We've been unschooling for a while, and we love it. Well, apparently we did. But this year brought some changes, which is to be expected right? Life is growth and growth brings change!
It started with Josh wanting to start classes. We worked together and found a cooperative that we both could agree upon, it meets once a week and you can take however many classes you like, you take home the work, etc. So, we've spent some time setting up and organizing (yeah, you know that management dysfunction he has???) and he seems to have enjoyed that part, the classes start tomorrow.
Well, the girls saw that, and decided THEY wanted homeschooling again. Emily put it best, I think, when she said that they kind of did and kind of didn't. Understandable. So we dusted off some of our textbooks that we had strewn around, I went through and organized some things and we've got them set up to work daily.
The boys have decided, that since the girls are doing it, and Josh is doing it, that they would like to have some tabletime as well, so I pulled some of what we were doing naturally into a more structured time period, and they are having a GREAT time with not playing around. Who knew?
The only one kind of left out is Avari, and she's left with just Nathan to play with, while everyone else reads and writes and fills out worksheets. So she pulls out her little coloring books and some worksheets that the boys have left from when we first started homeschooling, and sits and hums to herself for about 20 minutes. She'll work until it's boring, then play with Nathan. By then the boys are done, and they have a grand time playing in the learning room while Emily and Rachel finish up their independent stuff.
So, I guess that makes us not unschoolers, which is really okay. I've learned that I don't have to 1) have a label to succeed in life and 2) even within a label, we don't have to hit every parameter. I still love unschooling. I still believe that it works for most kids, in the right environment and with the right parents. I have learned SO very much in the past five years, more about parenting and learning and living that I could have ever learned otherwise. So I'm good with their choices. And in the end, that's really what it comes down to, supporting their desires and choices in a positive manner. Three days in, and I can still smile. :D
4 comments:
That's awesome! I really miss not being there during the days to see them during a learning moment. Don't get me wrong, I certainly don't envy you in your day job ;)
-DH
playing school was how we satisfied Hannah's needs without sending her away... You're still unschooling, those kids are totally free, to cut classes and skip the work, yeah?
Enjoy their collective project whatever it is, a moment or 132 of them babies not scattered to the winds is a rare treat indeed!
I agree with Diana. Md goes to a c0o-op 3 times days a month to do Lego/art, chess and literature ( more like reading stories and poems and talking about it.
He likes it and goes when he wants to. He loves workbook and does when he wants , how much and however he wants.
Its different and it may not last long for all your kids. Some may still keep doing and some may stop, go back and stop again.
thanks guys...it is nice having them all together and not rampaging the backyard or the house.
Josh is taking algebra and science. The two things I'm really strong at but he wants to do elsewhere LOL! Rachel LOVES English, and Emily LOVES Math, so they really focus on that. The boys bounce around a lot, but tend to love on the math...not strong readers yet.
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