Thoughts on Unschooling

We started this school year early, in July because Aaron was born in September. I was SO organized at that point. I went over the whole week's lessons every Thursday night and wrote up a schedule for each week. I picked out worksheets for each day and changed them out once a week., etc, etc, etc. I have to admit, I would probably still be doing this if I had the time. I LOVE being organized, knowing exactly where we're going to end up at the end of the week/year. Unfortunately, the boys did not love it. I could sense their excitment waning, and it was frusterating for me to go through so much effort and then have to drag them along too.

So when Aaron was born, naturally everything that wasn't completely necessary went right out the window. I took a few months off, but when I tried to get back into it--even easing myself into our former schedule--it just didn't work. I don't have time to do even 1 to 2 hours of advance preparation a week. But I was feeling guilty for not having "school" so we started to do more spontanious educational activities.

That's where we are at now and I'm amazed at how responsive the boys are to it. As I've embraced this style, I'm forced to accept "unschooling" as my method of choice, at least for the moment.

Unschooling is a method of education where you don't use a curriculum, or any method or organization. I know homeschoolers who use this method exclusively all the way through high school. You simply learn through everyday experiences. I am still a bit skeptical of unschooling because, how can you learn everything you need to know through your everyday experiences? For instance Math: I went all the way through Calculus BC in high school, and yet I can't imagine a situation where I would actually need differential equations, much less be motivated to learn it on my own. I suppose the rationale is that if you don't use it, why do you need it? Still not on board with that... But I can see how everyday experiences can be a springboard for higher learning. If the kids are curious about something, I can provide materials and activities that use thier own motivation to propel them further than simple everyday learning.

While I used to think Unschooling was the lazy way of teaching, I'm starting to see that it actually might be harder. Sure, there is a lot less day to day preparation, but it takes more mental and creative effort. In order for this to work, I've got to know the kindergarten curriculum backwards and forwards and be ready to jump into any subject at any time. Any interest Ethan has in anything, I've got to be able to recognize and quickly come up with creative activities that will fuel that interest and not kill it. I've got to be able to support his motivation rather than forcing or pushing.

As with anything, balance is key. I'm still not convinced this method is good enough to rely on exclusively, but whenever I use it, it's successful. Here are some examples of the ways we've used this recently: Writing Practice, Counting Money, Vocabluary.