Undercover Unschooler
There is one thing that saves me and that is time. I don't have enough time to control EVERYTHING and so I was surprised and delighted that I had taken on a sort of natural learning stance with my 3rd child. My oldest two, Katie Ann and Timothy were both sat down at a table and workbooked to death from the minute they could sit down at a table. Josiah was fortunate in the fact that by the time he could sit at a table I was too busy to find a workbook to put in front of him. This lack of force feeding has created in him a desire to learn and a joy in discovery.
I have been coming to this realization slowly, but it has all come together in my brain the last few days. I saw it when I turned around and he had written a neat row of letter A's on a wipe off board. I had in passing showed him how to write one during school one day and he caught on quickly. He also knows how to count to numbers that I didn't teach him and can find all the letters in his name, which I also didn't teach him.
I catch him in learning situations all the time. These are not scheduled "projects" that I have put together, but rather a young boy discovering life at his own pace and pleasure. He will start school this year and I'll sit him at the table with the older two, but I think that I'll find that most of my work has been done already. When I discover this, I'll have no choice but to send the child from the table. He'll go off and teach himself something new I suppose. :)
And that is how I became an unschooler unbeknownst to myself.
-Julee
Comments
You didn’t become an unschooler, your son was born with that love for learning and as long as it’s not squelched by forcing him to learn things that are of no interest to him then he’ll continue to learn, grow, and surprise you with his knowledge of the world around him. You’ve seen the beauty first hand. Why not let it continue? Why ever have him sit at the table? Peace.
YOUR NOTE HAS BROUGHT TEARS TO MY EYES TODAY.I AM ALSO A “TEACH BY THE BOOK DO EVERY WORKPAGE” HOMESCHOOLING MOM.I NEED TO CONTINUE TO SCHOOL DURING THE SUMMER BUT I HAVE LET DOWN A LITTLE IN THE LAST COUPLE OF WEEKS AND NOT GONE TO THE TABLE. WE HAVE BEEN READING. WHAT A JOY IT HAS BEEN TO ME TO SEE IN JUST A COUPLE OF WEEKS HOW THE KIDS HAVE OBTAINED THIS NEED TO READ. I AM PRAYING NOW WHICH DIRECTION TO GO WITH THIS. I FEEL LIKE GOD IS ALSO TEACHING ME THAT IT IS OK TO LIGHTEN UP.
What a great description of unschooling. I am someone who leans pretty heavily on the structured learning activities, but I’ve learned from hard experience that that’s what my boys need in order to learn. My younger boys have learned much much more and faster on their own. I keep running into situations where they show me they know something that I’ve never taught them.
I would like to say something that I’ve been pondering and plan to blog about sometime. I often feel like unschoolers disapprove of my structured approach, and even have gotten the impression they believe that I am hurting my children. I prefer to think of it as following a different path.
I hope that’s just my own misperception and not reality.
I don’t call that “un”schooling. I call it real schooling!
It’s hard to find that balance between structure and freedom, but whenever I hit it (usually accidentally) it is a MARVELOUS thing!
I really think my kids would learn better the unschooling way but I can’t make my mind do it. I am over organized and a perfectionist so I have a hard time with just letting things happen.
I am also quite new to the “unschooling” thing but I am open to it and am reading everything I can get my hands on about it. I too am leaning more towards the “real school” term than “unschool”. It is making more since to me. I am having more fun while learning with my two children (5&13)than I have ever had before. Both of my children are remembering more and requesting more learning experiances than ever before.I have to remind myself to relax and listen to my children.They are amazing creations. Thank you to those people who have paved the way for our religious and educational freedoms!
Hey, if anyone is curious in knowing more about unschooling, or how it works or what unschoolers think, please feel free to e-mail me! We are 100% unschoolers!