Deb Lewis

***I want to unschool my children. My husband does not. In the little town we were
both raised in the homeschoolers were a weird bunch. They didn't see sunlight
very often. I want to show my husband that unschooling will be the best life for
our children (4yo, 1.5yo and due on 9/27)***

Would he read? There are unschooling families who blog about their unschooling days. Those blogs would be really nice for him to read. He could see photos of happy kids, read thoughtful posts, get a different picture in his head of what unschoolers look like. Maybe especially blogs by unschooling dads, so that he might be able to see himself in that role.

***SO the question is: How do I "practice" unschooling right now? ***

Be with him and help him do what he wants to do. If he wants to play, play with him. If he wants to go swimming, swim with him. If he wants to catch grasshoppers, catch grasshoppers with him (and be nice to them!)

***How do I engage my son (the 4yo) in ways that I have not? ***

Pay attention to what he likes and give him more of that. Think about things connected to what he already likes and show him those things. Spend time with him, talk with him, listen to what he has to say and then see if you can contribute something. If he's loving dinosaurs see if you can find some posters for his room, some dinosaur movies he hasn't seen, a museum with dinosaur bones, a good toy store with a bunch of dinosaurs, dinosaur stickers...

If he likes TV then watch with him. Pay attention to what shows he likes, find out what he likes about them. If you find other shows that seem similar let him know about those.

***Assume that I have been the typical lazy mother with lots of TV
watching, not playing with my kids, all that bad stuff.***

There's nothing wrong with watching TV unless you're neglecting your kids to do it. If you're neglecting your kids it's not the TV's fault.

***Right now I'm ABSOLUTELY
NOT a good candidate for unschooling my children.***

Then don't do it unless you change. If a baby sitter would be more fun than you, hire a baby sitter. If a teacher would be more fun than you, send them to school. If school would be more interesting than being at home let them go to school.

***What does a a good unschooling parent's day look like?***

It changes as your kids change and grow. When Dylan was little we'd play in the sandbox, he'd help me in the garden (and by helping I mean he'd dig holes and catch spiders and drive rocks around in his dump truck) we'd play in the kid pool, watch TV, play games, go for walks, go play at the park, eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches outside on the grass, play with toys, cook together, snuggle together.

Dylan is seventeen now. He usually sleeps until noon and I make him something to eat and we talk for awhile. Then he might have plans that don't include me or we might go do something. He plays the organ and visits several different organs that he gets to play so we might drive to another town where he's arranged to play for an hour. Or we might go for a hike. The last couple weeks we've been feeling like were about to run out of summer so we've been going. <g>


Deb Lewis

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