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Semi-unschooling/coaching/facilitating educational opportunities


Rosy
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If you see yourself, at least part of the time, as an unschooler (a John Holt unschooler, not an anything goes type) or education facilitator or coach, what does that look like?

 

I'm about to give up on an experiment we've been doing for the last 9 or so months. I have a friend at co-op who has one of those super interesting, self-directed kids who takes a lot of initiative in his own learning (not so much the bookish stuff, but teaching himself to make/build/do things) and following his interests. I asked her what she did to encourage him and she said that she only did school 3 days a week when he was young and set goals for the days off for him to learn about the things that interested him.

 

We decided to try that and it's not working out the way I had hoped. My girls make lists of things they're interested in and would like to do or learn about, but when it comes time, they choose the easiest thing on the list. They play outside, watch documentaries, read books that are way too easy for them, do crafts, etc. I have no problem with any of these things, but I feel that these should be free time/recreational/weekend activities, not a substitute for school. Does that make sense?

 

I want my kids to be self-directed, but I also believe that they won't get there on their own...and I'm not sure how to help them get there. If you have kids who are interested and excited about learning for its own sake and don't have to be told to research an idea or historical period or a scientific principle or something, what have you done to encourage that?

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Just some random thoughts on it.

My first thought was that those self motivated kids are just that way-I have facilitated my kids and the same approach brings very different results from each of them.

 

But, I do try to talk a lot with them about their interests and ideas and try to have the appropriate materials/supplies/experiences lined up so that when their unstructured time comes, they have some things to readily pick up. I allow a certain amount of "easy" free stuff, since we all need that too.

 

It depends, too, on what your long term goals are for them, educationally. Are they looking to enter a more structured high school program, will they need scholarship money for college, or are they looking more at vocational, own business, art, farming, etc.

 

Being an educational coach is often lonely because everyone does it differently and gets different results, so beware of comparing.

Good luck with it all.

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I've struggled with this on and off. We were pretty unschool-y until about age 9. It worked well. She was/is a voracious reader, and can make a parade out of dust.

 

She rarely wanted to consider spelling, and I needed (I own this) her to understand the mechanices of writing, which doesn't come 'naturally', imo, as there are so many particulars you simply have to memorize. Spelling, ditto. She is a pretty good natural speller, but there are so many exceptions.

 

She also didn't pick up Algebra on her own. ;) Some kids might, but she didn't. She was getting a lot of history from reading, and she loved SOTW audios.

 

However, I do see the need for some formal sit down time. She wants to learn French, very much, but studying it is a often a pain. I told her, I want to be a master knitter-- by osmosis. I want the talent and knowledge without 10,000 hours of knitting. But learning some things just doesn't work by osmosis. I can't t let her out into the world without covering certain subjects. I am not an unschooler these days, although my child does choose the order in which to do subjects. But she can't not do math or other subjects. I gave up the Sandra Dodd ghost many, many years ago.

 

She can chase all the rabbit trails she wishes, and I will help when needed.

 

I recently sent my oldest homeschooler to college. There were things she absolutely had to know. She has come home from her uni classes saying things like, "I knew exactly what they were talking about in art history because we already did so much of that. It's all familiar." Now she can go deeper. She has the foundation. She says she sits up front, and participates regularly in all of her classes. She had to know enough Algebra and English to get decent SAT scores, even as an art major. She had to put together a proper art portfolio. She had to learn how to organize her work. She is excited and prepared.

 

I've read many stories about unschoolers going to college easily. I don't know any myself. I'm not exactly sure how they managed math SAT when they never did math. I know some schools don't require SAT etc. I don't know any colleges that don't require a transcript of some sort. I know a lot of relaxed hsers who have sent prepared kids off to college, however.

Edited by LibraryLover
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Well, when my dc were young, I didn't make lists, or have them make lists, of what they wanted to learn. That would negate the whole concept of their becoming self-directed in their learning. If they came up with the idea of makng lists, that would be different, but neither they nor I felt the need for that. I took us to the library every Wednesday, and on a field trip every Thursday; I introduced them to Camp Fire and Highland dance and 4-H, and we did those as long as they were interested (which was several years). I also signed them up for Missionettes at church. If I saw that their interests were going in a certain direction, I casually included what I could in our lives that would facilitate that, but I didn't make a big deal about it, and if it went away, it went away.

