After a long bout of illness in the house this winter I began to fantasise about school and how my life would be if the kids went, just a little too much.
As we all got well again, the fights began, the bickering, the shouting, the boredom... and boy was I frustrated, despondant even.
It all got me thinking, maybe we need a little more structure? Maybe all this free time is the reason why the kids are fighting?
So experiment.... go with a LOT more structure, that is me, working with the kids, every morning, from when we have had breakfast, for as long as we can manage.
The first Monday we tried it we went long into the day, punctuated by a short visit to our friend and neighbor to pick lemons from her tree. I have a distance ed curriculum for both my girls (ages 6 and 8) and we worked from that in the morning first up. Then when we got back from our visit, the girls made a batch of muffins, as much by themselves as they could, while Maurie (aged 3) and I made a banana cake. By this time in the day (about 3pm) they were looking to get away from me... and played together beautifully.
Next day, we did it all again. And again. And again x 4.
So here we are and the second Monday. Today again we worked together in the morning. My older one is learning times tables but the little ones had fun listening to the time tables CD and trying to sing along. My 6 y/o learned to count by twos and tens as a result. We had some fruit. We tried for the first time a meditation together. The big ones loved it! Maurice lasted about 20 seconds then got loud. We only attempted a minute.... baby steps. Then we read a chapter of our current book, "Farmer Boy" by Laura Ingalls wilder. It lead us to a few discussions. The last of which was "where is New York?". Atlas out, there it is. Where does daddy go when he goes to America... San diego... and where is Guam.... Done.
Now can we get away from YOU MUUUUUUUUUUUUUM!
And it was only 12:15.
The kids set up a shop on our front verandah selling rainbow chard and capsicums from the garden. They wrote signs for the fence. (This is the unschooling part of the day!) April wrote birthday invitations. Ivy wrote a list of things she wants to look up the next time she goes on the computer. April wrote a shopping list for her birthday party. They played.
I had a friend over and chatted for almost 2 hours.... with minimal visits from the children.
What I am supposing is this....
That a little bit of scheduled activity has reignited our families love of being together. It has sparked my love for learning with them again and it has given us harmony (well as much as you can have) in their sibling relationships.
So maybe we have to give up our label... Natural Learner, or unschoolers, but to be honest, that doesn't bother me.
As we go through our own seasons, we resonate to more structure, less structure, total structure, no structure, labels or not.
And if all this helps us to appreciate and love our time learning together, then I'm happy with that.
5 comments:
My kids love to do structured learning projects. But we're definitely unschoolers, because I don't assign and enforce those projects. That's the difference, IMO.
Hmmm Sara, 'assign and enforce' I guess I am 'enforcing' to a degree here. That said though, my 6 y/o comes to me in the morning and says /we better do some work now mum'. So she is coming to it of her own accord.
Yes I totally get what you were feeling and are saying. That structure is a launching pad for their own personal exploration and play. It has a serious settling effect. CM does school in morning with the afternoon to learn by experience (mainly outside). I can see how this will totally work for us as we take on that structure more and more as the children grow.
Hi rach
I've read through this a few times....too shy to comment because Emily goes to school. just wanted to let you know I find you so very inspiring :)
You comment away Pen... love your thoughts.
Post a Comment