"The Jobs of Tomorrow"

I'm wondering, more and more these days, if "the jobs of tomorrow" are actually a thing.  The school system where I live is pushing math and literacy so early and so hard because, they tell us, kids need to be "college and career ready" when they graduate from high school.  But what's left behind in the exclusive focus on reading, writing, and calculating is much of what makes being human worthwhile.

Everyone says they hate math, but what most people really mean is that they hate calculating.  People generally like puzzles and patterns, though.  It's satisfying to order and organize the world.  It's also important to have basic math skills, because they're useful in everyday life.  Shoving formal math education down the throats of 4 year-olds doesn't help, though.  It just teaches them that they hate math.

Aggressive formal literacy education is no more useful.  People learn to read because reading is important to them.  Pushing formal reading instruction earlier and earlier doesn't create better readers.  It creates readers who believe reading is hard and they are bad at it.  To encourage children to learn reading, we don't need to drill them on phonics and sight words, we need to give them time to be curious, a chance to see that reading will help them find out things they want to know, and opportunities to read.

People learn to write because writing is important to them, too.  The fundamental piece of writing is not vocabulary, grammar, or spelling, although all of those things are good.  The fundamental piece of writing is ideas.  To encourage children to learn to write, we need to give them time to have ideas, a chance to see that other people are interested in their ideas, and opportunities to write.

When we spend all of our schooling time doubling down on formal math and literacy education, we miss opportunities to learn to communicate through painting, sculpture, music, drama, humor, and diagrams.  We miss opportunities to learn to ask good questions and to hunt for the best answers.  We miss opportunities to practice collecting our own data, reaching our own conclusions, and sharing our own results.

All of the things sidelined by education are the things that allow us to make our own meaning.

And I'm not sure I believe in "the jobs of tomorrow" anymore.  I'm not sure we can count on jobs and careers to provide meaning and direction to our kids' days.  I'm not saying that jobs will disappear entirely, like this video suggests.  I'm sure there will be jobs.  I just wonder how many.  For most of human history "jobs" have not been a thing.  People have always worked and had roles in their communities. but the current age of jobs, where most households function by one or more of the adults working full-time for a company for money to exchange for goods and services, is just a tiny sliver of human history.

If school is trying so hard to prepare kids for jobs that aren't going to exist, what will they not be prepared for?  What if our children have universal basic income and a whole lot of free time?  How will they fill their time if they've only ever learned sit down, be quiet, and practice your math facts?  I feel for the children prepared to be the next generation of working stiffs if there are no jobs of tomorrow waiting for them.

Things to Learn and Do

I said last week that the family had sat down and come up with a list of things to learn and do during the next school year. For points of reference: The Gibbon is 4, turning 5 in January.  He taught himself to read last winter with www.starfall.com and has good comprehension, although he's still very slow.  He has also so far shown minimal interest in drawing, coloring, or writing.  The Sparrow turned 2 this summer.  She loves to listen to stories, sing, and get her hands messy.  The Baby is due in October, so I'm not sure what all I'm going to accomplish, based on temperament and what-not of the new addition.

The Gibbon
Write all the letters
Spell my name
Add numbers less than 10
Recognize numbers up to 999
Tell time 
Pop wheelies on my bike
Try to be in a circus
Do a headstand
Climb trees
Cook on the stove
Make waffles and oatmeal for breakfast
Build a rocket with Dad

The Sparrow
Mix in the kitchen
Cut with scissors
Glue things
Name 16 colors
Count 10 objects

Me
Plan a decent garden
Set up a big-kid bedroom for The Gibbon and The Sparrow
Submit foster parent application
Work at least 2 hours a week for pay starting in January
Paint and organize the basement play space and craft room

All of us together
Read 60 classic fairy/folk tales
Memorize 10 poems

What are you learning and doing this year?

P.S. For the record, our Something New on Monday was a trip to the splash park with Daddy and Auntie A.  Good times were had by all.  Except maybe The Sparrow, who was not inclined to actually get wet above her knees, thank you very much.

It's a new school year!

Howdy folks!  Did you have a fantastic summer?  Today was the first day back at school for kids in our district.  Mind you, that doesn't include any of my kids, as The Gibbon is still only four, and the district rule is that you have to be five before the first day of school to start kindergarten.  What about preschool, you ask?  I've found that saying, "We've decided not to send The Gibbon to preschool," results in arguments from some people and silent judgement from others.  So my standard reply is, "We're homeschooling preschool." 

Here's the thing, because parents around here push for it, the preschools tend to be more academic leaning.  Except for the really-really-really pricy ones.  We can't afford a really expensive play-based preschool, and I don't actually want to pay anything for a dubiously beneficial academic-based program.  I figure, since I'm a reasonably engaged parent with a reasonable number of resources at my disposal, "homeschooling preschool" and "being the stay-at-home parent of my preschool children" are probably basically the same thing.

Sample curriculum!  Observing the vegetables available at our local supermarket and touching the ones we are going to buy (literacy, math, tactile processing, and health/nutrition).  Picking up the toys before vacuuming the carpet (sequencing, motor control, and cooperation).  Jumping on the bed and yelling while intermittently turning the radio on and off.(creative thinking, gross motor skills, and auditory processing).  What a well rounded program I'm running here!

No, seriously.  The Littles and I talked about what we'd each like to learn and do this school year so that we would be sure to cover all the basics.  And we're also starting up Something New Day again.  We did Something New Day from August through maybe April last year, and The Gibbon has been asking to bring it back.  The basic premiss is that on Mondays we do something we've never done before.  It doesn't have to be big or complicated, but it has to be new.  Last year we introduced new art supplies (colored pencils one week, big sheets of tag board another), tried new activities (making an obstacle course, painting on the sidewalk), did old things in a new way (eating dinner on the front lawn, wearing our clothes backwards), ate new foods (cheese fondu, pepper jelly) and occasionally even went new places (a playground we walked to, a museum).  A few things were big hits and went into the regular rotation of what we do around here.  But mostly it was good entertainment for me to come up with the New things, and the kids both enjoyed having something special planned for every Monday.

Today, The Gibbon ran the blender and we made our first ever granata.  Watermelon granata.  It was supposed to be Watermelon Sorbet, but after The Gibbon stirred it all in the ice cream maker for 30 minutes, it became abundantly clear that something was wrong with our ice cream maker, and the sorbet would never ever be frozen.  So we improvised.  And we froze the watermelon slurry in ice cube trays before mashing it with forks, because I figured that would make it freeze faster.  I was totally right.  Also, it was delicious.  Something New!