Unschool. Homeschool.

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

School lessons.

Someone said to me, "I'd love to homeschool, I just don't have the stuff I need to teach him."

Yes, you do. Especially if you choose to unschool. Cajer had great fun exploring on our walk... pretending to be King Cajer of the Ants!

I love getting books from the thrift store, here is a $2 load of books:

We've been known to lay on a blanket in the woods and read...

The park is always fun!

And we love to explore fun places:

The earth is a phenomenal classroom. People in our lives are far more interesting and educational than forced association with same age people in a room all day.

Hello free museum!

Cardboard, pipe cleaners and pasta. You can do this!

And oh wow, if your littles like worksheets just Google. There are even FREE full curriculums online!

Sunday, February 8, 2015

unschool?

I'm creating this post quite simply because I wish I'd known about unschool years ago. And I'm sick, on my couch. So.
I do now, and when we know better, we do better. No cockiness intended. Really. I just feel sorry for putting my older kids in school. Sorta. It's part of my living and learning. And that, my friends, is unschool. Live and learn. And love. That is life. If you can manage all three l's, you're set for life.

Once upon a time, I had two kids. Boy was 5, off to kindergarten after being home with mommy. Girl goes off to kindergarten. Eventually the kids get a step brother, who is in first grade, and their little brother also goes off to kindergarten. See? We obeyed.

Four kids. Three different schools. Twirling, after school tutoring, broken arm, leg, foot, baseball, ballet, football, cheer, ortho, scuba, horse camp, asthma, camping, vacay, holidays and the skate park, spend the nights, the ex, his ex, custody, summer camp, we need groceries, dogs barking, bills, permission slips, teacher conferences, band practice, your teacher called, whatdoyoumeanourboycathadakitten, field trips, a fever, a rash, a ride here, there, everywhere and the bus is late so we're late to the check up and ohshit what's for supper, a project due WHEN?!

No. Why teach our children that chaos is life when it doesn't have to be?

We sorta landed here, to be honest. The freedom. Hubby and I worked, he worked full time, I worked part time. Ya know, what society teaches, yay for humpday, Friday, the weekend. Now he's a firefighter, 24/48's. Due to health/disabilty issues, I'm unable to work. Yeah, like Cajer isn't work. Ha. ;-) Yes you can live happily on one income. It's all about priorities.

Last night, Cajer wanted his daddy to.build a cave. So we learned about caves. We live near Wakulla Springs, we learned about underwater caves, and Mariana Caverns, and he decided daddy could build him a bunker type fort instead. Stay tuned!

To me, unschool is freedom. Freedom from expectations created by legislation. Freedom to learn on Saturday night or Wednesday morning. Freedom to learn how to count when it becomes necessary. Freedom to learn a new language or play the guitar. All of these things are needed. So why shove certain topics down my child's throat? Freedom to teach my child what I feel he should know. Like, his rights as an American, how he got those rights. How he can defend those rights. Where his food comes from, how God intended him to live.

The S Word

It never fails... the conversation usually starts something like this:

Random person: oh, you're 4! Are you excited to start big kid school next year?!

Cajer: (strange look) I learn all the time!

Me: we homeschool!

Random person: *gasp* but how will he ever be socialized?!

Blah, blah, blah. This is so not a concern of homeschool parents, not at all. I probably speak for most when I say I have to pick and choose activities and skip some to make sure we have plenty of down time.
I think that it's just a generational thing, most younger parents seem to accept it as simply another option. I chatted with a young mom the other day who was asking me about homeschool options in Florida; she said she and her husband felt strongly that their children not be exposed to public schools. They both want to raise their children without the insanity that public schools have become.

So, how do homeschool kids learn to interact with people? Let's see. I'll start close, family interactions are the foundation for how we learn to interact. Every family member from great grandparents to a new born sibling or cousin teaches children interaction. Personally, I like that Cajer will learn from such a great range of people, he interacts great with grandparents as well as with friends at co-op or his baby niece.

