I thought I'd see if there was any interest in a thread about unschooling. If not it'll fall to the bottom and be forgotten We're in our first year of home educating and are heading towards unschooling it seems. Miss 5 had her birthday in April and Miss 1 had her birthday in June. I also work from home to help make ends meet. I can't wait till we start getting the home educating allowance so I can get some resources Any other unschoolers about?
I want an allowance too As far as unschooling, in my heart of hearts I dream of being an unschooler, but I can't just let go. So as a compromise, I am a very relaxed homeschooler and as far as buying schooling things, for your kids ages, you dont' need anything more than odds and ends around the house and a library card She is a very young 5, I most likely wouldn't even put her in K yet if she was going to public school.
We never officially unschooled because I didn't want to reinvent the wheel with reading and math. Now that my kids are 12 and 15, we use about half textbook and half free range for their subjects. Now about this allowance.....
lol seems we all want to know more about the allowance I like the kids to unschool in their off hours. They read a lot of information books and pursue their interests.
We are relaxed but no exactly unschooled. I have high school student the oldest has been given a list of subjects that he must cover for a diploma. He chooses the resources and when and how he wants to study. So a little of self directed and little of being lead. My youngest is a different type of kids. He requested a fixed schedule/assignment. I have all 4 years of high school planned out for him.
Allowance, let me at it. Ha. My oldest child is 3 (the other one 22 months and my 3rd is in my belly) I'm thankful to be able to start from the beginning with them, and my hubs and I are happy to be putting $$$ aside each month for the HS cause. I'm assuming this is what you mean?! : ) I'd be very interested to see what others have to say about unschooling. I'm in training, so I'm open to what works for others.
I wish I felt completely comfortable unschooling, but I just don't. I think it would work out with dd (who is ALWAYS learning about something, and sucks up documentaries on animals like they are candy) but ds is not motivated honestly. He also likes documentaries, but isn't the type to search out info for it's own sake. Add to that dd's early experiences learning to read (or ahem NOT learning anything but that she couldn't do it) and the screwed up way ds learned math.... Without some sort of guidance, for the very basic three R's, my kids would be spinning their tires. Now I DO encourage sci learning that is a lot of unschooling. We have lessons, but we honestly do sci every single day, with zero regard to where or when. The entire world is a laboratory I will say my kids have taught me this summer that they could handle some of it on their own. Ds has FINALLY been reading for it's own sake, now that I'm not asking, and dd (again) has spent her summer learning about all sorts of things.
I think the allowance she is referring to is the proposed government tax credit/refund that is proposed on- again off-again. This mom says, "No, thanks, government!" LOL Of course, that's another thread, if I am right about what you mean!
We sort of unschooled in our early years (10, 11, 12 years ago or so). But as the oldest got older, I got more nervous. Math books crept in. Spelling Power. But I'm still pretty relaxed. But I regret that my two youngest (of 4) have had a very different experience from my 2 oldest. This summer, in mentally preparing for the school year, I asked dd14 what she would like to do this year. She said, "Well, I liked that year we used a textbook for science." Ugh. Really? Not what I was hoping to hear. On the other hand, while walking with my other daughter (11), she said that unschooling sounded interesting. I thought about it, and I think that unscooling would really fit her. And I think it will fit our crazy schedule this year. She'll be taking "specials" (band, art, etc) at the middle school every day for 1.5 hours this year. I told her I would want her to continue with Teaching Textbooks for math and explained that some folks think of unschooling as "a library card and a math book". She had told me a while ago that she wanted to learn about Ancient Egypt, so I'll just let her go with that and run. She can be pretty good about coming up with crafty projects. I just ordered a Dinah Zike sciencey book that should work for her if she chooses. I'm curious to see if we can pull it off.
I don't know where the OP lives, but in Alberta you get funding for home educating. I unschool preschool and utilize unschooling elements in our day to day lives.
really in Alberta eh? And you have no sales tax unlike us over HST'ed folks in Ontario. Hmmmm I think if hubby had his interprovincial ticket I would pull up stakes. But he won't go for it
Amethyst I know what you mean, I am relaxed mroe now that my ds is older but he wants the books! lol Though he did say "Mom, I will do whatever you get me cause that is what you get me.. but Id rather have...."
I seriously considered unschooling, and fantasized about how I would educate them at every turn of daily life, but I knew I would never really be able to do it. They might have adapted well to it, but I could never, being as disorganized as I am. I need the structure. I love the idea of it, though. It seems so natural. I do wonder about records, attendance, assessments, that sort of thing. Somewhere along the line those things have gotta creep in, right?
I love the idea of unschooling, and I have done it in the past. However, I do not have enough faith in my kids' desires to completely let go. Math, reading, and writing are all basic skills that I think everyone who is able "should" know to function in society. My preconceived ideas of what kids should know are burned hard in my brain, and as my kids get older, I feel compelled to get closer to what is typically taught at certain ages. I sort of unschooled my oldest son until he went to public K at a young age five. It was really amazing what he knew and wanted to learn about. I still remember him waking me up in the morning with the Atlas of Anatomy book, begging me to read him all the names of the muscles, bones, and, organs. lol Learning was an adventure for him, not a chore. I watched that eager desire fade out of him and die every day he came home exhausted from school. I have tried to go back to that golden time of self-directed education and it has not worked. My older son actually likes lists and specific amounts of work laid out for him each day now. He feels better knowing that he has to do 3 pages in this book and 2 pages in that book before he can go outside to play. I do think that at some point in the future, when they have a good, basic foundation, we will take some time off for unschooling. My younger son is another story, which I don't even have the energy to go into right now. lol That said, we are pretty relaxed/balanced. We do child-inspired projects, art, science, and other things. So we do some book work, play a lot, do a lot of art projects, enjoy nature, etc..... The older I get, the more I read about, the better I feel about the times I have just let my kids be what they are---kids!
We can get an allowance in British Columbia too, but then we have to report everything we are doing. It's like the government bribing us to tell them what's happening! A friend of mine got away with "unschooling" and accepting the allowance, but only 1/2 year. She said she still had to meet all the PS learning outcomes. So she did that from Sept to Feb, then unschool the rest of the year. No unschooling here though, so I'll be dropping off this thread.
altho we have not officially start our hs journey, my two cents on unschooling will be crossing over with deschooling period. while we all detoxing our mind, we can also trying to figure out who learn best how and what...... sort of thing, no???? well aleast this is how i took it from all those reading i been doing about homeschooling. = -) good health and happiness.
Jemsmom- For us, the answer was no. When ds was pulled, I tried doing what you described, but ds's curiosity to learn was ZERO. He needed time to completely rest his brain from any learning. He has been out of ps for 7 months now, and he has only started getting his curiosity back in the last 2. He's 9 though, so had 4 solid years of ps. We did limited deschooling (because I wasn't comfortable) but that time was spent cuddling, gabbing, and letting him do whatever he wanted. He didn't pick up a single book, and didn't ask any questions about anything significant during that period. He WAS recovering from peer dependence, so there was a lot of talking about that, but no actual academics at all.
