Cajun Cottage Under the Oaks

Unschooling at its Best

This morning, after the grandparents left, the children and I started our morning schoolwork.

We got history done.

Bundles of historical books on presidents and voting and early American life sat on the coffee table.

Our historical lapbooks sat on the kitchen table, popping with new matchbooks, shutterbooks, and minibooks on William Penn, the Puritans, the symbols of America, Colonial school days, and Mayflower Compact.

The continuation of our 2008-09 American history/Explorers study and our November focused Pilgrim/Indian/Thanksgiving study is off to a nice start.

And math got covered (thank you, Teaching Textbook).

Then we left the house...again...with only history and math done for the day.

As I drove I felt brief stirrings of, "Are we doing enough?"

I hardly ever get these "stirrings" any more because, in reality, our days are very full...very rich...very educational...very fulfilling. Still, our days hardly look like institutional schooling...nor do I want our days to look like that.

Naught!

These stirrings stagnated as soon as our 4-H meeting started. On the way home, my children and I trilled a happy sing-along:

"Two science experiments and a paper on the water process...Science for the day!"

"Figured the usage of water within our home (washing clothes, dishes, teeth, hands, etc.), multiplying it by minutes water is run for each function and by the amount of members using it, then tallying a total amount...more Math for the day!"

"Stood up and presented reports on two 4-H projects to the group...Public speaking for the day!"

"Decorated and stuffed goodie bags at 4-H meeting then hand-delivered them to the workers at the polls this afternooon...Community service for the day!"

Annie sat on my lap in the bookstore today and we had a cozy one-on-one tutored reading lesson together...Reading for the day!

The children and I had a looooong talk on politics and the pro-life issue on the way home in the car...Current Events for the day!

And that traditional Election-Day piping hot apple pie is in the oven.

Life is good.

So those "stirrings" have now settled and been absorbed into the mud beneath the still waters.

And I am the tired owner of some mind candy and soul fruit which I will now go and enjoy while awaiting my husband to get home with the ice cream.

My Concept of Unschooling

I want to discuss my personal views of "unschooling"...which I like to call Life Learning.  I feel the need to do so as various family members and "real life" friends (as people who have actually been inside my home and have seen my children at their unbloggable worse) stop by my blog and might be aghast at the prospect that we aren't sitting within four walls day after day, strapped to a chair, with our noses literally in the books all day.

<GASP!>

My definition of "unschooling", whether right or wrong, but as I see it within my household and usage, is this:

"Learning that is found in the everyday events of life.  Learning that is taken for granted.  Learning that is woven naturally, almost invisably, into the fiber of our lives.  Any learning that does not replicate the learning-style we remember so vividly from our own schoolhouse exposure. Learning we are exposed to via osmosis, natural inborn curiosity, and the world at large. Learning that takes place outside of books."

The last definition is for my personal benefit.  You see, I learn a lot from books and I so believe in a good and true literary education.  I am an advocate for reading, a proponent of literacy, a lover of the written word, a fan of Five in a Row , an author of a picture book study guide and a booklover's book, a children's book reviewer, the moderator of two literature forums (Literature Alive! and Living Literature), a student of fairy tales, and a literature editor.

Have I written my case in stone?

But, while literature is a valuable, priceless tool for learning, we must also take our children (and ourselves) outside the pages of a book into the "real world".  I believe I even wrote a book about that:  Literature Alive!

In my next post I hope to write about my views and ideas for using books this next school year.  For now, let me dust off my barber cape as I suspect I'm beginning to split hairs over my main thesis. 

As I was saying, while I hold a literary education in high esteem, I don't believe it to be the only education.   I have to remember daily that these five people under my pointer are different from me.  They learn differently, they react differently, they feel differently, they hear differently, they understand differently.

Note: (Forget the math.  My children need their father or a tutor for this higher form of education. )

The only way I can cover all the different personalities and learning styles is to expose them to a variety of places, people, activities, and situations throughout the year.  This helps build confident children.  (Not that all my children are naturally confident, but that is what I have tried to encourage.)

Our life learning, unschooling, whatever you wish to call it is exploratory and lived out day to day.

Life Learning looks like this:

Learning a life time of culture lived by your grandparents and great-grandparents and forefathers before them: Cajun dancing, French words, and working with clay sculpting at the recent Art/Music Camp

Traveling into the heart of our country to see how other people lived, learned, and loved

Standing near the real-life well that gave the Ingalls family living water on the high prairies of Kansas while having the knowledge of how harsh and dangerous life was back then

Living history through living books

Tasting the sweetness of life with bees and honey

Cooking with the spice of life upon your tongue

Singing because you know Jesus loves you

Helping build a strong home with a loving family

Riding the rails towards a life time of different destinations and adventures

Researching a subject and giving a speech about those men and women who taught us a life lesson in freedom and life-giving sacrifice

Seeing nature up close

and personal

Playing the game of life fairly

Viewing life as one huge masterpiece instead of just one little corner display

Learning to look at life through other people's glasses

Learning that dirt hills provide very good lessons in problem solving

And sometimes life leaves you hanging and problem solving skills come in very handy

But family and friends are always there to catch your back and pull you up

I truly think that life learning is a sure fire way to equip our children and to spark their interests.

Now if I could only get my children to believe in their power to conquer and overcome all obstacles...

even dinosaurs

Learning Opportunities during Summer

Now that our westward journey to Kansas is over, I am looking over Summer 2007 and attempting to plan fun times, learning opportunities, and events at large.

It helps me to keep notes so here are some things we're aiming for:

Last week of June: 

• Vacation Bible School in morning
• Swimming with cousins
• Visit Our Lady Star of the Sea
• Movies (Chels votes for Nancy Drew)
• Route 66 Photography at town Cultural Center: One day museum visit

* * * * *

Through July:

• Library Story Hour : Tuesdays through summer & some Monday programs if girls are interested
• The Children's Theatre: At least one week in July (preferably the Shakespeare Mid-Summer Fun there's a time offered for both age groups and I can sit and read a book)
• Beach: couple of times this summer with trip to snow cone hut afterwards
• Kid Zone Activities: preferably early when older children go to Aquatic Center for workout so Momma can sleep in
• Swimming on Fridays with out-of-town cousins
• Watch State Park for Outdoor Learning Classes: usually every other Saturday

* * * * *

First Week of July:

• Fourth of July Family Bash at Oma and Opa's Camp

* * * * *

Second Week of July:

• Sensational Summer Activities at Children's Museum: one or two of the days---week of July 9-14
• Second Saturday at Cultural Center: July 14
• Swim Party with cousins/friends: July 17

Third Week of July:

• Movies
• Nature Walk at Tutem Park: one day nature hike

* * * * *

Fourth Week of July:

• Nature Walk on Creole Nature Trail

* * * * *

August:

• School Shopping Trip
• August 11th --- trip to Abbeville