shepherdlass

Just want to say thank you to everyone who's been giving advice as we take our first faltering steps out into the unknown.

We've ditched all curriculum materials unless Jess specifically wants to look at them. Our pace of family life has slowed down to something more manageable - although my part-time job (necessary to keep a roof over our heads as I'm the only wage-earner) tends to ramp things up occasionally. We are talking more about ideas and things that interest us and less about where we're meant to be and at what time. Jess is getting incredibly creative with Windows Movie-Maker. And today, I realized how different and lovely it is to be free from the overwhelming shadow of the timetable.

This morning we sat together in pyjamas and played with the computer. We looked at LOL Cats for a while, then we watched a TV show on the web - we'd caught the very end of it the previous night and regretted not seeing it all. It was a trivia show that hung its material around the theme of earthquakes, and it set us off on loads of tangents - we were glad of the pause button so we could sit and chat when we wanted. Jess knew I'd been at the top of a tall building in an earthquake and wanted to hear about it again. Because the presenter talked about the use of seismography in detecting nuclear tests, she wanted to know what the cold war was about. She wanted to know why communism and capitalism were different. She picked out the background music on the piano. She asked about hallucinogens - because we heard that the oracle at Delphi was probably stoned on the gases that emanated from her temple, which sat on two faultlines. That led to us talking about shamanism - especially important to Jess as her favourite comedy show, "The Mighty Boosh" features several inept shamen. Several of these things looked conventionally educational but we hadn't set out to learn anything, just to watch a show that looked interesting. All in all, the one hour show took us two and a half hours. And then we went back to surfing Failblog. What felt great was that at no point was I tempted to ask Jess to write anything down for future reference. At no point did I try to keep her on-topic and, if she'd got bored part way through, I'm certain I'd now say, "yes, let's do something else". Hopefully a sign that I'm at least BEGINNING to deschool?

It's starting to feel less like that terrifying leap in Indian Jones (whoever came up with that simile was spot on), and more ... well, fun!

Jude x

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>>>> This morning we sat together in pyjamas and played with the
computer. We looked at LOL Cats for a while, then we watched a TV show
on the web - we'd caught the very end of it the previous night and
regretted not seeing it all. It was a trivia show that hung its
material around the theme of earthquakes, and it set us off on loads of
tangents - we were glad of the pause button so we could sit and chat
when we wanted. Jess knew I'd been at the top of a tall building in an
earthquake and wanted to hear about it again. Because the presenter
talked about the use of seismography in detecting nuclear tests, she
wanted to know what the cold war was about. She wanted to know why
communism and capitalism were different. She picked out the background
music on the piano. She asked about hallucinogens - because we heard
that the oracle at Delphi was probably stoned on the gases that
emanated from her temple, which sat on two faultlines. That led to us
talking about shamanism - especially important to Jess as her favourite
comedy show, "The Mighty Boosh" features several inept shamen. Several
of these things looked conventionally educational but we hadn't set out
to learn anything, just to watch a show that looked interesting. All
in all, the one hour show took us two and a half hours. And then we
went back to surfing Failblog. What felt great was that at no point
was I tempted to ask Jess to write anything down for future reference.
At no point did I try to keep her on-topic and, if she'd got bored part
way through, I'm certain I'd now say, "yes, let's do something else".
Hopefully a sign that I'm at least BEGINNING to deschool? <<<<

Yes. The more experiences the merrier. I've been experiencing over
and over what Jude talks about here. And though we've still not even
gotten *to* Karl's technical school ages, I've had many times to hang
out with Karl and get to know what he likes, wants to know, the way he
questions things (multiple), and the scads of possibilities of how
other areas hook into his interests and explorations. Which means I'm
confident now ... already ... about unschooling Karl. Which is good
because it frees me to focus on the logistics of making it happen
instead of wandering about still unsure. The more learning experiences
we have with our kids the better we'll feel.

~Katherine