This very question is the topic of my investigation now because my son is 5,5, and very soon school time will begin for him.
So now I've time to understand and organize a definite scheme of his education in my head.
I study different approaches, read many blogs and experience of many moms to get what works better and why. Of course, it will be MY own experience, tries and mistakes, but at least, theory is always useful.
There're different ways of organising homeschooling and unschooling, and every mom chooses what is the best for her and her kid.
So what are the main formats we can choose?
School at home or homeschooling
it's the way where we have the same school and its program but without attending school, a kid studies at home, but all the rest is the same.
He gets up at 7, he studies the same subjects, he has a similar curriculum, breaks-lessons etc.
Many moms avois marks and hometasks, but all the rest remains the same.
My opinion:
I don't like this variant.
It doesn't give freedom - the main reason why I've schosen unschooling. The school program is the same, and it's just sh*t now!
A kid has to wake up early in the morning - I don't support it. My boy always has freedom, when to go to ged and when to get up, and it never worked bad, he just followed his physiological necessities and wishes.
And one more minus - school education does NOT give motivation for studying and doesn't develop desire for investigation. I see no kids at school who likes studying.
Online education
I like this variant for now more. It gives freedom of time. It gives freedom both to a kid (speaking about time) and to mom.
But! It doeesn't give freedom to choose what to study and when. You still follow a definite program. It's a great minus, I think.
A tutor
Many moms choose tutors to educate unschooling kids.
It's not bad, because here we have this very indvidual program, but..
As a rule good tutors are teachers from school. They were grown up in that system, and they are system people, they will follow that tradition in educating.
And! It's very expensive.
Personal tasks
That is the way where you and your kid decide how and when he will know something new. He chooses speed and subjects he likes the most for now.
A personal program, freedom, personal responsibility, selfcontrol - here there is everything a mom of unschooling kid wants to have.
I like this very variant the most for now.
And I already try to experinece it.
I never follow traditional norms. If my boy doesn't want to do it - I won't make him even if it's "high time to have this skill" like all the rest of moms say.
My son has his own way, and he will get everyhting he needs in this life when he is interested in it, and when he really needs it.
I tried this scheme, and it works fine. When he has interest to something, he gets skills very fast. When I pushed him to something, because I thought it was time for him to know it, it was boring, long and resultless.
Guys, I'd like to know your experience too! Please share it!
Yeah it’s tough to have these different options and what works best for each child or family. One thing we are struggling with is learning letters and are trying to figure out how to get better at that. I want to give it a few different tries this weekend!
The waking up at 7 and doing the typical routine but at home doesn’t appeal to us at all lol. Our kid has always been a sleeper just like me hehe
!ENGAGE 25
ENGAGEtokens.we're owls too;) and it's ok if you feel good;)
all people are different
I like this post.
It’s a reflection of where we are with unschooling and how it fits in to our lives.
It’s similar that if we try to teach directly teach ‘T’ something he has no immediate interest in, then he switches off, disengages immediately. However, if we build general writing and reading for example in to an activity where we are naming some new creatures he’s just made from modelling clay, then he suddenly want to write. And we give his as much help as he needs.
And suddenly, he’s practising writing and slowly making connections between sounds and words and letters etc
He’s gone past that now and has a really good understanding of words in his own way, and writes his own sentences for us.
The spelling isn’t always right but it’s incredible that he’s even doing it. And he’s never had a reading or writing “lesson” in his life!
As you suggested; there’s no measuring going on, no expectation, no benchmark - just learning as we go.
He doesn’t NEED to be able to do specific things or is expected to perform tasks at an arbitrary age.
It’s just life. He does it because he wants to. Or not.
One thing I would ask you is about bedtime and rest.
We used to let ours stay up and burn out naturally - however we discovered that he just didn’t crash. He was nuclear. Non-stop!
It wore us out and eventually caught up on him; so these days we encourage a bedtime early enough that it will result in him not being a cranky the next day.
How do you manage that side of things?
What sort of age are yours and what kind of activities are you doing? Thanks!
oh, thank you so much for you story! I like your example:)
and I share your thoughts. I try to do the same - to find ways where the tasks he needs to know will be really needed at that period of time, and he himself can see it, and thus he will have a natural desire to have this very skill. And it works great. All the rest variants fail, or give very slow results.
about sleeping.
My son is 5 now, and he seems to be a little owl, like his dad;) my husband has a night time of work and activities, and my son took this habbit long ago. Of course, he didn't play all night long, but he could go to bed at 1-2 am even at 3-4 years. It was shock for all my family. We debate much, they critisized me, told I was a bad mom, it was wrong, he needed to sleep etc. Yes, I agree there is a definite nature laws, and people should follow them, it is important for health, but I know that individuality means much too, and if a person has definite habbits or desires to do smth not like the rest people do, it's also ok. If he feels ok - then it's ok. it lasted for about 1 year. I didn't make him go to bed when all the rest kids do it. You don't want still? Ok, do it later. And I never had problems how to male him fall asleep. He wants to sleep - he goes and sleeps. I know many moms who spend hours for this process. Maybe because their kid is still full of energy and it's not time for him to go to bed? But mom says...and they go...
Later the process changed without my pushes. He started to go to bed earlier and woke up earlier too. Nature has made its corrections, and my son felt now this variant was better for him. Ok. Better for me too. Now we go to bed about 11 pm, and it's ok.
Wow that is so brilliant his sleep pattern worked so well!
We tried the same but it really didn’t work sadly.
I love how he naturally corrected his own sleep and now it’s a stress free situation. Well done!
We did similar but from age 2-4; he would often fall asleep around 1-2am, but because of his fiery nature and his lack of understanding at that age we couldn’t keep going because of his awful moods and meltdowns. Which was so hard.
But he’s 7 and slightly better now at knowing and accepting when he’s tired.
Love your story and it’s such a triumph!
!ENGAGE 50
ENGAGEtoday.Agreed! At the end of the day, you have to find what works best for you, your whole family, and most especially your child.
Waking up at 7am never appealed to us also. I was compelled to do that for 3 years during the early school years of my eldest. Taking him out of the system so far worked well for all of us.
All the best to you!
I hated those early mornings and my duty to go to school even when it's cold, raining or windy. Hated it!!;)
And to the child! I feel bad having to wake him up early. We used to be up by 5am because the school bus came at 6. 😩 I hated it too.
!ENGAGE 20
ENGAGEtoday.My experience is generally everything is much more pleasant and smooth if you just use their interests.
Be prepared for pushback from people who don't understand how it's possible to gain understanding of things without force and coercion. Sometimes it takes a hell of a lot of explaining about how even though you mainly follow their interests, there are always unavoidable not-fun things that either need to be done because they just do (like chores, though once they gain enough understanding of why things need to be done they will usually at least do it without fighting even if they won't stop grumbling the whole time XD) or learning tasks to accomplish so they can get on with something they actually want to do that can only be done after doing the thing they don't want to. And sometimes whoever you're trying to explain to still won't get it XD
Have you read @riverflows' post on how the brain works for learning? That will give some back up for those push backs.
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ENGAGEtoday.You blog a lot lately. Great! And great stuff!! And most I do is making sure to curate every other day. @tipu curate !invest_vote !ENGAGE 20 !WINE !JUICE !PUREWATER !FRESHAIR
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ENGAGEtoday.I agree 100%. It's the best approach. Your boy will be very happy and success in life.
thank you!
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