I wanna switch to unschooling.....

[hotmamacita]

Anyone have any experience with unschooling?

[SagMom]

There are a handful of people here . If you do a search for "unschooling" you'll probably find lots of info. You could also try reading through http://www.unschooling.com

My kids have been out of school for 4 years now--ds1 went to ps until 3rd grade, and dd went to K before we pulled them out. Ds2 has never been to school.

Any specific questions?

[cottonwood]

We're unschooling. To me it's obvious that when someone is in a situation where education choices are always made for them by others, their natural-born abilities to think critically and be self-directed are going to eventually atrophy. So we direct the children as little as possible, instead simply interacting with them and providing them with access to resources.

I have been thrilled with the results. It is just so cool to see the skills come naturally, as there is need for them. It's the same feeling I got when they first smiled, or walked. It is like watching a miracle unfold.

[Dar]

If you do a search on this forumn, I think we discuss it every month or so... ask questions, or bump up one of the old threads

Dar

[mwherbs]

yep, our older kids have gone to college is when they did schooling. I guess to differentiate I did discuss things with the kids and read a ton- answered as many questions as i could and then looked things up- so they learned how to do research. My DH is self taught in computers and since he bought the first one our kids have had access and are competent computer users and our oldest kids have both worked in the computer field. When the 2 older kids got to be about 16-17 I bought the books What Every Child Should Know and said incase you missed anything you can go through these books and fill in some holes if you want so both picked through and read what they wanted out of the books- our oldest daughter really liked mythology and some other things presented in the books that she hadn't read before.

somewhere else in the homeschooling thread I have written about unschooling a bit more.

[UnschoolnMa]

Yep, we unschool It's fantastic.

What can we tell you specifically? I agree that you might want to do a search here or visit unschooling.com for more info. If you've got any questions feel free to ask away.

[hotmamacita]

okay. cool. let me read links and search here and come up with some questions...

until then...here is what is on my heart....dd loves to dance...i want to teach her math, english, spanish, etc...via her love of dance but not in a structured way persay...more of a teach and she inquires and/or as i am led but teach thourgh what she is passionate about...

more later...

[hotmamacita]

Originally Posted by UnschoolnMa

I agree that you might want to do a search here....

i STINK at seaching...i tried but couldn't find the threads Dar talked about...can someone help a pathetic searcher out?

[maymom2b]

NY unschoolers?

I just finished the book "The Unprocessed Child" and I really want our daughter to be unschooled.
OK......she is only 9 months old but I like to be prepared for things and I'm wondering what the rules are in NY.
Anyone know?
Also, anyone have really unsupportive (of this lifestyle that is) people close to them?
My dh doesn't know yet (we've only talked of homeschooling) and my family thinks I've flipped.


The funny thing is that I purchased this book through MamaBarter at yahoo.com thinking it was a book about children living a healthy lifestyle (like unprocessed food)!
It fell into my lap so to speak!
I never thought I would be someone who could unschool as I was going to homeschool our children until topics got too difficult.
I see things so differently now.
Nobody should dictate our self worth except our SELF!

P.S. any info would be really really appreciated!

[mwherbs]

Originally Posted by hotmamacita

until then...here is what is on my heart....dd loves to dance...i want to teach her math, english, spanish, etc...via her love of dance but not in a structured way persay...more of a teach and she inquires and/or as i am led but teach thourgh what she is passionate about...
more later...

sounds interesting-- and in just reading it I could see the possibilities , what does your daughter think? probably info could be found in books about learning styles books. I know I use to have an old book about teaching subjects via PE.
Somethings work to blend and some not, I know that I had gotten a pin in 1st grade because I read the most books- then they started handing out a book report sheet with every book I checked out of the library so I stopped checking out books from the school library and read less- I really hated book reports.
But there are many things that can go in to a performance related to dance-- or the space you move around

[hottmama]

My son is two but we have never considered anything but unschooling. I'm an (ex?) anarchist though, so that pretty much explains it!

[UnschoolnMa]

Hotmamacita- If you go up to near the top of the screen here at MDC you'll see features in somewhat small font (they are small for me anyway) that say "members list" and "user CP". Well there is also one that says "search" and it has a little arrow next to it. If you click that you can search the term "Unschooling" and I bet a lot of things will pop up. I'd pull some links and stick them in here right now for you but my connection is just dreadful at the moment I hope you can find what you are looking for.

