Christian Unschooling Article for those not on the net -LONG but good!
The O'Donnells
Christian Unschooling
More Thoughts
Jeanne Musfeldt
Hello again! I thought I would just take
some time today to let you know more
about our unschooling. The things we do
and how the children learn. But first, let
me elaborate on the general idea of
unschooling.
Unschooling can mean something different to each and every
person. There is no one universal definition. For our
family, it means
that the children are permitted to learn what they want,
when they
want, how they want. Of course, there are exceptions to
this. If
Evan, who will be 10, would want to study flight by pushing
his
sister off the garage, that would be denied. But if Brenna,
who is a
6-year-old, wanted to learn about fractions today by making
some
cookies, that would be fine. And if Evan didn�t want to
learn then,
that would be ok too. If Cora, who is 8, wanted to do some
Krampf
science experiments at 10:30 at night, that would not be
ok. But it
would be fine for her to do them during the daytime.
Do you see what I mean? We do have some rules here, but we
still
let the children learn, as they feel led. I know that there
are some
radical unschoolers out there that would allow their
children to do
things that are not permitted here. Our children have
chores and
responsibilities they need to tend to each day, and breathing
doesn�t count as one of them.
Unschooling means learning about history by going to the
museums, by asking Grandpa about his childhood, by watching
videos like Gone with the Wind. But not by forcing the
child to sit
and do a chapter out of the history book and answer the twenty
questions in the back.
Let�s compare unschooling to cooking. Let�s say you have been
cooking everything for the children for a long time.
Suddenly, you
want the children to cook (unschool) for themselves. They
won't do
it, and you don't understand how they can eat peanut butter
and
jelly for six weeks straight! (Play Nintendo and read comic
books.)
After a while, they figure out that you are not going to
cook (teach
them with curriculum) and they start cooking (learning) on
their own.
Soon, they are making gourmet meals, things you never thought
they would! (Doing all kinds of educational things.) They
won't even
be thinking of it as learning. It will be something they
want to do on
their own. They will be on fire to learn more, and to share
the things
they are learning with others. In the meantime, the
children did not
starve, nor did they stop learning. They just needed to
find that
something that they wanted to cook, or learn about. And
given the
time and space, they will find that something. Now, let�s
get on to
some hands on examples of our learning. Math at our house
is best
done with board games: Monopoly, Rummikub, Uno, Chess, and
various card games. Of course, there is a lot to learn
about in
comparative shopping. And what child do you know that isn�t
going
to become vocal over getting fewer cookies than the other
children
do?
How about Language Arts? Well, reading naturally, is done with
reading. Whether the child is reading Shakespeare or the
latest TV
Guide, the reading skills are still being used. Writing a
letter or an
email to anyone, be it a pen pal or Grandma, is grammar and
spelling. Scrabble is a great game for spelling practice, too!
For Science, we often do experiments at home. Krampf@...
emails out free ones every Monday morning. Drop him a line and
ask to be added to the list. There are some really great
shows on
PBS for science, too.
Social Studies are the easiest subject to cover for our
family. We all
love those museums! We also read a lot of biographies. Which
biography we read depends upon our interests at the time.
It could
be Christopher Columbus one week and John F. Kennedy the next.
I never know where the children are going to lead us next.
We do a lot of history learning with videos, too. Gone with
the Wind,
Titanic, Roots, all of those are wonderful. But, watch
those with
more than a grain of salt, as I am sure you realize.
Hollywood likes
to embellish more than a little sometimes.
In the upcoming issues, I will be taking the individual
subjects and
showing you in a deeper way how they play a part in our
every day
lives.
The most difficult thing about unschooling is that YOU, the
mom
and dad, must unlearn all that school stuff. Forget what is
appropriate for a 3rd grader. Who cares if the 7th grader
is reading
Good Night Moon? So what if the Kindergartner wants to work on
dividing fractions? Just relax and let them do the
learning. They will,
given the time and the room to do so.
For unschooling to work, it is a matter of the parents
learning to
trust the children with their own education. I know that is
a hard
thing to do, but stop and ponder it for just a few minutes.
There is
no proof for you to see that the children will learn
without you there,
guiding them, and directing them. But, if you do take this
step, our
family has found you will see results very soon.
When you became a Christian, it was the same way. You had no
�proof�, yet you took that step of faith, and now look at
all the
wonders in your life! Unschooling is just trusting God one
more
time.
Copyright � 1999 Jeanne Musfeldt
Awards | About EH | Contact Us | Writers| Linking to this
site | Advertise |
Reprinting Articles | Search
This website is copyright �1997, 1998, 1999 Beverly S.
Krueger All rights reserved.
This site was authored by Beverly S. Krueger. All contents
belong to the Eclectic
Homeschool or the original authors. Reproduction of this
World Wide Web Site in
whole or in part is prohibited without permission. All
rights reserved. Trademarks
may not be used without permission of the trademark owner.
Details about our
reprint policies are available.
The staff at EHO trys very hard to answer all our mail. We
have had many of our
responses to email returned as undeliverable. If you have
not received an answer to
your question, please resend your email. We usually have a
delay of 1 to 2 weeks in
answering email because of the number of requests we get.
Those wishing to
request links to our site should read our linking page
before writing us. All our
resources are posted online. We do not mail information to
postal addresses.
In His Service,
Laraine
praxis@...
