Trusting Your Unschooled Kids To Learn - Harder Than It Looks!
After having some wobbles recently I have found myself listening intently to some inspiring Unschooling podcasts that I discovered. Having naturally found ourselves drifting towards a more self-directed way of education but struggling to find a strong network of others around us with the same views, it's reassuring to hear others talking about their experience of their children being self-directed and how beneficial it is for their family. The problem I have is actually putting it into practice myself. It is, quite honestly, scary. Having spent all my educational years inside the school system it is the hardest thing to de-school yourself, and putting trust in my 6 and 8 year old that they will learn all the things they need as and when they need it is such a difficult thing to do, it feels like a huge leap of faith.
As a result I have found myself swinging between being super chilled about them developing their own interests (Amazing world of Gumball and Preston and Brianna videos on You Tube apparently) and panicking about how they will ever learn basic arithmetic if I don't put it in front of them.
Everything I read or listen to is very reassuring that they will learn if you just let them, but my worry is that it will only consist of copious amounts of daft cartoons and You Tube tutorials on Minecraft. They'll be pros at, errrm consuming those...?
After signing up to this year's Homeschooling Summit I stumbled across their videos from last year and one thing that I heard on a particularly interesting talk by Lainie Liberti really did resonate and that was, if your kids are struggling to learn something naturally then why would you need to force them to learn it artificially? If they're not coming across it in everyday life anyway then how necessary is it? It's a good question and I love coming across these gems that challenge the way I think about learning and education, and what it means for me, my kids and our family as a whole.
A few weeks ago we started a daily 'learning time' purely for maths, reading and writing. As you can imagine for free range kids who rarely have to follow any agenda this isn't going down amazingly. Once I've battled through the objections I then have to address the zero effort put into whatever activity is on the table (it's actually a really interesting, fun maths pack that I've found, I would've killed to have been taught maths this way when I was a kid.) [Link at the bottom for anyone interested]
The good news is that the battle is getting a little easier and they have discovered some new bits and pieces that they've (quietly whispers) also found interesting!
So that's where our little journey is right now, I'm desperately missing a network of experienced, enthusiastic unschoolers to help me see how things could be, to reassure me, to tell me to just chill out about it all and that things will be ok. Instead I've been settling for some upbeat podcasts with a mug of hot chocolate, I've been really excited to discover some that are helping me to feel better about our choices. [Again links below FYI]
It's been 2 years now since our adventure to Spain and I'm getting itchy feet again, well actually that was the case about a month after we got back but somehow here we still are!
Hopefully once this Covid-19 crazy time settles down we might be able to get something else planned and then maybe Unschooling might happen more naturally?
LINKS
Maths - Enjoy Maths by Wendy Aridela
Podcast - The Homeschool Sisters
Homeschooling summit 2020 with guest speakers
As a result I have found myself swinging between being super chilled about them developing their own interests (Amazing world of Gumball and Preston and Brianna videos on You Tube apparently) and panicking about how they will ever learn basic arithmetic if I don't put it in front of them.
Everything I read or listen to is very reassuring that they will learn if you just let them, but my worry is that it will only consist of copious amounts of daft cartoons and You Tube tutorials on Minecraft. They'll be pros at, errrm consuming those...?
After signing up to this year's Homeschooling Summit I stumbled across their videos from last year and one thing that I heard on a particularly interesting talk by Lainie Liberti really did resonate and that was, if your kids are struggling to learn something naturally then why would you need to force them to learn it artificially? If they're not coming across it in everyday life anyway then how necessary is it? It's a good question and I love coming across these gems that challenge the way I think about learning and education, and what it means for me, my kids and our family as a whole.
A few weeks ago we started a daily 'learning time' purely for maths, reading and writing. As you can imagine for free range kids who rarely have to follow any agenda this isn't going down amazingly. Once I've battled through the objections I then have to address the zero effort put into whatever activity is on the table (it's actually a really interesting, fun maths pack that I've found, I would've killed to have been taught maths this way when I was a kid.) [Link at the bottom for anyone interested]
The good news is that the battle is getting a little easier and they have discovered some new bits and pieces that they've (quietly whispers) also found interesting!
So that's where our little journey is right now, I'm desperately missing a network of experienced, enthusiastic unschoolers to help me see how things could be, to reassure me, to tell me to just chill out about it all and that things will be ok. Instead I've been settling for some upbeat podcasts with a mug of hot chocolate, I've been really excited to discover some that are helping me to feel better about our choices. [Again links below FYI]
It's been 2 years now since our adventure to Spain and I'm getting itchy feet again, well actually that was the case about a month after we got back but somehow here we still are!
Hopefully once this Covid-19 crazy time settles down we might be able to get something else planned and then maybe Unschooling might happen more naturally?
LINKS
Maths - Enjoy Maths by Wendy Aridela
Podcast - The Homeschool Sisters
Homeschooling summit 2020 with guest speakers
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