May Unschoolers Support

[mama in the forest]

Hi mamas! It's May 1st today ~ happy unschooling!

[TheJoyfulMom]

We're so happy that it's May here.. we have plans to spend the day at the pool!

[KaraBoo]

Slept late. DD spent the morning getting really frustrated with the barbiegirl website. Lots of bugs! Read more myths. We went out to lunch, bought fruits and veggies at the marketstands, fed pigeons (then she chased them), came home to snuggle up in the bed with the cat and watch The Barnyard. We have the Wii game and just got the movie. It's cute.

We're just messing around before dinnertime, playing games and chatting. Nothing too exciting happening here. Sorry!

[ChildoftheMoon]

Hello mamas!
I read through last month's thread and am so happy to have found fellow lifelearners! I am home with 3 adventuring sweeties ages 7.5, 5.5, and 20 months.
Today is a mellow day. One of my dd's allergies are acting up today. Lots of book reading and then off to Kung Fu for an hour, then baking.
Nice to be here
~Brandi

[faerierose]

Hi! I love May! I'm really going to participate in this thread this month...<says the procrastinator> DS#1 got up really early this morning and decided to mop the kitchen floor, the walls, and the ceiling All before 7am: At least the kitchen is clean!

[Millie Ivy]

Ooh! I wanna play!

We are sort of fly by the seat of our pants learners. I hate labels. We fit mostly with unschoolers though because we don't have any preconcieved notions of what we "should" be doing right now.

But dd loves "workbooks" if they are difficult enough so some hardcore unschoolers poo poo that. Ah well, whatever.

I haven't ever read the previous thread, off to read!:

[LionTigerBear]

Hi everyone! I'm new to the unschooling support threads. My oldest is 2 years, 9 months old. Just wanted to introduce myself for now. I'll be back.

[Ruthla]

We're "relaxed homeschoolers, leaning towards unschooling." But we do have some academic structure because DD requested it. It's hard to explain what we do to people who expect homeschooling to be "school at home." My Mom isn't very comfortable with what we're doing, but she's getting better about it, plus she's happy because we're doing more structure now. I can't help but wonder if "pressure from Bubbie" is part of the reason that DD was asking for more structure. Nah, I think she was just bored and wanted to learn some stuff with me.

Ugh. I had to explain our schooling style to a CPS worker this morning. NOT fun. Somebody called because DD2 wasn't in school, but I showed her the paperwork from the school district and she seemed satisfied. I still feel violated though.

[UUMom]

My youngest and I read some of The Railway Children this morning, and now she is on the porch waiting for some hsing friends to come over and play. She walked the dogs and played in our pond. She also sat in bed for a long time this morning reading, and after that and before going outside, she was in the playroom with her plastic ponies stretched out over a large area.

My oldest dd is watching Emma Thompson and Dezel Washington in Much Ado About Nothing and is laughing hysterically. She spent the morning drawing, reading (I think she is currently reading Juniper, not sure), and running outside with her sister and the dogs.

[MamaWindmill]

After years of trying many different methods, we gravitated toward unschooling, and it really works for us. We've been unschooling now for about the last four years. The only thing I "make" our son do is some stuff relating to our decision recently to raise our children Catholic - I'm having him do a faith formation work book and read a book, but he does this mostly at his own pace with a little nudging from me.

[momazon4]

Hi,
Just popping in to intro our family. I will have 4 kiddos in August. We are basically unschoolers. It is the philosophy I believe in but we deviate a bit. Ds5 LOVES workbooks and the 2 older 2 do a token amount of independant book math and make sure to read a bit everyday(which they would do anyway) to make their dad(my ex) believe they "do" school. It's not ideal but it is working for us and in other respects we are definately unschoolers.

I've really enjoyed reading this thread!

[genifer]

Has anyone linked the old thread?....

if not here it is... http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=646349


We are a religious unschooling family and there are things we do because its part of our lives. We go to church, I read bible stories, we discuss what our faith means, who God is to us, etc. Recently my ds said 'I hate church' so Ive stopped making him go. He'll probably want to come on the days when the lads all go to football (thats british for 'soccer' ) practice at the way cool, massive, well impressive, proper football stadium where the real footballers here at manchester united play. Ill be honest and say that our 'method' of unschooling doesnt come from a real conviction that this is the best way children learn. We sort of fell into it ourselves. Ive not done tonnes of research on it; its sort of just feels right for us. Its a case of us learning about it as we go and hoping it will work out. As the days go by I am becoming more convinced that it is genuinely the right thing for us. Im personally not opposed to a bit of structure if it is needed so if in the future we feel we need it, we'll go for it. I dont think that would make us not unschoolers. I hate labels too anyway.

