I thought I'd make a blog to chronicle our years as unschoolers. I have been doing a Year of Reading with my 13 and 14 year olds this school year. We have always used a literature approach with our homeschool and over the last decade I have collected tons of great children's literature. One day I was looking over my bookshelves and sighing, thinking of all the books that I never got around to reading to the kids. I said "I wish we could just take a year and do nothing but read." My oldest daughter was in the living room and said "Do it Mom!" So, that was all it took (I'm easily convinced). We started in August 2012 and will go through August 2013. The kids are enjoying it, although I can tell they're starting to slow down with their reading and the enthusiasm isn't quite as high anymore. Ok, I'm having to basically make them read now. However, I'm still excited and going strong :)
Unschooling is something I've thought about for years, wishing I could do it but then fear would take over and I'd tell myself I couldn't do such a thing. They wouldn't DO anything if I didn't make them. Over time and with dealing with my two youngest who avoid any kind of school work like it's the plague, I started to realize that they mostly are self-educated. They have always escaped school with all kinds of devious ways. Their favorites are "Mom, we're outside! We need fresh air!" or "Mom, we're playing with Legos (or K'nex or whatever) we're using our IMAGINATIONS!" Now, what kind of mother could argue with that? Well, I didn't.
Even when I did use a curriculum with them we were pretty laid back with it. It really was more work on me, I did a lot of reading aloud because like I said before, I love the literature approach. So, I would read history, Bible, science, plus always have a classic or good child's lit book going with them. I'd ask some questions after reading history or science...blank looks. "Oh, we were supposed to listen?" I'd be sneaky and try to get some narration in (good old Charlotte Mason you know). "So, Brett, what happened in the last chapter we read yesterday?"
"Some guy did that thing and then they went somewhere."
Not exactly what I was hoping for.
My kids are smart though. Really smart. I'm not just saying that because I'm their mom either. They are always amazing me at what they know or what they do or how they act. Many days I'm saying "where did you learn that?" or "how did you know how to do that?" The answers vary. From a TV show they watched with dad, from something they heard somewhere, something they read, just figured it out on their own.
Self-education. They've been doing it. And doing it well. I'm confident enough to put them against any graduate from the local high school. I've seen what comes out of there. And it's scary. Don't worry, I know you're not supposed to start sentences with the word "and". But it's my blog and I'm doing it.
Same with "but".
Just wanted you all to know I'm not stupid either :) They are conjunctions and even though you shouldn't, you CAN.
Where was I? Oh yes, well I used our Year of Reading as an excuse to buy more books. I'll take any excuse I can get. For example, in realizing I didn't like to clean or do it well, I bought some books about cleaning. I read them. I still don't clean much. Any excuse will do. Someone is upsetting me? Let's get this book about Dealing with Difficult People. Didn't make them any less difficult, I might add.
So, I bought a few books on unschooling that I didn't already own from when I would buy a book and daydream about unschooling and then never do it. I read them. They weren't very good. By then I was on a quest to find out all I could about unschooling and did any normal people do it? Most I find seem "hippy-ish". Not that that's a bad thing.
Anyway, the more I looked the more I found out, the more books I bought and read and the more I realized that children learn no matter what. I learn no matter what. I can sit here and read all day to them but if they aren't listening it's pointless. I can force them to do a curriculum but if they just daydream and argue or pout or do the bare minimum with a bad attitude and don't care about what they just read then they're not learning much.
On the other hand, if they are interested in a topic they're excited to learn about it. They remember it, they tell others about it. It becomes part of them and they don't forget it. Do they need to be excited about Algebra or WWI? Nope. I have full confidence that if they NEED to know something for some reason, be it college or work, they will know how to find the information and learn it.
I have so much more I could say, but this post is way longer than I intended, so I'll stop for now. If anyone reading this is an unschooler, please leave me a comment. Especially if you have a blog, I'd love to check it out.
