Unschooling is a range of educational philosophies and practices centered on allowing children to learn through their natural life experiences, including play, game play, household responsibilities, work experience, and social interaction, rather than through a more traditional school curriculum. There are many who find it controversial.[1] Unschooling encourages exploration of activities, often initiated by the children themselves, facilitated by the adults. Unschooling differs from conventional schooling principally in the thesis that standard curricula and conventional grading methods, as well as other features of traditional schooling, are counterproductive to the goal of maximizing the education of each child.
The term “unschooling” was coined in the 1970s and used by educator John Holt, widely regarded as the “father” of unschooling.[2] While often considered a subset of homeschooling, unschoolers may be as philosophically separate from other homeschoolers as they are from advocates of conventional schooling. While homeschooling has been subject to widespread public debate, little media attention has been given to unschooling in particular. Popular critics of unschooling tend to view it as an extreme educational philosophy, with concerns that unschooled children lack the social skills, structure, and motivation of their peers, especially in the job market, while proponents of unschooling say exactly the opposite is true: self-directed education in a natural environment makes a child more equipped to handle the “real world.”[3]
A fundamental premise of unschooling is that curiosity is innate and that children want to learn. From this an argument can be made that institutionalizing children in a so-called “one size fits all” or “factory model” school is an inefficient use of the children’s time, because it requires each child to learn a specific subject matter in a particular manner, at a particular pace, and at a particular time regardless of that individual’s present or future needs, interests, goals, or any pre-existing knowledge he or she might have about the topic.
Many unschoolers believe that opportunities for valuable hands-on, community-based, spontaneous, and real-world experiences are missed when educational opportunities are limited to those inside a school building.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unschooling
We have a schedule:
9:30-11:30: Library time: which includes playing with toys, circle time, craft activity, songs and dance.
11:30-12pm : Lunchtime (at our daily fieldtrip of the day)
12pm-1pm:playtime
1pm: cirriculum reading : Planting a rainbow, Eating a rainbow, How plants grow, Gardening for Kids.
2pm: Naptime
5pm: snack and outsidetime
I would like more time to focus on subjects such as shapes, math, ABC’s, colors and sometimes Phonics (usually done in the morning; but not always.)
I need to find balance; so the boys can have plenty of freedom to play but also learn.
I’m deeply attached to routine ( even though not everyday is the same but we have a basic flow) and I like a curriculum because it gives me security and keeps me focused on their education.
I make sure that we do alot of kid friendly activities and let them make daily choices. For example today, they were given the choice between going to the community garden with the playground or going to botantical garden. Sky chose community garden with the playground, J refused to give me a answer when asked several times.
We were going to the Train Museum once a week but Sky said that it was getting boring, so we have been mixing it up a bit. Finding new places to go. We also changed the cirriculum to fit these choices. For the month of May we are studying Living Things: Plants and Animals. We have been visiting community gardens, nurseries, zoo, and next week we will go to pets stores ( a suggestion from Sky). We will also choose a aquatic pet for us to care at home-to further our study of living things and hopefully find a plant to live with our pet.
Later this month J will be attending 2 classes a week through Parks and Recreation. The classes he will be attending are Dance and Motor Development. They are separated by age. He has a new love of swimming so swimming and/or waterplay will be a regular activity. I’m thinking of getting a cheap lil plastic pool for evening play and going to the city pool’s during the days.
I was tempted to put him in a Arts -n- Crafts but his attention span doesn’t really last for art. His attention varies but its not his thing…unless it involves paint…crayons kind of bore him. He loves to smear the glue stick.
While reading this book to J, He changed the word Papa to Mom. This broke my heart , tears well up when I think about that moment.
joyfulmamahood: My journey through parenting 