'm also learning to look for his non-academic qualities that might cue us in on his future pursuits. For one thing, I can imagine him becoming a producer or director of very wacky, off-beat movies. Incidentally I read that many people in the entertainment industry are dyslexic. Meanwhile, I do need to pull him back down to earth from his daydreams to do reading, spelling, and math.

The more I homeschool, the more I realize we are drifting toward an unstructured, organic learning lifestyle. It makes me a bit nervous because I'm a perfectionist. Structures comfort me. And yet...