Unschooling Challenge--Relaxation and Peacefulness Versus Busy, Manic, Chaos

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.