Getting the essence of lessons without being academic

  Thanks to our local unschoolers group, I found out that this past week is fine forgiveness week at our local county libraries in exchange for non-perishable foods to be donated to the local food banks. So, we went shopping and brought in some food donations and got my oldest daughter's slate wiped clean!  Yay!  It wasn't entirely her fault. She was much, much younger when she got her library card. Her dad and step-mom got it for her, then there was all this confusion as to whether what she checked out was at her dad's or my house. Anyhow, it was so many years ago now, that there is no way of knowing. 
    Seneca and I spent a little time at the library. She found a puzzle in the kids' section and was only all too happy to work on that.  She chose out a book on Jaguars.  So, I had to get a library card.  Even at 35, I'm actually excited about getting a library card.  :)

   We read the book last night.  It is full of beautiful photographs of Jaguars.  Many of the photo captions in the book identify exactly where the photo was taken. After reading, Seneca and I went over to our map on the wall. She pulled up her little stool and stood on it.  I pointed out Belize, Peru, and Brazil to her.   My goal isn't for her to know where Belize is, but rather to give her a sense of place and a feel for the essence of geography.  She can point out Florida on a map.  In fact, she saw how close Belize looks to Florida that she asked if we could drive there.  (LOL)  I showed her that the blue on the map meant water and that we would have to fly.  (Ok, I know we could, in theory, also take a boat.  However, our reality is that we would fly in a plane IF we were to go to Belize.)  
    Speaking of maps, Seneca can point out Florida, Maine, and Saudi Arabia on the map. 
  Seneca spent some time drawing a picture using both block crayons and stick crayons.  The picture itself was very abstractionist.  There was no set object or person, but rather an experience in colors. Seneca is not used to block crayons and she was experimenting with technique.  I am very excited to use block crayons with her next year for her Waldorf curriculum, but for now, it is more appropriate that she becomes comfortable with the medium itself. 
   The day before yesterday, Seneca and I played shopkeeper.  She helped me to cut out squares of paper for play money.  I then wrote $1, $5, $10 on different squares.  I was the customer and I would buy a shell or a crayon from her.  A shell might cost $5, I would give her $10, and would instruct her to give me a $5 that she was holding.  In another scenario, the shell is $3, I give her $5, and I instruct her to give me back two $1s.  The idea is not to teach her subtraction, but to show her math in action.  The point is for her to be able to relate subtraction to something real and tangible to her own life when she does start to formally study it. 

 

Strawberry Picking and Jam on 3/13/2012

Seneca and her cousins went strawberry picking at Eden Farms today.  She also pet a pony and fed a goat.  This was an outing from the Manatee/Sarasota Unschoolers.

We made strawberry jam the next day. It turned out too syrupy, but it was a first try.

Below are pictures from our family outing to Eden Farms on March 9 2012

Fairy Tale for 3/10/2012

Tonight's fairy tale was The Queen Bee.  Nursery Rhymes: Hey Diddle Diddle, Baa Baa Black Sheep, and The Itsy Bitsy Spider
She has heard all of these before and joined in on reciting the nursery rhymes. She requested The Queen Bee tonight.

