When a Break Isn't Really a Break
After more thought and prayer, we are skipping school this week. Sort of. I decided to "unschool" this week. Some moms do this full time, and I have always been against it for us, but for right now I think it's just what the doctor ordered.
Unschooling is where you don't actually do school, you let the child's natural love of learning guide what you study for the day. Say she asks about volcanos - you read books on it, write stories about it, etc. Say she wants to help you bake cookies, you talk about fractions when measuring the ingredients. That sort of thing. I have been against it for us because while Kara is driven, I don't think we could do everything required in a school year. For all subjects, anyway.
Anyway, we are taking this 3 week break, which isn't really a break. We are unschooling. Kara has been writing a book and doing the illustrations. She has been writing code GALORE. She and I are still reading books. I have her doing "tablet school" to use apps which reinforce grammar, fractions, decimals, and cursive. Since we finished the Science book, I'm fine with taking a Science break. And we are quite a bit further in History than I expected us to be, so that's fine too.
Anyway, this is what it feels like to unschool and it feels great. I still need a curriculum, a list of requirements, and (some) worksheets, but during our "breaks," this feels good. :-)
Unschooling is where you don't actually do school, you let the child's natural love of learning guide what you study for the day. Say she asks about volcanos - you read books on it, write stories about it, etc. Say she wants to help you bake cookies, you talk about fractions when measuring the ingredients. That sort of thing. I have been against it for us because while Kara is driven, I don't think we could do everything required in a school year. For all subjects, anyway.
Anyway, we are taking this 3 week break, which isn't really a break. We are unschooling. Kara has been writing a book and doing the illustrations. She has been writing code GALORE. She and I are still reading books. I have her doing "tablet school" to use apps which reinforce grammar, fractions, decimals, and cursive. Since we finished the Science book, I'm fine with taking a Science break. And we are quite a bit further in History than I expected us to be, so that's fine too.
Anyway, this is what it feels like to unschool and it feels great. I still need a curriculum, a list of requirements, and (some) worksheets, but during our "breaks," this feels good. :-)
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