Unschooling on the Go

One of my favorite things about unschooling is the ease of traveling. In the past I've brought workbooks, worksheets and lesson plans when we've headed away from home for a bit. It was a hassle planning, no one wanted to to do what I brought and I'd just bring the supplies back home untouched. Instead of pre-planned lessons we ended up exploring (and learning about) whatever we came across in our travels.

This week we are visiting my mom. I've brought along the girls' pencil boxes, lined paper and construction paper. So far (we've only been here about 16 hours) the girls have been writing lists, taking care of "sick" stuffed animals and planning what they will be planting in the garden.

On the drive down we came up with a couple of hypotheses about horses that we'll check out when we we walk to a nearby stable and the girls asked to go bird watching so we'll do that. So much more fun than workbooks!

Unschooling Kindergarten

Lately I've gotten a few questions about unschooling kindergarten. It seems that people are under the impression that unschooling means letting your kids watch TV all day while I do what I want. Add to that the idea so many people have that the only way kids can learn is to sit in a room surrounded by their peers and instructed by a professional educator who knows what they need to learn right then. No wonder there is confusion!

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Homeschool Conflicts

Humans have a lot of desire to label things and people. Homeschoolers are no different. "What type of homeschooler are you?"

Me? I'm an unschooler. I love asking my girls what they want to learn and helping them learn it. I keep a close eye on what seems to interest each of them when we go somewhere, read something or they play. Many times those interests are in line with lists of age-appropriate learning and also with what they say they want to learn. This is nice because it reinforces my knowledge that I'm in-tune with them.

Despite me loving unschooling, Aba isn't convinced. He's sure the girls need to be sitting in a classroom-type of situation and learning for hours a day. He's slowly coming to his senses, but is starting to worry that they aren't reading. At five years-old. You know, when they enter Kindergarten (or Pre-1A).

This naturally leads to conflict.

I've tried giving him books, articles and excerpts to read about how children learn but he says he doesn't have time to read them. For many things he lets me research and present my case and then agree with me. Not this time

 We had come up with a compromise that I had hopes for. Basically we would slide our routine into the camp's routine and have "school" (math/reading/writing) from 8:30am to 9:30am. Then we'd have parsha/brachot/holidays from 9:30am to 10:15am followed by snack. Then we could unschool the rest of the day.

We spent Shabbat lunch at the same table as another homeschooler and talked over this plan. She tried convincing Aba, too, but mostly made me rethink my compromise.

Her concerns are that by setting aside a time and place for "school" the girls will associate learning with them and not feel like they are learning elsewhere. This is something I'm terrified of happening. My main reason for homeschooling is to appreciate each child's abilities and desires and make life a learning experience.

So I rethink my plan. I need to keep it somewhat the same for Aba's comfort, though. This is what I've come up with.

• Don't call it school.
• Don't always have it at the table. (Why I bought clipboards.)
• Don't tell the girls, "its time to..." Rather say, "we have an hour before we need to leave. What should we do?" 

I think this puts us on the right track. I've come up with some other ideas but they'll be in other posts.

What do you do to solve homeschool style conflicts in your family?