My daughter loves math, dance, and different languages as well

[chfriend]

hotmamcita,

I did a search for unschooling in this forum. I think the threads you are here on the second page:


http://www.mothering.com/discussions...7&pp=20&page=2

[Crunchier]

Check out this site for all things legal.

http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp

We are unschooling Ben. He's 2. We just follow his activities, and offer guidance and interaction when he needs it. i've tried more structured lessons on occasion, but they never work. We really just ask him a lot of wuestions and answer his.

I have a group for at home preschoolers. We take 2 field trips each week, usually just to different parks, or the zoo, but I'm going to start incorporating festivals and more grown activities, like art museums and the planetarium. These are the things we do with ben anyway, but now we'll be inviting other families to join us.

My plan as he gets older is let him choose his own books at the library, continue the same activities as mentioned above, and give him a writing assignment each day, based on our activities or his books. He will then read his essay aloud, and we'll discuss content and structure. The activities and books will cover all the important topics, and his verbal skills will get a workout too. I haven;t figured out the math part yet. I hate to resort to workbooks, but if that's what works, then so be it.

[Dar]

I actually wouldn't check with HSLDA for info if you're an unschooler, since they're pretty clearly anti-unschooling... NHEN is secular and unschooling-friendly.

until then...here is what is on my heart....dd loves to dance...i want to teach her math, english, spanish, etc...via her love of dance but not in a structured way persay...more of a teach and she inquires and/or as i am led but teach thourgh what she is passionate about...

What if she's not interested in math, or english? What if she just wants to dance, without dancing becoming an academic experience?

It sounds like you're planning more of a unit stufies approach, centered around dance... maybe not exactly but no unschooling either. If your agenda is for her to learn math and english and you're looking for ways to make that more enjoyable, that's not unschooling. Unschooling is letting dancing be dancing, and trusting that learning english and math will happen when your child needs those skills...

Dar

[hotmamacita]

oh, okay. she wants to learn math. she asked me about mulitplication and i answered it one day in the car. and she took off with it.

sometimes when she dances I compare it to her math questions.

i have a question though...how can someone be unschooling a toddler? i mean, i did the same thing, just let them do what they wanted but i never even thought it had anything to do with schooling or not. i just thought that what children do when their mama stays at home. preschool wasn't appealing to me and i love their being at home with me.

i think i unschool already but not strickly.

are y'all okay with my still learning about it without labeling myself a certain type of schooler just yet? i don't feel any pressure to teach her, she just wants to know so much right now and i feel free to find ways to teach her what she wants in a relative time frame to when she asks.

thanks so much for the links, mamas.

[cottonwood]

"My plan as he gets older is [...] give him a writing assignment each day, based on our activities or his books. He will then read his essay aloud, and we'll discuss content and structure."

This sounds an awful lot like school to me. How are you defining "unschooling"?

Someone asked about math. It started for us when the kids would ask questions that involved working things out mathematically. For instance, "How old will I be when Noah is 8?" Or, "what does 1/4 mean in this recipe?" Etc. Math is everywhere, you can't avoid learning about it if you are in the world.

[ShannonCC]

Originally Posted by hotmamacita

are y'all okay with my still learning about it without labeling myself a certain type of schooler just yet?

Heck no! You must choose a label NOW NOW NOW! No more homeschooling until you decide what you are going to be. What do you want, anarchy???
































:LOL (I am SO kidding of course )

I call myself an unschooler but I know many unschoolers don't think I am. Don't worry about it! Do what makes your family happy even if that leads you to the strictest curriculum out there! (there are some kids who like that sort of thing - really!). It doesn't matter if it fits someone else's rules exactly. What you described did sound to me like unit studies, but maybe your dd will like unit studies! And if she *asks* you for unit studies then there you go, you're unschooling (uh . . . maybe . . . I don't know who gets to define it anymore :LOL!)

[hotmamacita]

He, he...
as I was reading your post SHannon, I was thinking of the song...

Anarchy in the UK but the sexpistols...

Not i have johnny rotten in me head....