Monday, April 16, 2012

My Friends Will Think I Am Crazy

The past couple of days this post has been swimming around in my brain. I don't know how to tell all my homeschool peeps that we are now unschooling. In the homeschool world alot of adults view "unschooling" as a dirty word. We have tried the traditional, structured method for 6 years and it just isn't working. I asked myself, "Do I continue to force information and work on a child that doesn't care about it and doesn't remember any of it or do I let her start charting her own course". There are many things that she is passionate about - drawing, computer work, drama, and peforming. Our form of unschooling will not be the radical kind that you read alot about. She will have guidelines of what she needs to accomplish in a day, a week, a month. But she will be able to chose just what subjects and materials and how much. Over the years I have researched alot about unschooling and it had always intrigued me. There is so much we do on a daily basis that doesn't usually get counted as school. Like conversations about anything and everything, jazzercise classes, gardening and preserving food, chicken care, documentaries and television programs, games played. It is all educational. I think the only subject that will be daily and she will have no choice in is math. We will continue to use Teaching Textbooks. So there you go, we have come out of the closet, we are now unschoolers/independent learners/very relaxed homeschooling. Whatever you want to call it.

7 comments:

Debbie said...

Good for you! Truly, if you kept a log of everything she learns daily, you would have so much more at the end of the year, than orchestrating only certain hours and subjects.

If you read one of my posts today, you'll see that we've taken a "break" for the past month. However, in that month, my 13 year old read a 400+ page book on Area 51 and all the history that goes along with that subject. He learned how to work and earn a paycheck, plus how to operate a professional lawn mower, lawn tools, etc.

Learning takes place as we live life, not just while we're sticking our nose in a book!

Great for you:)

Staci@LifeAtCobbleHillFarm said...

Good for you for trying something different....and for coming out of the closet. :) I think we can all learn something from your post about being more open to new or different things.

Unknown said...

Thanks for all the kind comments.
Diane

Leslie said...

Good for you for doing what is best for your family! That is what we are all seeking and sometimes our path just doesn't look like everyone else. Enjoy! :-)

Loving Learning said...

So glad to have read this, I am leaning that way more and more with our younger two...Just love when they are excited about their learning!

Susan said...

Hooray for you! I am brand new here...stopping by after you left a comment on my blog earlier today :) Unschooling/independent learning/relaxed homeschooling is SO very freeing for the whole family!

Deb said...

Good for you, Diane. I have all those same thoughts, and we are very interest-led, but I hesitate to call us Unschoolers because I still do book-ish stuff, like math and spelling.