I'm new and need some advice please
sixanders
Hello,
I don't know where to start except to say that I'm new to the thought
of unschooling. I went eclectic this year, to relaxed, and then to
somewhat unschooling. I find myself still telling my dc 9, 8, and 6
to "do their math" and nothing else. I'm having a hard time letting
go of math.
Anyway, my husband and I believe everything we have been reading about
unschooling since December and truly know our dc WILL learn everything
they will need in life but then when it comes into practice
in "letting go" my husband is having a very difficult time (as I have
with math). My question for all of you unschooling experts =) is how
can I convince my dh that they don't have to "sit down to learn?"
Hmmm...just wondering.
Thanks!
Lisa
I don't know where to start except to say that I'm new to the thought
of unschooling. I went eclectic this year, to relaxed, and then to
somewhat unschooling. I find myself still telling my dc 9, 8, and 6
to "do their math" and nothing else. I'm having a hard time letting
go of math.
Anyway, my husband and I believe everything we have been reading about
unschooling since December and truly know our dc WILL learn everything
they will need in life but then when it comes into practice
in "letting go" my husband is having a very difficult time (as I have
with math). My question for all of you unschooling experts =) is how
can I convince my dh that they don't have to "sit down to learn?"
Hmmm...just wondering.
Thanks!
Lisa
Pampered Chef Michelle
On 3/26/06, sixanders <sixanders@...> wrote:
this activity." Stop thinking of all activities in terms of the
"educational merit." Follow your child's interests and they will work to
learn the things that they need for that interest.
An example: This weekend we put in the first of our raised square foot
garden boxes. We have a 4x4 box which means we have 16 squares in which to
grow things. Each vegetable needs a certain amount of space depending on
its needs. For instance corn needs to be 1 foot apart, so it gets 1
square. Carrots OTOH need to be only 3" apart, so we can have 16 carrot
plants in each square. Lettuce we can do four plants per square and
cucumbers are 2 per square. So we had to figure out what we wanted to grow,
how much we wanted to grow and how many squares we would need for each
plant, taking into consideration that we want to do companion growing using
marigolds, nasturtiums and basil. We aren't growing this garden because we
want to teach our children some lesson, be it math, horticulture, herbology,
or even woodshop. But in the process of reaching our goal of having fresh
organic produce from our own backyard made by our own hands, we have to
learn some math (if we want 2 squares of carrots how many seeds are we going
to need if we want to start with about 3 in each hole?), some horticulture
(such as we don't want to grow corn right next to tomatoes and we need to
find the right sunlight for our yard and make sure that our mix for our box
is right on), a bit of herbology (basil is good for the soup we want to make
and lavender is calming), and a bit of woodshop (gotta build those boxes
somehow.) But we don't think, "Oh good. The kids are going to learn some
math and science with this venture." Our only thought is that we want a
garden and we have to all work through each step to get there. The hardest
part was figuring out how many bags of 4 quarts we would need to make up 3
cubic feet of vermiculite!
We have come to this comfortable place of unschooling by looking back and
realizing that our children WILL be able to find the skills that they need
to be who they want to be. They don't need all those skills now. But as
they live their lives and reach out to their passions they will gain those
skills out of necessity.
--
Michelle
Independent Kitchen Consultant #413652
The Pampered Chef
850-474-0817
http://www.pamperedchef.biz/michellelr
Catch our new wave of color!
Book a March show!
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>First you have to quit thinking in terms of "what will my child learn from
> My question for all of you unschooling experts =) is how
> can I convince my dh that they don't have to "sit down to learn?"
> Hmmm...just wondering.
this activity." Stop thinking of all activities in terms of the
"educational merit." Follow your child's interests and they will work to
learn the things that they need for that interest.
An example: This weekend we put in the first of our raised square foot
garden boxes. We have a 4x4 box which means we have 16 squares in which to
grow things. Each vegetable needs a certain amount of space depending on
its needs. For instance corn needs to be 1 foot apart, so it gets 1
square. Carrots OTOH need to be only 3" apart, so we can have 16 carrot
plants in each square. Lettuce we can do four plants per square and
cucumbers are 2 per square. So we had to figure out what we wanted to grow,
how much we wanted to grow and how many squares we would need for each
plant, taking into consideration that we want to do companion growing using
marigolds, nasturtiums and basil. We aren't growing this garden because we
want to teach our children some lesson, be it math, horticulture, herbology,
or even woodshop. But in the process of reaching our goal of having fresh
organic produce from our own backyard made by our own hands, we have to
learn some math (if we want 2 squares of carrots how many seeds are we going
to need if we want to start with about 3 in each hole?), some horticulture
(such as we don't want to grow corn right next to tomatoes and we need to
find the right sunlight for our yard and make sure that our mix for our box
is right on), a bit of herbology (basil is good for the soup we want to make
and lavender is calming), and a bit of woodshop (gotta build those boxes
somehow.) But we don't think, "Oh good. The kids are going to learn some
math and science with this venture." Our only thought is that we want a
garden and we have to all work through each step to get there. The hardest
part was figuring out how many bags of 4 quarts we would need to make up 3
cubic feet of vermiculite!
We have come to this comfortable place of unschooling by looking back and
realizing that our children WILL be able to find the skills that they need
to be who they want to be. They don't need all those skills now. But as
they live their lives and reach out to their passions they will gain those
skills out of necessity.
--
Michelle
Independent Kitchen Consultant #413652
The Pampered Chef
850-474-0817
http://www.pamperedchef.biz/michellelr
Catch our new wave of color!
Book a March show!
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]