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Anyone Unschooling?

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Post by WaterLily63 April 20th 2014, 8:00 pm

I have a 13yo that we have unschooled since the end of Gr1. He reads a fair bit and well. We do not do ANY curriculum. Does anyone out there have experience with this type of unschooling? Did you worry about your kids not being motivated? How much do you try to "direct" their learning processes? Just wondering if I should be doing more.
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Post by Sweetened April 21st 2014, 10:55 am

Sorry, I have not heard of this? Can you tell us a little more of the concept behind unschooling? Is it different from Homeschooling?
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Post by WaterLily63 April 21st 2014, 11:10 am

Hi Sweetened: It is homeschooling, but it's much less structured. At home, you can do everything from follow the School Board curriculum to a T (including gov't testing), to using your own designed curriculum, to doing partial curriculum (some home designed testing), to doing no curriculum. The concept of unschooling is that we all learn through living. So unschoolers follow their passions and use life as a classroom for learning. So a child whose parents have chickens might start into their own chicken business. In the process they would learn math (money, coop sizes/birds, feed/bird, profit, etc.), genetics/biology, english (communicating with customers, writing ads for facebook, designing signage for a "critter sale", etc.) and so on and so on. There are a growing number of urban and rural dwellers, many of whom have homesteader tendancies, who believe that this is the optimum culture for learning for their kids.
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Post by Davinci April 21st 2014, 8:12 pm

WaterLily, I was not aware that you were allowed to do this in Alberta. I know you can in BC. I thought in ALberta you had some overseeing body that you had to explain your methods too and maybe some standardized testing? This is news to me if you are able to truly unschool without any govt input whatsoever.

I homeschooled my kid and fell somewhere in the middle between traditional schooling and unschooling. I did not follow a set curriculum. I bought books I thought she'd like from The Teaching Store in Vernon. We did not spend from 8:30 to 3:30 5 days a week sitting at the kitchen table with books spread out in front of us. But we did some. We also never took the summers off. Daughter did schooling all year long. But I figure it balanced out because some days we did nothing.

Unschooling, I think, is more demanding of a parent. You have to be constantly vigilant for teachable moments, life events that you can turn into a science day, math day, social studies day. That' what I did, anyway. A dead turtle on the road is something to look at, discuss amphibians and reptiles (science). Discuss the philosophy of people who go out of their way to run over turtles and snakes (socials). Write a story about how you felt when you saw that dead turtle on the road and what you would say to the person who ran over him (English, creative writing). Go to the library and find some books on turtle and see what kind of turtles are native to this area and what kind of turtle was squished in the road (more science).

Really, a curriculum begins to look like automatic learning when you've spent a few years un-schooling. As I applied it, unschooling was one hell of a lot of work! I was always looking for those teachable moments. That's why sometimes I did have books that I could open because some days my brain was tired out.

My aim was not to fill my ki'ds head with useless facts and skills. My aim was to give her the resources to become a self learner. I taught her to appreciate the library as a valuable resource. We did not have the internet back then and if I had it to do over again, I would NOT allow my kid on the computer as a research tool. There is something valuable and solid in learning how to use printed material and research and reference.

The one thing I insisted on, like a learning Nazi, was the times tables. KNOW THY TIMES TABLES! We went over those until she could say them in her sleep, and then we went over them some more. A solid knowledge of that seemingly insignificant step is actually HUGE in future math success. Kids who are not confident with their times tables have trouble all the way along.

But homeschooling, no matter what your approach, is way more than just a teaching method. It's a lifestyle. It's a way of living. Sometimes teachable moments happen when you least expect them, and if you're not there, you miss them.

Daughter is literate and numeric and functions fine in society despite catastrophic claims that she would be a social outcast. When she makes a Facebook post (and they are all idiotic) she actually knows the difference and correct usage of there, their and they're. This makes me happy.

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Post by WaterLily63 April 22nd 2014, 10:14 am

Hi Davinci: Thanks for your feedback. You obviously understand the principals of unschooling. I like the times table thing. That is something I use regularly. It would be worth pulling out and "insisting" on.

You're right. It is some work to be "there" in the teachable moments and to point out that it is something worth thinking/learning about. Like all good learning (we even use this principal in Scouts), "learning by doing" is best followed up by debriefing. That means we have to be there and to present with them.

And yes, in Alberta we can unschool. It is necessary to be under the "scrutiny" of a School board. I have found one that is unschooling friendly. We get 2 visits a year from an "advisor" who unschooled 4 girls, and last fall she helped me write up the necessary details for the gov't (very sparse). We will get a second visit within the next month or so. The good news is that because we are under their umbrella, we are eligible for $800 worth of support for 'educational expenses'. That gives us some flexibility when planning what kinds of activities to undertake.
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Post by niglefritz April 22nd 2014, 3:28 pm

We are schooling in an eclectic way. We use curriculum, but life skills and experiences are certainly a large part of our day. Sometimes it is the only part of our day and curriculum (as in bookwork) goes by the wayside.

Our oldest is currently starting a small jewellery business and learning things in the process. Any homesteading/self-sufficiency thing we try is as a family. Baking and cooking, both from scratch, caring for the animals, fixing things...it all takes math, science and so on. We stop and see things in our day. The kids have had a lot of pet spiders, some adult & baby garter snakes, all kinds of bugs, etc...and we do not hesitate to interact with those we meet from different cultures and ask them about their country, foods and so on. Then we go look up their country on our maps and globes. Actually, I have seen them do this on their own. They have been looking up places with "-land" in the names...even some more local places and names of businesses that will not be found on a world map. lol It is pretty funny. If you have Greenland and Iceland, Finland and Newfoundland, why are the others not there too? I know that they are developing their God-given desire to learn and learn more. Questions abound in our household  Exclamation and we try our best to either answer them or send them to a source that can.

