I've read only a little on what exactly unschooling in, and I'm VERY curious. It's just so appealing. I love how involved the parents must be to make it successful. I love the idea of keeping him home with me, and taking him to museums and farms and on nature walks, etc etc and explaining to him what things are, and having him ask questions. It just seems so great, and the way things should be. What do you all do? What are some state guidelines? What about math, spelling, etc? How is that handled? TIA.
Hi Megan! There have been some unschooling threads, why don't you do a search? I will too.
BTW, we unschool or plan to unschool, however you want to look at it, (my oldest is only 3,) but I am feeling a little foggy-headed today due to a cold. I'm probably not the best one to answer your questions but I didn't want your question to get lost, so here I am replying anyway!
For laws and legality, I suggest checking out local homeschool laws and then bringing and specific questions to unschoolers and/or relaxed homeschoolers in your area to see how they do it.
In my state, for instance, starting at age 8 (I think) I will need to start either testing each child yearly or sending in yearly reports. In my state, there are subjects which my children are "required" to learn, and they do/will-- just in unstructured ways while living their regular lives and following their own interests. Some states are easier to unschool in that mine. I suggest you start looking for unschoolers and relaxed or eclectic homeschoolers in your area for more info.
Every day she's been sitting down and writing several pages like this. She is the one initiating it; I haven't said a word.
My boys are "late" readers and writers -- to be honest I think that boys tend to be ready for these skills later than girls, and that my boys are actually not late but developmentally average, or what the average would be anyway if the majority of children weren't coerced into learning earlier. My oldest is enjoying himself immensely right now with learning to read -- he's 10 and it only recently has begun to click for him. You can read more about that journey on my blog (link in my siggy.) Both my boys love doing math, it has to do with money (they perceive *very* well that there is value in understanding it!) and games. They see math itself as a sort of mental game, and games are fun, therefore math is fun, is basically their reasoning as far as I understand it. We haven't really done much in the way of paper work -- they're not interested and I'm happy for them to do it in their heads right now anyway, so as to develop an intuitive feel for it. Of course now that I say that I'm remembering that last night at bedtime my 8-year-old asked me to get him a "book of math problems" today.
It's just like learning to walk and learning to talk -- it doesn't matter if the skill is incredibly complex, kids will doggedly and happily keep going at it until they master it. Because it has value for them. As long as you don't get involved with judgments and expectations, that will remain true even as they get older.
We really do need a sticky! There are some great links on this thread, many of which I've never seen.
As for math and spelling, those are skill areas that are essential to everyday life. My kids love to be read to. They want to know what things say. They want to write little letters to people. So reading and spelling follows. I've watched my oldest learn to read and write in an organic fashion and it's been fascinating! We started out trying to show him a few things to help him get started, but he really dislikes being directed. He started reading in unpredictable bursts. He really does not know the phonics rules but he's figured them out indirectly by whole words. I'm not really sure what he can read, but he surprises me at times and it reminds me that humans are programmed to learn.
Math is found in everyday life as well. We need to count things, use fractions, multiply things, etc. Sometimes, the kids ask questions and then I explain something to them. Many times, they figure it out on their own. Like the reading and spelling, math just develops in fits and bursts. There's no way to avoid it.
The thing that I love about unschooling is that my kids do not frequently look to me for explicit direction and entertainment. They are highly self-motivated and unschooling has preserved that self-motivation in them. They're not waiting for me to give a lesson or buy curriculum or tell them which activity we're going to do. They are voracious learners and they are some of the busiest little people I've ever met. They are in charge of learning and my job is to facilitate. In the work world, I used to get so annoyed with people who could not direct themselves and who were always waiting to be told what to do or how to do it. I feel good about our unschooling environment, because I think it helps preserve natural self-motivation and creativity. Also, learning is always a fun thing to do; they don't have negative attitudes towards learning or certain "subjects". We're having a blast!
Originally Posted by LeftField
We really do need a sticky! There are some great links on this thread, many of which I've never seen.
I second that proposal! Here's another very good one - it's one of the links in one of the links already listed earlier: "Ummm..."- lots of unschooling links.
A lot of unschooled kids learn spelling, math, etc. because it's necessary to read, write and do math to do so many fun and interesting things. I have read about unschooled children learning to read fluently by reading video game manuals (or whatever they're called - I don't play video games
) and to do math to get to the next level of video games. You would also need to learn some math if you took an interest in cooking for example.
Children who have never been forced to do "educational" things don't develop an aversion to certain types of learning so they usually demonstrate the same self-discipline babies do when they learn to walk. They keep falling, and they keep getting back up.
I never spelled well in school. After I left school, I started writing a lot. I used spell-check (which we weren't allowed to use at school) and my spelling improved immensely by looking at each misspelled word spell-check stopped at and selecting the correct word to replace it.
Some children like taking a more structured, conventional approach to learning some subjects and may want spelling or math books, etc. Also, a child might become very advanced at math and want an advanced math book, etc., especially if he had become more advanced than his parents, which seems to happen often.
Originally Posted by Paigerina
Children who have never been forced to do "educational" things don't develop an aversion to certain types of learning so they usually demonstrate the same self-discipline babies do when they learn to walk. They keep falling, and they keep getting back up.
Something my son noticed when he started at community college classes before going on to his 4 yr. college is that most of the students in his classes didn't seem to have the same motivation he had. He was there to learn about the subject - whereas they seemed to be there to complete the requirements for the credit. He commented that there was one other student who seemed as interested and who participated as much as he did - and he had the feeling it was someone who had also homeschooled.
Quote:
I never spelled well in school. After I left school, I started writing a lot. I used spell-check (which we weren't allowed to use at school) and my spelling improved immensely by looking at each misspelled word spell-check stopped at and selecting the correct word to replace it.
That's exactly how my son and his friends learned to spell well! The more you use the spell-check, the fewer words show up misspelled, until you just find yourself being proficient at spelling.
Quote:
Some children like taking a more structured, conventional approach to learning some subjects and may want spelling or math books, etc. Also, a child might become very advanced at math and want an advanced math book, etc., especially if he had become more advanced than his parents, which seems to happen often.
One of the girls in our homeschooling circle LOVED text books, LOVED using math books for enjoyment - is now in grad school on full scholarship, having taken beyond full loads all the way through college with a high GPA - and she was THE most unschooled one in the bunch* - her parents were stalwart John Holt style unschoolers. Yes, unschooling does not mean avoiding the use of traditional materials or methods if that's what you, the learner, happen to enjoy.
Originally Posted by Lillian J
That's exactly how my son and his friends learned to spell well! The more you use the spell-check, the fewer words show up misspelled, until you just find yourself being proficient at spelling.
I was so impressed with myself the first few times spell-check didn't find any misspelled words.
I thought maybe I had accidentally highlighted just one sentence to spell-check.
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