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!
Unschooling Challenge--Relaxation and Peacefulness versus Busy, Manic, Chaos
The homeschooling community is bombarded with events and experiences to the point where we could have an entire day filled with activities outside of our home and they would all be very educational and interesting and this could be done 7 days a week. It is wonderful that these activities are available and that our community is so inviting for children to learn; however, I find that often the most significant learning happens in our home environment in a relaxed atmosphere where we are not constantly rushed to be somewhere or plan something. I find that learning and contentment with life will often happen on the down days rather than on the busy days. So once again, I am faced with a challenge of determining our priorities and what are essential for learning and let go of some of the other events in our lives that seem like more than we are wanting to handle at this time.
My son likes hockey, chess, acting, music, ballet, socializing, wearing costumes, pretend play, writing stories, creating art projects, super heroes, comic books, science, math, Star Wars, golf, tennis, bowling, animals, geography, etc. The list is endless and therefore, we could very easily be trying to cram everything into every given week to increase enrichment in our lives. Then I have the younger two who have their own interests and will soon have many activities they want to try. So that my head does not start spinning and blow off into oblivion, I need to come up with a downsizing plan for this unschooling adventure.
This past week, we had something scheduled daily and I prefer to have at least 2 'stay at home days' each week. Monday was my son's recorder class, Tuesday, my daughter had ballet because the previous week, we had a blizzard on ballet day where we got about 9 inches of snow within 24 hours, so her Wednesday ballet class had to be rescheduled. Wednesday my daughter had ballet again and then we went out to eat after her ballet and did not return home until late afternoon. Thursday, I decided to let my children try out an art class that I had been hearing about at one of the libraries, so we went to that, hung out at the library for a while, had some downtime for about an hour and then went to hockey and did not get home until almost 8 p.m. About a month ago, I had scheduled a socialization gathering at the science museum with a homeschool group and since I had organized it, it would be rude to not show up, so on Friday, we went to the science museum, ran some errands afterward and did not arrive home until close to dinnertime. Today I need to do grocery shopping and tomorrow, my husband's family wanted to have a gathering to celebrate March birthdays.
Ok, my head is starting to spin, ok, ok, I caught it.
Then I hear about activities and I think, oh, that will be great for my son or daughter. Baby boy just goes along. He doesn't do anything yet. For example, someone is starting a chess club and wants to meet twice a month for that. My son loves playing chess, so I volunteered us to be participants. My daughter is always saying that she wants to have more friends. She has met a couple little friends through ballet and homeschool activities, but she seems to have a very social personality and always wants more friends, so I noticed one Mom was starting a girl Scout troop and I thought that would be a great way for her to meet new friends. I had my son in Cub Scouts for a while, but we had to pull away from that because they would have 2 to 3 activities a week and it started to seem like too much. Then I decided to join a book club and they want to meet 1 to 2 times a month. These activities all sound like fun, but then I start to realize that our time here on earth is not enough for all of the opportunities presented to us. My spontaneity and inability to focus on one thing with a life of multitasking, have sort of led me to a loop of chaos when I have 3 children to manage.
So I had a talk with my son. I asked him what his favorite activities are that he does and he said that he really likes hockey, his 2nd favorite is art class and his 3rd favorite is his recorder class. We no longer do Cub Scouts with him. My daughter is content with ballet and she is insure about art class. She went to the first class, but she says that she may prefer to just play with her younger brother instead while her older brother goes to the art class. I am leaving this choice up to her. My son also wants to audition for plays with the youth theatre. So far, he auditioned for one play, Willy Wonka. He did not get a part, but if he would have, they practice 5 or more days a week, so we need to leave our schedule open for that possibility.
