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LML22
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| Posted: Oct 13 2008 at 11:54am | IP Logged
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If I have been doing a more traditional homeschool and want to switch to unschooling, how do I do that? Talk to the kids and explain the change, just stop doing school at home??!! I think they will just look at me and want to know what to do. If I tell them to do what they want, I wonder if they will just goof off, watch videos, etc. IF I ask them what they want to learn, I think I will be met with stares and shrugs of I don't know. How do I do this?
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folklaur
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| Posted: Oct 13 2008 at 12:48pm | IP Logged
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Oh, I can't wait to see what suggestions you get!
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Oct 13 2008 at 2:05pm | IP Logged
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hmmm I've always done this (to some extent) so I don't know about transitioning.. some would say you need a period of "deschooling" where they just get used to not having their days and thoughts directed.. even if they do "goof off". It's like when people decide to turn off the tv. The kids are so used to using it to direct their thoughts and play that without the tv going they're "bored". and the best thing to do is to let them be bored until they're tired of it and find something else to do (always noting that you provide things that they can choose to do but even with little.. ever watched the games kids come up with using only sticks and leaves?  )
In some ways it's going to have to be the same. They're so used to being directed all the time.. that they may need some time to get used to this idea that they don't have to be directed to do stuff.
Something you will definately want to do though.. is have items out and available where they see them so that they might choose to use those things (setting up the environment gives you tons of input)
But also, you need to start modeling the behavior you want.. and you may need to speak thoughts out loud..
So say you watch a movie and the Star Spangled Banner is mentioned.. you can say outloud.. hmm I wonder when that became our National Anthemn and then go look it up and share your findings.
For instance, I didn't sit down and teach with worksheets etc, how to read an analog clock. I have one in my kitchen and I use it. And my kids see me use it, and when they're looking interested or they ask a question, I explain how it works.
And don't feel you have to be totally hands off all the time. YOU can pick a book to read aloud. And you can set a schedule/routine of when you do things. you just leave them blocks of time.. or be willing to "go with the flow" if you're reading and come across something that everyone is interested in.. so you stop and go and look it up etc. don't worry that it was supposed to be "reading time".
You may have to model outloud thinking about something that catches your attention.. and interupting things for that sort of stuff.. even if it's just to jot down in a notebook..
Reading.. oh let's say American Girl Kit books.. oh look, they picked dandelion greens for eating.. I wonder if you can really do that?.. jot it down in the notebook.. "dandelions edible?" and then when you're finished with reading time.. go and look it up. (they are edible btw but some herbicides put on them aren't so you'd want to know that too)
But model for your children the concept of wondering about things and going and finding answers.
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All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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Barbara C.
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| Posted: Oct 13 2008 at 3:23pm | IP Logged
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I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but I think the first thing you need to do is have a change of attitude. I don't mean that in a bad way, but unschooling is more than just a method. It is kind of a philosophy.
Part of the philosophy of unschooling is that play is important and that even when kids appear to be "goofing off" they are still learning and processing information even if they don't seem to be doing it the way we think they should.
For instance, my daughter went through a phase last year of playing Barbie Girls and Club Penguin. Neither site is educational like Starfall or Exuberant Games; if those sites were books many people would consider them "fluff". But she did start learning to sight-read some words (even if they were hair and manicure) and the concept of money as she earned fake bucks or coins to purchase things at each website. We also made her pay to upkeep her Club Penguin subscription which led to further lessons about money and earning it.
Here are some points that came to mind about transitioning to unschooling.
1. Think about the most important group components of your current routine, and those you think that you and children would miss the most. If you have morning devotions or afternoon read-aloud time, hold onto that even if you drop all other academics.
2. Consider asking your children one by one what they like about their current schooling and what they don't. Is there a subject that they would still want to study even if you didn't make them? If they could, is there any one or two things that they would do or study if it was completely up to them? This may give you some ideas of what to drop first and where to steer them down the road.
3. Feel free to continue to limit television and internet if you do so already, just maybe not quite as much.
4. Jodie is right on about modeling. Instead of worrying about what they might want to learn, think about what YOU have always wanted to learn about. And go for it. Maybe the kids will take an interest in it, too, or maybe they won't. But they will still see your example.
5. Again like Jodie suggest "strew" materials (set interesting things out), but don't be disappointed if the kids ignore them.
6. Read lots of books and blogs by unschoolers to help you get past those scary moments. (Because it can be scary to trust your kids to learn what they need to learn.)