Subscribe to Our Prairie Primer Today Community at:
http://www.onelist.com/subscribe/PrairiePrimerToday
More Thoughts
Jeanne Musfeldt
Hello again! I thought I would just take
some time today to let you know more
about our unschooling. The things we do
and how the children learn. But first, let
me elaborate on the general idea of
unschooling.
Unschooling can mean something different to each and every
person. There is no one universal definition. For our
family, it means
that the children are permitted to learn what they want,
when they
want, how they want. Of course, there are exceptions to
this. If
Evan, who will be 10, would want to study flight by pushing
his
sister off the garage, that would be denied. But if Brenna,
who is a
6-year-old, wanted to learn about fractions today by making
some
cookies, that would be fine. And if Evan didn�t want to
learn then,
that would be ok too. If Cora, who is 8, wanted to do some
Krampf
science experiments at 10:30 at night, that would not be
ok. But it
would be fine for her to do them during the daytime.
Do you see what I mean? We do have some rules here, but we
still
let the children learn, as they feel led. I know that there
are some
radical unschoolers out there that would allow their
children to do
things that are not permitted here. Our children have
chores and
responsibilities they need to tend to each day, and breathing
doesn�t count as one of them.
Unschooling means learning about history by going to the
museums, by asking Grandpa about his childhood, by watching
videos like Gone with the Wind. But not by forcing the
child to sit
and do a chapter out of the history book and answer the twenty
questions in the back.
Let�s compare unschooling to cooking. Let�s say you have been
cooking everything for the children for a long time.
Suddenly, you
want the children to cook (unschool) for themselves. They
won't do
it, and you don't understand how they can eat peanut butter
and
jelly for six weeks straight! (Play Nintendo and read comic
books.)
After a while, they figure out that you are not going to
cook (teach
them with curriculum) and they start cooking (learning) on
their own.
Soon, they are making gourmet meals, things you never thought
they would! (Doing all kinds of educational things.) They
won't even
be thinking of it as learning. It will be something they
want to do on
their own. They will be on fire to learn more, and to share
the things
they are learning with others. In the meantime, the
children did not
starve, nor did they stop learning. They just needed to
find that
something that they wanted to cook, or learn about. And
given the
time and space, they will find that something. Now, let�s
get on to
some hands on examples of our learning. Math at our house
is best
done with board games: Monopoly, Rummikub, Uno, Chess, and
various card games. Of course, there is a lot to learn
about in
comparative shopping. And what child do you know that isn�t
going
to become vocal over getting fewer cookies than the other
children
do?
How about Language Arts? Well, reading naturally, is done with
reading. Whether the child is reading Shakespeare or the
latest TV
Guide, the reading skills are still being used. Writing a
letter or an
email to anyone, be it a pen pal or Grandma, is grammar and
spelling. Scrabble is a great game for spelling practice, too!
For Science, we often do experiments at home. Krampf@...
emails out free ones every Monday morning. Drop him a line and
ask to be added to the list. There are some really great
shows on
PBS for science, too.
Social Studies are the easiest subject to cover for our
family. We all
love those museums! We also read a lot of biographies. Which
biography we read depends upon our interests at the time.
It could
be Christopher Columbus one week and John F. Kennedy the next.
I never know where the children are going to lead us next.
We do a lot of history learning with videos, too. Gone with
the Wind,
Titanic, Roots, all of those are wonderful. But, watch
those with
more than a grain of salt, as I am sure you realize.
Hollywood likes
to embellish more than a little sometimes.
In the upcoming issues, I will be taking the individual
subjects and
showing you in a deeper way how they play a part in our
every day
lives.
The most difficult thing about unschooling is that YOU, the
mom
and dad, must unlearn all that school stuff. Forget what is
appropriate for a 3rd grader. Who cares if the 7th grader
is reading
Good Night Moon? So what if the Kindergartner wants to work on
dividing fractions? Just relax and let them do the
learning. They will,
given the time and the room to do so.
For unschooling to work, it is a matter of the parents
learning to
trust the children with their own education. I know that is
a hard
thing to do, but stop and ponder it for just a few minutes.
There is
no proof for you to see that the children will learn
without you there,
guiding them, and directing them. But, if you do take this
step, our
family has found you will see results very soon.
When you became a Christian, it was the same way. You had no
�proof�, yet you took that step of faith, and now look at
all the
wonders in your life! Unschooling is just trusting God one
more
time.
Copyright � 1999 Jeanne Musfeldt
Awards | About EH | Contact Us | Writers| Linking to this
site | Advertise |
Reprinting Articles | Search
This website is copyright �1997, 1998, 1999 Beverly S.
Krueger All rights reserved.
This site was authored by Beverly S. Krueger. All contents
belong to the Eclectic
Homeschool or the original authors. Reproduction of this
World Wide Web Site in
whole or in part is prohibited without permission. All
rights reserved. Trademarks
may not be used without permission of the trademark owner.
Details about our
reprint policies are available.
The staff at EHO trys very hard to answer all our mail. We
have had many of our
responses to email returned as undeliverable. If you have
not received an answer to
your question, please resend your email. We usually have a
delay of 1 to 2 weeks in
answering email because of the number of requests we get.
Those wishing to
request links to our site should read our linking page
before writing us. All our
resources are posted online. We do not mail information to
postal addresses.
In His Service,
Laraine
praxis@...
Subscribe to Our Prairie Primer Today Community at:
http://www.onelist.com/subscribe/PrairiePrimerToday