So this is my plan. Wednesdays will include ballet for my daughter, lunch and park time once it is warm. Thursdays will include art class for my oldest son and maybe daughter, park time when it is warmer, and hockey for my oldest son. There will be a monthly science class for my oldest son and daughter on Tuesdays , a monthly nature class for my son and daughter on Fridays, and a monthly book club on Fridays for mom that includes playtime for the kids. The rest of the time will be open, free and calm to just enjoy life and be spontaneous. This is our current goal. We will reduce our busy schedule and find peace. Doesn't that sound wonderful?
The goal is to simplify our lives and have balance where we are not constantly on the go and unable to think straight, but we have some activities to enjoy and help us learn and we also have down time to reflect and gain wisdom. Priorities are key. What are our priorities as individuals? What can we do without in our day to day lives? I think these are questions we ask ourselves throughout our lives. Life can be so exciting with so many opportunities, that it is so easy to take on more responsibilities than we need to in order to be happy and content. So we are downsizing our homeschooling activities so there is room for more cuddle time and just being together rather than constantly running. We are going to take time to breathe and learn from life itself without constant exterior stimulation around us that in the long run can bring about confusion and anxiety. Our current goal is to just enjoy life, breath, live and learn as we care for each other and all of these pets we collected last year that led to a no new pet policy this year, but that is a whole separate story.
We are an unschooling family of 5 with a 7 year old son, 5 year old daughter and 2 year old baby boy and we wanted to share our experiences with others who may be interested in unschooling, are unschooling, or have the desire to learn about unschooling. We have been unschooling for 2 years and have discovered that it is a wonderful experience. I have discovered through this experience that once you become an unschooler, there is no turning back. Enjoy!
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Unschooling Wednesday: Writing Projects
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!
My 7 year old son began the day by saying, "mom, I'm going to make a calendar". He had his Spiderman Calendar that he was using as a guide and his plan was to make his very own King Kong calendar with every month and day and King Kong illustrations on each page. By doing this, he is working on his spelling of every month of the year and learning how many days each month has, working on his drawing skills and being able to divide up the weeks and days by creating a grid by hand.
I gave my son his own calendar when he was about 6 and had him mark the days so he could learn his dates, months and days of the week. He would often be more aware of the date than I usually am during this time. He does not do this by hand anymore, but usually keeps track of the day, year, month and day in his head well. So I guess he is ready for the next step of creating his own calendar. Perhaps as this progresses, we may find calendars from other cultures and other centuries and assess similarities and differences between them. For now, we are sticking with our standard American calendar for our time.
This was followed by my daughter going to her ballet class and we just waited for her during her ballet. The boys did not seem to show much interest in focusing on anything during ballet time, so we just socialized with the other ballet families during this time.
My rule with the children is that they can be in one physical activity starting sometime at the age of 4. My oldest son did T-ball in the summers when he was 4, 5 and 6 and ballet during the school year initially when he was 4, 5, 6 and 7. He was in the Nutcracker 3 times. He also played soccer for a few weeks to see if he liked it in the fall, but he did not want to play it again. Now he plays hockey weekly. My daughter chose to do Cinderella ballet camp during the summer and we were so impressed with the program, we decided to stick with it and she has done ballet for fall, winter and spring. She really likes ballet and this has been the only activity she is interested in doing at this time. Her ballet class does not do big performances in an auditorium, but is geared towards preschool children, so I feel like it is a good fit for her. I figure my children can be well rounded and try a lot of different things or just find one thing they really like and stick with that so that they can do it really well. Either way, we try to be encouraging and supportive for whatever they may have interest in doing.
After ballet, we stopped for lunch and then went to pick up a free desk that someone posted on one of the local Facebook homeschooling sites. My oldest son has needed his own work space for a while now and I have been searching for a small, traditional school desk for him. I found one a few days ago and today was the day to get it.
We picked up the desk from a nice family, brought it home and set it up. I put a few of my son's self-initiated projects in his desk and he said, "oh good, now I have somewhere to keep my orangutan data". I had no idea he had orangutan data. He showed me a folder he had created and had written facts about orangutans. It was so cute because he was trying to read me what he had written and he couldn't read his own writing because his spelling is so bad. So I am going to sit down with him and write out his facts correctly so that he can also include these in his folder. This way he will be able to read it better.