The best cooking show that we found was done by a Michael (somebody...can't remember just now) on a 1/2 hour tv show. He is from Nova Scotia. He explained the whys and hows very well in simple english. It was the best cooking show that I have ever seen. It was complete and very interesting.

I am going to say why and how we use curriculum. Obviously you are wondering about the possibility of doing more, so I am going to put our reasons for using it...for your consideration.

For us, personally, we feel that we should be using curriculum. Part of the reason is that it helps broaden their experiences exposing them to things that we might not encounter in our daily life. We believe that we need to guide them and have some boundaries set, and not just let them "go it" on their own. We see to it that we give them diverse opportunities...one of the opportunities being curriculum...it is only books, after all. Grading is not a necessity. It is subjective. Busy work is not necessary...it is dull.

Sometimes taking tests can be fun (I don't think so, myself), but my oldest likes them if they are called "Bridges" (Life of Fred math). lol It helps her gauge what she knows and she knows that she can move on with confidence. Ensuring that they are actually learning and enjoying what they are doing is a necessity.

By using curriculum, our kids may just develop a different interest than we have and we feel that we need to encourage that by giving them the opportunity to explore further. We also have books and the internet available. I collect textbooks (and more) as reference books, but do still have a required amount of curriculum learning. The curriculum, however, is not a boxed type. I choose what seems to suit us and it should be fun and enjoyable, not a chore. It lends itself nicely to changing to meet our needs as a family and to changing it to do extras...like lapbooking and such. I view it as a guide, but we still do go through it with the goal of completing it. We do not shy away from learning moments, however.

Thinking over what I just wrote and thinking of a discussion that we had lately, we view homeschooling more as home educating. It is not just the books, but it is also living the lifestyle. I only use the term "homeschooling" because it is the general accepted term. On this thought, so many only homeschool for the academic reasons and forget that life is not desks and schedules, sitting still and doing tests for subjective grade scores. It is not about colleges and universities (although some might wish to pursue this and it should be recognized and accommodations made to prepare for this). That is schooling. We are educating the whole person by facilitating the love of learning.

When I first heard the term, "unschooling" I immediately thought not-schooling, which is what most people think when they first hear the term. I am not saying that this is everyone, but some unschoolers are not involved and use this as a term to hide behind (I have a relative who is not involved with her kids except to use them as slave labor to satisfy her own selfish needs...not to help them learn...she has never had their best interest in mind). Just a thought...I think the term "life learning" is a much more complete term than unschooling. It is without the stain of the immediate stereotype that a parent is doing nothing at all, and should also help separate a person from those who do not facilitate learning, but instead abuse the term. I think that it would also invite less criticism. It sounds more fun too.

Multiplication tables were mentioned previously. If you are looking for an easy, fun and effective way (and inexpensive), what I always recommend is the downloadable student book on multiplication.com. It was $5 when we got it. It works very well. You are learning through stories and rhyme using mnemonics.

I know that the styles can be controversial, and that is not my intention here...to argue any point.  Anyone Unschooling? 2206469521  Instead, my hope is that I have given you food for thought as you move forward.

Good to see you here!  Anyone Unschooling? 55490681 
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Post by WaterLily63 April 22nd 2014, 6:24 pm

Thanks for your thoughts niglefritz. Yes... that is food for thought and all part of this process of thinking through what we are doing right now. Part of our issue is that I work full-time. I work from home (many/most days) but I'm still working a full-time job getting paid a full-time salary by a non-profit organization. So I'm not always as present as I'd like to be. I'd hate for someone to accuse me of being "uninvolved". It's not that at all. However, I'm currently the prime income earner in our household, so I have to do my job. My husband is a free-lance artist and spends much of his time in his studio (at home) working. So... my son (13yo) is often on his own to keep himself occupied... (not physically alone). He is an introvert and doesn't mind alot. We also do Scouts every week (I am one of his Scout leaders). He really enjoys getting together with other Scouts to do stuff, but I know by the end of a weekend event he is well ready to be home alone again. So... again, we're just thinking this whole thing through and trying to do what's best for him. I'm afraid right now that if he just got "sent to school" he'd be totally lost. So I'm trying to make sure he develops as he should/could and that he gains the needed skills to do his best in whatever he chooses for his life. Your observations are duly noted and added to the options. Thx.
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Post by Davinci April 26th 2014, 1:21 am

WaterLily, I think homeschooling, unchooling, home educating and Spontaneous Education Opportunities do not need to adhere to any time schedule.

If you are in your office doing what you do, there is no reason that the dinner discussion that night can't be about dinosaurs or computer animation. There is no reason the two of you can't spend an hour after the dishes are washed, going over some project together. Hours are flexible. Learning does NOT have to be between 8 and 4. Sometimes 7, 8 or 9 can work too!

One of the things my now grown daughter remembers is the summer we spent learning about local plants. I bought a book about the plants on the Southern Interior of BC. We read up on basic plant identification and then we'd take an evening walk, swatting mosquitoes and gather some plant we didn't know and take it home to find out what it was. NOT ON COMPUTER. She can walk through the local forest and identify many plants, poison ivy most importantly! This happened in the spare moments we had, after the day was mostly done. She remembers it to this day. I think you'll be fine and so will your son.

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Post by niglefritz April 26th 2014, 3:35 pm

Wink Yes, I agree. If it isn't flexible, what kind of learning is it really?

We were talking about that just this morning. You need to have some freedom to explore and if life "gets in the way" it really isn't in the way. It is just an opportunity waiting to be explored and a time to learn about something that is really interesting at the moment. That makes learning fun and easy. It also gives a "break" to those of us who do use some curriculum. lol...We have many breaks, but I tell you, we sure are not hurting in the learning department.
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