More by Lannie—a great learning-to-read story
Other typical unschooling days
I could have gone into debt and spent $1,000 on textbooks and workbooks. Instead I spent what I could scrape up on magazines, games, toys and craft supplies.
I could have made my boys sit at a table this morning doing page after page of work. I could have panicked this morning because they do not yet have all their subtraction facts memorized. Instead I relaxed and trusted and came downstairs to find my seven year old son playing around with an electricity experiment kit. His nine year old brother was reading a book about dinosaurs and using a world map to mark where different fossils have been found. Then he compared the distance of the fossil discoveries to the equator. He is trying to figure out something about bone density in relation to climate.
I could have decided my child had a learning disability when he was not reading at age 6 or 7 or 8. I could have forced him to sit for hours and listed to tapes and learn phonics. I could have hired an expert and had him labeled. Instead I trusted in the freedom and truth of what I believe and can now rejoice silently when he reads the Audubon Nature Encyclopedia for fun.
I could have been discouraged when I got a note that said Hapi Mother's Doy. Instead I said, "thank you" and hugged my son and felt pride that he knew how to spell mother and use an apostrophe (even if he doesn't know the name of it).
I could have said, "No TV until your work is done." Instead they watched some science show and learned that garbage creates gas. Now they are trying to invent a machine that will contain it and transfer it to a car.
I could have listened to the experts. I could have made us all miserable. Instead I choose to embrace life and help my sons to do the same. We choose to accept peace and freedom.
If you have gotten this far, thank you for sharing in some of my joy today.
Life is good.