In the mean time, I was thinking about school today. We were having a discussion on one of my support groups about the term "unschooling". I have always identified with the idea of unschooling. I even use that term sometimes when discussing our schooling.
First, a definition of unschooling. It isn't actually too easy to define. In the most extreme ways of unschooling-most commonly used by secular homeschoolers-children are never told what they must learn. They basically follow their interests. Here is a website that I found that has a good explanation of unschooling. http://www.unschooling.com/library/faq/index.shtml Here is their definition:
Have you ever described 'red' to a person who is color blind? Sometimes, trying
to define unschooling is like trying to define red. Ask 30 unschoolers to define
the word and you'll get thirty shades of red. They'll all be red, but they'll
all be different. Generally, unschoolers are concerned with learning or becoming
educated, not with 'doing school.' The focus is upon the choices made by each
individual learner, and those choices can vary according to learning style and
personality type. There is no one way to unschool.
You can run across those who unschool who also "unparent" but I have never believed that is correct. For one thing, it denies our sinful nature.
My friend Carrie said that Gregg Harris used the term "Delight Directed Studies". I have decided to go with that term. (If I can remember it. I've already had to look it up.LOL) It does more accurately convey the kind of schooling we do in this house.
What does this mean to us? Well, we do have a few "textbooks" (and now even a teacher's manual which I try to avoid but it came with the package LOL) that we use occasionally. We started reading The Mystery of History a couple of years ago. We got to the part about Egyptians and stopped the text and studied the Egyptians. We got books from the library and did fun projects (like writing hyroglyphics on paper bags taped to the wall in the hallway.) We spent at least a month on this until the kids showed they were ready to move on. We didn't get much further in our textbook though because we started reading the Little House series. That of course, led us to studying about pioneers for quite awhile. We haven't gotten back to The Mystery of History since. I ended up ordering Diana Waring's History Alive! Ancient Civilizations and The Bible full curriculum (she had a special so I basically got the books for free). I ordered it for the CD's. History on CD to listen to in the car. We just started listening today and so far, the kids are enjoying it. They love listening to things in the car.
At one point, Nathan became interested in Knight and Castles. I don't even remember what sparked the interest-probably a book we read. That was at least a year ago and he still loves learning about them. He knows more than I do. I allow him to study at his level. I introduce projects I think he might like but he usually takes them over and makes them his own.
Right now, Alex is into anything pets, especially dogs. She got books from the library and reads them. Often she will say, "Mom, did you know..." followed by some dog fact.
I do require my kids to "learn" some things they may not want to. These are things that are needed in day to day life, like being able to read, write and do basic math. But I don't care if they learn them in the way and time frame the public school world does. My goal is only that they improve a bit every year. We do have a couple of workbooks we use from time to time but we don't sit down with them everyday.
We do not use any math curriculum at this time. Nathan is weak on his times tables-he knows how to do them but doesn't have them memorized. We have used flash cards but I find that just having him help me with things that require math helps him learn much faster. Alex is on target for her age.
Where is all this going? I was thinking recently about my school experience. I was a good student. I received two C's in college-one in algebra and one in a required political science class. (I just don't understand polysci well.) I was great at memorizing things long enough to take the tests. I probably only read a couple of textbooks in high school and college. It was easy for me to listen to the lectures, take notes and study those notes for the test. I always did my homework-usually busy work. But I forgot a lot of it. Why? I believe it was because I didn't really care about what I was "learning". I wasn't doing it for me; I was doing it for my parents and teachers. I did it because it was expected.
I watch my children learn. They find an interest and immerse themselves in that topic. They read about it, write stories about it, act out plays and do projects. They are enjoying it. Now, at their age, I realize they may not retain everything they are learning, but our goal is to love God first and I hope they learn to be able to learn things when they need to. They need to know how to learn. This may mean having a teacher to teach them, or take a class or read a book or even sometimes, just start trying something. (Ever see a guy try to put a piece of furniture together without the directions? They learn. LOL)
My prayer is that my children will follow what God has for them. I want them to learn to pray and follow God's will for their lives, not what the government wants, not what I think they should do or be, not even their own heart. I want them to keep their eyes on God and then God will give them the desires of their heart because their heart will want what God wants.
If you read all my rambling, I thank you (and think you're a bit crazy, like me. LOL)