 

After 6 years, I started us on KONOS for a couple of years, and they enjoyed that. By then older dd was beginning to take classes at the community college, which Changed Everything.:lol:

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Thank you all for your responses. :)

Just some random thoughts on it.

My first thought was that those self motivated kids are just that way-I have facilitated my kids and the same approach brings very different results from each of them.

 

But, I do try to talk a lot with them about their interests and ideas and try to have the appropriate materials/supplies/experiences lined up so that when their unstructured time comes, they have some things to readily pick up. I allow a certain amount of "easy" free stuff, since we all need that too.

 

It depends, too, on what your long term goals are for them, educationally. Are they looking to enter a more structured high school program, will they need scholarship money for college, or are they looking more at vocational, own business, art, farming, etc.

 

Being an educational coach is often lonely because everyone does it differently and gets different results, so beware of comparing.

Good luck with it all.

Mum--I think the problem for us is that when the unstructured time comes, most of the things on their lists are too hard to make happen. Picking up a book is easy. Popping in a documentary is easy. My oldest will make epic lists of all the things she wants to do and learn about, and them not do anything on them. I'm not as worried about my younger girls, but I feel that by 6th grade we should be off of the path of least resistance.

 

I've struggled with this on and off. We were pretty unschool-y until about age 9. It worked fine, and she was a voracious reader, and can make a parade out of dust.

 

She rarely wanted to consider spelling, and I needed (I own this) her to understand the mechanices of writing, which doesn't come 'naturally', imo, as there are so many particulars you simply have to memorize. Spelling, ditto. She is a pretty good natural speller, but there are so many exceptions.

 

She also didn't pick up Algebra on her own. ;) Some kids might, but she didn't. She was getting a lot of history from reading, and she loved SOTW audios.

 

However, I do see the need for some formal sit down time. She wants to learn French, very much, but studying it is a often a pain. I told her, I want to be a master knitter-- by osmosis. I want the talent and knowledge without 10,000 hours of knitting. But learning some things just doesn't work by osmosis. I can't t let her out into the world without covering certain subjects. I am not an unschooler these days, although my child does choose the order in which to do subjects. But she can't not do math or other subjects. I gave up the Sandra Dodd ghost many, many years ago.

 

She can chase all the rabbit trails she wishes, and I will help when needed.

 

I recently sent my oldest homeschooler to college. There were things she absolutely had to know. She has come home from her uni classes saying things like, "I knew exactly what they were talking about in art history because we already did so much of that. It's all familiar." Now she can go deeper. She has the foudation. She says she sits up front, and participates regularly in all of her classes. She had to know enough Algebra and English to get decent SAT scores, even as an art major. She had to put together a proper art portfolio. She had to learn how to organize her work. She is excited and prepared.

 

I've read many stories about unschoolers going to college easily. I don't know any myself. I'm not exactly sure how they managed math SAT when they never did math. I know some schools don't require SAT etc. I don't know any colleges that don't require a transcript of some sort. I know a lot of relaxed hsers who have sent prepared kids off to college, however.

I have no intention of completely unschooling. We do 3 days of school per week, and that will continue. I completely see the value in structured, parent-led schooling. But I also want them to become self-directed when they have free time, and I don't think they can learn that if they don't have choices about what they're doing.

 

Well, when my dc were young, I didn't make lists, or have them make lists, of what they wanted to learn. That would negate the whole concept of their becoming self-directed in their learning. If they came up with the idea of makng lists, that would be different, but neither they nor I felt the need for that. I took us to the library every Wednesday, and on a field trip every Thursday; I introduced them to Camp Fire and Highland dance and 4-H, and we did those as long as they were interested (which was several years). I also signed them up for Missionettes at church. If I saw that their interests were going in a certain direction, I casually included what I could in our lives that would facilitate that, but I didn't make a big deal about it, and if it went away, it went away.