Criticisms and Praises for Unschooling

  Confession time. I'm not a huge fan of the unschooling goddesses - namely Sandra Dodd and Dayna Martin.  I'm sure that they're good people and very well-meaning.  I do prefer them and their ideas to most mainstream parenting ideas.  However, I don't quite click with them on their radical unschooling philosophies.
     I was not impressed with Sandra Dodd's daughter when I saw her on a youtube video.  In the video, Holly Dobbs states that she has no plans to go to college.  She says, "I'm not interested in college......I've never been to school.  I'm not that interested in going to school. College is school." What a sad statement!  I've never done it, so therefore, I'll never try to do it.  Imagine if everyone in this world felt this way.  This seems to me to be the antithesis of what unschooling should be about.  Isn't unschooling about discovering new things and trying new things?  Isn't the whole point of unschooling to help a person to love learning.  There is so much to learn in a college classroom.  Why dismiss it without even trying it?  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pLqYn1OYdU
   Now to my critique of Dayna Martin.  Many of you may have seen piece that was done on the Martin family on Nightline.  Dayna has since said that the piece was edited to fit ABC's agenda.  While I agree that that may be, I still take issue with one of her remarks.  When asked, "Doesn't a child need to know who George Washingon, and FDR, and JFK were?" Dayna Martin responds, "I don't know.  Do you think they do?  Do you think that's necessary?"   Ahem, Mrs. Martin, YES I DO!  I don't want my children to be idiots. I'm often amazed at how idiotic most mainstreamers are - even the college educated ones.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuhfhRLwTB0
   So, obviously I'm not a total unschooler.  I do believe that kids do need to learn and to know certain facts and certain skills.  I also believe that there are many ways  for a person to acquire these facts and skills.  One valid method is through self directed learning, or unschooling if you will.  Right now, my twelve year old son is being unschooled in the Civil War.  My mother took him to Gettysburg this past Fall.  Since then, he has become fascinated by the Civil War.  We went to a Civil War Re-enactment recently and he was thrilled with that.  http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4541451443353029226#editor/target=post;postID=642644591855641  I have bought him books, movies, and documentaries on the Civil War.  He is practicing his writing skills by journaling what he has learned and writing essays on the Civil War.  This interest  in the Civil War did not come from any curriculum.  I believe that this is unschooling at its best.
     However, he also has been working from a Waldorf curriculum as well.  The topics for this year (Grade 6) were Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome.  We used our own resources for Egypt.  Waldorf educator Charles Kovacs's books were used for Greece and Rome.  The books are appropriately titled Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome.    We have also been using A Journey Through Waldorf Homeschooling Grade 6 by Melisa Nielsen of A Little Garden Flower () to guide us through the year.  I'm allowing Liam to break from the curriculum for now while he pursues his Civil War studies, but I do like having these resources.  http://www.waldorfjourney.typepad.com/

Puzzles

 A few months ago, Seneca was given a puzzle to work on. Much to my surprise, she sat and concentrated on it for over an hour.  She has been given more puzzles since then and she loves them.  She is now getting to where she can figure them out much faster, even brand new ones.  Once she has finished a puzzle, she breaks it apart and does it again.  I don't require her to sit until the puzzle is done. She does this on her own. If a puzzle is frustrating her, she is encouraged to take a break from it.  Sometimes I offer to help her with one or two pieces. She also enjoys doing floor puzzles with her 8 year old cousin.

  Here are some pictures of her with the most recent puzzle that I bought for her. It is a 24 piece puzzle. She figured it out in about ten minutes. Now, she loves to put together again and again.  In a world of hand held video games, I'm so glad that she loves this.  Funny thing is, I was never good at puzzles myself.

Seneca and I with the scarf I made

Thoughts on Curriculum As An Unschooling Resource

 I'm not really hard core anything when it comes to education.  I recognize that what's good for one child isn't necessarily what's right for another one. Add to that, I believe in mixing it up a bit for the same kid sometimes.
   I understand that the ideal of unschooling is to let a child follow his or her own natural curiosity to the result of learning.  I do believe that this does allow a child - and an adult - to not only surface learn, to really inhale and take a topic to heart.
   Last year, my then seventh grade daughter unschooled herself in all things Tudor Era England.  And I do mean all things, not just Henry plus six.  She went into details on the extended Tudor family.  Another great example, I believe, of unschooling success.
  However,  my daughter's unschooled time was also supplemented by resources from a Waldorf publisher's site. http://www.steinerbooks.org/ Some of her Tudor Era interests were even covered in the history book The Age of Discovery by Charles Kovacs.
   This brings me to the title of this post.  I see that for many alternative homeschoolers the word curriculum has a bad rap.  Curriculum is often seen as "school in a can," to use Gregory and Martine Millman's expression.  A curriculum can also be a wonderful resource to a child pursuing his or her own interests.  Many curricula offer excellent project ideas. Perhaps while following a curriculum, a child may develop a real love for the topic being presented and then step outside of the curriculum to further explore the topic - unschooling at its best!  Maybe while learning about one topic, the child may become interested in a "brother-topic" that is introduced during the course of the study.  Many curricula also offer suggestions for further reading which an unschooled child may greatly appreciate.

At GWIZ Science Museum

Go Fish and Earthworms

 Today, Seneca learned math skills by playing Go Wish with a six year old child.  She made use of matching skills, listening skills, and counting when she counted up how many cards she had matched up at the end of the game.  Science lessons came by spending time in the garden and finding an earthworm.  Social skills were built by playing in the garden and Go Fish with her friend.

Unschool Day in the Park January 2012

Bike riding. Pics taken by big sister

October 2011