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Leonie
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lapazfarm wrote:
I don’t believe that he has to sit down to unpleasant seatwork to learn that life lesson. He can do what he wants. He just has to do it well.
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I agree with you about learning discipline and perseverance in areas of interest - it doesn't have to be arduous.
That said, my kids don't really have any seatwork that they don't like. We have never had the "hold your nose and just get it done" situation wrt schoolwork. Not everything is liked equally and sometimes no one wants to work because it's that kind of a day  but I just don't find an issue with unpleasant seatwork.
Even things they are not enamoured of at first, end up having an interest or an interestng sideline, or a purpose.
Maybe it's because we don't do formal work every day? Maybe it's because of the type of seatwork we do choose - the style suits the child, they have a say in selection? I know it is not because I have exceptional kids who love to do school every day! 
Cay, I know my kids learn discipline from chores - we have always had an "everyone pitches in and helps" philosophy. But I think the discipline learned there is different to the discipline learned from applying oneself to a difficult subject or to study - esp when studying something that is out of one's usual area of choice. I know I have learned something about myself in those situations.
Which is why we are not pure unschoolers any more. I returned to what worked for our older kids - some work set by me, some of their choice, free time,play, outside activites, real life stuff, work and chores, looking at subjects not necessarily from a school stance but open to exploring in different ( unschooly)ways, but definitely some study required.Esp when they get to be teens.
Perhaps it is seasons of homeschooling? Seasons of pure unschooling, of adapted unschooling, of using curricula as a starting point?
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Leonie in Sydney
Living Without School
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Paula in MN
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Leonie wrote:
| Perhaps it is seasons of homeschooling? Seasons of pure unschooling, of adapted unschooling, of using curricula as a starting point? |
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I like that thought. I think that is where I am with my kids. I started off with "boxed" curriculum, then gravitated towards Real Learning and MA with some CHC thrown in. For the last few weeks it has really been "directed" by their interests.
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 Paula
A Catholic Harvest
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marihalojen
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| Posted: May 06 2007 at 7:38am | IP Logged
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Leonie wrote:
| Perhaps it is seasons of homeschooling? Seasons of pure unschooling, of adapted unschooling, of using curricula as a starting point? |
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Or, to describe it in another way that I'm particularly fond of - Tidal Homeschooling! (Thanks, Lissa!)
Perhaps my daughter is asking for a season of Higher Tides and more challenges.
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Mother to Mariannna, age 13
The Mari Hal-O-Jen
SSR = Sailing, Snorkling, Reading
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: May 06 2007 at 8:46am | IP Logged
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Good points.
I agree that all seat work does not have to be unpleasant.
As I've noted before, my ds is required to do math daily, first thing. It is a combination of workbooks, textbook (Jacob's Human Endeavor), math games and math projects. But ususally it is the workbooks. He enjoys it (or at least tolerates it) because of the variety and because it is short-15 minutes or so and he knows he is free. He sees progress in areas he was struggling before, so that adds to his enthusiasm. He likes math now, which he didn't before, so our seatwork is not unpleasant at all.
There are definitely seasons in our homeschooling, matching the seasons of the year and the seasons of our lives.
I think it is easier for me to be unschoolish in the very early years, the middle school years, and the upper high school years.
The early years are easy to unschool because I can relax and enjoy and learning comes so easily and naturally. There is no pressure an it is easy to say "she is learning at her own rate".This is where my JBug is now.
Then in mid-elementary I tend to buckle down to teach those "must" skills like reading and math facts, so it is hard for me to completely unschool.
Then in middle school they have the basics down and learning is once again just relaxing and soaking up the knowledge with very little pressure. (This is where Superboy is now).
Then early high school hits and I tend to want to tighten up skills like essay writing, lit analysis and upper math. So school gets more formal again.
By upper high school the goal is independence, so I can back off and let the child/adult take charge once again.
Anyone else find this to be the case?
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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Willa
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Leonie wrote:
| That said, my kids don't really have any seatwork that they don't like. We have never had the "hold your nose and just get it done" situation wrt schoolwork. Not everything is liked equally and sometimes no one wants to work because it's that kind of a day but I just don't find an issue with unpleasant seatwork. |
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This turns out to be true of my kids this year. Reading the recent "burnout" thread, I was wondering why we didn't burn out this year. It's still a bit of a mystery to me, but I think that our unschooling sabbatical last year helped me to take notice of the Lulls and their value in academics.
Also to really notice how the kids learned.
We do less "formal" things now, but what we do is more effective. When I see we are heading for over-kill -- too much open-ended time or too much on-task time -- I try to shift things right away rather than waiting until, as Helen said in the burnout thread, we are gasping and injured from the fast pace of the hike.
This is where Charlotte Mason's broad and generous curriculum comes in handy for me. There is so much that a child can learn. When one thing seems to have come to a dead end for the time being, we can switch gears to something else.
Julia, thanks for the details about the open "study" time. That is making me think!
So many first-rate insights -- thanks everyone. I have been printing out the posts and reading them as I think about next year.
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Willa
hsing boys ages 11, 14, almost 18 (+ 4 homeschool grads ages 20 to 27)
Take Up and Read
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Leonie
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| Posted: May 06 2007 at 4:25pm | IP Logged
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lapazfarm wrote:
Then in mid-elementary I tend to buckle down to teach those "must" skills like reading and math facts, so it is hard for me to completely unschool.
Then in middle school they have the basics down and learning is once again just relaxing and soaking up the knowledge with very little pressure. (This is where Superboy is now).
Then early high school hits and I tend to want to tighten up skills like essay writing, lit analysis and upper math. So school gets more formal again.
By upper high school the goal is independence, so I can back off and let the child/adult take charge once again.
