The Unschooling Experiment: Day 1

Three weeks in to our homeschool adventure, I realized that what I was doing was not working. I did lessons plans, but was only getting a few things done. One reason is a lack of time to prepare materials, but I felt like there was a bigger problem. Neither Raccoon nor I really wanted to do some of the things on the list and at the end of the week I felt like a failure because we had done so little of what I had planned. This week, I decided to change course and instead write down what we did afterwards.

I am going to focus on three areas: language, math, and science. For now, this means learning the letters of the alphabet (names, writing, and sounds), number concepts, and following our science book which Raccoon is enjoying. Today we played with a four pan balance, wrote letters in the dirt on our daily walk, and then played with alphabet fridge magnets in a rice sensory bin (that was Kitty's activity but Raccoon joined in). We did several other things as well, and when I looked at the list at the end of the day, I felt successful. It was fun for all of us, and it flowed much more naturally as part of our day.

Since this is our trial year (technically Raccoon misses the kindergarten cutoff this fall but I think he's ready), my hope is that Raccoon will learn to read, count, and have fun.

Summer Days

I have decided that this is our last official summer of Tot School. Raccoon starts preschool twice a week on September 3rd here in the States. Next year we'll be overseas again and starting to homeschool kindergarten, if all goes according to plan. Robin will be starting Tot School at about that time, which is odd to think about now since she's currently 6 months old. At that point she'll be a little shy of two years old. As Gretchen Rubin says, "The days are long but the years are short."

So here's to Tot School and Raccoon's last official post (the pictures are all mixed up time-wise, viva la summer loca!).

Arts & Crafts

My mom gave me these pumpkin sheets when Raccoon 

randomly announced in July that he wanted to make a pumpkin.

He actually wanted to carve one, but was persuaded to do it this way instead.

Thanks to Grama, Raccoon has done many large paintings
this summer, which I have hanging all over the house.

See the tongues sticking out? It's a family thing. Perhaps painting is as well, 

since my mother's father was a painter, among other things. This is the 

beginning of one of my favorites, which I have hanging in my bedroom.

When I see pictures like this, I imagine him as a teen,
long and lean, with his curly hair and gorgeous lashes.


Outside Play

Our wading pool, a yard sale find.

Which became our sandbox, thanks to my mom's inspiration and contributions.

Enjoying play time with his cousins.

 

A lake about 10 minutes from our house. Raccoon calls it the beach.

Mommy and me moments

 

Pensive ladies on shore



Raccoon loves horseback riding, just like his mommy.

 

Raccoon has always enjoyed bouncy houses, but now he gets to play on them
every week at church. This one, however, was outside at the 4th of July festival.



The way life should be.

 
A perfect summer day, jumping on the trampoline in the sprinkler with Daddy and his best buddy, C.

It wouldn't be tot school without a little dress-up.

 River swimming - it's cold!

Building

 

Caleb gathered up a stack of thngs from his playroom 

and informed me that he wanted to make a horse.  

  

I followed his instructions and this is what we built. There 

weren't any spare parts, much to my surprise. It even had 4 legs.

Family

Raccoon's middle name means warrior and he certainly lives up to it with his 

interest in weapons of any kind. His cousin is now his hero for having the 

biggest Nerf gun he's ever seen, and letting him shoot off several rounds.

Grama and Grampa, 4th of July 2013

I think Robin looks so much like my mom.



We are definitely a hat family.

Robin

I like this picture because she glows like the angel she is.

Strawberries to celebrate a long-time friend and SB's turtle,
which has now been chewed on by all three of my babies.

Joy.

 

Teeth!

Robin's first baby doll, a gift from Grandma Millie (90 years old) at church.

Unschooling

Homeschooling has been on my mind as Raccoon gets closer and closer to 4 years old. I found a series called I can't homeschool because... with a variety of reasons/excuses. My two objections, which weren't on the list, would be:
1) My son will miss the other kids.
2) My son doesn't enjoy following my lead.

For number one, we could probably find enough social activities, one way or another. And for number two... unschooling, or child-led learning. This seems to tend towards unit studies and deep investigation into the child's area(s) of interest. For a really great collection of blog posts about unschooling, go here. My favorite one is Laughing at Chaos' concept of StealthSchooling:

"See, he resists being taught something he thinks he already knows, but if he doesn’t already know what is being taught he thinks it’s too hard and shuts down. If I try to teach him, he is not in charge, and thus also shuts down...

So I find us somewhere between school-at-home homeschooling and full unschooling. I call it StealthSchooling; I wish to hell I could Trademark that. I quietly sneak in information in the form of documentaries, books, games, and iPad apps. Just enough pre-learning that he thinks he knows the topic. Then when he actually gets to the topic, he knows just enough to take off running."