Today we met up with our local homeschool group at the park nearby. Its been a glorious day. Sunny and so much fun.

[kayla14]

We are an unschooly-ish family. Sometimes I panic and ask my kids to do stuff though

My biggest worry is that i'm busy looking after the toddler and preschooler, and I don't 'expand' on their interests like I should. I also find it hard to get out of the house with 4 kids. The toddler is only 15 months and is very active, and doesn't like to sit for long if we want to go to a museum, or even the library.

I'm trying to build up our resources at home, so the kids have more to read, and access to more hands on stuff. But at the same time we live in a small home... *sigh*

Either way, i'm definately an unschool supporter, and a real wannabe, but still struggling a bit

[ColwynsMommy]

Hi guys. My kids are still young, so of course we're unschooling. As they get older, I can see us adding a smidge of structure, but not much (unless they really want it). My 3.5 year old adores workbooks, though, so we'll see.

Today we went to the grocery store and picked out some plants to bring home, as well as sushi for lunch. When we got home, we turned over the compost pile, made a fairy house in one of our square foot gardening spaces, and planted some marigold transplants around it. Then we planted some broccoli seeds.

After that, we played with the sand and water table for a while, checked on our spinach seedlings, and had lunch.

Not sure what we're going to do this afternoon.. probably work some more in the garden, if my husband comes home early. Otherwise we'll go meet some friends at the park.

[Mamato3wild ponnie]

I'm jumping on board for May... was a bit to late for April....we are fairly new to unschooling as i took ds out of 6th grade in feb..i think it was feb...so dd is still in school...which makes it a bit stressful around here somedays....i'm having her finish school in june...and no more school....our family is moving to MX in december....so i feel so stressed these days....i also have some gulit lingering about ds...he still only wants to play computer 24/7 and i have tried to get him to go on outings with us and go cool places...but he'd rather be at home in front of the computer...is this still ok? He also stays up really late at night and wakes up at like noon every day...is this ok too? I have read a bunch about unschooling but i still have concerns that i am doing the right thing...so hopefully by jumping on the May support thread i will become much more comfortable about how things are going here at home.

[UnschoolnMa]

I cannot believe it's May! Wow. I'm almost 31!

I got up an some horrifying hour to check in for my first day of jury duty. I was excused from this trial, but I have to go back Friday. Fun. Note to self: bring change and a book next time.

Ds is barely awake, and Dd just finished some oatmeal w/brown sugar. Now she's playing Kingdom Hearts on PS2. Dh should be home in like 4 hours or so! He's been gone for 3 weeks.

[Earth Angel]

Subbing for May!

We went to the library today, then hung out at the harbor, and watched the river rage that empties into the ocean (it was really ragin!! we've had about 3 days of rain in a row), then went to buy post cards for the unschooling around the world post card exchange! Good day

And yesterday, my baby boy turned 3!!!

Off to go eat some leftover birthday cake (homemade chocolate cake with chocolate icing....YUM!!)

[carolm22117]

Hi all!

I can't believe its May already either! It was hot,hot,hot and humid here today. Son#1 said "If this is spring, whats summer gonna be like?" I think we had snow still on the ground 3 weeks ago. Its been crazy weather!:

I'll be 37 on the 29th, even crazier!: I don't feel old enough to be that old!

Son#1 turned 18 one month ago today. Technically, he'd be a junior in HS if he'd have stayed in public school. He wanted to "graduate" this spring, but we thought it'd be best if he waited one more year. He's dyslexic (one of the reasons we pulled him from PS 6 years ago). Thing is, I don't know what I'm going to do with him next year. He's bossy and bored at home but he's also not quite ready to venture out into the big wide world totally on his own yet either. Its going to be an interesting year, me thinks.

[momazon4]

Originally Posted by UnschoolnMa

I cannot believe it's May! Wow. I'm almost 31!

I hear you!!! I just turned 32 and I'm not sure where the years went...Happy birthday!!!

[mommabear]

Hi everyone and welcome to the newcomers!

It's pretty quiet around here today: Grocery shopping this morning (with a discussion on the new recycling push at Superstore -- recycled pop bottle bags, etc.); a teething toddler; a muddy ds!

Carolm22117, what about volunteer work?

Have a great afternoon/evening everyone!