I shared recently that we ditched school for a more fun, unschooling approach to summer. We had a rough year and I had been praying for months that God would give us some relief from all the fighting, all the complaining, all the long lists of things going UNDONE.
I had coffee with a friend one evening, after a particularly awful day, and she inspired me. She reminded me to look for what my children ALREADY enjoy and find ways to make that educational, so to speak. So, for example, if Caleb loves digging in the dirt and playing with rocks and sticks, what about finding some books on different types rocks. What about a mini-archeology study? There are so many animals that my kids love. Check out books from library on a particular animal, watch videos on youtube, find movies on netflix, go on a field trip to observe those animals.
Friends, this is how we homeschooled all along. But, as my kids got older, I always felt like they NEEDED MORE. I felt the need to push academics. I felt the need to shove as much information down their throats as possible. And, now we see how that works, right?! I fell into the very trap that I have spoken against for so long: this child is in 7th grade so they MUST learn THIS at THIS age. I have never agreed with that statement…why start now?!
I mentioned in my other post that I had toured 2 private schools recently. They were great schools, I’m sure, but deep in my soul I know that a classroom setting is not where kids (my kids) will learn best…especially my 9 year old boy. I walked out of the building realizing how detrimental that would be for him. {I know not everyone agrees, but I just haven’t seen a whole lot of evidence that little boys do best sitting in a desk for 8 hours with textbooks to read. I taught kindergarten, I know what it’s like to try and manage 10+ boys that are rambunctious and playful and want to do anything but sit in a chair or listen to my teaching/lecturing/reading, while at the same time working with those 10+ little girls who DID love all those workbooks and pretty papers. ha!!}
Anyway, I feel like I will never be an extreme unschooler. I do think my kids need to learn multiplication and that there probably isn’t a really fun way to memorize them. ha!! There are a few things in life that we just need to learn. Reading and math come to mind.
But there is SUCH an AMAZING world out there to be explored!! And I want to take advantage of these precious, few years with my kids and ENJOY learning about God’s creation TOGETHER with them.
My friend that I had coffee with? She let me borrow this book, Christian Unschooling
“Ahhhh, the homeschooling dream. How many of us held a preconceived notion of homeschooling in our minds when we first decided to educate our children at home? When most people think of homeschooling, they picture a loving mother bending over a table lined with bright and shiny children. Breakfast dishes are nowhere in sight and morning devotions have been done. The mother is patient, loving, kind and tireless in her efforts of raising her children. The children are well mannered and obedient, eager to learn the pearls of wisdom falling from their mother’s mouth.” Christian Unschooling, Chapter 1.
You might say that our household looked exactly the OPPOSITE through much of the past year of our homeschooling. You can see from my Real Life Homeschooling series from 20 families that most homeschool families don’t end up quite as they had pictured in their minds before starting homeschooling.
But what exactly is unschooling? I love that this book has quotes and descriptions from MANY families and doesn’t put the term “unschooling” in any type of box. Unschooling doesn’t mean not disciplining your children, unschooling doesn’t mean allowing your children to do nothing all day long everyday, unschooling doesn’t mean mom is lazy.
Unschooling means different things for different families. What this book gave me was the FREEDOM and PERMISSION to learn alongside my children in ways that I feel are beneficial to them. Unschooling looks like freedom for parents to do what God places on their hearts — whether that is a workbook for math or a trip to the zoo for science. Helping our children learn how to teach themselves. Giving our kids the tools they need to learn and research things on their own. Using whatever works for each child. A lifestyle of learning. All of these things and more are explored in this book.
So many things I have always believed about home educating my children were brought back to mind through this book. I have always claimed that I fully believe each child is uniquely created by God and that each child will, therefore, learn uniquely. Why did I put that idea away once my kids reached a certain age?
This book discusses a few ways to deschool, journal through your school experience, unit studies as unschooling, and several other methods. What I loved about this book is reading the examples of quite a few families and how their day looked. This was very practical for me. To look at the things we do in our day and see how they are educational without me ever putting a textbook in front of my kids was so encouraging to me. They give examples of learning different subjects in different ways. The book discusses teaching vs. facilitating, record keeping ~ though I am still unclear on how to give grades based on this method, and we are in a state where I have to turn in grades.
I don’t share all this to say that I will never use a textbook. That isn’t really my heart. My heart is just sharing this season of our lives, the hard days, the changes in my heart and praying and being open to where God is leading us.
I started a few hashtags on instagram to share our everyday learning moments. #everydaylearningmoments I would love for you to join us by sharing your own pictures! Or just follow our journey through the summer!
Some of our everyday learning moments from the past few weeks:
Discussing the science of salt in our homemade ice cream maker.
Lots of baking.
Printing off teacher resources from the Dollywood site about our favorite roller coasters!
Awesome days at Dollywood before the summer crowd hits! Watching the glass blowing demonstrations.
Reading one of my favorite picture books a day with Caleb. Discovering my kids own Roxaboxen that I hadn’t known about!
After months of fighting with this child, within a week of us dropping our regular routine/long list of school items, he was bringing me his math workbook and 1 book to read in my bed each morning before I was even up!! Yes, I’m relishing EVERY MOMENT of this boy snuggling with me and reading favorite picture books together!
Each child picked one thing to grow this summer! We will be taking care of our plants and learning more about them!
Great idea to have each child pick something to grow and be responsible for it. I think we might try this!!!
This was really helpful for me. Thank you for your honesty and sharing.