I find unschooling appealing because honestly, I get bored with things too. I found this out while we were doing tot school. Only activities with a certain amount of complexity appeal to me to even try to teach to Raccoon. If he's interested, he just gets things. If not, then there's just no way I've found to turn that light on. When he's ready, he goes by leaps and bounds. He doesn't know the alphabet yet, but he knows the difference between an arachnid, a mammal, and an insect. He knows a bunch of snake names and that venomous and poisonous mean the same thing. When he feels like he needs to know the ABCs, he'll just do it.

This fall I might even have a play/school room in our new house in the States. Gasp! My mind is spinning with possibilities already. Home-un-something schooling, here we come!

Weekly Review - Time Off

Raccoon is 35 months

This week I didn't have any plans for Tot School since I knew we'd be busier than normal. We had doctor appointmens for Raccoon and me (I'm 20 weeks pregnant), along with our first playgroup of the school year on Wednesday. Raccoon is now the oldest child at playgroup since all of the 4 year olds are doing various Pre-K programs.

It was nice to take some time off, but Raccoon wandered over to our bookshelf (where I keep our supplies) several times during the week and said he was going to do school. I think he'll be excited about having some new things to do next week.

A few things we did this week:

* I was browsing through this Tot School post when Raccoon wandered over. He saw the picture of Ladybug making monsters and decided that it was a great idea. He spent quite a while making new monster friends after I grabbed whatever I could find for pieces. He enjoys looking at pictures of other kids, so maybe I should browse the Tot School posts with him more often and he can tell me what looks fun. :)

* I noticed that Raccoon can put things in order by size/length and likes to do this on his own with his toys.

* He is into counting right now, thanks to Richard Scarry's Best Counting Video Ever! and he has discovered a new interest in Busy Town. I loved Richard Scarry as a child, although we just had the books. Raccoon can count from 1 to 12, but for some reason he likes to start at the number 5. He doesn't quite have the concept of each object only gets one number, but it's fun to listen to him "counting" all of his stuff.

* He's done some exploring around the house this week with a flashlight and a magnifying glass.

* He loves maps and points them out wherever he sees them. He found a world map the other day and told me which continent he lives on. His love of maps grew out of his pirate obsession. He got a treasure map with a set of pirate things and wanted me to explain what all the symbols meant.

* When he scribbles, he tells me he's writing letters or making signs for his pretend museums. He "wrote" me his first note today and told me it said, "I love you very much." Awwwww.

* Now that he's growing out of babyhood and playing more on his own, I've been trying to add some extra cuddles into our day. One way we do this is to sit in the rocking chair together and I tell him stories about a little boy named Peter. He likes to help me make up the adventures and we send Peter to all sorts of exotic places. During our polar lands week, Peter spent a lot of time with penguins and polar bears.

What's Important

Some of my clearest thinking I do lying in bed with my son, waiting for him to fall asleep, as long as I don't fall asleep as well. Tonight I realized that what matters to me, in the long run, is that I teach Raccoon about the important things. For me, this means:

Jesus
Reading
Math
Science
Music
Creativity
Physical Excellence

I like lists, and hopefully this one will help keep me focused as I rethink what I'm doing with Raccoon. In my blog reading of late, I've come across the "unschooling" concept. From what I can tell, it seems to be child-led homeschooling where they choose what to do, or not to do, depending on their current interests. I guess this is what I've been doing lately with Raccoon, although to me it just feels like I'm being lazy. He likes to have a movie in much of the time, even if he's not really watching it. His three current favorites are Mulan (he's really into swords and sticks right now), Winnie-the-Pooh, and a live concert collection of different orchestras.

I feel guilty letting him watch so much TV, since I feel like we should be doing something fun and "educational" instead of wasting his brain or - worse - damaging it. But surprisingly, his imaginary and independent play has really blossomed this last week or so that I've relaxed our TV rules. He likes to play out his favorite scenes using his toys (or whatever he can reach in the kitchen cupboards) as props. And although he likes to have me close, I get some me time (hmmm, what's that!?)

I'm not saying that this whole TV thing is going to be our new way of life, but perhaps there is some merit in the "unschooling" way after all. Maybe I'll build some into our new schedule. Three weeks on, one week off. This mother I read about said that they do homeschooling partly so that each family member (including parents!) has time to pursue personal interests. I like how this same mom describes her ideal as a "feast on learning without getting too schooly." What I'm really searching for is something that's good for Raccoon and has some "me" time built in... what a thought.