Making the Most of Power Outages

Four days without power last week proved that there are plenty of homeschool lessons you can do in the dark! Of course, most homeschoolers recognize that learning is about more than the fundamental curriculum--it's about learning for life. In addition to "traditional" learning, power outages offer a plethora of opportunities in "life" learning.
Here are some ideas that can make the most of a power outage:

Emergency preparedness is the first and most emphasized lesson that can be learned during an extended power outage. After a day or two without electricity, you suddenly realize with clarity what you should have done to be more prepared. Thankfully, we had a generator, rechargeable batteries, food, bottled water and a lot of the essentials. This gave us an excellent opportunity to teach our children why we have those things--and to teach compassion for those who don't.

The older children also learned some survival skills, such as how to build a fire.

When the lights came on last night, we discussed things that we should have done to be more prepared--like having an electric griddle that we could cook on (stove/oven didn't work on the generator) and having more water (we started running out on Day 3 and had to drive into town to buy more -- we found some, but not much was available since more than 250,000 other people were also out of power).

History can come alive during power outages, too. Our children were shocked to learn that not everyone who lived had access to the television, lights, and flushing toilets that they enjoy every day. We discussed many aspects of history and looked through books to learn about how people lived before all of this technology was invented and made a mainstream part of our lives. We discussed log cabin construction as we built with Lincoln Logs. We went without the generator for long periods due to a lack of gas, which gave us the opportunity to cook on our wood stove. The kids enjoyed that, too.

Learn about electricity. Now that the power is gone, it's a great chance to learn about what power is used for. My children were surprised when the power outage meant we couldn't flush our toilets or have running water at the faucets (no pump for the well!).

Learn about power outages. Discuss what caused this specific power outage and other potential causes of power outages -- storms, falling trees, earthquakes, animals, lightning, digging, high power demand, vehicles colliding with utility poles, etc. Learn why power goes out and how we can prepare for those outages.

In addition to learning about what power is used for, you can learn about how it works. We were blessed to be able to keep our smart phones charged throughout the outage. In addition to helping us get regular updates to the status of the restoration, our local utility provided a lot of information about how the restoration process works. We were able to watch their videos about how power is restored, which helped the children understand why the company couldn't just flip a swtich and fix our power.

Learning games. We used games to pass a lot of the time. We have a very large game collection, including games that reinforce writing, math and other learning skills. I love learning through games, because the children learn without even realizing it.

Reading practice. We read a lot of books together. Our five year old practiced reading to us, and the younger children worked on recognizing letters and words.

Language skills. We played pretend games and I taught the kids how to speak different phrases in Spanish and French.

Perhaps the most important lesson my children learned through the power outage was gratitude. In an age where it is so easy to become tangled up in technology, it was a great opportunity for them to unplug and unwind. It taught them a lot about being grateful for what they have. As my five-year-old exclaimed this morning, "I love it when the power comes back on! I flushed the toilet and it actually worked!!"

In Defense of Unschooling

I’ll admit it. I love unschooling. It’s a method I've used with all of my children, especially when they were very young. Unschooling harnesses the child’s natural curiosity and allows the child to direct their own learning. Done properly, unschooling can be very encouraging for children.

I will never forget the day when a friend of mine began posting anti-unschooling comments on Facebook. She described a situation that had been highlighted on the news the night before. The reporter had focused on a family that claimed to be “unschooling” when they were really just letting their son sit in front of the television all day.

That is absolutely not what unschooling is. Unschooling is child-directed learning. It is allowing the child to take charge and learn. My oldest boy chose to learn about trains, but his little brother focused on dinosaurs. They both learned, but they learned differently.

I stand in support of unschooling, but it does not work for everyone. Children who are not motivated or who have lost their natural curiosity may find unschooling very difficult because they do not feel driven to learn. Parents who thrive on structure or schedules may also find the unstructured learning environment of unschooling unnerving.

However, unschooling is a perfect fit for most young children and for certain children who are starting to homeschool after an unsuccessful "real" school experience. Young children are naturally curious but can quickly burn out on structured learning. Similarly, unschooling can give a child who has felt like a failure in a traditional, structured classroom the opportunity to feel successful and happy while learning. A love of learning creates a foundation and a motive for a good education. 

Ultimately, there are no "one size fits all" education solutions. The homeschooling method you use should depend solely on your preferences and the preferences of the child you teach--but that doesn't mean that an alternative method is bad or wrong. Judging a homeschool method by its name is as ignorant as judging a book by its cover. We must learn to do better.