Anyone else find this to be the case? |
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Well, this is similar to our "panic " form of homeschooling - unschooling until we see gaps then panic  and do a bit more formal stuff, which gradually ebbs away . Then the cycle repeats - for us, summer is good for unschool-ishness, autumn and winter tend to be more formal months, spring is somewhere in between.
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Leonie in Sydney
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Willa
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| Posted: May 06 2007 at 7:42pm | IP Logged
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LOL, Leonie. I can't imagine you ever being panicked.
Leonie wrote:
| Then the cycle repeats - for us, summer is good for unschool-ishness, autumn and winter tend to be more formal months, spring is somewhere in between. |
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That's how we seem to do it, too.
And some years are more unschooly than others. In the spring I look at what I think we'll need that next year. A couple of years ago I knew we were extremely burned out, so I talked myself into an unschooling season.
This coming year, I have a child entering high school and one who will be a senior -- and Aidan looks like he is emerging into a bit of literacy -- so the first couple of seasons, anyway, may look a bit more planned out.
Once, I read an article where an unschooling mom of a gifted child said he could usually make it through a standard public school curriculum in about two months. So they zipped through and then they were "free".
This seemed to me to apply to our homeschool in that, when the kids haven't been burned out or pushed through something they don't completely understand, they usually can accomplish quite a bit in a short time.
Oh, here's the quote that I mentioned -- in my
blog archives
A partial quote:
Teaching one child intensively for a month can cover what a traditional school does in a year. A month is also a short enough period that I don't feel terribly guilty about cramming information into my son without his full consent.
She said they have two intensive periods -- one month in the fall and another one in the spring when they are gearing up for standardized tests.
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Willa
hsing boys ages 11, 14, almost 18 (+ 4 homeschool grads ages 20 to 27)
Take Up and Read
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Cay Gibson
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| Posted: May 07 2007 at 8:58am | IP Logged
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I got out MOTH last night, jotted a rough schedule then went back to this thread and tried to fit it all together in an easy, doable way.
Schedules don't work well with me  as I tend to be the fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants style learner. But, I need something. Our day needs a foundation.
9 AM Prayers - Devotional - Candle for all intentions
9:15-9:45 AM Breakfast
9:45-10:15 AM Latin Prayers - Seasonal poem - Religion Q/A - English from the Roots Up Word-of-the-Day
10:15-10:45 AM FIAR
Light Nutritional Snack (fruit, yogart, granola bar)
11-11:30 AM Math for all
11:30-12 N Reading:
M/W - Heidi
Tu/Th - Greek Myth
Friday - Lambs' Shakespeare
12 Noon Angelus - Selected Poetry Reading - LUNCH
LUNCH while listening to:
M/W - Rosary CD
Tu/Th - Music Masters
F - Chant
12:30 Rest - Silent individual reading
Afternoon Sign Language (requested by Chelsea)
Nature Study
Playtime
(Alernating --- Some of these will end for the summer as of this week. YAY!
)
Monday: Library
Tuesday: CCD/ Visit MawMaw
Wednesday: Piano
Thursday: Dance
Friday: Group Activities/Aquatic Center
And so we begin...
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Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
wife to Mark '86
mom to 5
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Maria B.
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I am with you Cay! Over the years (17 to be exact!), I have gone back and forth from a schedule to no schedule. I operate much better with a schedule, allowing myself flexibility. And some days I know the schedule will need to be tossed. But just having a "plan" on paper helps keep me focused.
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Maria in VA
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Leonie
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| Posted: May 07 2007 at 5:08pm | IP Logged
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Cay, I think this is the essence of designing our own curriculum - working with our wants and things we must do and outside activities, in a blend to suit us. Your schedule seems to do that.
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Leonie in Sydney
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TracyQ
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| Posted: May 08 2007 at 1:16pm | IP Logged
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Wow! What a thread! It's going to take me the entire week to get through it, but I will get through it!
I think people have a very unreal view of unschooling. I think they equate unschooling with lazy learning, or learning only when you feel like it. I think it gets a really bad reputation.
Anyway, I've been pondering a lot of this myself lately, and longing for my FIAR days again. In fact, I've had thoughts of doing some FIAR with Sarah and seeing where it takes us for the rest of the year. We'll see..............
Be back after I read the thread (see ya in a few years! )
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Blessings and Peace,
Tracy Q.
wife of Marty for 20 years, mom of 3 wonderful children (1 homeschool graduate, 1 12th grader, and a 9th grader),
homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY
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Leonie
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| Posted: May 08 2007 at 4:05pm | IP Logged
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TracyQ wrote:
| Anyway, I've been pondering a lot of this myself lately, and longing for my FIAR days again. In fact, I've had thoughts of doing some FIAR with Sarah and seeing where it takes us for the rest of the year. We'll see.............. |
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How old is Sarah?
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Leonie in Sydney
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TracyQ
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| Posted: May 09 2007 at 12:36pm | IP Logged
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Leonie,
Sarah actually just turned 12! But we never did volume 4 of FIAR, and I can just see so much that we could do on her level, even if FIAR is for 7-8 year olds.
I just long for those cuddly days, and know she and I could learn so much together! We'd also be doing other things as well, including continuing in her Prairie Primer (parts of it, we'll finish that the first half of next year), and she's still working on a project on tigers, and doing a few things here and there that we're working on (science nature readers, etc.) as well. So I think it'd be neat to just do a hodgepodge of what we love to do to finish out the rest of this particular year, but we'll see.............
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Blessings and Peace,
Tracy Q.
wife of Marty for 20 years, mom of 3 wonderful children (1 homeschool graduate, 1 12th grader, and a 9th grader),
homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY
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Leonie
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| Posted: May 09 2007 at 7:15pm | IP Logged
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It sounds lovely - a nice time of learning together.
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Leonie in Sydney
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Designing Curriculum