 

After 6 years, I started us on KONOS for a couple of years, and they enjoyed that. By then older dd was beginning to take classes at the community college, which Changed Everything.:lol:

I get that about the lists. It does seem a little ridiculous for me to direct them to become self-directed! :D On the other hand, if I left alone, they would not figure things out on their own. They would sit in front of the TV all day if I let them. So I provide boundaries to encourage good use of their time. But something seems to be missing, because they are still putting the least possible effort forward.

 

I'm mostly concerned about my 6th grader. If my younger girls want to do origami all day on their days off, fine. But I feel that a 6th grader should have some self-motivation. And she does in pretty much every other area, just not on her unstructured school days.

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If you see yourself, at least part of the time, as an unschooler (a John Holt unschooler, not an anything goes type) or education facilitator or coach, what does that look like?

 

I'm about to give up on an experiment we've been doing for the last 9 or so months. I have a friend at co-op who has one of those super interesting, self-directed kids who takes a lot of initiative in his own learning (not so much the bookish stuff, but teaching himself to make/build/do things) and following his interests. I asked her what she did to encourage him and she said that she only did school 3 days a week when he was young and set goals for the days off for him to learn about the things that interested him.

 

We decided to try that and it's not working out the way I had hoped. My girls make lists of things they're interested in and would like to do or learn about, but when it comes time, they choose the easiest thing on the list. They play outside, watch documentaries, read books that are way too easy for them, do crafts, etc. I have no problem with any of these things, but I feel that these should be free time/recreational/weekend activities, not a substitute for school. Does that make sense?

 

I want my kids to be self-directed, but I also believe that they won't get there on their own...and I'm not sure how to help them get there. If you have kids who are interested and excited about learning for its own sake and don't have to be told to research an idea or historical period or a scientific principle or something, what have you done to encourage that?

 

I think you have to be willing to accept a lot of down time when it looks as though they are doing nothing. During that time interests may be developing and I believe interest in and curiosity about the world drives self motivated learners. You can't really teach them that. You can help them find the ways to pursue those interests. I am not surprised your kids have more ideas than actual activity; orchestrating a large scale project is quite difficult. Dreaming about it and imagining the possibilities can be useful too though.

 

When we first started homeschooling I had a pretty standard view of what education should look like. Slowly this morphed for a variety of reasons and we ended up pretty relaxed. My boys grew into voracious learners, but rarely did their activities look like school. I was the one who had to change and accept that learning does not have to look like a worksheet.

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Guest submarines

 

I'm mostly concerned about my 6th grader. If my younger girls want to do origami all day on their days off, fine. But I feel that a 6th grader should have some self-motivation. And she does in pretty much every other area, just not on her unstructured school days.

 

I'm not sure unschooling approach could work on unstructured days off. I think a child needs much more time to fall into the groove of being self-motivated, and the waiting time could be uncomfortably long.

 

Meaningful learning doesn't happen in measured spurts, equal amounts every day. DD can spend 4-5 days, intensely focused on some kind of a project, academic or applied, when she learns what most probably learn in several months. Then there are weeks (or months) of much slower, less visible learning. This is when she has the time to think, to digest, and try out other things. I believe she's learning all the time, but the pace is quite uneven. She's 10, btw.

 

I do talk to her a lot about skills that I consider necessary. I sometimes get impatient and offer materials or activities with more fervor that I'd like. :001_huh: This hasn't really worked directly, but it does work in indirect ways. It takes her a while to process and to become comfortable with the idea. Then she finds her own way to work on those skills.

 

My own inclination, especially as she's the oldest, is to offer / push things too early (for her). I'm learning to realise that her academic schedule is somewhat behind the average in terms of starting certain activities / skills but then she catches up. A year ago I was a nervous wreck about spelling and tried to implement various activities and at least talked to her about it. Six months later I saw her working on spelling on her own, in her own way. Now she she's very, very good at spelling.

 

Right now I'm freaking out about writing. :tongue_smilie: I have a feeling she'll blossom with her writing in about 8-10 months from now. This has been our pattern for years. It is hard for me, but I believe it is the best way for her to learn--including my mini freak-outs, including our conversations, including me offering materials and her rejecting them and then finding her own way. I believe it is all a productive process for her and deepens her learning.