I am amazed by how much he has been trying to write the last couple weeks. He has initiated 3 writing projects within a 2 week period. I am going to guide him and encourage him with his new interests in writing and my prediction is within a month, he will be able to write fairly well and spell fairly accurately. He seems to be moving into a new developmental phase with his learning.
Unschooling is trusting your children and letting them be the guide to their education. They will learn and be inspired by the world around them. The parents' job is to pay close attention to developmental stages, interests, and ideas. Then to encourage, support and find resources related to these so that a child can thoroughly explore the world at their own speed. Since I switched to the unschooling approach about 2 years ago, it is amazing how motivated my son is to learn. What was once a struggle is now inspiring. This is a very exciting way to raise children. There have been ups and downs with this approach as there is with most things in life, but I am very happy with the results and look forward to seeing how their lives will develop as they become adults and start to share their contributions with society. The possibilities are endless with no walls to disable growth of any kind.
My 7 year old son began the day by saying, "mom, I'm going to make a calendar". He had his Spiderman Calendar that he was using as a guide and his plan was to make his very own King Kong calendar with every month and day and King Kong illustrations on each page. By doing this, he is working on his spelling of every month of the year and learning how many days each month has, working on his drawing skills and being able to divide up the weeks and days by creating a grid by hand.
I gave my son his own calendar when he was about 6 and had him mark the days so he could learn his dates, months and days of the week. He would often be more aware of the date than I usually am during this time. He does not do this by hand anymore, but usually keeps track of the day, year, month and day in his head well. So I guess he is ready for the next step of creating his own calendar. Perhaps as this progresses, we may find calendars from other cultures and other centuries and assess similarities and differences between them. For now, we are sticking with our standard American calendar for our time.
This was followed by my daughter going to her ballet class and we just waited for her during her ballet. The boys did not seem to show much interest in focusing on anything during ballet time, so we just socialized with the other ballet families during this time.
My rule with the children is that they can be in one physical activity starting sometime at the age of 4. My oldest son did T-ball in the summers when he was 4, 5 and 6 and ballet during the school year initially when he was 4, 5, 6 and 7. He was in the Nutcracker 3 times. He also played soccer for a few weeks to see if he liked it in the fall, but he did not want to play it again. Now he plays hockey weekly. My daughter chose to do Cinderella ballet camp during the summer and we were so impressed with the program, we decided to stick with it and she has done ballet for fall, winter and spring. She really likes ballet and this has been the only activity she is interested in doing at this time. Her ballet class does not do big performances in an auditorium, but is geared towards preschool children, so I feel like it is a good fit for her. I figure my children can be well rounded and try a lot of different things or just find one thing they really like and stick with that so that they can do it really well. Either way, we try to be encouraging and supportive for whatever they may have interest in doing.
After ballet, we stopped for lunch and then went to pick up a free desk that someone posted on one of the local Facebook homeschooling sites. My oldest son has needed his own work space for a while now and I have been searching for a small, traditional school desk for him. I found one a few days ago and today was the day to get it.
We picked up the desk from a nice family, brought it home and set it up. I put a few of my son's self-initiated projects in his desk and he said, "oh good, now I have somewhere to keep my orangutan data". I had no idea he had orangutan data. He showed me a folder he had created and had written facts about orangutans. It was so cute because he was trying to read me what he had written and he couldn't read his own writing because his spelling is so bad. So I am going to sit down with him and write out his facts correctly so that he can also include these in his folder. This way he will be able to read it better.
I am amazed by how much he has been trying to write the last couple weeks. He has initiated 3 writing projects within a 2 week period. I am going to guide him and encourage him with his new interests in writing and my prediction is within a month, he will be able to write fairly well and spell fairly accurately. He seems to be moving into a new developmental phase with his learning.