And oh how many people we see in a week. Everyone from the mailman to the doctor, UPS driver, people in traffic, his brothers friends, the neighbors, family friends, people on field trips, and on and on.

Exposure to life is how we learn.

I want to prevent exposure to certain things while possible. Would you allow your six year old to hang out all day with stories of parents in jail, this boy wets his pants and has bruises, this girl cries in class, and this boy says bad words and talks about sex... and each year brings new situations that need to be addressed at home to provide your child with the ability to understand and deal with every other child's problems. While attempting to learn what he's told he should be interested in. Yeah. No.

And hopefully you're blessed with a great teacher. Hopefully. I don't have a teaching certificate, (oh! I could make one!) but I know my boy and have no doubt I can provide better for him than an overworked, under appreciated, under paid teacher! (Disclaimer: I love several teachers. But I'm just not rolling the dice with so many teachers overseeing my boy's childhood.)

Bonfire with his girlfriends. Because life should always be fun!

A class for babies to learn to walk?

A baby is born. Provided with all she needs, she still desires to communicate. Momma responds to her squealing with love and nourishment. She learns that by making her need known, she will be provided with what she needs.

A year later she watches those around her walking, and desires to walk. We clap and cheer her on, and in no time she's exploring on her own two feet.

A year later she's saying words to communicate and make her needs known. We proudly write down her first words and encourage her to say more.

We read her books and sing songs, we splash in puddles and change her diapers and gently redirect when she tries to unplug the lamp or taste a penny, we prevent her from running into the road or pulling the cat's whiskers, we provide crayons and puzzles and well baby check ups and car seats. We visit the zoo, we offer healthy foods, we keep her safe and protected. We often hope we are doing it right.

Suddenly, she's four and we as parents are led to believe we no longer have the knowledge or ability to educate our children. They must learn in a school, spending days with similarly aged people led by one adult who clearly must be better at parenting, after all, this person has a college education, and that is what you must have, right?

Why? What changes? Why do we suddenly need to bus our children off so that a stranger can tell them that they need to learn this, that and the other? We don't tell a ten month old they are smarter than their peers when they walk, we don't tell a sixteen month old they are behind, slow, they need to catch up. But go talk to a six year old who struggles to read, they are "behind" and forced reading is imposed at home in an effort to catch said child up to the average. Now take another child who has very little interest in reading and unschool, and watch a love of reading develop at age seven as they decide they want to learn this new method of communication.

I believe we are born with a desire to learn. As parents, we can nurture this desire, or we can diminish it. We have done the public school thing with several older siblings and choose to nurture our youngest child's natural desire to learn.

Here's my grandgirl- walking and said "boat" and "utoh" over the weekend... without any classes or training! On her own schedule. Imagine that.

Building a cave

Cajer wants a cave. Yesterday we explored our land and settled on a great spot. We sat outside and drew up plans.

I think the greatest part of unschooling is that he has no idea that so much of society expects him to learn what, when, where, why and how... and he's proving that learning happens all the time but especially when he wants to. Yes, Saturday evening is a great time to learn about caves. Even five feet tall, forty mile long caves!

Adventures.

I need to get back in the swing of things. Blogging, anyway.

So. Here goes.

Hubby had training in Jacksonville and we took Cajer and the grands on an adventure. Cajer LOVES to explore!

We had a great time at the Hands On Children's Museum, chasing seagulls on the beach, exploring the zoo, breaking down on the side of the interstate... wait, no. That was not fun for us, but want to know something great? Cajer thinks it was fun. He said he had fun wrestling with Saylor, eating cookies and waving to cars. See? They are learning to make the best of what life throws at us.

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Can we go to the creek, pleeease momma?

I love outside lessons. There's a creek not far from our house, and my boys love, love, love being there. My youngest teen brings home pieces and parts to the creek, he's taught me more about that environment than I ever learned in a classroom. Did you know that crawfish mommas raise their babies for 6-7 years?

