A Day In The Life

Today we all woke up late - like after 8:00.  Daniel had to head off to work, so the boys and I had the responsibility to take the dogs to the dog park this morning.  If our dog Scotty doesn't get enough exercise, then our homeschooling day is spent following him around getting toys out of his mouth. 
The kids hate going to the dog park because there isn't a play structure.  They love dogs, but the dogs are almost always more interested in the other dogs than they are in my kids.
Anyway, Daniel remembers that my car is at my parents' house, so if Daniel drives to work we won't have a car.  He graciously offers to drive us (me, two kids and two dogs) to my parents' place to pick up the car and head to the dog park.  In half an hour.  No one has had breakfast, no one is dressed. 
But I think this will be easier for me than letting the kids take their time eating, getting dressed, etc.  They're going to whine about going to the dog park anyway, might as well get it over and done, rather than drag it out for half the morning while I get steadily louder and more aggravated because my kids aren't putting their shoes on because they need to do "just one more thing." 

We went to the dog park, no other dogs were there.  I threw a ball around for Scotty to get him to run, then we went home. 
As soon as we get home the kids ask me to help them make a paper toy - from a book our friends just gave us.  We work on that for a while, which consists of them getting pieces ready for me to fold and glue, then the kids play Super Mario Kart while I take a shower and make some calls.
Julian helps me unload the dishwasher while he tells me about Super Mario Kart.  They took a break for us to have lunch together (tuna salad), and we'll probably go to the park this afternoon with our boomerang. 
At some point I'll try to chop some carrots, celery and onions, and put them in the crock pot with a few other things (beans?) and that'll be dinner. 
Or I won't.
Not a focused day, but not a bad day. 
Now I'm going to call the Natural History Museum to see if we can volunteer!

Documenting the Learning

                                                    Racing the 12 Hours in the Wild West!

                                                                The Lego Waterfall

            Documenting the Learning is important so the child can see their progression through time, what they’ve loved, what they’ve avoided, and hopefully a glimpse into why certain things were loved and avoided.  It doesn’t have to be a strict paper trail, it could consist of many photographs, collections of the child’s work, journals the child keeps, journals the parent(s) keep, videos of plays written and performed, videos of musical performances, a record of community service hours, letters of recommendation from jobs, internships or volunteering, or even a record of chores the child has been responsible for.  These things are useful to the learner in seeing how they’ve grown and what their strengths and weaknesses are.  These things can also be useful when applying for college or a job or any endeavor.  Without formal schooling the unschooler doesn’t have the extensive "permanent record" complete with scores and grades that most children will accrue during their twelve years in school, so they need to see and show their growth and passions in different ways.  Of course, if one has been unschooling for long enough, this will be almost effortless (Disclaimer: May not be effortless). 

Capturing Teachable Moments

                                                         Ice cream comes out of here?!

            Modeling Learning All the Time (from my last post) leads right into Capturing Teachable Moments because if the parent is modeling learning and inquisitiveness, the child will be learning and inquisitive, so Teachable Moments will arise habitually.  Teachable Moments refers to direct teaching to the child when they show a direct interest in something.  This does not refer to “teaching them a lesson” when things go wrong or their behavior is somehow unacceptable for the situation at hand.  Often it refers to a child showing an interest in what an adult is doing, the adult slowing it down and walking them through it only as far as the child wants to go.  I know if I try to keep teaching once the child’s interest is gone the material will not get through. 

            In the home this could look like a parent changing the oil in their car and the child asking to help.  Depending on the age, skill level and interest of the child, the parent talks to them about what they are doing, allowing the learner to take part in as much of the process as possible.  Of course, not every single happening in the home can be accommodated in this way, but many things can be, what’s needed on the part of the parent is sometimes a colossal dose of patience. 

Modeling Learning All the Time

                                                                 Mmmmmmm....table.

Modeling Learning All the Time simply means that the parent or guardian must be engaged with the world in such a way that they are learning all the time.  In this way the child or children learn what it means to be curious about and in the world; they learn how to do real world research.  Maybe most importantly, they aren’t afraid of what they don’t know, in fact they learn to be excited by what they don’t know.  They are excited to ask questions and easily soak up the answers – sometimes even the first time they hear or see them.  One doesn’t need to use drills or flashcards when the learner has an intrinsic need to know something. 

I offer two examples of what this looks like in our home.  The children may see me researching new cookbooks to get at the library.  The children see me request a particular book be sent to our local downtown library.  Then they go with me to pick it up a few days later and notice me flipping through it once we’re home, they may even want to look at it with me and talk about what they see.  When I come across an ingredient I don’t know about, the children witness me looking it up in the index and, if needed, looking it up online.  They may even come over and join in at some point, asking about the ingredient, the recipe, or the process.  This is how children learn how to learn, just as children learn how to speak what is spoken to them and around them.