Unschooling Day One
I guess it's not really accurate to say we just started unschooling today. We've kind of been doing it for quite some time, and especially for the three weeks we were in Florida. However, today was the day that I decided to CALL it unschooling.
What is 'unschooling'? Well, there are lots of definitions, and everyone can define it their own way, which is the best part about it. However, this is the Wikipedia definition:
Unschooling is an educational method and philosophy that advocates learner-chosen activities as a primary means for learning.
How is that different from the way we've been doing it all along? The answer is simple, but a bit complicated, too. We've been following a Montessori approach for the last year and a half, because of the amazing Montessori preschool the boys and I attended. It provided the structure that I felt I needed in the beginning. I was unsure of my choice. I knew Montessori worked. I followed the people who were far more advanced on the teaching path than I was. It made sense. It worked. I still love Montessori, especially for children under six years of age.
Now that Soren is the magic age of seven and Kieran is the amazing age of four, I feel the need for change. We still have all of our Montessori works available to us. We still have the philosophy of 'Follow the Child'. We just want to take it further. We want to give them even more opportunity and fewer limitations.
To that end, I decided to change our day. We began at 9:00 AM, just like we always do. I asked the boys to turn off their Xbox so that we could talk about the changes I think we should make. We had already talked about these changes while we were on vacation, so the boys were not surprised.
Kieran started to whine, "I don't want to do school time! I don't want to go in the school room."
I replied, "You don't have to. We're not having school anymore."
He looked at me with huge, wide eyes, "We're never having school again?"
"Nope. Not the same kind of school we used to have. We're going to try something different. Here are the guidelines for our days, from now until we need to change it again:
1. We will learn every day.
2. We will work every day.
3. We will play every day.
4. We will respect each other.
5. We will be kind to each other.
6. We will listen to each other.
7. We will not use any iPads, computers, phones or the Xbox between 9:00 and noon (educational exceptions permitted).
8. We will ask questions.
10. We will eat and rest when we need to.
11. We will exercise our bodies and our minds.
I explained these to the boys. They asked some questions. Then they just looked at me.
"What would you like to do, guys?"
Kieran said, "Can we play?"
Soren said, "Can we use toys?"
I said, "Yes." I kept saying, "Yes." I didn't say, "No" one time, for three hours. They didn't ask to do anything dangerous or hurtful. They didn't waste time doing silly, purposeless things. Eventually, they stopped asking for my permission, as they adapted to being free. The adaptation only took about ten minutes. They asked me to join. I did. They asked for privacy. I gave it to them. They asked me to play music, read to them, take videos of them and listen to them. They asked if we could form a family band. They asked if we could write a play and perform it for our friends and family.
I said, "Yes" to all of it and it felt so good. We will continue on this path until it no longer makes sense. It definitely makes sense today.
What is 'unschooling'? Well, there are lots of definitions, and everyone can define it their own way, which is the best part about it. However, this is the Wikipedia definition:
Unschooling is an educational method and philosophy that advocates learner-chosen activities as a primary means for learning.
How is that different from the way we've been doing it all along? The answer is simple, but a bit complicated, too. We've been following a Montessori approach for the last year and a half, because of the amazing Montessori preschool the boys and I attended. It provided the structure that I felt I needed in the beginning. I was unsure of my choice. I knew Montessori worked. I followed the people who were far more advanced on the teaching path than I was. It made sense. It worked. I still love Montessori, especially for children under six years of age.
Now that Soren is the magic age of seven and Kieran is the amazing age of four, I feel the need for change. We still have all of our Montessori works available to us. We still have the philosophy of 'Follow the Child'. We just want to take it further. We want to give them even more opportunity and fewer limitations.
To that end, I decided to change our day. We began at 9:00 AM, just like we always do. I asked the boys to turn off their Xbox so that we could talk about the changes I think we should make. We had already talked about these changes while we were on vacation, so the boys were not surprised.
Kieran started to whine, "I don't want to do school time! I don't want to go in the school room."
I replied, "You don't have to. We're not having school anymore."
He looked at me with huge, wide eyes, "We're never having school again?"
"Nope. Not the same kind of school we used to have. We're going to try something different. Here are the guidelines for our days, from now until we need to change it again:
1. We will learn every day.
2. We will work every day.
3. We will play every day.
4. We will respect each other.
5. We will be kind to each other.
6. We will listen to each other.
7. We will not use any iPads, computers, phones or the Xbox between 9:00 and noon (educational exceptions permitted).
8. We will ask questions.
10. We will eat and rest when we need to.
11. We will exercise our bodies and our minds.
I explained these to the boys. They asked some questions. Then they just looked at me.
"What would you like to do, guys?"
Kieran said, "Can we play?"
Soren said, "Can we use toys?"
I said, "Yes." I kept saying, "Yes." I didn't say, "No" one time, for three hours. They didn't ask to do anything dangerous or hurtful. They didn't waste time doing silly, purposeless things. Eventually, they stopped asking for my permission, as they adapted to being free. The adaptation only took about ten minutes. They asked me to join. I did. They asked for privacy. I gave it to them. They asked me to play music, read to them, take videos of them and listen to them. They asked if we could form a family band. They asked if we could write a play and perform it for our friends and family.
I said, "Yes" to all of it and it felt so good. We will continue on this path until it no longer makes sense. It definitely makes sense today.
Comments
Post a Comment