KCCO

This page is going to be one of a kind on my blog.

So....Let me start.... somewhere.

Hunter is 21, was two months shy of heading west to put his welding education and knowledge to use. (West, ha! Pretty much anywhere west of us covers the whole US of A ;-) ) Hey, we'd been telling him to go, be free while you can! He's a die hard Chiver!!! #KCCO

So, his buddy J was back home from a welding job, they go way back. Like, to preschool. The first time that J came over to play I had to get on to them for shooting (honest to God real) arrows straight up, and running to avoid certain impaled arrows. Sixteen years later, I still cringe but jeez, boys will be boys and all that. Ok, Labor Day. Boat. River. Friends.

My husband had just arrived home from his own several day stay in the hospital when J's girlfriend called me, Hunter had been in a four wheeler wreck, they found him unconscious near the woods and called 911. I hurriedly gathered up Cajer, my granddaughter and husband and we rushed to the hospital. We were met by a nurse who showed us to a very small room where my parents were already waiting. Long story short:

Within about 24 hours, we knew a lot: He is darn lucky to be alive. Every doctor who saw him told me that, Tom saw where he wrecked... God has plans for him still. I'm not surprised. Anyway...hearing about his injuries was overwhelming but so much nicer than hearing from the chaplains... although he had a TBI, it wasn't expected to be long term.(and it isn't!) He really just smashed the ever livin' hell outta the left side of his body: while still in the trauma bay he had his left leg put in traction (he got screwed. To the bed. They DO that.) as preparation for surgery in "the morning" which meant "four to six hours so we can make sure he's gonna live before we bother" /I often force my sarcasm upon others/sonotsorry. His face: eye socket, sinus cavity, jaw, ear were bone soup and he had lost his hearing. (Huh?!) His shoulder was damaged and left to heal, as was his broken hip. During the many tests done to search for damage they discovered a problem with his heart that requires surgery. No doctor in our area has done this surgery on an adult, so I'm currently trying to figure out what the options are for his surgery. He was in ICU for... 4 days? Then on the floor for two, when I was shocked at his release!!! (Seriously wth!) Apparently, in the medical world, if you're a jerk they do in fact hold it against you once you're not requiring the life sustaining services provided by ICU. In fact, they will band together like a village and go right to your doctor and next thing you know, you HAVE your bed, YOUR food. And your pain! Rough, rough time right there that brought our family together in amazing ways, really showed us God has this, we are just along for the ride. Put your helmet on! Things are still very hard, he has another X-Ray in two weeks to see how he's healing. He's in physical therapy twice a week, hour and a half driving for a half hour appt, thank God for blessing Hunter and me with Tom, he takes him since that much driving is rough on my back. If you'd like to donate please click here. We have a great friend who set up this account to help us through this time, as we have pretty much lost the lawn care business.

work those fingers!

This was initially a great thing to play with. However, I'm glad I didn't go all out painting and all, as it didn't take long for Cajer to show his slightly younger nephew how to shoot with rubber bands. I will make a similar one with fewer rubber bands.

I will be adding more ideas soon for increasing "finger skills" ;-)

Gypsy the Teaching Rottweiler

My assistant is a two year old 100 lb or so black lady. Love her! I had a can of magnetic paint that I got on clearance when I was pregnant with Cajer. It was pretty... lumpy! After a few cycles in the blender (that now resides in the landfill...) it worked great. I painted paper towel tubes and glued magnets on for a marble run. Cajer turned it in to a Dog Treat Dispenser and Gypsy was all too happy to help her student with this lesson on gravity, cause and effect and she even cleaned up the mess!

Yesterday, today, tomorrow... this month!

I made a Today Board and a monthly calendar. I'm still working on the special days: I Voted!, veterans day, thanksgiving, etc.

Learning about brush strokes

Painting is fun. Fingerpainting is messy fun. Try using different things to paint with: pinecones, sweet gum balls, hot wheels cars, spaghetti noodles.