Unschooling is trusting your children and letting them be the guide to their education. They will learn and be inspired by the world around them. The parents' job is to pay close attention to developmental stages, interests, and ideas. Then to encourage, support and find resources related to these so that a child can thoroughly explore the world at their own speed. Since I switched to the unschooling approach about 2 years ago, it is amazing how motivated my son is to learn. What was once a struggle is now inspiring. This is a very exciting way to raise children. There have been ups and downs with this approach as there is with most things in life, but I am very happy with the results and look forward to seeing how their lives will develop as they become adults and start to share their contributions with society. The possibilities are endless with no walls to disable growth of any kind.
Monday, March 17, 2014
Unschooling Monday: Music Day
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!
Unschooling is not necessarily a life without routine. Often outside activities we have throughout the week define our routine and today is music day in the afternoon where my son attends his weekly recorder class.
Our day began with my 7 year old son playing around with some free on-line educational game sites. Today he played around with Teach Your Monster To Read and Switcheroo Zoo. He enjoys playing with both of these sites, but did say that he is ready for something more challenging, so I'll have to get my research goggles out and find some sites geared more towards 2nd or maybe 3rd grade to give him more of a challenge.
While he did this, my 5 year old daughter said that she wanted to have drawing time, so I just gave her a pad of paper and a big box of crayons. She then created several pictures of ice skaters and My Little Ponies. We went to Disney on Ice over the weekend and apparently this left an impression on her. She also went sliding across the foyer in between drawings in her socks and a pretty little skirt and tank top so that she could pretend she was ice skating. She was oh so lovely. I am thinking ice skating may be in our near future. My daughter loves figure skating and my son loves hockey, so I could probably persuade both of them to give it a try so I can get some good exercise too.
While they were busy, baby boy was playing with his cars and watching Sponge Bob, so I was able to have some self-care time. I try to do yoga five days a week with 20 min. to 30 min. routines, so I did my yoga while the others were busy with their activities and had a hot shower without too many interruptions. Self-care is essential for a homeschooling mom. Without mom time, I do not think I could survive this lifestyle.
This was followed by lunch and then we took off to take my son to his recorder class. My son has been playing recorder since October and actually got to participate in a concert at Christmas time with the older kids. My son did say that he was ready to be finished with the recorder, but if they start an activity, I like for them to at least finish the semester or year before moving onto something else. He has the desire to someday play the Tuba, but needs to master the recorder initially. We all have our dreams.
A couple weeks ago, we were planning on taking the kids to the roller dome on my husband's birthday, but we are not the most organized family and the roller dome was closed, surprise, surprise. So instead, we drove around and went to different music stores. My husband is a musician and this is what he wanted to do when his first dream was shattered by a closed, locked door at the roller dome. Well, we came across a music store that had orchestra type instruments and my son was able to see a real live tuba, his dream instrument. I guess they set up free classes where kids can come and try out different instruments and the nice lady at the store said that because of my son's size, she would start him on a baritone since the giant tuba, sousaphone, weighs 30 pounds and my son is only around 50 pounds. So this is something we plan to set up this summer with a group of other families.
From this day, I learned that there is an interest in ice skating and my son is working hard on his recorder so that he can prepare for his baritone or tuba lessons maybe next fall. These are new interests that have appeared in our lives within the last few months. It is important to expose the children to a diverse amount of activities so that they have the opportunity to be well rounded, pay close attention to what brings a sparkle to their eye and motivates them to love life and then just go with it. I keep our options open and I do not force my children to commit to anything if they do not want to do it. I just figure if they are finished with one activity, they are ready for something better. Life is all about experiences and feeling inspired, so I figure it is best to start this from the beginning rather than to wait until it is too late and the motivation and spark for living has declined during the teen years. Life should always be inspiring and uplifting. If this is how it begins, chances are, this will continue and boredom will not be part of our language in our home. Their entire life will simply be a big learning experience filled with dreams and new talents and experiences throughout.