 

I think it is typical to just want to relax on days off, if there's assigned schol 3 days a week.

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Unschooling is very appealing to me because I have things of my own I want to do too. And I have a great role model - unschooling mom of 5 whose kids are just incredible. Self-motivated to learn, curious, interested in doing interesting stuff. That said, they have resources I don't have to encourage their kids in their pursuits. Money and/or space can be limiting factors in what we can provide our kids.

 

My kids are not self-motivated when it comes to things like math and a systematic study of science, but we have unschoolish areas. My son has learned an awful lot about aviation and weaponry on his own. We've never had a class about those things. And of course with that he's learned a good bit of history and science via books, documentaries, and such. Right now for a Scout project he's working on making atlatls, an ancient spear-type hunting tool, for an upcoming demo/competition at a camp. He's really getting into it. The motivation didn't exactly come from within (he was assigned it at a Scout meeting), but it wasn't a school assignment either.

 

My daughter spends a lot of time on photography, and we can see her improving greatly. Today she go the water colors out again, after neglecting them for a while.

 

So, we try to have a mix of school time and "productive down time" during our day. I do find I have to stay out of the way sometimes and not push unschooling on them, so to speak. I can't go out and buy everything they want/need for a project, but I do what I can to help them follow their interests.

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I took us to the library every Wednesday, and on a field trip every Thursday; I introduced them to Camp Fire and Highland dance and 4-H, and we did those as long as they were interested (which was several years). I also signed them up for Missionettes at church. If I saw that their interests were going in a certain direction, I casually included what I could in our lives that would facilitate that, but I didn't make a big deal about it, and if it went away, it went away.

 

It's sort of like this with us. We do have our assigned work but I do believe that curricula is just one small portion of how kids learn.

 

We go to the library regularly and pick out books to read together and alone. We watch documentaries, go on frequent outings and field trips, play games.

 

I encourage varied extracurricular activities and let the kids do them for as long as they are interested. For my daughter right now that's judo, which she's been doing for almost two years, Girl Scouts, which she's been doing for over five years, guitar lessons, which she's been taking for about a year, library book club, periodic homeschool bowling leagues, etc.

 

If she has an interest in something, I try to figure out how it can be pursued. She wants to be a tattoo artist like her dad, so we send her to work with him sometimes. She expressed interest in theater and acting, so I took her to audition for a small local play. She loves artsy things so I sign her up for summer art camps each year. She is starting to be interested in photography so I let her use my camera to take pics. She likes rocks so she collects them, I got her a rock tumbler, look for free programs at local state parks regarding rocks and minerals. Sometimes it's just about trying different things and helping them find out what they happen to be interested in or good at!

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I get that about the lists. It does seem a little ridiculous for me to direct them to become self-directed! :D On the other hand, if I left alone, they would not figure things out on their own. They would sit in front of the TV all day if I let them. So I provide boundaries to encourage good use of their time. But something seems to be missing, because they are still putting the least possible effort forward.

If you turn off the TV, they cannot vegetate in front of it.

 

And if they're putting the "least possible effort forward," well, that's their decision. You don't have to play into that by allowing screens, but if you're going to give them freedom to make choices, then you have to let them do that.

 

I'm mostly concerned about my 6th grader. If my younger girls want to do origami all day on their days off, fine. But I feel that a 6th grader should have some self-motivation. And she does in pretty much every other area, just not on her unstructured school days.

But if it's an "unsctructured day off," then she gets to decide what to do, yes? Well...

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Sometimes it's just about trying different things and helping them find out what they happen to be interested in or good at!

 

I want to expose my kids to as many things as possible to see what will spark an interest. Some interests last a while, some are brief.

 

About tv-watching (from another pp); if we have a day off, it's a day off and if the kids want to watch 3 episodes of Monk and play x-box, they can. If it's a "school day" they can't have the tv or x-box on between 8 am and 4 pm, unless we are watching something on the tv, like a lecture or documentary. The computer can be used only for school work. So, if I release them from "school" early - I've done all I care to do for the day, and they haven't anything else they need to do - they still have to entertain themselves productively. So, they'll be reading, watching a Great Courses lecture on a topic of interest, taking photos of bugs in the backyard, or researching ancient weaponry. Sometimes 4pm will come and go and they're still at it. Sometimes, that x-box goes on right at 4! (I think that's when my son's friends are released too.)

