Unschooling - So Far, So Good

Just one month ago, we reformatted our home school to an unschool. Gone are the math and grammar books, and a structure to rival boot camp. In their place are robotics and classics such as Gulliver's Travels. We're doing a unit study on Zombie Fire Ants with another home school family and we call it Tuesday School. How is it going? Not too bad.

When we first started this experiment, David had the idea that unschool was synonymous to self-indulgence, ie. doing whatever he wanted however he wanted to do it and whenever he felt like it. LOL, right? I've read some great blogs about unschooling and the wonderful things that kids with a working executive function are doing. This will not be the case with a boy who would be supremely content to play video games all day. For our unschool to work, it is necessary to build in parameters lest the entire day, week, month and life fritter away before our very eyes. There are limits on video games, limits on television, bedtimes and morning alarms. Without some structure and expectations, the possiblities for never moving past the 7th grade would be enormous. 

So, once again, how's it going? Not too bad. He has built 25 Lego NXT robots in the last 30 days. At this very moment, he is testing an electronic measuring tape. He measured a large box and is converting the metric measurements of the NXT to compare them to the standard measurements of our Stanley measuring tape. The only thing I've done was to google the conversion table and tell him that 1 inch equals 2.54 cm. He is testing the accuracy of the NXT measuring tape. Results? It's accurate.

The Lego NXT robotics kit has consumed most of his waking time. He is learning how to follow intricate construction instructions and programming basics. More than that, he has been learning frustration tolerance from an instructor and a methodology that I could never in a million years implement. There are a hundred things that can go wrong when building and programming a robot. When it doesn't work, he has to retrace his steps and look for the errors. When he was first starting, he made many errors and became quickly overwhelmed with frustration and anger. I would simply encourage him to go back through the steps and find what he had missed. In many cases, it was something simple and, once fixed, it worked. In the past, he allowed his frustration to overwhelm him and things ended up broken from being pounded on or bitten. This is a common ADHD response to frustration.

However, he is not been willing to take his frustration out on an item for which he worked so long and so hard to get and would be so hard to replace. Now, he takes a deep breath and begins to retrace his steps to find the error. He's learning to control his frustration, not let it control him. Without me! It's a beautiful win-win!!

In the beginning, I had to keep telling myself to relax and trust the process. And, in fact, we are still early in the process. The only thing he's been interested in is the NXT and, at times, I've allowed myself to be a bit too concerned about it. But, then, something like this will transpire and I know that I should just relax: we were reading an item together and a reference was made to the judicial, legislative and executive branches of government. Since we haven't had too much American history or political science, I wasn't sure what he knew about it and decided on an impromptu quiz.

"So, what is the judicial branch of the United States government?" I asked.

"The Supreme Court," he said.

"What is the legislative branch?"

"Uh, Congress?" he answered rather hesitantly.

"Very good, David! And, what is the executive branch?" I asked.

"The President!" he triumphantly replied.

"How do you know this?" I wondered.

"I don't know, Mom. I think it's because I watch the news with you and Dad."

So far, so good!

Cheers,

leapinlily

Two Weeks into Unschooling

It has been nearly two weeks since our official declaration of unschool. Two weeks ago I was a mixed bag of emotions. On the one hand, I was ready for a change and so was David. On the other hand, I was unsure of where we were going with unschooling. I've read much about it and am convinced of it philisophically. Yet, I found myself nervous and unsure of the decision that I was making.

What Works For One

This morning it occurred to me that my last post about unschooling might indicate a disdain for the more typical homeschool format involving structure and curriculum. For any that might be reading this blog and might think that is how I feel about home school as most of us know it, I would like to set the record straight.

My personal vantage point on children, school and life in general includes 4 children, 5 step children (only one legally at this time and forever more), a family home daycare, public school, homeschool, more than one marriage and a variety of disorders. I've been on both sides of a couple of fences and I've known a lot of children who were growing and learning in a variety of circumstances. Mine has not been a singular kind of experience. However, I will only speak of the children that I grew.

The First Day of Our New School

It is the first day of school. Or, rather, should I say unschool?

For the last several weeks, we have been on break. By the time our break came David and I were both completely fed up with our daily life together. For months, we have been struggling with our school at home. The tools of our school - goals and plans, math books and grammar programs, carrots and sticks - have not been working. We had given up on "meeting at the table" - our term for the daily 9 a.m. appointment at our kitchen table to begin our day of school. We were deadlocked in boredom and frustration and our homeschool was dead in the water.

What's the recurring word in that last statement? oh, yeah - DEAD!

Unschooling?

There's an idea brewing in my head. As I look over the journal that is my blog, I find a recurring theme of frustration and burnout. What has not been mentioned is the boredom that David is experiencing. What I have been doing with my school is not working any better than the public school that David left. Not only have I not lit a fire, I have not even been filling the bucket! (see my mission statement) I have been very busy these last few days devising a new plan. In the past our plan has been mapped out in a planner with a task list for each day. The new plan includes time frames, in half hour increments, for each subject matter. This is my plan to get the work done. Oh my... really??

Routine and structure are the enigmas of our life. It doesn't come naturally for us. I keep thinking that it is the way that we will accomplish what needs to be done but it just doesn't happen. It never has for me. Ever.

So, what if? What if we tried unschooling? What if Dad and I supported anything that David was interested in learning?

What if we actually asked him what he would like to learn?

What if the tv stayed off and video games were relegated to weekends? Now, mind you, there is a real issue with the tv staying off. I, for one, happen to like it on. I'm a listener. I work while it's on. David, on the other hand, is watcher. He cannot have the tv on and do something else at the same time – not even toast a bagel. Tv on = burned bagel. Turning off the tv is going to hurt me more than it's going to hurt him but it will save the bagels.

I digress. What if the tv stayed off and video games were relegated to the weekends? I think, with time (only a little time, not a lot), that things would start to change. For both of us.

David worked for and finally purchased a Lego Mindstorm NXT robot kit. What if he was allowed TIME to completely investigate the NXT? What if he finished the story that he started writing six months ago and I helped him illustrate it and bind it into a real book? What if we listened to an audio book? What if he cooked at least once a week? What if he made an chef's apron to wear while he cooked our meal? What if we watched Planet Earth and other documentaries on DVD? What if we did a unit study with another home school family? What if we tossed the books for the next five months and really dived into hands on learning?

What if we learned and stayed sane and had fun - all at the same time?

I think I might be on to something...

Cheers,

leapinlily