Perhaps I'll have a professional ice skater and a professional musician with his giant tuba. Or perhaps these are just short lived interests that will lead to something even better. It is impossible to know. That is why all interests should be respected no matter how silly they may seem or how amazing they could be. This is a beginning of a life of hope. Unschooling is a great start to a positive and interesting life.
Unschooling is not necessarily a life without routine. Often outside activities we have throughout the week define our routine and today is music day in the afternoon where my son attends his weekly recorder class.
Our day began with my 7 year old son playing around with some free on-line educational game sites. Today he played around with Teach Your Monster To Read and Switcheroo Zoo. He enjoys playing with both of these sites, but did say that he is ready for something more challenging, so I'll have to get my research goggles out and find some sites geared more towards 2nd or maybe 3rd grade to give him more of a challenge.
While he did this, my 5 year old daughter said that she wanted to have drawing time, so I just gave her a pad of paper and a big box of crayons. She then created several pictures of ice skaters and My Little Ponies. We went to Disney on Ice over the weekend and apparently this left an impression on her. She also went sliding across the foyer in between drawings in her socks and a pretty little skirt and tank top so that she could pretend she was ice skating. She was oh so lovely. I am thinking ice skating may be in our near future. My daughter loves figure skating and my son loves hockey, so I could probably persuade both of them to give it a try so I can get some good exercise too.
While they were busy, baby boy was playing with his cars and watching Sponge Bob, so I was able to have some self-care time. I try to do yoga five days a week with 20 min. to 30 min. routines, so I did my yoga while the others were busy with their activities and had a hot shower without too many interruptions. Self-care is essential for a homeschooling mom. Without mom time, I do not think I could survive this lifestyle.
This was followed by lunch and then we took off to take my son to his recorder class. My son has been playing recorder since October and actually got to participate in a concert at Christmas time with the older kids. My son did say that he was ready to be finished with the recorder, but if they start an activity, I like for them to at least finish the semester or year before moving onto something else. He has the desire to someday play the Tuba, but needs to master the recorder initially. We all have our dreams.
A couple weeks ago, we were planning on taking the kids to the roller dome on my husband's birthday, but we are not the most organized family and the roller dome was closed, surprise, surprise. So instead, we drove around and went to different music stores. My husband is a musician and this is what he wanted to do when his first dream was shattered by a closed, locked door at the roller dome. Well, we came across a music store that had orchestra type instruments and my son was able to see a real live tuba, his dream instrument. I guess they set up free classes where kids can come and try out different instruments and the nice lady at the store said that because of my son's size, she would start him on a baritone since the giant tuba, sousaphone, weighs 30 pounds and my son is only around 50 pounds. So this is something we plan to set up this summer with a group of other families.
From this day, I learned that there is an interest in ice skating and my son is working hard on his recorder so that he can prepare for his baritone or tuba lessons maybe next fall. These are new interests that have appeared in our lives within the last few months. It is important to expose the children to a diverse amount of activities so that they have the opportunity to be well rounded, pay close attention to what brings a sparkle to their eye and motivates them to love life and then just go with it. I keep our options open and I do not force my children to commit to anything if they do not want to do it. I just figure if they are finished with one activity, they are ready for something better. Life is all about experiences and feeling inspired, so I figure it is best to start this from the beginning rather than to wait until it is too late and the motivation and spark for living has declined during the teen years. Life should always be inspiring and uplifting. If this is how it begins, chances are, this will continue and boredom will not be part of our language in our home. Their entire life will simply be a big learning experience filled with dreams and new talents and experiences throughout.
Perhaps I'll have a professional ice skater and a professional musician with his giant tuba. Or perhaps these are just short lived interests that will lead to something even better. It is impossible to know. That is why all interests should be respected no matter how silly they may seem or how amazing they could be. This is a beginning of a life of hope. Unschooling is a great start to a positive and interesting life.
