Unschooling, in theory, is a glorious thing. Trusting, that if left to pursue their interests, children will not only seek out the knowledge, and skills they need, but that they will enjoy the process of being educated, too. From a parents perspective it takes a lot of faith though, and there are days when I am just not that trusting.I've been worried lately, for instance, about how to work more writing exercises into our days. My oldest will be 13 this summer, and I'm sure other children his age are writing book reports, and research essays galore, but it's something we haven't done much of. I spent the weekend wondering whether I could locate any good writing programs for the fall, and added it to my mental to-do list.
Then today, after playing around for a bit on GameFly, picking out new games to rent, my son asked me if I could check something for him. I peeked at the screen, thinking he wanted to know if a game was okay to rent, or not, only to find he'd written a review of one of the games he'd rented recently, and he wanted me to proofread it with him.
It might not have been the writing exercise I was planning, but I'm sure you can imagine my joy.
It's great to be a homeschooler.
That is awesome!
ReplyDeleteThat is great!
ReplyDeleteOh, your children give me HOPE... ;0)
ReplyDeleteYes! All those times we think we aren't "teaching" they are still busy learning!
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking today (and hoping that you will address it in your upcoming series :)) - will unschooling help children avoid things they don't like? What if they don't like something important, for example, math? Will they be motivated to learn it? It's good to know that some of the things will fall naturally in place.
ReplyDeleteIt is always wonderful when we start to question ourselves and our kids reveal that their learning goes on!
ReplyDeleteNatalie - I have some thoughts on math, but they're still too scattered to post. Hopefully, I'll get them into order soon. :)
ReplyDeleteIt's always fun when they spontaneously learn something.
ReplyDeleteI, too, have been pondering that and starting June 1 both the 12 yr old and the 6 yr old will email 1 person (friend or family) each day.
ReplyDeleteI want them to write well and use good grammer and spelling etc.
We'll see how it goes but I told them they can't do it "until then" *evil grin* and they are both already planning who they will email and anxious to get started.
Deanna - Good idea! I like how you're building some excitement into it :)
ReplyDeleteWow, that is really awesome!
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful! Its great when times like that pop up out of nowhere. My daughter really doesn't like to write. One day we took my mom to a doctor's appt and didn't know how long the wait would be so I took the laptop for her to mess around with, a few moments later she a written a poem. Then she started writing a story. This doesn't happen often but when it does it is such a bright moment.
ReplyDeleteBlessings
Diane
Thank you for sharing. I homeschool as well and I always feel that I'm missing something somewhere. It's funny how kids can actually teach you something as well,they sometime teach themselves!
ReplyDelete