7. Look for opportunities to be busy once a week. Group outings, projects, etc. Field trips. Travel. Volunteer work. Special cleaning/repair projects around the house. involve kids in the planning and execution.
8. Think outside the box for teachable moments. We've all read a million times the million lessons (pricing, measuring, consumerism, nutrition, etc) that can be yielded from a trip to the grocery store. If you have the patience, try some of them out. Or cut out baseball logos together and stick them on your U.S. Map like my husband did with my oldest daughter.
9. If they get whiny about being bored, give them a chore or a change of venue.
That's just the 2 cents of someone who mostly unschools, is unsure for how long she will continue unschooling (depending on how brave she is), and who has hung out with a variety of unschoolers.
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Barbara
Mom to "spirited" dd(9), "spunky" dd (6), "sincere" dd (3), "sweet" dd (2), and baby girl #5 born 8/1/12!!
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Oct 13 2008 at 3:31pm | IP Logged
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oh and remember it's ok to keep something if it's something that's truly being enjoyed.. or is desired for the information.
My kids begged for math workbooks  they will still pull them out the occational evening for "fun" and do them.. even if we do them more regularly during the day.
But I was able to find a program that was just about exactly how I would explain things to the kids so it was a very easy transition to using it.. why reinvent the wheel
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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SuzanneG
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| Posted: Oct 13 2008 at 6:12pm | IP Logged
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Some of the ladies from here and elsewhere have started a blog Unschooling Catholics. There are some great resources on the left sidebar and there are some good posts in the post What do Catholic Unschoolers do all day?
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Suzanne in ID
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Leonie
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| Posted: Oct 14 2008 at 4:02pm | IP Logged
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I usually suggest people start ( or re-start! ) unschooling by taking a holiday!
Act as though you are on vacation at home. Do your usual chores and household routine then do what you'd like to do on holiday - hang out, watch movies, play games, talk, read together, listen to or play music, bake, do crafts, go to the park, visit places as though you are a tourist in your area, celebrate the liturgical year. Invite the children to join you. Follow their lead. Say yes more.
Just hang out and, after awhile, you will notice interests starting to spurt, areas you can strew, things to tweak, a routine and rhythm.
And this needs to be done for a good length of time - at least three-six months.
Whenever I do this I also keep a little log or diary - kind of inspiring for me to see what learning happens when I am not directing learning.
I have blog of our day to day unschool doings, it is just a log for the state but gives you some idea of what we do all day -
St Anthony Academy
And here is a good page on beginning unschooling
And, finally, relax and enjoy and smile more. Read unschooling blogs and books and sites, immerse yourself in unschooling as an interest or hobby. 
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Leonie in Sydney
Living Without School
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Vanna
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| Posted: Oct 15 2008 at 10:21am | IP Logged
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I am really new to this. My son was in public school until this year (K-6th). I had every intention of being a Classical Education Homeschooler (very very intensive)..until I actually started it. Then it felt so rigid and boring (for us).
So we are sort of unschooling. I just pulled out the encyclopedias, dictionary, toys, games, etc. and said, have fun. My son kept saying, "What should I do?" I said, "Use your imagination. What do you like? Look it up." After a couple of days, he started looking up Japanese animation since he is into Pokemon. Then he pulled out a set of animal science books we have. Now he is meshing the two together by creating his own brand of Pokemon-ish cards, using the latin name for the animal and all of the information he can dig up on it. It's very cool.
He also loves his National Geographic magazine. He uses it as a launching point to learn as much about the topics as he can.
The only thing I have not been able to let go is math. He has to do one lesson a day in his Saxon math. I just can't let it go for some reason.
I guess I would ask, What do your kids like? Have them take those interests and make something creative out of it. You will be amazed at where they take it.
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hereinantwerp
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| Posted: Oct 24 2008 at 7:53pm | IP Logged
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Thank you for sharing that Catholic Unschooling website Leonie! Good reading
Unschooling is such a spectrum. It seems to me that many people who say they unschool are on very different parts of that spectrum.
I feel like with my middle son we have been gradually transitioning to "an unschooling lifestyle". I have a basic reading list we are working off of, but it is revised as needed according to his interests, discoveries at the library, etc. And when and where the reading happens is very flexible. Even though the unschooling theories really appeal to me, at the end of the day I decided there are certain things I want to impart to my kids, certain subjects I want them to be introduced to, certain authors I want them to know. So part of our routine most days is a "read aloud time", and this is with tea and snacks which makes it fun and cozy, a looked-forward-to part of most mornings. We might read literature or science or history or whatever. However, if it is a truly gorgeous day and my son's friend down the street is free all morning to play in the leaves------let's just say the routine is always susceptible to being ditched if something comes along worthy enough to trump it!