Friday, March 14, 2014
Unschooling Friday: A Day at Home
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!
Today was a stay at home day in our unschooling home. My oldest son who is 7 years old started his day by helping out with cleaning up his room. I've been trying to vacuum daily because this is an activity I hate doing, so I figure if I make myself do it everyday, it will get me in a routine, well, in his room, there is one corner where I cannot see the floor, so his job today was to find he floor there so I can finish vacuuming his room. He asked if he could take a break from this job after doing it for about a half hour and I did not see a problem with that. He then brought out all of his stuffed animals, created full costumes for all of them and gave them hockey sticks. He used random things he found around the house for very elaborate goalie costumes and then he had a game a hockey with his stuffed animals.
Hockey is a new interest for my son. I discovered a young couple who is trying to start a business where they do floor hockey in the community and incorporate hockey into a ministry of sorts. So after each hockey game, the coach will go over some positive messages and maybe even read a bible verse as part of the event. We are a secular homeschooling family, but I am open to all religions and expressions of spirituality, so I see this as a positive experience for my son. Well, this week, the coach put on full goalie gear and apparently that left an impression on my son from what I was able to witness today.
After his intense hockey game with his stuffed animals, he got his horse stuffed animal and created this contraption with blankets, chairs and what not and used that to make his way into the kitchen. I asked him what he was doing and he said that he created a Trojan horse so that I would not see him. I asked him how he learned about a Trojan horse and he said that he learned about it through the Starfall Program, which is a free, on-line reading and math program for kindergarten and lower elementary ages. He made his way into the kitchen and said that he wanted to do some experiments. He likes mixing food together and heating it up or freezing it to see what happens. After doing an aimless concoction, he decided to try to make me a healthy Pepsi. He mixed cranberry juice, baking soda, vanilla and some strawberries and put them in the Magic Bullet mixer and watched it fizz and mix. It was really interesting. It is a little too baking soda tasting, but I think he may have the beginning of an idea started. He felt very proud of what he created. He then found his way into his bedroom and had some quiet play time with super heroes for a while.
This gave me the opportunity to spend time with the younger two children. Baby boy was playing with cars while his bigger sister was playing out scenes with her My Little Pony toys. My daughter is now 5 years old and her little brother is almost 3. Baby boy decided he wanted to read books, so we sat on the rocking chair and read Goodnight Moon and Cars over and over. I would read some and then he would act like he was reading, but his version was usually just a lot of babbling. While we had reading time, my daughter found some giftwrapping tissue paper and decided that she would make hair bows for everyone in the house. These activities took a good hour or so and then baby boy wanted to read a pop up book about Monsters, so we looked at that one for a while, but it is a bit more wordy and baby boy did not have the patience for that, so we mainly looked at the pop up pictures. Once everyone in the house and all of the pets had a tissue paper hair bow, the 3 children decided to have some downtime and watch PBS. So it was time to watch some Dinosaur Train.
This was our day. Some days we are out of the house a lot, but I really like the stay at home days. On these days, the children can really explore their creativity, relax and embrace who they are as little people. So our stay at home days are our self-discovery days. Everyone needs down time to express their creativity and this is why I love these days. The house is generally more messy on these days, but I'd rather have messy creativity happening rather than clean, brain stagnating boredom. It also helps them learn how to entertain themselves and love who they are. I love stay at home days in our unschooling family and I may just have a healthy Pepsi to drink sometime in the near future if we have more days like this.
Today was a stay at home day in our unschooling home. My oldest son who is 7 years old started his day by helping out with cleaning up his room. I've been trying to vacuum daily because this is an activity I hate doing, so I figure if I make myself do it everyday, it will get me in a routine, well, in his room, there is one corner where I cannot see the floor, so his job today was to find he floor there so I can finish vacuuming his room. He asked if he could take a break from this job after doing it for about a half hour and I did not see a problem with that. He then brought out all of his stuffed animals, created full costumes for all of them and gave them hockey sticks. He used random things he found around the house for very elaborate goalie costumes and then he had a game a hockey with his stuffed animals.
