Hello everyone. I'm in great need of opinions of unschoolers!
Last November we decided to unschool our son and took him out of 5th grade. Going on a year later, I am concerned that we are unable to unschool correctly. As we're moving to a new state next month, I am wondering if I should place him back in school, to try out a new school system.
I can happily say Unschooling has transformed our son from an unhappy 5th grader, to a happy, focused kid. Whereas he hated researching and following/reading instructions before, he will spend days following step-by-step Minecraft tutorials, and going out of his way to learn the names of the people who created his favorite games, and the timeline for development. He's gotten into video-game builders, and is learning key commands for computer game tweaking. He is much more loving towards us, and seems just... happy!! This is saying a lot, as he came from a place where school was a drain on him and he was sad/mad on a daily basis. It was an entire family struggle. Now he seems to genuinely want to learn things.
Now here is why I'm concerned: My husband and I work from home, and have a VERY needy 4 year old and I'm pregnant with another child. Our work is consumes ALL time that is not devoted to necessary household/ younger child care, and it looks to only get more difficult as time goes on with a new baby. I am unsure if we are "doing enough" to be successful unschoolers already, and know it will just get worse. I've read blogs of unschoolers who take daily trips to the library (or somewhere else interesting), and weekly trips to somewhere even more awesome, like an aquarium. These parents spend many hours a day spending time with their kids. Out work situation being what it is, we can only sway maybe a monthly/bi-monthly trip outside the house to somewhere interesting, with more often trips to the supermarket only, and cannot spend too much time with our son on a daily basis as we need to work whenever we can to keep our family afloat. Whenever he needs us, we'll talk with him and listen to what he has to say and have good discussions. With both kids we try to drop our work and give special attention to what they're saying, and talk with them. But I worry it is not enough, as most Unschooling families seem to have at least one parent who is a stay-at-home parent with no other job, and is able to give all energy to his/her children. I worry we are the Unschoolers of the "Cheery Neglect" variety in that our son is off by himself all day long while we work/ take care of the house and younger child. I worry that, while he is infinitely happier, we are not giving him a real chance at a successful life/career later on.
My worry over this is so strong, that despite all the good I see from Unschooling, I am thinking or enrolling him back into school once we move across country next month. I really just need some guidance and opinions. Is what we can give him enough? Or would trying another school system be a better shot for him? Thank you for reading!
Last November we decided to unschool our son and took him out of 5th grade. Going on a year later, I am concerned that we are unable to unschool correctly. As we're moving to a new state next month, I am wondering if I should place him back in school, to try out a new school system.
I can happily say Unschooling has transformed our son from an unhappy 5th grader, to a happy, focused kid. Whereas he hated researching and following/reading instructions before, he will spend days following step-by-step Minecraft tutorials, and going out of his way to learn the names of the people who created his favorite games, and the timeline for development. He's gotten into video-game builders, and is learning key commands for computer game tweaking. He is much more loving towards us, and seems just... happy!! This is saying a lot, as he came from a place where school was a drain on him and he was sad/mad on a daily basis. It was an entire family struggle. Now he seems to genuinely want to learn things.
Now here is why I'm concerned: My husband and I work from home, and have a VERY needy 4 year old and I'm pregnant with another child. Our work is consumes ALL time that is not devoted to necessary household/ younger child care, and it looks to only get more difficult as time goes on with a new baby. I am unsure if we are "doing enough" to be successful unschoolers already, and know it will just get worse. I've read blogs of unschoolers who take daily trips to the library (or somewhere else interesting), and weekly trips to somewhere even more awesome, like an aquarium. These parents spend many hours a day spending time with their kids. Out work situation being what it is, we can only sway maybe a monthly/bi-monthly trip outside the house to somewhere interesting, with more often trips to the supermarket only, and cannot spend too much time with our son on a daily basis as we need to work whenever we can to keep our family afloat. Whenever he needs us, we'll talk with him and listen to what he has to say and have good discussions. With both kids we try to drop our work and give special attention to what they're saying, and talk with them. But I worry it is not enough, as most Unschooling families seem to have at least one parent who is a stay-at-home parent with no other job, and is able to give all energy to his/her children. I worry we are the Unschoolers of the "Cheery Neglect" variety in that our son is off by himself all day long while we work/ take care of the house and younger child. I worry that, while he is infinitely happier, we are not giving him a real chance at a successful life/career later on.
My worry over this is so strong, that despite all the good I see from Unschooling, I am thinking or enrolling him back into school once we move across country next month. I really just need some guidance and opinions. Is what we can give him enough? Or would trying another school system be a better shot for him? Thank you for reading!