Well if you missed it, I talked a bit about how my family homeschools. Part of our process involves Unschooling. The idea that children direct what they want to learn, when they want to learn it. Oh yeah- Unschooling. While I wouldn't consider us 100% to be Unschoolers, we do really love the concept behind child-led learning and try to embrace it whenever possible.
So how does this translate into real life?
Now that's a very good question.
It looks something like this.
I know....pretty adorable huh? That's the kiddo. Just this Monday, he decided that he wanted to write a letter to his great Grandparents. We have visited them almost every year since he was 3 and he talks about them often. My Grandpa, his Great Grandpa, writes him letters and sends him mail just about every month. This is something he has done with all of his grandchildren and now his great grandchildren- it's amazing and truly special. So even though they may live two states away, they have still made it a priority to be in his life and in our lives. This is what being a Grandparent is all about, now that's simply awesome!
So back to the letter. The kiddo must have rewritten this letter 3 or 4 times. He carefully fixed his spelling errors (although I'm sure there's still a few) and worked on how to properly begin and end his letter, worked on grammar, sentence structure and basically poured over this masterpiece daily until he had it just right. He then added some original artwork in the form of mud drawings, yes mud. And so his trusty sidekick, Buddy Boy wasn't left out- he helped Buddy Boy make his own mud paw print. Trust me, my Grandparents will love this perhaps most of all. By Thursday, he was finally finished.
We discussed another visit and researched some areas that we thought might be fun to see. Since they live in the desert, the kiddo was curious to learn more about this climate and some of the animals we saw on our last trip. And when all was said and done, I taught him how to properly address the envelope to mail and then we drove down to the post office so he could weigh it and mail it.
This is Unschooling.
The kiddo woke up one day and decided he wanted to write a letter.
Then we worked on spelling, grammar, how to mail packages, geography, art etc. I was there the entire way to assist him but I did NOT tell him to what do, what to write or anything else. I was simply there to facilitate the learning and to provide him with the tools he needed to continue on his own journey. This was not part of a curriculum or unit study. It happened naturally and we explored it further so as to expand upon the learning.
This is what happens when you relax and allow your children to follow their own interests. I'm sure that most parents are already doing this, you may not even know you're doing it! This is Unschooling and it Rocks!
*Want to read the follow up post? Click here to read all about the return letter and the lessons learned.
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