Interests, Interests, Interests

Unschooling is interest based learning where children naturally learn from their environment and are trusted to learn what they need to learn to succeed in life.  Parents act as a resource person and role model to help educate their children in a respectful manner.  Unschooling will often look different with each family.  This blog includes my family's approach to the unschooling philosophy.  I will sometimes include ideas and challenges and sometimes I will include a blog of an actual day or event of our unschooling family.  Feel free to follow my blog if you would like to learn more.  Thank you for taking time to read my blog!

One thing I really like about unschooling is that it is based around a child's interests and how they are affected by their natural environment.  We are new to this process, have three children, but only have one child who is school age at this point, so I guess we would still be considered unschooling newbies.  I latched onto this philosophy about a year and a half ago, but in reality, I am still in the planning phase depending on how it is perceived.  Unschooling is a learning process both for the children and the parents.  My oldest son is 7 years old and my daughter is 4 years old, while baby boy is 2 years old.  So I have mainly been focused on my 7 year old son and his interests and what would best fit his needs within the last year or so while the younger 2 mainly would do free play to help with self discovery.  However, now that my daughter is getting a little older and I am starting to get ideas about what may benefit her also, I had what feels like an epiphany.  More experienced unschoolers may be thinking, "duh, you didn't know this?" but anyway, it's new to me.  It just hit me that by the children having different interests, they will influence one another to help them be very well rounded since they are all so different.  This was my great idea.  :)

Up to this point, I have focused on my son's interests.  He is a scientist/super hero type kid.  This is what speaks to him.  He loves anything related to science.  He finds this subject completely fascinating along with rules and making sure everyone is following them.  He is also a nature kid and loves animals and trees.  So our schooling last year was very focused on these interests and we are continuing this approach this year as well.  Project chick is mainly his project.  He cares for the chickens, collects their eggs and records their data.  We have regular science and nature classes once a month where he has the opportunity to learn details about biology, chemistry, electricity, robots, astronomy, animals, animal habitats, the changing seasons, different types of trees and wild plants, nature, among many other exciting subjects related to science and nature.  He also has a lot of interests in nutrition and finances along with animals from all over the world.  So our main focus has been zoos, science museums, and nature walks.  These are the things that motivate him and make him love learning, so this is what we do.

My daughter is very different, she is the artist, musician, fashion designer, singer, performer, dancer, story teller who always has a need to unleash her creative spirit.  Even though these are the interests that motivate her to learn, she is also very interested in her brother's knowledge.  I caught her explaining the difference between an ape and a monkey to some little three year old girls she met at the zoo.  The only reason she has so much knowledge about this subject is because of her brother.  Until about a year ago, I had no idea what the difference was between the two and would go around calling an orangutan a monkey like an ignorant fool when in reality, this would be very similar to calling a human an ape.  Apes are very intelligent creatures who have problem solving skills comparable to humans while monkeys do not have this ability, so it would be like insulting an ape by calling him or her a monkey. 

My daughter learns from her brother and will be participating in science and nature classes with him once she is 5 years old.  She learns as he learns.  However, what truly motivates her to learn aside from her brother is anything related to creativity and the arts.  Her paintings are awesome, full of colors and imagination, she creates outfits that are so interesting and can put clothing pieces together and make it look adorable when others may not have even considered it.  She dances around for hours with so much passion in her face as she truly becomes this ballerina.  Whenever I read her a story, she also reads it.  She has memorized all of her books, but often, she feels it is more interesting to create her own story and will do so often.  Her extra activities will more than likely include the arts and creating.  We have already arranged for my mother-n-law to teach her and I knitting and crochet since she seems to like tying things in knots, this seemed like a creative outlet for this strange little habit she has.  Then I asked my son if he would also like to learn and he was very enthusiastic about it.  I guess this is when the epiphany hit.  He will learn just as much from her and her differences as she learns from him as she matures and this will create such an amazingly interesting learning environment for both of them.  I could see many visits to the art museum and watching plays and musicals as she begins to mature and my guess is she may be participating in many of these events.  Art and creativity are her passions and her passions will therefore influence her brothers as they discover them with her.  Her brothers may even choose to participate in some of these activities, which will make them more eclectic individuals with a variety of talents and abilities that they may not have developed without the influence of the interests of their sister.  I cannot wait to see this learning process unfold.  I am sure it will be truly amazing and something that many parents may miss out on if they are not thinking about education in this manner.

Then there is my little baby boy, Mr. Car man.  He not only became very interested and soothed by Winnie the Pooh, but through his sister, his interest for Dora has taken over his thought process.  My daughter really enjoys Dora as do many four year old girls.  However, my 2 year old boy is obsessed with Dora.  I could actually see him mastering Spanish before English at the rate of his current Dora obsession.  He is very influenced by his older sister and adores his older brother.  Their bond grows deeper with each passing day because they spend so much time together.  They will be the main support team for each other and will always be the ones they can turn to when they need help at their current rate of bonding.  They do have fights from time to time like any siblings, but they have been taught that any disagreement is followed by a hug and "I'm sorry, I love you".  To me, it is important that they develop these strong bonds now because it will help them relate to others as they mature into adulthood.  This will lead to a sense of confidence, belonging and support that many other families may not have with the separateness in our present day society.  With my 2 year old son, he will have the influence of his older brother and sister with the science, nature, super heroes, animals, ballerinas, art, music, and story telling, and he will add his interests in cars and mechanical skill into the mix.  I could see a future of going to car museums, perhaps rebuilding an antique car with him and anything related to mechanics or making something work.  These interests will then filter to his older brother and sister as they also will experience these things related to their little brother's strong interests.

Through the unschooling process, diversity within a family can be celebrated as we all expand our knowledge and interests by learning from one another.  I suppose it is all a big experiment in the long run just like anything else, but the reason I chose this route is because I honestly did not feel like traditional schooling adequately prepared me for the real world.  Unschooling is the real world.  There is no preparing necessary because these children are already living it.  They are not hiding in a box, the box is gone.  The world is their classroom and if that doesn't prepare them for it, I don't know what would.  I had an epiphany today.  Unschooling will definitely be beneficial in the children's abilities and intellect.  Once I took my first step down this road of discovery and this mind opening, liberating experience for my family as a whole, there is no returning to the old thought process.  The diverse interests within these walls will be celebrated and explored to their fullest by everyone involved.