unschooling makes sense.
amari28may
howdy, y'all!
we've been doing unschooling w/ our two boys (aged 7 and) since 2011...and we freakin' LOVE it!
our first-born was getting bored with grade 1 and said as much to anyone who would listen (when he was in kindergarten, he was reading comfortably at grade 6 level), even though his teacher was very attentive and gave him 'advanced' work.
we took him out, we read EVERYTHING that we could get our hands on about unschooling/ life learning...and jumped in! the boys are now enjoying themselves and the stress that we weren't even aware that we had (around getting them to school on time, completing hwk, etc.) simply vanished.
our oldest now spends at least five hours per day, EVERY DAY, reading on his own. he also does math problems using fractions and percentages (which i throw out to him while we are walking to basketball or in the woods), in his head. nothing is written down.
because he is such a skilled reader, he understands sarcasm and irony already. and our conversations about the books that he is reading (right now, he is addicted to the "Choose Your Own Adventure" books by R. A. Montgomery) show that he is understanding everything that he's reading.
his interests are wide-ranging from (of course!) dinosaurs and sea monsters to ghosts and martial arts.
our 3 year old is following in his big brother's footsteps. my wife reads to him every night; then, i come in and tell him a bedtime story.
no alphabet drilling. no number memorization. and NO WORRIES. we trust that he'll learn that and much, much more...because he has an inborn curiosity about the world in which he lives that the unschooling environment aggressively nourishes.
VIVA common sense!
VIVA unschooling!
we've been doing unschooling w/ our two boys (aged 7 and) since 2011...and we freakin' LOVE it!
our first-born was getting bored with grade 1 and said as much to anyone who would listen (when he was in kindergarten, he was reading comfortably at grade 6 level), even though his teacher was very attentive and gave him 'advanced' work.
we took him out, we read EVERYTHING that we could get our hands on about unschooling/ life learning...and jumped in! the boys are now enjoying themselves and the stress that we weren't even aware that we had (around getting them to school on time, completing hwk, etc.) simply vanished.
our oldest now spends at least five hours per day, EVERY DAY, reading on his own. he also does math problems using fractions and percentages (which i throw out to him while we are walking to basketball or in the woods), in his head. nothing is written down.
because he is such a skilled reader, he understands sarcasm and irony already. and our conversations about the books that he is reading (right now, he is addicted to the "Choose Your Own Adventure" books by R. A. Montgomery) show that he is understanding everything that he's reading.
his interests are wide-ranging from (of course!) dinosaurs and sea monsters to ghosts and martial arts.
our 3 year old is following in his big brother's footsteps. my wife reads to him every night; then, i come in and tell him a bedtime story.
no alphabet drilling. no number memorization. and NO WORRIES. we trust that he'll learn that and much, much more...because he has an inborn curiosity about the world in which he lives that the unschooling environment aggressively nourishes.
VIVA common sense!
VIVA unschooling!
Meredith
"amari28may" <juniorburchall@...> wrote:
Hooray, we do too. I have an 18yo and a 10yo - the elder went through school and home-ed before we wised up and got him out of school, the younger never had to deal with anything but unschooling. They're both fun, interesting, happy people.
One of the great things about unschooling is kids really do get to immerse themselves in their passions. They get to dive in and spend hours and hours reading, or drawing comics, or playing video games, or skateboarding, or building with legos, or watching movies.... It's exciting to watch and see just how much they pull out of whatever they're doing Because they're doing what they've chosen to do.
Now I'm going to quibble ;) It's just as likely the same brain development which lets him understand sarcasm and irony contributes to his being a skilled reader. The skills needed to read fluently are diverse and somewhat idiosyncratic (like my spelling... is that how that's spelled?). The "normal" range for learning to read is something like 4-14 - no kidding! So while some 7yos will be very skilled readers, some kids won't read much of anything until they're teens - no matter what you do. So if your 3yo isn't an early reader, don't fret, he'll have a different set of genes and learn when he's ready, too - and in any case he'll be learning so much in so many ways reading will get to be just one more skill, like riding a bike. Ray learned to ride a bike at 4. Mo's 10 and doesn't ride yet. She read at 4, he read closer to 8.
If he likes computer games, too, I'd check out some of the longer, more complex games like... er, I'm blanking. Fable. Myst. Elder Scrolls. In video games he might like something like God of War or Shadow of the Collossus or Okami.
Happy unschooling!
---Meredith
> we've been doing unschooling w/ our two boys (aged 7 and) since 2011...and we freakin' LOVE it!*******************
Hooray, we do too. I have an 18yo and a 10yo - the elder went through school and home-ed before we wised up and got him out of school, the younger never had to deal with anything but unschooling. They're both fun, interesting, happy people.
> our oldest now spends at least five hours per day, EVERY DAY, reading on his own.******************
One of the great things about unschooling is kids really do get to immerse themselves in their passions. They get to dive in and spend hours and hours reading, or drawing comics, or playing video games, or skateboarding, or building with legos, or watching movies.... It's exciting to watch and see just how much they pull out of whatever they're doing Because they're doing what they've chosen to do.
> because he is such a skilled reader, he understands sarcasm and irony already.*****************
Now I'm going to quibble ;) It's just as likely the same brain development which lets him understand sarcasm and irony contributes to his being a skilled reader. The skills needed to read fluently are diverse and somewhat idiosyncratic (like my spelling... is that how that's spelled?). The "normal" range for learning to read is something like 4-14 - no kidding! So while some 7yos will be very skilled readers, some kids won't read much of anything until they're teens - no matter what you do. So if your 3yo isn't an early reader, don't fret, he'll have a different set of genes and learn when he's ready, too - and in any case he'll be learning so much in so many ways reading will get to be just one more skill, like riding a bike. Ray learned to ride a bike at 4. Mo's 10 and doesn't ride yet. She read at 4, he read closer to 8.
>>right now, he is addicted to the "Choose Your Own Adventure" books by R. A. Montgomery***************
If he likes computer games, too, I'd check out some of the longer, more complex games like... er, I'm blanking. Fable. Myst. Elder Scrolls. In video games he might like something like God of War or Shadow of the Collossus or Okami.
Happy unschooling!
---Meredith
[email protected]
Hi, welcome!
I'm fairly new to unschooling myself, but I wholeheartedly agree with you. We pulled our son out of public school in the 7th grade, and after trying a charter, independent study program for a couple of months, I finally got up the nerve to unschool. It's only been a year since leaving public school, so we're still detoxing (rather, I'm detoxing...my son is as happy as a clam), but so far, the only regret I have is not doing this sooner.
Anyway, I look forward to hearing/learning from you!
--Susan L.
I'm fairly new to unschooling myself, but I wholeheartedly agree with you. We pulled our son out of public school in the 7th grade, and after trying a charter, independent study program for a couple of months, I finally got up the nerve to unschool. It's only been a year since leaving public school, so we're still detoxing (rather, I'm detoxing...my son is as happy as a clam), but so far, the only regret I have is not doing this sooner.
Anyway, I look forward to hearing/learning from you!
--Susan L.
--- In [email protected], "amari28may" <juniorburchall@...> wrote:
>