Natural Familly World » unschooling

1-2-3, Ready For Homeschooling

Monica — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 03:02:37 +0000

Now that is back-to-school time in the North Hemisphere, unschoolers and homeschoolers might also be preparing projects and activities. Even if you adopt a more eclectic style of homeschooling, being organized in your routine and materials will prevent stress and aggravation in your day.

An important part of getting organized is making sure you are in compliance with your country and state’s homeschooling laws. Whether the place you live in is more restrictive or flexible will have a bearing on what kinds of records you keep.

If you’re required more stringent requirements, a homeschool planner may be essential so you can easily create monthly or yearly progress reports.

These are also helpful if you’re keeping transcripts. Of course, if you enroll your child in a virtual school or certain “in a box” curriculums, you can opt to have records kept for you. It may be an option to consider, especially if you have a hard time with paperwork.

Homeschool planners help you keep track of textbook and workbook pages covered, projects completed, unit studies you went over, field trips attended, books read, and daily attendance. These are a good idea even for unschoolers who have to fulfill state’s requirements. You can purchase these online, or create your own. A 3 ring binder would work just fine, or you can search online for free homschool planning worksheets. However, if you’re required for more documentation, it might be best to go with a more elaborate system for your peace of mind.

Reducing clutter is important when you’re homeschooling. In order to minimize the clutter, assess your situation and figure out what system makes the most sense for your family.

You can organize art materials, paints, paper, pencils and erasers in smaller tubs or containers with lids so everything stays together. You can also store materials in a cabinet in the kitchen, a filing cabinet, a shelf, a large plastic container, etc – most of us already have these in our homes.

As a homeschooling or unschooling parent, you might find that a weekly review/planning session before you start your week could help learning happen more smoothly. What’s working well? What’s not working? Simple adjustments can be very helpful in getting back on track.

Remember that learning can get messy! Relax your standards a bit and be ok with messies. Don’t hamper your kid’s excitement for learning by expecting perfection when it comes to cleanliness. One way to minimize the mess is to take learning outside or to the library. If everyone’s getting messy and you need a burst of energy, pack snacks and head out for the day.

photo credit: mia3mom

What’s your homeschooling/unschooling approach?

Monica — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:09:21 +0000

Ours is:

- Lots of music and concerts

- Lots of art: visit galleries, paint with different mediums (especially now that I’ve surrended my art supplies)

- Lots of real life

- Lots of people

- Lots of travel and outdoors…ehem…stil not “lots”. I should fix this ASAP!

What about your homeschooling or unschooling approach?

photo credit: jakesmome

Fieldtrips for kids of any age

Monica — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 06:14:26 +0000

My unschooled 4yo son and I are hooked with field trips. Well, I’m a Geographer and I took him to his first field trip when he was just 1 month old…and earlier while pregnant!

Fieldtrips are great for unschooling and homeschooling families to add some excitement and some real life learning experiences to the day. In fact our unschooling “curricula”, if any, is to have as much field trips as possible .

Fieldtrips are an excellent way to get out of the house, get some fresh air (not always true if you live in a polluted city, though), learn lots of new things, and interact with people of all ages and backgrounds. Here are some ideas for fieldtrips that could be adapted for kids of all ages:

Zoos, Wildlife Preserves, and National Parks – I’m not really into conventional Zoos, although there are many out there that work as animal shelters and are great places to visit with kids. Other great one-day-trip options are wildlife preserves and State Parks, which give children the opportunity to actually experience natural science first hand. If your city has a botanic garden, then write it down on your list of fieldtrip destinations. My little one loves to visit the Botanic Garden in Quito that we try to go at least once every two weeks.

Carlos at the Botanic Garden, in Quito

Farms – Children and adults can learn about farming and agriculture first hand by visiting local farms. Many organic farms provide an opportunity for tours or for you to pick your own produce. If you’re not sure where to go, just ask the vendors at the organic markets and they might have some options for you.

Art Galleries – Most galleries are fine to visit with kids, even if they aren’t particularly interested in art. Many even have exhibits that feature the work of child artists. What we usually do is to walk along the rooms stopping when there’s something that catches our attention. It’s fine to just enter, go thru the gallery rather quickly and leave. This is what we do when any of us is not showing interest in staying longer.

Art exhibit in the Historic Downtown of Quito

Museums – Children of all ages usually enjoy quick visits to museums. History museums give them a look into mysterious times long ago. What child can resist a dinosaur, caveman, or ancient Egyptian exhibit? Science museums usually give children an opportunity to learn about science by seeing different scientific principles in practice. These museums also have seasonal exhibits that are worth to keep in your schedule.

Long walks to wherever – When out of ideas, you can just pack your lunch and walk with a destination of your choice. It could be grandma’s house, a park or a new metro station. In fact some “field trips” have turned so accidentally when I’ve gone out of money for the bus or when we’ve just kept walking instead of waiting for the bus. My son always tells about the day when we walked from the church to our old house, stopping to buy some fruits and vegetables. It turned to be one of his favorite memories.

Field trips destinations are not easy to find. So grab a city or town map and plan your next outing!

Metropolitan Park in Quito

Vacations are comming: great time to start unschooling

Monica — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 23:15:01 +0000

If you’ve been wondering about how your family life would be if you unschooled, this is the perfect time for a free trial.

In many countries children are heading for summer vacations, planing adventures, trips, summer workshops on their interests and free time at home. This is what unschooling looks like every day of the year, except for the fact that in most homeschooling families we don’t rely on the TV to get our kids entretained.

I remember when I was at school that the beginnig of summer vacations were excited but also a bit hard. Hard to find what to do, to figure out how to entertain myself. However, after a few weeks I was engaged in a new book, a summer job, a craft project, or frequent visits to public places in the city.

My advice if you want to consider this form of education for your family, is to leave things as they are, giving children plenty of free time and options for possible activities so they can decide. This is what many schooling parents do for vacations anyways, but the difference is that this time you should pay attention to how much they learn and how happy they are without being directed by someone else. A bit of effort on your part towards helping them explore and be part of the adult’s world would be appreciated, and that could include taking your kids to work or to places they’re not able to go by themselves.

If you realize unschooling is the way to go for your family, then you just keep going after the summer. Otherwise, kids would be back to school next fall.

Here 3 books I recommend if you want to learn more about homeschooling/unschooling:

1. Any of John Holt’s books. I’d start by “How Children Learn” – I’d recommend to go for the old original version by John Holt.

2. For a modern approach and ideas of activities you can do during the summer I recommend The Unschooling Handbook: How to Use the Whole World as Your Child’s Classroom, by Mary Griffith

3. Jan Hunt’s The Unschooling Unmanual. I don’t have this one but it seems like a good alternative for an easy to read book with practical unschooling ideas.

photo credit: jakesmome