In the afternoon after lunch we have a "skills practice time". A bit of math and writing and learning cursive. I guess those are the things for his life right now that seemed essential. When he doesn't practice writing and math, it really goes downhill. He just is one of those kids who needs a lot of practice and encouragement. I was a very independant learner and so is my oldest son, so it was stretching for me to learn that this guy needs encouragement, practice and consistancy. Maybe unschoolers would disagree with this, but I just do not know if, left completely to themselves, all kids would learn to read and write well. In some of the examples used in books, the kids seem----particularly brilliant. Maybe unschoolers would point at that and just say this is the unschooling process working in regular kids. I am not sure though. For some kids, learning can be a struggle, or comes less "naturally" than to others. Also he has to practice violin (but it was totally his initiative to learn the violin, but of course that requires regular practice too).
So that's our general structure--cozy read alouds in the morning (sometimes replaced with a library trip, project, or a desperate need to clean the house!), and a bit of skills work in the afternoon, stripped down to what I feel is the bare minimum necessary, in order to leave LOTS of free time in which to dream, play imaginatively with ones' siblings or friends, shoot hoops, read Tin Tin or Calvin and Hobbes, invent crafts, play or work outside, whatever! The structure is pretty minimal, compared to what I did with my oldest (who thrives on structure, BTW, and actually asked me for textbooks and tests! He's in school now.)
I feel like one of the best things I've done as a parent is to sit down, away from all the curriculum catalogues homeschooling books and blogs and etc., and really think through, what do I (or we, with your husband), want this child to learn this year? What does HE want to learn? And to use the answers to those questions to lead you to a structure--or lack thereof, that works for you. And also to know that that structure is always subject to being revised according to need or desire! I think structure in itself is not "evil", most of us need some form of structure in order to meet our personal desires and goals, but the structure should be created according to the needs of the family/child, not the other way around. It has been kind of confusing to me that for many who call themselves "unschoolers", they still have what looks to me like structures or routines. So I think the term itself is a bit confusing, and must cover a very wide territory of people!
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Angela Nelson
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Leonie
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| Posted: Oct 24 2008 at 9:58pm | IP Logged
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hereinantwerp wrote:
| It has been kind of confusing to me that for many who call themselves "unschoolers", they still have what looks to me like structures or routines. So I think the term itself is a bit confusing, and must cover a very wide territory of people! |
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I understand. I think there *is* a definition of unschooling but it tends to have a loose interpretation.
The Unschooling Catholics blog has definitions here.
I like these ~
"Unschooling is a form of education in which the child is trusted to be the primary agent in learning what he needs to know to lead him to happiness ( page 12)...'form of education' refers in particular to academic education, not to moral education...." Suzie Andres, Homeschooling With Gentleness
Mary Griffith, author of The Homeschooling Handbook, writes about unschooling and John Holt: " Children learn best, he argued, not by being taught, but by being a part of the world, free to explore what most interests them, by having their questions answered as they ask them, and by being treated with respect.."
So, for us, it means doing some formal work occasionally, not every day or week and a certain degree of freedom and respect.
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Leonie in Sydney
Living Without School
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Willa
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Leonie wrote:
So, for us, it means doing some formal work occasionally, not every day or week and a certain degree of freedom and respect. |
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That's what it means to me. It's sort of an extension of my attachment parenting.
I agree it's a concept that works out different ways in different homes. This used to bother me a lot, but now I just try to focus on what I CAN do in unschooling. I like the term "collaborative learning" that unschooler Cindy at Applestars uses.
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Willa
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helene
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Willa, I agree! "Collaborative Learning" sounds so much better and so much more accurate as a description of the beautiful lives "unschoolers" live! I hope it catches on.
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lapazfarm
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Yes, collaborative learning captures much more accurately what we do.I think it captures the respect for the child, PLUS the respect for a parent's input as well. And it gives the impression of the "we're all in this together" attitude that I try to cultivate.
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Theresa
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Leonie
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| Posted: Oct 28 2008 at 4:54pm | IP Logged
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Just popping in to say that on the Unschooling Catholics email list, we have been sharing personal definitions of Catholic Unschooling. I've shared some of them here on the Unschooling Catholics blog...
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Leonie in Sydney
Living Without School
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: how to unschool
