Deschooling a child who loves to learn?

[lady1297]

How does one go about deschooling? My son will complete 2nd grade at the public school in 14 school days (Yes, he's counting down with his class).  My other son is completeing Pre-K the same day- he already mentally checked out three weeks ago.  So, what do we do to deschool the boys??  I forsee them watching too much TV unless I have a game plan (I'm pregnant and due inside the next 3 or so week).  My oldest has already asked which camps he's going to this summer. I'm not sure what to do with that in general- we will send him to a few (Cub Scouts and VBS to start, maybe a few Y camps too).  But other than that??? My son is 75% on board with Family School (his name for homeschooling next year) and I want to encourage him this summer in that front. I also want to homeschool year round (One of my favorite parts of homeschooling is elimintating that 'learnign curve at the beginnign of the year). DS1 loves to learn and has already asked to do math and science this summer. But that isn't deschooling. Or is deschooling more for kids with bad school experiences (His has been positive, but we are changing the environment anyway!). My yougnest is just tired I think, and after a few days of downtime and play time, I think he'll be ready to do whatever, maybe even start Family school by August.

I know there were a lot of questions in there, but I'm just not sure where to go with this deschooling thing.

[Luckiestgirl]

Honestly, I think the best way to deschool is to let him pretty much be in charge of what he wants to do for the summer.  Maybe he will want to watch a lot of TV, but that will likely not last forever.  Of course, I would make a lot of fun activities available to him as well:  nature walks and trips to the pool and zoo and that sort of thing.  If he likes science, maybe get him a collection of some interesting stuff he can play around with whenever the mood strikes him (magnets, a small mineral collection, stuff for experiments).  If he likes math, maybe a collection of fun games he can peruse on his own would be good.  I'm thinking of games like Rush Hour or Penguins on Ice or building sets like Legos that involve math.

I would be really careful about overscheduling him with the camps; he may need a lot of down time.  I'd also be careful not to panic if it seems like he isn't doing much of anything for a while.

[4evermom]

I think deschooling is for kids who have developed a resistance to learning from being in externally imposed learning environments that didn't suit them. It gives them a chance to regroup and find their internal motivation that they had lost. Often it is accomplished by letting them choose all their activities and the timing of them for a year or so. Different kids have different needs with regards to deschooling. 

It doesn't really sound like you need to deschool if your child is asking to do school work and you are planning on a curriculum (either purchased or of your own devising) based homeschool style.

It's possible you'll run into some issues down the line with transitioning to homeschooling but I don't think it would be anything deschooling would prevent in your situation. Sometimes the kids feel regretful when all the other kids are starting school, feeling like they are missing out on an exciting time or that they don't see friends often enough...

[SweetSilver]

What she said, plus this:  

Some kids are eager learners, but they want the parents to come up with the activities or they get bored.  If this happens, this can put a lot of pressure on the parent, depending on the personality of the parent of course.  Just something to watch for.  Kids who have been in daycare/preschools/schools are often inclined to be in the habit of looking to adults to organize their day. This is not necessarily a problem, I don't think, but it can be.  Deschooling would be in order, if it was.  

[PGTlatte]

Leave the TV off.  Deschooling doesn't mean you give up being in charge.  Plan fun things to do and interesting places to visit.  Let the house be overrun with whatever they like to play with (here is it is minifigs and action figures of all sorts, different kinds of blocks, and access to music files). If a kid is asking to work on a subject, there is no reason not to.  Or maybe he would enjoy looking through the materials himself in advance of using them.  IMO a child who was not stressed out by school  really doesn't need much deschooling.  But when kids aren't used to having much unstructured free time at home, they may need to learn what to do with it.  I don't think it's good for a child who is used to a lot of external structure to go straight to having entire unplanned days.  That can be stressful.

[lach]

Originally Posted by 4evermom 

I think deschooling is for kids who have developed a resistance to learning from being in externally imposed learning environments that didn't suit them. It gives them a chance to regroup and find their internal motivation that they had lost. Often it is accomplished by letting them choose all their activities and the timing of them for a year or so. Different kids have different needs with regards to deschooling. 

It doesn't really sound like you need to deschool if your child is asking to do school work and you are planning on a curriculum (either purchased or of your own devising) based homeschool style.

It's possible you'll run into some issues down the line with transitioning to homeschooling but I don't think it would be anything deschooling would prevent in your situation. Sometimes the kids feel regretful when all the other kids are starting school, feeling like they are missing out on an exciting time or that they don't see friends often enough...

[lady1297]

"IMO a child who was not stressed out by school really doesn't need much deschooling. But when kids aren't used to having much unstructured free time at home, they may need to learn what to do with it. I don't think it's good for a child who is used to a lot of external structure to go straight to having entire unplanned days. That can be stressful"

This was what I was thinking. We're puling from public because we want to homeschool, not because we are having a bad experience at school. Well, he really just needs more enrichment and 1-on-1 than they can give him, which pushed our decision.  He loves school. I think he will really enjoy doing school at home and more one on one. We just need to get there! LOL! I do plan on setting us up structured school because he seems to really do well with that and enjoy it, It's also going to be a very reading oriented curriculum because that's his thing (well, that and math). 

Thanks for all the input.