Hockey is a new interest for my son. I discovered a young couple who is trying to start a business where they do floor hockey in the community and incorporate hockey into a ministry of sorts. So after each hockey game, the coach will go over some positive messages and maybe even read a bible verse as part of the event. We are a secular homeschooling family, but I am open to all religions and expressions of spirituality, so I see this as a positive experience for my son. Well, this week, the coach put on full goalie gear and apparently that left an impression on my son from what I was able to witness today.
After his intense hockey game with his stuffed animals, he got his horse stuffed animal and created this contraption with blankets, chairs and what not and used that to make his way into the kitchen. I asked him what he was doing and he said that he created a Trojan horse so that I would not see him. I asked him how he learned about a Trojan horse and he said that he learned about it through the Starfall Program, which is a free, on-line reading and math program for kindergarten and lower elementary ages. He made his way into the kitchen and said that he wanted to do some experiments. He likes mixing food together and heating it up or freezing it to see what happens. After doing an aimless concoction, he decided to try to make me a healthy Pepsi. He mixed cranberry juice, baking soda, vanilla and some strawberries and put them in the Magic Bullet mixer and watched it fizz and mix. It was really interesting. It is a little too baking soda tasting, but I think he may have the beginning of an idea started. He felt very proud of what he created. He then found his way into his bedroom and had some quiet play time with super heroes for a while.
This gave me the opportunity to spend time with the younger two children. Baby boy was playing with cars while his bigger sister was playing out scenes with her My Little Pony toys. My daughter is now 5 years old and her little brother is almost 3. Baby boy decided he wanted to read books, so we sat on the rocking chair and read Goodnight Moon and Cars over and over. I would read some and then he would act like he was reading, but his version was usually just a lot of babbling. While we had reading time, my daughter found some giftwrapping tissue paper and decided that she would make hair bows for everyone in the house. These activities took a good hour or so and then baby boy wanted to read a pop up book about Monsters, so we looked at that one for a while, but it is a bit more wordy and baby boy did not have the patience for that, so we mainly looked at the pop up pictures. Once everyone in the house and all of the pets had a tissue paper hair bow, the 3 children decided to have some downtime and watch PBS. So it was time to watch some Dinosaur Train.
This was our day. Some days we are out of the house a lot, but I really like the stay at home days. On these days, the children can really explore their creativity, relax and embrace who they are as little people. So our stay at home days are our self-discovery days. Everyone needs down time to express their creativity and this is why I love these days. The house is generally more messy on these days, but I'd rather have messy creativity happening rather than clean, brain stagnating boredom. It also helps them learn how to entertain themselves and love who they are. I love stay at home days in our unschooling family and I may just have a healthy Pepsi to drink sometime in the near future if we have more days like this.
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Black Squirrels vs. Grey Squirrels: A Day in the Life of an Unschooler
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!
There was a black squirrel.
Then there came a grey squirrel that wanted the tree
that was bigger.
The grey squirrel saw the black squirrel, said, "Let's fight in the war".
Woohoo! I win, you lose! The End
I love self-initiated projects because it helps me see what my child needs to work on, which apparently his spelling and sentence structure needs some work, but it also helps me see how he is gaining confidence and understanding his life experiences. A few days prior to this, he was bullied by some bigger kids at the science museum and he allowed them to crush his spirits for the day rather than standing up for himself. We talked about how he could handle things differently the next time if something like this happens again by verbally standing up for himself. I would not want him to have a physical fight, of course, and we talked about how this is not the way to handle conflicts. He has also had some education on wars with WWII in particular because his grandfather fought in this war and we have talked about it with some age appropriate detail and watched a documentary about it. He was able to see the relationship with the squirrels in relation to his situation at the science museum and how the smaller squirrels seem to be the stronger ones. So I saw this story as something very positive for him where he was able to gain confidence in himself and know that even if he is smaller than someone else, he can still stand up for himself and be strong.
