Other home educators ... 1

Someone new joined the autonomous education network at mc2, and diving into the web from his blog (Living in a Deschooling Madhouse) I surfed to Diary of Home Education Nobody. Entry 001 triggered my own awareness of the challenge to provide evidence of Cricket's & Fish's learning. I don't actually 'have' to provide evidence to anyone just now, so the challenge is partly seeing it for myself. I don't want to spoil the boys' enjoyment of their life-learning, so why do I ask them to write about it?

• At the very least, says one of my justifications, some brief note by which they can practice handwriting.
• In the process may be practice at generating written words from thoughts (I'd be content with personal spelling)
• Habits can be helpful: and I am thinking that this kind of writing can help them develop habits of:
  
• reflection on performance/development/process
  
• documenting either objective data of their exploration (like Daniel does in Star Gate) or
  
• deliberate thinking (I'm thinking of showing them deBono's CoRT or at least starting with PMI or Thinking hats)
  
• sometimes writing can help reinforce learning
• Maybe it will help them become aware of what they are learning so that when asked they can answer with more than "I've been playing the computer and watching DVDs"
  
• I feel a need for some sort of documentation, and I don't want to spend my days following them around with notepad and pen.
  

Still, I need to keep requirement to a minimum (to be consistent with my philosophy of autonomy) ... yet I am the guide so maybe for now I need to focus on:

• pointing out the use and practice of various forms of documentation in their areas of interest
• finding reasons that have meaning to them.