Really wanting to unschool

[frogguruami]

I just can't make the jump.....

I am a seriously Type A personality. I doubt I will ever give up Math. But I am going to try this year to let sciance and social studies go. My kids love them both so I think that is a good place for me to start.

But what about language. I feel they need to learn a foriegn language. I have even bought the software. But now I am conflicted about making them learn it. I haven't really introduced it to them yet so I don't know if they (well DS1 at least) will object. I am thinking about using the program for myself and then using the language with them to spark interest.

I'm not sure my post is really asking something....Maybe just looking for some insight, direction, something?????:

[nicole lisa]

Hmmm...

Well we're unschooling and for us there is no "shoulds". So we talk about our frineds and how so and so speaks this and that and so and so speaks that and this etc. We're in a pretty diverse area so DS always hears kids go from one language to another and then another. And we talk about the benefits of learning another language (which are great).

But we don't force anything. He right now doesn't want to learn another language and so we're fine with that. We're in an area where there are language laws etc so a case could be made by the school board that because our son is not getting instruction in French we are not providing an education equivalent to that of a classroom and therefore he must be schooled but if that were the case we would sell our house and leave. We will not force any learning on him, and as it stands right now it'd be forcing him.

A second language is handy and one day DS may decide that and open a book or register in some classes.

For the rest of the stuff (math, social sciences etc) we just find them pretty unavoidable. Everyday we do stuff that requires knowledge (that we already have or must obtain) from just about every area of study/life.

[rmzbm]

ITA with the PP.

[UnschoolnMa]

Good stuff from Nicole lisa.

For us unschooling means that we drop the expectations about what education "should" include. And then it starts to include anything and everything. Sometimes the kids are interested in something I bring up, and sometimes they are not. It's cool either way. Both were interested in Japanese and took some classes. Then they stopped. It was up to them. We still have language software at home to use, and there is still the library if they want more stuff about it.

I am interested in some history right now so I am reading about it. The kids are mildly interested in a couple of areas, but that's it. It doesn't stop me though. Math just happens without us making it happen. Dd also has various workbooks and flashcards she plays with sometimes.

[folkypoet]

Hi amseiler. Congratulations on your decision!

I agree with the pps, and I wanted to add that, in my opinion, a big part of unschooling has to do with comfort level. If a parent isn't comfortable with giving up math work, then it's not time to give up math work. It looks like you've got the right idea.

Unschooling is based on trust, and that trust (or lack of it) can feel almost tangible to many children. Pretending it's there when it's not can really cause problems.

As you watch them learn what they need to know in other areas, you may very well become more and more ready to chuck the math books and let them discover and delve into their own mathematical interests. It doesn't have to happen all at once. You've got time.

As for the language program - do YOU want to learn it? If it's something you're truly interested in learning for yourself, go for it. If your children see you passionate about and enjoying the language, they may become interested, themselves. And then again, maybe not. But YOU will have enriched your own life, and your children will have watched someone they look up to joyfully learning for the sake of learning.

[SRHS]

Just want to totally agree iwth the pp's...and to say that that is how our kids are picking up other languages, I'm trying to relearn French, my DH is learning s panish and we try to use them to teach each other, and the kids are naturally picking up on it and often want to sit with me while I am doing my studies, or sometimes go off and work on their own thing....

We went from Classical to Unschooling...it is a journey...we didn't get here overnight and I still have panic days, but they too are getting fewer and farther between as I learn to really trust the children...but for me, I had to do it before I felt it 100%,,,I agreed with it intellectually, but not soulfully...getting there...more and more each day....as a product of the PS system, its as much a learning process for me...probably more so for me, as it is for them....

HUGS< Sus

[RiverSky]

Originally Posted by amseiler

I doubt I will ever give up Math.

You don't say how old your children are or what their backgrounds are, etc. My 7 1/2 year old LOVES math and wants to learn more, more, more. Right now he's working on multiplication and division because he wants to. We have a multiplication bingo game, we have a write-on placemat, some math workbooks and he loves to ask questions about math and practice math while we are driving places. He asks what else there is to learn about math and it's easy, with money, fractions, percentages, geometry, etc. Since he was so interested in math, I recently purchase an SAT test guide for 1st grade so he could do the word math problems, but we only sit down and show them to him when HE wants to, we never push it, it's just fun for him, that's it. I know that we will never make him learn any math that he doesn't want to learn, yet he's going to be proficient in math. By the time he's a teen, he'll be able to take remedial courses in math at college, if he so chooses, to help him get into any other courses he might want to pursue, if he hasn't learned it all on his own anyway. (by the way, I love love love math and always have. I'm also pretty type A.)

Originally Posted by amseiler

But I am going to try this year to let sciance and social studies go. My kids love them both so I think that is a good place for me to start.

That sounds good.

Originally Posted by amseiler

But what about language. I feel they need to learn a foriegn language. I have even bought the software. But now I am conflicted about making them learn it. I haven't really introduced it to them yet so I don't know if they (well DS1 at least) will object. I am thinking about using the program for myself and then using the language with them to spark interest.

I think that your plan to learn the language yourself is a great one. I would show them the neat program you got, and show them how to use it, by using it yourself and see if they are interested. You could do it with them, or let them hang out while you do it and see what happens. If they are old enough to be privvy to some international films in whatever language you are learning, watch some with subtitles and see if you can understand some of what they are saying. You can stop and start sections of the DVD to practice. If you can swing it, depending on the language, perhaps you could plan a family vacation to a country or area where that language is spoken and suggest to the children that it would be good to be able to communicate while they are there. I think that Rosetta Stone is really fun to use, so who knows, the children might feel like it's just a game, mine do. Good luck!

My children have also learned to love Spanish and they try using it all the time, simply from watching Dora the Explorer and Go Diego Go! You never know what will inspire them.

Good luck on your journey into unschooling. Trust your children, they WILL learn!

[hahamommy]

Faith required!

Not gonna convince you to leap in one message, but know that the same leap of faith required for any part of parenting is the one required for unschooling... just like your kids learned to walk without curriculum, they will learn everything else they need to know... it's us, the parents, who get in the way of the process that seems so natural to our newly formed humans!
Two tips that may work for you:
Reading: turn on your TV's closed-caption feature, use subtitles for movies... proven by scholars to improve reading comprehension
Math: give your kids a no-strings-attached-even-if-you-have-to-bite-your-tongue-bloody allowance for them to do with what they will (not that you don't have conversations, you just don't, and I mean don't under any circumstances, quash their joy!) soon they'll be figgerin out sales tax and discounts and interest rates... all from REAL LIFE and REAL money and it's probably waaaaay cheaper than curriculum anyway (not to mention waaaaaaay more fun!)
okay, one more
Foreign Language: leave the TV tuned into a Spanish speaking channel while you do your fun stuff nearby; the commercials are catchy in any language and the soaps are much more fun and interesting than the American counterparts; grab some folk music in your favorite language, have it on in the car... we can expose without force and who knows where it'll go from there...

~diana