We went back to the science museum this week for some classes and I am unsure if the bullies were there this time around. If they were, there were no significant incidents, but what I did see was a confident little boy with a big group of boys of all ages and he looked so happy and confident. I also had reports from another mom that he raised his hand and answered most of the questions correctly in his class. I am always running after my toddler while he does his class, so I let him and his sister attend the class independently while some of the parents choose to go to the class with their children. My son loves science and is like a sponge when it comes to scientific knowledge. His knowledge base regarding science goes way beyond mine and he is only 7 years old. So when he said he never wanted to return to the science museum, I knew it was time for him to learn a new lesson about human nature. No one should prevent you from pursuing your dreams, especially some insecure bully types. One of his dreams is to be a scientist and I am glad he was able to see a relationship between human and squirrel behavior with the smaller squirrel being victorious despite his petite physical characteristics.
In regard to the spelling and sentence structure issue, I went through his book and rewrote everything on lined paper for him to practice writing with the proper spelling and sentence structure. So this self-initiated project was a great example of observation and expression along with a learning experience covering some of the essential basics of writing including proper spelling and sentence structure.
My son felt inspired and decided to write a book. He wrote a book about the war between the grey and black squirrels in our back yard. The grey squirrels are larger than the black squirrels, but the black squirrels are so assertive that they try to take over, so all of the grey squirrels are being segregated to the front yard. My son found this so inspiring, so he wrote a book with complete illustration with the war between the grey and black squirrels. I may have a young author on my hands.
Attack of the Squirrels
Black vs. Grey
Attack of the Squirrels
Black vs. Grey
There was a black squirrel.
Then there came a grey squirrel that wanted the tree
that was bigger.
The grey squirrel saw the black squirrel, said, "Let's fight in the war".
Woohoo! I win, you lose! The End
I love self-initiated projects because it helps me see what my child needs to work on, which apparently his spelling and sentence structure needs some work, but it also helps me see how he is gaining confidence and understanding his life experiences. A few days prior to this, he was bullied by some bigger kids at the science museum and he allowed them to crush his spirits for the day rather than standing up for himself. We talked about how he could handle things differently the next time if something like this happens again by verbally standing up for himself. I would not want him to have a physical fight, of course, and we talked about how this is not the way to handle conflicts. He has also had some education on wars with WWII in particular because his grandfather fought in this war and we have talked about it with some age appropriate detail and watched a documentary about it. He was able to see the relationship with the squirrels in relation to his situation at the science museum and how the smaller squirrels seem to be the stronger ones. So I saw this story as something very positive for him where he was able to gain confidence in himself and know that even if he is smaller than someone else, he can still stand up for himself and be strong.
We went back to the science museum this week for some classes and I am unsure if the bullies were there this time around. If they were, there were no significant incidents, but what I did see was a confident little boy with a big group of boys of all ages and he looked so happy and confident. I also had reports from another mom that he raised his hand and answered most of the questions correctly in his class. I am always running after my toddler while he does his class, so I let him and his sister attend the class independently while some of the parents choose to go to the class with their children. My son loves science and is like a sponge when it comes to scientific knowledge. His knowledge base regarding science goes way beyond mine and he is only 7 years old. So when he said he never wanted to return to the science museum, I knew it was time for him to learn a new lesson about human nature. No one should prevent you from pursuing your dreams, especially some insecure bully types. One of his dreams is to be a scientist and I am glad he was able to see a relationship between human and squirrel behavior with the smaller squirrel being victorious despite his petite physical characteristics.
In regard to the spelling and sentence structure issue, I went through his book and rewrote everything on lined paper for him to practice writing with the proper spelling and sentence structure. So this self-initiated project was a great example of observation and expression along with a learning experience covering some of the essential basics of writing including proper spelling and sentence structure.
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