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Thank you, everyone. I feel like I'm closer to where I need to be now. I probably need a combination of relaxing when they don't make the choices I would make and helping them set goals and plan how they're going to achieve them. It makes sense to me that they'll be more self-motivated after they've had some victories (i.e. "I worked hard on that thing I wanted to do and it turned out really well!").

 

I think you have to be willing to accept a lot of down time when it looks as though they are doing nothing. During that time interests may be developing and I believe interest in and curiosity about the world drives self motivated learners. You can't really teach them that. You can help them find the ways to pursue those interests. I am not surprised your kids have more ideas than actual activity; orchestrating a large scale project is quite difficult. Dreaming about it and imagining the possibilities can be useful too though.

 

When we first started homeschooling I had a pretty standard view of what education should look like. Slowly this morphed for a variety of reasons and we ended up pretty relaxed. My boys grew into voracious learners, but rarely did their activities look like school. I was the one who had to change and accept that learning does not have to look like a worksheet.

<deep breath> You're probably right. :D

 

Unschooling is very appealing to me because I have things of my own I want to do too. And I have a great role model - unschooling mom of 5 whose kids are just incredible. Self-motivated to learn, curious, interested in doing interesting stuff. That said, they have resources I don't have to encourage their kids in their pursuits. Money and/or space can be limiting factors in what we can provide our kids.

 

My kids are not self-motivated when it comes to things like math and a systematic study of science, but we have unschoolish areas. My son has learned an awful lot about aviation and weaponry on his own. We've never had a class about those things. And of course with that he's learned a good bit of history and science via books, documentaries, and such. Right now for a Scout project he's working on making atlatls, an ancient spear-type hunting tool, for an upcoming demo/competition at a camp. He's really getting into it. The motivation didn't exactly come from within (he was assigned it at a Scout meeting), but it wasn't a school assignment either.

 

My daughter spends a lot of time on photography, and we can see her improving greatly. Today she go the water colors out again, after neglecting them for a while.

 

So, we try to have a mix of school time and "productive down time" during our day. I do find I have to stay out of the way sometimes and not push unschooling on them, so to speak. I can't go out and buy everything they want/need for a project, but I do what I can to help them follow their interests.

That is exactly how I want my kids to be! How do you encourage their interests? How did your son's interests in aviation and weaponry develop?

 

If you turn off the TV, they cannot vegetate in front of it.

 

And if they're putting the "least possible effort forward," well, that's their decision. You don't have to play into that by allowing screens, but if you're going to give them freedom to make choices, then you have to let them do that.

 

 

But if it's an "unsctructured day off," then she gets to decide what to do, yes? Well...

 

I don't allow screens during the "school day", and after that it's pretty much only if their chores are done and the neighbor kids aren't around. We have a lot of activities, too. I know, I know, if I let her decide I have to be ok with her deciding. :)

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That is exactly how I want my kids to be! How do you encourage their interests? How did your son's interests in aviation and weaponry develop?

 

I dunno. He's a boy? :lol:

 

Sorry, I know that's not helpful and not all boys are into aviation and weaponry. Since he was little he has been fascinated with machines, particularly airplanes. When we'd go to the library, he'd look for books on the topic. Later he became interested in military history and weaponry.

 

Here's a story for you: at a family reunion a few years back (I think when my son was 8) he was sitting at a table with his great-uncle, who had been a pilot in Viet Nam. Also at the table were 2 brothers (distant cousins to my husband) who were the only other homeschooled kids in the family. They were talking animatedly about airplanes and such. The uncle was clearly delighted with their interest.

 

Later, when the kids were in bed and the adults were sitting around chatting, he was telling everyone how much the kids knew about aviation and such. He was surprised at their knowledge, then said "guess they learned it in school."

