Monkeying around...

Unschooling Revisited...

I recently posted about unschooling in our family. My post had been prompted by a conversation with a woman on an airplane while visting my brother recently. In my post I was very open in my aggravation towards the reaction of others when they inquire about our educational choices as well as my personal views on public education. Jud and I have definite opinions about public education and many of them are in disagreement with what most people would consider normal. However, just because we choose this lifestyle for our family doesn't mean that it is right or good for someone else.

I think sometimes that we are on the defensive so often that we forget this. I think then we may sound just as bad as those who are so critical of us. I am very sorry to anyone whom I might have offended. I have since removed my post to replace it with this one.

We keep our children home because we feel it is the best place for them. We feel that they are able to learn at their own pace without the worries of grades or someone else's time table. We feel that home is best for our children because we can cater to the things that they are interested better than a school might be able to provide.

We have watched our children educate themselves just by experiencing the world around them. It works well for our children, though it may not for others. Unschooling is a whole lifestyle and philosophy rather than an educational style. We consider it whole-learning instead of compartmentalized learning. It is what has worked best for our family.

Our children are socialized with each other, friends, teammates, and many others in our corner of the world (where ever that may be at the moment). Our children are involved in sports and other activities. We encourage them to know and learn about the people around them. Friends, neighbors and people we meet on a daily basis.

My children have learned all the basic skills like reading, spelling, math, history etc. simply by living everyday to its fullest. They cook, clean, do laundry. They email, make phone calls, make appointments and order takeout. They read books quietly and to each other. They care for dogs, cats and horses. They play with their friends. They go grocery shopping with me and run an assortment of other errands. They play card games, dice games, word games, board games etc. They play computer games and research stuff online. They know how to use a dictionary and a phone book.

The may not take the standard classes that children in school may take and they may not know all of the same things. That's okay. They will also know things that a child in school may not know. Unique people make for a unique world.

I think my children are smart. They are always learning something new. For sure I think that they have taught me more than I ever taught them. Learning to trust that they would learn on their own was the hardest hurdle to get over. We had to train ourselves to let go of "schoolish ideas" that we grew up with in order to foster this lifestyle.

At times it was very difficult. Especially with our late readers. That was tough and still is sometimes. But refocusing on why we live this way soon gets us back on track. It is hard when you were educated a certain way, to push that concept out of your mind way so that you can get to where you know is best for your family. It is a task in and of itself sometimes.

Learning outloud is also a big part of our life. We take great interest in what our children are interested in. We also always try to include them in what we are currenly doing or learning if they are interested. Unschooling has evolved over the years until it has become just a way of life for us and it has worked remarkably with our children.

For anyone who might be interested there are a couple of websites that may give you much better insight to unschooling than I have done. I have some of the site links on the left hand side of this blog. You could also just google "unschooling" and see what it comes up with for you.

Again, to anyone who may have been hurt or offended by the previous post, I am truly sorry. It was my intention to rant and let loose my aggravation, but never, ever did I mean to let my emotionally charged opinion hurt others.

I would be more than happy to discuss unschooling with anyone who is really interested in learning more. I am not however, open to debate as to whether it is a good and proper way of teaching our children. That is a personal choice for which we alone are responsible. I may revisit this a time or two, but for tonight I am exhausted and heading off to bed.

But, one last note...It never hurts to learn new things. However, if you are happy and comfortable with your life with your children and you children are happy and well adjusted then you are most likely doing what is right for your family no matter what avenue you choose.

Good night!