So here we are, continuing unschool October. And here I am, still missing the "H" key on my keyboard, but unwilling to give up my pink Dell laptop. I tend to buy lots of pink things because I am the only girl in the house surrounded by 4 boys. Pink says that things are mine. And I love my pink laptop. I can type an H, but it is easy to miss the hole where the key should be. So, please bear with me if I don't pick up on a spelling error caused by my missing "H."
Anyway..... Unschool October is going well. There isn't any daily crying. Kids are reading on their own. Math sneaks into our daily lives. Interesting scientific conversations are held around the dinner table.
Life is good. The kids are happy. I'm happy. So why can't I get over the fact that I feel like a slacker?
Last year, our homeschool life was filled with worksheets, and book lists, and a HUGE portfolio. I was able to track Andy's progress by the amount of "stuff" I had to prove we did work. Unschooling feels like we are just living life. We talk about science at dinner, program in scratch, and spontaneously read books all the time. Weekends. Christmas break. Even in the summer.
Why do I fall back on making our homeschool life so much like traditional school without the PTA meetings? We decided to school Andy at home because we knew that he wouldn't thrive in that environment. Why am I trying to emulate it, and feeling bad because I'm not?
I think mostly I have to get over myself and go with what is working for our family. Live our lives to the fullest. Explore our world-- be it a trip to the aviary or through cyberspace.
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Raechelle -- I am so glad to have found your blog! We are new homeschoolers, and experimenting with unschooling as well. I'm very excited about this, as I see it would work well for our boys, but hesitant to go all the way. And my husband, although very supportive of homeschooling, thinks it's a disastrous idea. Please keep posting. Readers will come! I did!
ReplyDeleteOur blog is at www.secularhomeschool.eu if you'd like to stop by. (sorry, don't have a h/s blog at any of the profiles available in the comments!)
Raechelle,
ReplyDeleteIt is a hard thing to take the public school system out of your head. We have only been Unschooling for a year and have been having a great time. Yes we still have our ups and downs but that's in all families. You have to just take it one day at a time and try to look for ways to have joy in your house. Have you had a chance to check our any information by Sandra Dodd? http://www.sandradodd.com/unschooling