Unschooling and the housemates...
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I just had an interesting conversation with one of my housemates...
Shortly after withdrawing my boys last January from PS...I picked up at Cosco
of all places...these two books full of worksheets that supposedly are
comprehensive for second and third grade...they sat on my shelf for
awhile...basically after reading so much about unschooling and really feeling
that unschooling was the route of my family....they just sat on the shelf for
awhile...I told the boys that if they wanted to use the books go ahead...then
I bought several computer programs that they could play and use...
Well...after about the sixth week outta PS...my mom and housemates started
asking questions about what sort of 'education' (and I use the term loosely)
I was giving the boys...mostly...I have been letting them play...we watch
movies and talk about what happened in them...they would ask questions...I
would do the best to answer them...we hit the library about once a
week...they choose videos over books...but no sitting down at the table with
the intentions of 'edumacating the chilluns'...so...I started pulling out
pages from those workbooks and tell my housemates to have the boys complete
them before they go to bed...(I work from 3p to 11p)...Now my housemates
wanna know why I don't have the boys do the workbooks when I am home so that
I am 'teaching' (and I use that term loosely)...so I confessed...the workbook
pages are mostly to give ya'll a sense that they are 'learning' and being
'taught'...so I explain to them...I want the boys to want to learn something
and I trust that when they are ready to learn something they will learn
it...and she says..."But they gotta progress..."...and I say..."Don't worry
they are." The only thing that I truly enforce that my boys do is their
daily chores...so I told my housemate...if it is too frustrating to have the
boys do the worksheets...then don't worry about it...I would rather them not
be frustrated and resistive when it comes to learning...etc etc...
I don't think my housemates really get the concept of trusting the boys to
learn what they need to learn when they need to learn it...for me...it is
overwhelming to even imagine what it would be like to deal with on a daily
level the frustration of trying to force the boys to sit down at the table to
educate them to a PS standard...if teaching is frustrating to me and learning
is frustrating to them...then I can't imagine either of us getting very much
out of the experience...I told my housemate...that I would have no problems
acquiring a curriculum providing the boys helped me find one...I definately
do not relish the idea of spending x amount of dollars on a curriculum that
we do not use...lol...
On a sad note...my boys got a very heart wrenching lesson about life and
death that no PS could ever impart to them...one of our chihuahua's six week
old puppies died this evening of a broken neck...a tragic accident with a
recliner...
Anyways...it off to bed for me...tomarrow is library day...
Lhiza
Shortly after withdrawing my boys last January from PS...I picked up at Cosco
of all places...these two books full of worksheets that supposedly are
comprehensive for second and third grade...they sat on my shelf for
awhile...basically after reading so much about unschooling and really feeling
that unschooling was the route of my family....they just sat on the shelf for
awhile...I told the boys that if they wanted to use the books go ahead...then
I bought several computer programs that they could play and use...
Well...after about the sixth week outta PS...my mom and housemates started
asking questions about what sort of 'education' (and I use the term loosely)
I was giving the boys...mostly...I have been letting them play...we watch
movies and talk about what happened in them...they would ask questions...I
would do the best to answer them...we hit the library about once a
week...they choose videos over books...but no sitting down at the table with
the intentions of 'edumacating the chilluns'...so...I started pulling out
pages from those workbooks and tell my housemates to have the boys complete
them before they go to bed...(I work from 3p to 11p)...Now my housemates
wanna know why I don't have the boys do the workbooks when I am home so that
I am 'teaching' (and I use that term loosely)...so I confessed...the workbook
pages are mostly to give ya'll a sense that they are 'learning' and being
'taught'...so I explain to them...I want the boys to want to learn something
and I trust that when they are ready to learn something they will learn
it...and she says..."But they gotta progress..."...and I say..."Don't worry
they are." The only thing that I truly enforce that my boys do is their
daily chores...so I told my housemate...if it is too frustrating to have the
boys do the worksheets...then don't worry about it...I would rather them not
be frustrated and resistive when it comes to learning...etc etc...
I don't think my housemates really get the concept of trusting the boys to
learn what they need to learn when they need to learn it...for me...it is
overwhelming to even imagine what it would be like to deal with on a daily
level the frustration of trying to force the boys to sit down at the table to
educate them to a PS standard...if teaching is frustrating to me and learning
is frustrating to them...then I can't imagine either of us getting very much
out of the experience...I told my housemate...that I would have no problems
acquiring a curriculum providing the boys helped me find one...I definately
do not relish the idea of spending x amount of dollars on a curriculum that
we do not use...lol...
On a sad note...my boys got a very heart wrenching lesson about life and
death that no PS could ever impart to them...one of our chihuahua's six week
old puppies died this evening of a broken neck...a tragic accident with a
recliner...
Anyways...it off to bed for me...tomarrow is library day...
Lhiza