 

I wasn't in a position to pipe up and say "they're all homeschooled!" but I've never forgotten that moment. And all I did was provide books (mostly library), some documentaries, and museum experiences.

 

But, you know, I still get the rolling eyes when it's time to do math, even though the kid understands all too well that aviation engineers do a lot of... math. And composition? :lol::lol::lol: Historians need to be able to write.

 

So, unschooling for us only works to a point. There is still mommy-directed learning going on.

Edited by marbel
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Btw, I think origami is a worthwhile pursuit! Folding skill increase with practice, plus it develops intuitive geometric understanding. :)

If one if my kids enjoyed origami, I'd get books on tan grams, geometry based stories, etc., but I wouldn't expect them to necessarily pursue a systematic study of geometry on their own. It could happen though. My kids did pursue science on their own--enough so that DS in grade 10 enrolled in AP Physics without previously taking any other physics classes. But that is his particular area of interest. He didn't delve into any independent study of art or music.

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The origami I don't mind. :) That was my 2nd grader. She and my 3rd grader have been working on a play all afternoon. They wrote a script and are doing the blocking now. DD11 tends to have the big and hard-to-implement ideas. I had her make a schedule for the week and I think I'll try to push her with a few of the ideas to go further than she would have otherwise.

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DD11 tends to have the big and hard-to-implement ideas. I had her make a schedule for the week and I think I'll try to push her with a few of the ideas to go further than she would have otherwise.

 

At that age, maybe you can help her learn some project management skills?

 

My parents would sponsor all my unschooling projects. My mum expects me to give her a draft of my project proposal, list of items that needs to be purchase and a budget. That means I have to go to the stores and do a survey on prices as well as work out what on my list cannot be store bought.

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Thank you all for your responses. :)

 

 

I have no intention of completely unschooling. We do 3 days of school per week, and that will continue. I completely see the value in structured, parent-led schooling. But I also want them to become self-directed when they have free time, and I don't think they can learn that if they don't have choices about what they're doing.

 

 

I get that about the lists. It does seem a little ridiculous for me to direct them to become self-directed! :D On the other hand, if I left alone, they would not figure things out on their own. They would sit in front of the TV all day if I let them. So I provide boundaries to encourage good use of their time. But something seems to be missing, because they are still putting the least possible effort forward.

 

I'm mostly concerned about my 6th grader. If my younger girls want to do origami all day on their days off, fine. But I feel that a 6th grader should have some self-motivation. And she does in pretty much every other area, just not on her unstructured school days.

 

 

I am not judging your experiences, as I know how difficult it was for me to impose some specfic work. My children have never been the type to sit and watch TV all day, so I never dealt with that. (Why I never got cable.) However, I understand. I feel very comfortable letting the under 10 learn from life, reading, working around the house, shopping, cooking, playing computer geography games etc etc. I wanted my young children to have hours and hours of freedom. As they get older, it feels right to me to teach them, or to help them get what they need to make choices for their future.

 

Their passions came from their freedom and inborn talent & desire, although not the fine-tuning. The art, the ballet, the music etc had to have porfessional attention as time passed. It's not great fun to do 100 crunches, or work at the barre for 90 minutes, or play scales, or sketch hundreds of still -lifes. Of course, I never forced the passion, but I did have to encourage through the rough spots. You can't give up something you love during the trying houors. You work through them, and the joy and pride follows.

 

I think there is a fine line between pushing and encouraging. Dh and I talk about this often. We can see what they love. We can see when they are tired. We can see when all they have eaten is a cookie for breakfast, and it's now 1pm. ;) ( Bleck. Hate that.)

 

My youngest truly desires to learn French. She is a ballet dancer, and hears French on a daily basis. She wants to go to France. She imagines taking master classes in Paris. I don't know if/when that can happen, but to do so, she wants to know the grammar, have greater vocabulary, have a decent accent etc. So we study French together. She sometimes gets frustrated. She sometimes says she doesn't want to do it. Sometimes she sheds a few tears. As a hsing parent, I have to weigh desire with degree of difficulty, and help her understand that it really will become easier with time, exposure, and *practice." On days she can't think straight or is exhausted, we put in a movie dubbed in French or with French subtitles.

