Back to “School”

This time of year many children are headed back to school! If you are in Public or Private school you are getting your new schedules, supplies, and getting to know your teacher. If you are a Homeschooler you are possibly getting back into a routine and starting on your new curriculum or maybe you school year round. But, if you are an Unschooler, like us, maybe your days look a little different. As Unschoolers our children choose what and how they want to learn. It is a form of child led homeschooling. We do not use a fixed curriculum but instead let our children learn through their interests. This form of homeschooling works for us.

Every year we must submit a letter of “intent to homeschool” to our state. This states when we are to start our homeschool year and when it ends. For us, Monday was the “start” of our third year of homeschooling and it looked something like this.

We started our day with breakfast and then chores. We all helped. Our toddler, Jade, fed our pets and helped me empty the dishwasher. Our son, Gabriel, picked up the toys, vacuumed, and made his bed. I cleaned off the table, washed the dishes, started the laundry, took our dog outside to potty, and made my bed. After breakfast and chores we headed outside. The sounds of birds singing and the Cicadas in the trees filled the air. I like to take my journal so that I can draw things that I see or write nature inspired poetry. Our toddler, Jade, has taken to bringing her notepad and pencil so that she can do the same. She likes to collect sticks, pine cones, feather, stones…anything that strikes her fancy. She counts them, describes them or asks what they are. Our son, Gabriel, practiced different carving techniques with his pocket knife and practiced his aim with his sling shot. Gabriel asked about the most venomous spider in the world. That would be the Brazilian Wandering Spider. 0.006 mg of venom is enough to kill a mouse!

The afternoon reached 100 degrees so we stayed indoors. The kids played with Play-Doh, Hot-Dots, Lego’s, and Lacing Cards. Jade keeps asking me if she can read yet. She likes to pretend to read her story books to me, like her big brother. I love listening to the fanciful stories she makes up. Gabriel worked on his scrap book while I read aloud to them from the book “Eragon.”

I read “Horton Catches The Egg” to Jade when she said it was nap time. While Jade slept and all was quiet, my son read “The Bremen Band,” played the math game Prodigy, and played Minecraft. The end of the afternoon found us playing a couple of epic battles of Chess. After our chess games we headed to Gabriel’s Taekwondo class where he practiced his Songham 2.

When Taekwondo ended we headed home for dinner, and once dinner was done we curled up together and read stories. This is my favorite way to end our day. The children seem to really love it too, since they are the ones that request the stories. After stories, we sang songs. Jades favorites are “The Phantom of the Opera, the song “Summer Nights” from the musical “Grease” and her new favorite is “The Dark Lord Funk: Harry Potter Parody!” Gabriel’s favorites are “The Last Goodbye” from the 3rd Hobbit movie, and “Into the West” from the 3rd “Lord of the Rings” movie. I know, it’s an eclectic mix, but it’s what they love. Even if they sometimes fall asleep before I finish singing.

I hope you enjoyed your glimpse into our first day back to “school!” I know we enjoyed our day.