Ginevra Posted June 28, 2010 Share Posted June 28, 2010 Just interested in the experiences of others. :) And I'll start by saying I was more in the unschooling direction when I began, with my oldest in K. I always had a math curriculum (I'm not mathy) and we on-purpose "did school" most days, but I used very little curriculum and a lot of read-alouds at first. I started to become increasingly structured when oldest was around 3rd or 4th grade. It was plain to me how much more completely she learned the curriculum, on-purpose things than the unstructured child-led things. (Not across the board in every way, but for the most part. The child still has horrid handwriting and I attribute that to my lack of standards in learning it well.) Now my oldest is entering 8th, and I have one entering 5th and a new K this year. By now, I'm quite structured and purchase curriculum for nearly everything. What are your experiences? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lllll Posted June 28, 2010 Share Posted June 28, 2010 .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geek Posted June 28, 2010 Share Posted June 28, 2010 I've done some of each, but the overall trend has been from less structure to more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternalknot Posted June 28, 2010 Share Posted June 28, 2010 I don't think I've changed too much, but then again I was never at one extreme or the other. I'm not, by nature, a structure-loving person but my kids respond well to some semblence of it. We've always tiptoed the fence between non-structured and too-structured, just sort of going with the everyday flow and tweaking here and there if we drift too far towards one direction or the other. Mine are entering Kindergarten and 4th grade in the Fall, and have always been home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlessedMom Posted June 28, 2010 Share Posted June 28, 2010 I've always stayed pretty consistently structured but flexible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaMamaMama!! Posted June 28, 2010 Share Posted June 28, 2010 Um we've been a routine family since birth. I tend to crave structure to some degree. So I've just become gradually more relaxed but still very structured. I am NOW to not do everything a TM says.. But I still do about 95% of everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommyfaithe Posted June 28, 2010 Share Posted June 28, 2010 How about a seasonal wave. I go from very unstructured to structured and back again depending on season, babies being born, resistance to structured school which may result in a looser or stricter schedule depending on the child's needs. Life is a learning experience, and sometimes we are extremely academic and sometimes we need time to grow and digest what we have learned. Faithe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veritaserum Posted June 28, 2010 Share Posted June 28, 2010 I've definitely become much more structured over time and I've also had more children. I think the two are related. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Robyn Posted June 28, 2010 Share Posted June 28, 2010 Just interested in the experiences of others. :) And I'll start by saying I was more in the unschooling direction when I began, with my oldest in K. I always had a math curriculum (I'm not mathy) and we on-purpose "did school" most days, but I used very little curriculum and a lot of read-alouds at first. I started to become increasingly structured when oldest was around 3rd or 4th grade. It was plain to me how much more completely she learned the curriculum, on-purpose things than the unstructured child-led things. (Not across the board in every way, but for the most part. The child still has horrid handwriting and I attribute that to my lack of standards in learning it well.) Now my oldest is entering 8th, and I have one entering 5th and a new K this year. By now, I'm quite structured and purchase curriculum for nearly everything. What are your experiences? My experience thus far has been a lot like yours. I hope to get a little less structured in the future (or at least use less curricula that are written for me), but right now I feel I need to purchase curricula or we won't get enough accomplished in a year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jld Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 I started out as an unschoooler, but dd insisted on more structure as she got older. I find WTM inspiring, and certainly see the benefits of parent-imposed structure, but I think I will probably always be an unschooler at heart.:) I just have a hard time forcing things on people, especially small people, when they really don't want them, and aren't truly ready to appreciate them. It sure is a struggle, though, as tight parental control really can be efficient, at least in the short term . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 We went from fairly unstructured, not at all un-schooling, eclectic to full enrollment with a correspondence school. It was a hard adjustment for me, but dd is loving the structure. I miss the freedom of lots of field trips, fewer weeks of school, etc.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chubbyhugs Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 This is my first post. Dd is 14, and we started home schooling since she was born. From K-3 it was unstructured with me reading aloud to her from library books, using manipulatives mostly for math concepts, spending time in the backyard garden for science. We did use Horizons and Singapore Math from 1-5. From 4-6 we started using grammar workbooks which was hit and miss. Now she is using two textbooks and doing tests (science and math) in addition to reading books for history and literature. Mostly she reads. We still do the read aloud every night. We plan to do the same through high school home school which she'll start in August although it will be more structured because she'll do tests in all subjects, and more writing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommyof4ks Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 We were very structured and went less structured, because I did not leave room for 'chasing rabbits'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzanne in ABQ Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 Our experience has been the same as yours. We are much more structured now (just finished 6th and 8th grades) than we were when the kiddos were little. We have a little K-er coming up now, though, and I'm quite unstructured with her. Still, she's like a little sponge and picks us everything, almost without instruction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CarolineUK Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 We only started homeschooling DS5 and DS9 last September and started out 'unschooling' as that seems to be the dominant educational philosophy amongst UK home education organisations (I was told "if you home educate and do 'school at home' then you're missing the point"). After three months of wild, shouting boys who refused to have anything to do with any of the ideas I tried to interest them in, I was ready to send them back to school (I was told "Oh, they're just deschooling"). Out of desperation I bought TWTM (I'd intially thought it looked far too serious and rather scary!). Since then we've followed TWTM fairly closely and the structure has been a wonderful relief - and, yes, the boys have been a lot happier too. Nowadays the very thought of unschooling brings me out in a cold sweat of anxiety! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginevra Posted June 29, 2010 Author Share Posted June 29, 2010 Since then we've followed TWTM fairly closely and the structure has been a wonderful relief - and, yes, the boys have been a lot happier too. Nowadays the very thought of unschooling brings me out in a cold sweat of anxiety! I found that, too. My kids respond better to structure than to an over-abundance of free time. (This would even be true of myself.) I think there is something to be said for practicing the discipline of chipping away at learning something, like math, or the violin. Something that ordinarily, for most people, requires applied and consistent effort over a long period of time. The most radical unschoolers don't have anything like that in place, IME. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnowWhite Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 We started off very structured and are moving less structured. I am more 'comfortable in my skin' and less worried I won't get enough accomplished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dayle in Guatemala Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 We started out completely structured (BJU press for 1st and 2nd grade) and it was miserable for us. Not because the curriculum was bad, just not right for us. I met a friend who mentored me and took me under her wing and I found Konos. Which we LOVED and did for about 4 years. Very unstructured as far as we could do what we liked and choose our activities. We read and read and read real books. It was wonderful! Then we moved to Guatemala and the lack of a library made it impossible to do what we had been doing. So, we are back to a happy medium of the 2 methods. We are more structured, but, we leave room for exploration and activity when we decide to branch out a little. It's a good fit for us! There are definite lesson plans and goals, but, we do leave room for going off into a different direction if we are wanting to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SailorMom Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 We started out (1st and 2nd grade) rather unstructured - doing math, read alouds, and unit studies about anything the boys found interresting unsing library books, field trips, and art (space, dinosaurs, caves...). Every year, we became more and more structured. That being said - we still add days of chaos in occasionally :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StartingOver Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 In our family we are pretty child led in the beginning. Right now we do what the children wish to do. By 3rd we get more structured. We finish highschool in my house before each child turns 17, so the 4 years before then are individually very structured. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lllll Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 Unstructured to structured. :001_smile: Turns out my kids thrive with a predictable structure. Goes against my go with the flow personality so I have to work at it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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