Roni Murphy

My name is Roni. I homeschool our three boys who are: almost nine, six and
a half, and almost four. My little one has Down syndrome and finding
materials and ideas has been a challenge. I would like to know if anyone
on this list has experience homeschooling a special needs child. We are
currently what you would call "relaxed" homeschoolers. I really want to
learn more about unschooling and how you do it. I would really like to get
rid of all the "busy work" but don't really understand what to replace it
with. I'm sorry to appear so naive but I really do want to change our
methods at home and need some help to do it. We have an organic garden out
back which the children have really enjoyed planting, picking and eating in
addition to observing all kinds of insects and caterpillars. We got to see
the complete cycle of the Black Swallowtail butterfly just by observation
in our own little backyard, that was pretty neat! The back of our house
has a little woods behind it and we saw a beautiful red fox the other day
right at the back of our fence. I think he wanted to eat the rabbit! I
have the Charlotte Mason series and like her ideas. I just bought Simply
Grammar to do with my two eldest. My six year old just finished all his
books he was doing in his language arts program and I was looking for
something to teach him that didn't include doing all that book work. I
would appreciate any ideas you might have. Both my older boys are
voracious readers and read several grade levels higher than their age. I
am currently looking at materials for next year ( I like to plan ahead) and
would like to know what all you guys use to teach different subjects.
Roni

Tracy Oldfield

Welcome, Roni! I'm Tracy, my children are 5 and nearly-
4yo, and I live in Yorkshire. As far as tackling
different subjects and planning materials goes, well I
don't. For me, unschooling is about living and not
thinking too much about learning this or that in any
particular order or way. I trust my children to learn
what they need to when they need to. Now, this can be
very difficult to get one's head round, most of us
(about 99% I think!) have been brought up at least
nominally, even if folk skived as much as me, within
the institutional school system. So it's kind-of hard
not to think about maths or science or English and just
get on with what we want to do.

I'm sure there will be others more eloquent than me who
can describe unschooling, in all its myriad forms. For
me, it's about living.

Tracy

I
am currently looking at materials for next year ( I
like to plan ahead) and
would like to know what all you guys use to teach
different subjects.
Roni