mrsmayberry4

Hi all! I'm Karen, wife to Jeff, and Mommy to 4 wonderful kiddos.
Oldest 2 are 12 and 9. Little ones are babies. I just joined this
group simply because I have homeschooled for 6 yrs, am not quite
comfortable with any curriculum I've used, but scared of unschooling
too. Textbook learning seems to be too much memorization, ace the
test, and forget it (which is the mail reason we hs in the first
place); therefore I don't like testing. I've tried to be
an "unschooler" but I get too nervous that one day I'll regret that
they really needed certain knowledge that they just don't have. This
year we're doing a unit study, but we seem to be getting bogged down
with the "have to learn" stuff and aren't really enjoying it. We're
only on Day 10, so maybe I'm not giving it a fair chance. I guess I
just want some reassurance that my gut feeling is correct (that they
only learn what they're interested in and the rest doesn't matter if
they know it or not). I'm afraid I'll just let them waste days and
not learn a thing!! Can anyone empathize with me? Surely there must
be someone out there! Do most unschoolers do math everyday and just
let the rest come when they're interested? And keep a daily journal?
Sorry this is so long, but this is just the group I've been looking
for, I think. TIA for any info!!!

Betsy

**Do most unschoolers do math everyday and just
let the rest come when they're interested? **

Um, nope, most unschoolers don't "do math" everyday. (Although they
probably do use numbers every day, including Saturdays and Sundays.)

Betsy

Heidi Wordhouse-Dykema

Hi hon,
So you're nervous. Big deal. EVERYONE gets nervous sometimes. Nervous is
your mind's way of saying, What? This is new! What's this? How's it
work? Huh? How's that saying go... A hero is a coward (ie, nervous
person) who forgot to stand still. Being nervous doesn't make you wrong,
it only means you're doing something new and that you think something 'bad'
will happen if you don't get it right. (like maybe Ed McMahon decides to
NOT stop at your door with that big check.)

Does it help to remind yourself that literacy was higher BEFORE
institutionalized schools (or Unit Studies) were in place?

So, the Unit Study stuff doesn't seem to be working and maybe after 10 days
you haven't given it a fair chance... after all, you say that you don't
want them to 'waste days and not learn a thing!!' I'd have to agree with
you that y'all should stop wasting any more time with that Unit Study thing
and let them finally get down to learning something interesting. After
all, aren't 10 days enough to use up on that sort of thing? If you don't
want to waste your money and you really like the thought of a Unit Study,
you could maybe do it yourself and leave your kids free to learn what
they're interested in. Happiness all around! (grin)

Okay, okay. seriously. You're not going to stop being nervous until
you've actually jumped in and TRIED really unschooling and you finally see
that it really IS working for your kids. And yes, it may take some time
for them to work out of your schoolishness.

Nobody can give you the security you seek besides yourself.
Good luck!
Heidi


>only on Day 10, so maybe I'm not giving it a fair chance. I guess I
>just want some reassurance that my gut feeling is correct (that they
>only learn what they're interested in and the rest doesn't matter if
>they know it or not). I'm afraid I'll just let them waste days and
>not learn a thing!! Can anyone empathize with me? Surely there must
>be someone out there! Do most unschoolers do math everyday and just
>let the rest come when they're interested? And keep a daily journal?