 

I learned later that I feel obligated to help prepare my kids for what will follow. It's not that I don't trust, it's that I do believe my job is to help prepare them for the future, so they feel competant to do what they need/want to do in their lives. I know it must come from within. It know it is not my job to teach them everything, and passions cannot be forced. I respect my children, I want them to follow their interests. I want to encourage, and not have them end up frequently in a puddle of tears.

Edited by LibraryLover
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If you have kids who are interested and excited about learning for its own sake and don't have to be told to research an idea or historical period or a scientific principle or something, what have you done to encourage that?

 

I'm not any sort of unschooler (those of you who know me may laugh now,) but the "coaching/facilitating educational opportunities" in your title intrigued me, because I do a lot of that...

 

I have kiddos just like this (your quote.) Current examples: My oldest spent the morning at the public library reading the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology ($3,000 for the set, she has to read it there. :D) She was copying sketches out for vision tracking systems (or something like that.) My middle taught herself Trigonometry this summer in order to enroll in Calculus, and she is currently coaching herself for math competitions. My little guy is cataloguing all of the life in our backyard and the adjoining field: sketching, researching, etc. They always have one or more personal projects going: Arduino, programming, arts, music, historical reading, etc.

 

I don't think it has anything to do with schooling style personally. My parents raised me like that, and I was in public school. I think the two biggest factors have been (1.) modeling this interest for them and (2.) supporting the interests with our time and money.

 

We also didn't make lists, and we also turned off the TV (by law for many years, though now the olders have free access but never watch it.) There were no school days and days off. We do some school work six days a week, we fill in a lot of time with activities and planned things, and then the rest of the time is spent in useful free time (I could write a whole 'nother post about my opinions on the history of "leisure time." :D)

 

I always helped a LOT in the beginning of an interest. We did a bit of reading and watching, but mostly we would go seek out experts, experiences, places to visit, etc. It took more help with some of my dc than others; as someone else said, it depends on their personality how much help and leading it requires. I think all kiddos can get there, though.

 

Anway, I could go on and on, but I'm not sure I'm supposed to be in this thread to begin with, so I'll end there. :D

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At that age, maybe you can help her learn some project management skills?

 

My parents would sponsor all my unschooling projects. My mum expects me to give her a draft of my project proposal, list of items that needs to be purchase and a budget. That means I have to go to the stores and do a survey on prices as well as work out what on my list cannot be store bought.

Yes, I think the project management skills are exactly what she needs...not just to get me off her back, but to prepare her for adulthood.

 

I'm not any sort of unschooler (those of you who know me may laugh now,) but the "coaching/facilitating educational opportunities" in your title intrigued me, because I do a lot of that...

 

I have kiddos just like this (your quote.) Current examples: My oldest spent the morning at the public library reading the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology ($3,000 for the set, she has to read it there. :D) She was copying sketches out for vision tracking systems (or something like that.) My middle taught herself Trigonometry this summer in order to enroll in Calculus, and she is currently coaching herself for math competitions. My little guy is cataloguing all of the life in our backyard and the adjoining field: sketching, researching, etc. They always have one or more personal projects going: Arduino, programming, arts, music, historical reading, etc.

 

I don't think it has anything to do with schooling style personally. My parents raised me like that, and I was in public school. I think the two biggest factors have been (1.) modeling this interest for them and (2.) supporting the interests with our time and money.

 

We also didn't make lists, and we also turned off the TV (by law for many years, though now the olders have free access but never watch it.) There were no school days and days off. We do some school work six days a week, we fill in a lot of time with activities and planned things, and then the rest of the time is spent in useful free time (I could write a whole 'nother post about my opinions on the history of "leisure time." :D)

 

I always helped a LOT in the beginning of an interest. We did a bit of reading and watching, but mostly we would go seek out experts, experiences, places to visit, etc. It took more help with some of my dc than others; as someone else said, it depends on their personality how much help and leading it requires. I think all kiddos can get there, though.

 

Anway, I could go on and on, but I'm not sure I'm supposed to be in this thread to begin with, so I'll end there. :D

 

That totally makes sense. I appreciate your perspective!

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