The Unschooling Experiment.....

This week our family is going to try out "unschooling". If you are not familiar with unschooling, let me explain what my understanding of it is. It is, essentially, child-led learning. There are varying degree's of how to embrace this philosophy. As with any style of parenting, there are extremes to it. You have those parents that simply ask their children what they would like to learn and then they design a curriculum around that. Then, on the opposite end of the spectrum, you have those that allow their children to to choose whether to brush their teeth, decide what time they go to bed and let them do, basically whatever they choose. I am sure there are those that would say that you are not "unschooling" if you influence them in any way but, I liken that to saying that one is not a vegetarian if they eat fish. I don't want to offend anyone. I actually understand and respect those that choose the most radical of unschooling philosophies. I see how it may work. However, for this week, I am going about this approach in a more moderate fashion. I can only justify this by saying that, as a mom, you have to go with what feels right. I need some time to myself at night to stay sane so I enforce bedtimes.

So I had a talk with my children last week and explained to them that they had free reign this week. There would be no lists to check off, no schedules and that the world was their oyster. All that I asked of them was to limit their video gaming to one hour a day. They agreed. They are allowed to use the computer if they want to look things up or watch video's. The tv can also be used to explore a topic of their choosing. I know that there are things to learn through video gaming but, from what I can tell, my kids have no problem exploring that topic. Since we are limiting our unschooling experiment to a week or two(for now), I think it best to limit video games for our little unschooling trial. Just my personal decision. This morning, thus far, the kids slept in a little more than usual. Surprisingly, They all seem super enthusiastic about soaking in information this week. Nikolas jumped on the computer and is judiciously scouring the Internet for information on scorpions. Andreas is doing an experiment on static electricity and Lexi is tagging along with Nik as he watches videos on the Red Indian scorpion. So far, this is adventure is starting off exceptionally well! I will fill you in tonight about all the details. Wish us luck!

static electricity!!!!