What am I doing wrong?
DD is 9. From the beginning we believed that learning would come through regular life. I just did what came naturally, and then I started reading about unschooling and realized, "oh, so that's what we're doing". We did a lot of traveling and dd was exposed to all kinds of cool stuff. She is a very happy, well adjusted kid, and I felt good about her education, until recently.
Now that she's nine, it really bothers me that there are things she does not know that I consider important. I think a lot about adding some structured stuff to our days... like a math curriculum. But my brief attempts at adding "schoolish" stuff have been total failures. DD has no patience with anything she considers boring, and I feel like it is a weird fake interruption of our "real" life to bring out a workbook or make her sit through a book that I chose, on a topic that I think she should know about.
I fantasize about using a curriculum that would spell out what to do and make me feel secure that she was learning the "right" stuff.
I am having such a crisis of confidance right now. I feel like I have just chosen the unschooling path because I'm lazy. And I don't know how to go from unschooling to something more structured, or if that is even the answer.
In order to give the full picture I should probably add that in the past year we have moved to a new state, bought a fixer-upper house, converted part of it into an apartment for my elderly, ill parents, moved them in with us, took over their finances, my husband started a new business and had major surgery (and the surgery part only just happened yesterday.) So, I guess it's no wonder I'm a little rattled.
I would cut myself slack and just chill, but then I think, OMG, she's nine and she still can't read anything harder than Hop on Pop! She can't do subtraction! Right now we have MIL staying with us for 2 weeks and I am SO self-conscious about the fact that dd spent the last two entire days listening to books on tape and knitting.
What should I change? What should I do? I have always loved the freedom of homeschooling, but right now I feel like I'm flying blind.
DD is 9. From the beginning we believed that learning would come through regular life. I just did what came naturally, and then I started reading about unschooling and realized, "oh, so that's what we're doing". We did a lot of traveling and dd was exposed to all kinds of cool stuff. She is a very happy, well adjusted kid, and I felt good about her education, until recently.
Now that she's nine, it really bothers me that there are things she does not know that I consider important. I think a lot about adding some structured stuff to our days... like a math curriculum. But my brief attempts at adding "schoolish" stuff have been total failures. DD has no patience with anything she considers boring, and I feel like it is a weird fake interruption of our "real" life to bring out a workbook or make her sit through a book that I chose, on a topic that I think she should know about.
I fantasize about using a curriculum that would spell out what to do and make me feel secure that she was learning the "right" stuff.
I am having such a crisis of confidance right now. I feel like I have just chosen the unschooling path because I'm lazy. And I don't know how to go from unschooling to something more structured, or if that is even the answer.
In order to give the full picture I should probably add that in the past year we have moved to a new state, bought a fixer-upper house, converted part of it into an apartment for my elderly, ill parents, moved them in with us, took over their finances, my husband started a new business and had major surgery (and the surgery part only just happened yesterday.) So, I guess it's no wonder I'm a little rattled.
I would cut myself slack and just chill, but then I think, OMG, she's nine and she still can't read anything harder than Hop on Pop! She can't do subtraction! Right now we have MIL staying with us for 2 weeks and I am SO self-conscious about the fact that dd spent the last two entire days listening to books on tape and knitting.
What should I change? What should I do? I have always loved the freedom of homeschooling, but right now I feel like I'm flying blind.
