Sunday was a very good day. Seems that those have been few and far between for us recently. Job losses, on-going illness, loss of friends, financial worries, car troubles... We've had our share recently. But today... We had a wonderful church service this morning. Ate lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant - luscious guacamole. Beautiful weather...
In the afternoon, as I was contemplating our homeschool journey and where we've been and where we are going, K was being a busy bee. I was reading a homeschooling book - bits and pieces of it, a section here, a chapter there, not straight through of course - that would be so un-unschooly of me! :-) Any way, I was reading about letting kids be kids and delight-directed learning. Good book. Good information. I am totally sold, of course, but enjoy reading about others who are, too. Reading questions from doubters like HOW a child can possibly learn "everything they need to know" (whatever THAT means!) by unschooling, and "won't children tend to do nothing if not "made" to study????" Things like that. So I was pondering these questions and reading the wonderful responses in the book, adding my own response in my head. During all this, K was busy....
We are "on break" right now (that means I am not counting days or doing any "just in case" documentation), and plan to begin our "new school year" sometime in late June although we truly school year-round. I was reflecting on the past year and trying to decide if I want to do anything differently this year. What worked, what didn't... you know what I mean. So... back to K.....
While I was thinking about all of this, she was on her own. No direction from me at all. Just being a busy little girl. First, she gets out her watercolors and paints a (really good:-) picture...... Then she watches a couple of shows on APT - one about Mozart, another that encourages vocabulary building...... After that, she gets out several bouncy balls (you know, the kind that come with jacks) and discovers the differences in bounce depending on weight and height of release. She is so excited with her discoveries! ...... She then gets out her Wizard of Oz Monopoly game, and cons me into playing "our version" of the game. She was adding up a storm, telling me what I'd rolled almost before I could read the dice...... Then she reads from a Beatrix Potter book (our current favorite!), reading silently and aloud to me......After this, she gets her sketch pad and watercolor pencils out and draws several pictures in the Beatrix Potter style. She is using her beautiful illustrations as a guide....... Soon we decide we want homemade ice cream, so she helps to measure the ingredients and we discuss why we need this one or that one. This leads to a discussion of how ice cream is made and why we need to use the salt, ice, etc. She asked if that is how the "store bought" kind is made. We do a little Internet research (at her request) about it while the freezer is spinning, and I learn some things too! I tell her stories about when I was little and we made ice cream with a hand crank freezer, and how all the cousins would take turns. And how sad I would be if the adults decided to make Black Walnut - ick!..... After the ice cream is all eaten up - yummy and NOT black walnut :-)!! - she went out on the front porch to brush and play with her cat. Shadow was a fur ball this winter, and is shedding like crazy and appreciates the grooming! This led to a discussion about why animals shed and questions about us - do we shed? - and discussions about animal care. Then after supper, which she helped prepare, she and her brother ate fresh fruit which led to a discussion about where the fruit came from (strawberries, peaches, kiwi) and how it is grown and shipped.
All of these "learning opportunities" - Art - painting, drawing and appreciation; Music - history and appreciation; Vocabulary building; Reading; Science - chemistry, biology, plant life, animal care, etc; Math - adding, prediction; Family history; Daily living skills; and others I am probably missing, occurred without any prompts from me. No lesson plans, no testing, no grades... just wonderful learning experiences in the course of a wonderful day. Learning which happens in a natural way, about topics that are important to her, without any coercion or timeline. How much more effective can education be? How can ANY one believe that children will not or cannot learn when left to their own devices??? I don't know how to STOP children from learning, other than by making it drudgery. And even then, most will still learn in spite of that, because they will continue to learn the things which are important to them... Lifeschooling, Unschooling, Delight Directed, Child Led, World Schooling, Real Life Education..... Whichever label you choose to use.... IT WORKS!! Try it. I think you will be pleasantly surprised! I LOVE Lifeschooling!! It was a very Good Day! :-)
