JennifersLost Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 My oldest ds (14, nearly 15) has been unschooling for nearly a month now. I was really jittery about it at first. So was he. He spent the first two weeks re-creating school for himself with "subjects". Now he's gotten into the swing of it. He's creating a flash timeline of world history for the website I'm (slowly) building. He's in the kitchen as we speak with his brother cooking dinner for us (his idea.) Yesterday I brought him to the store while he did the shopping - with his OWN money! He just wanted to make us a treat. He found a friend who plays flute and they're getting together to practice duets (he's on violin) - "just for fun". He set up a schedule to work through a grammar book in preparation for the SAT. He asked me to design an Earth Science course for him and I did, gladly. We're working together on Latin - we review, do some vocab, write out noun declensions and then work on translations for about fifteen to twenty minutes. And we're keeping up with history and Literature. But I'm so proud of him for the way he's organizing his time, keeping totally busy, completely coming up with his own schedule and ideas about what to do. This is going great so far. He's such a capable kid! Sorry - total brag, I know, but after my initial fears it feels so good to have it work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam "SFSOM" in TN Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 My oldest ds (14, nearly 15) has been unschooling for nearly a month now. I was really jittery about it at first. So was he. He spent the first two weeks re-creating school for himself with "subjects". Now he's gotten into the swing of it. He's creating a flash timeline of world history for the website I'm (slowly) building. He's in the kitchen as we speak with his brother cooking dinner for us (his idea.) Yesterday I brought him to the store while he did the shopping - with his OWN money! He just wanted to make us a treat. He found a friend who plays flute and they're getting together to practice duets (he's on violin) - "just for fun". He set up a schedule to work through a grammar book in preparation for the SAT. He asked me to design an Earth Science course for him and I did, gladly. We're working together on Latin - we review, do some vocab, write out noun declensions and then work on translations for about fifteen to twenty minutes. And we're keeping up with history and Literature. But I'm so proud of him for the way he's organizing his time, keeping totally busy, completely coming up with his own schedule and ideas about what to do. This is going great so far. He's such a capable kid! Sorry - total brag, I know, but after my initial fears it feels so good to have it work. Well, *I* think he's "Self-schooling." Because of his early discipline and his horror of the lack of schooling in a formal setting due to that heady taste of what real education promises him, he's now an autodidact. (Tell him that, and then ask him to fix your car. :D) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 I was thinking about you today as I was advocating unschooling in my geometry class. (I am a public school teacher.) My students were saying they wished they had a shorter day and just took their core classes at school. They are tired of the school's "electives." So I asked them what they wanted to study. And then we talked about how they could pursue those things both during geometry (because I am one of those strange people who sees the math in everything) and outside of school. Anyway, I think of your kids often when I am teaching. I always try to do a better job of differentiating and engaging than it sounds like your kids are exposed to. (That is a horrible sentence, and I am just not going to fix it.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdWTMer Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 Oh, that's soooo awesome. Congrats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tutor Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 Where is a happy dance avatar when you need it? Yay! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WTMindy Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 That says wonders about the job you have done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 You know, this is my dream for our high school years! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy in Orlando Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 We're moving in this direction with my older boys. It's awesome to hear it's going so well for you and your son. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 Kudos to your ds, and to you for having the courage to let him go. When I was just starting out 25 years ago, all the books I read were John Holt's, and his newsletter. SO inspiring! One of the "testimonies" I remember was of a teenager who had begun reading Louis L'Amour westerns (which some people dispise as being not real literature), which led to her wondering about U.S. history in that time period so she went to the library and researched it (this was before the Internet), which led to her being interested in early American history. At the time the mother wrote this letter, the daughter was memorizing the Preamble to the Constitution (or was it the Declaration of Independence?? One forgets...) How kewl was that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennifersLost Posted February 29, 2008 Author Share Posted February 29, 2008 How awesome that you are addressing your students in that way, both in that you are showing them how geometry relates to "life" and their interests, and that you were listening to their concerns and trying to help find "real" solutions. I mean, we aren't all going to homeschool, right? All kids need to have adults listening and talking to them about their ideas, wherever they are. I wish you were nearby and you could help my ds with geometry. I can't figure out where it fits in the Canadian math lineup, and he's ending up pretty much not getting to it anywhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faith Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 My oldest ds (14, nearly 15) has been unschooling for nearly a month now. I was really jittery about it at first. So was he. He spent the first two weeks re-creating school for himself with "subjects". Now he's gotten into the swing of it. He's creating a flash timeline of world history for the website I'm (slowly) building. He's in the kitchen as we speak with his brother cooking dinner for us (his idea.) Yesterday I brought him to the store while he did the shopping - with his OWN money! He just wanted to make us a treat. He found a friend who plays flute and they're getting together to practice duets (he's on violin) - "just for fun". He set up a schedule to work through a grammar book in preparation for the SAT. He asked me to design an Earth Science course for him and I did, gladly. We're working together on Latin - we review, do some vocab, write out noun declensions and then work on translations for about fifteen to twenty minutes. And we're keeping up with history and Literature. But I'm so proud of him for the way he's organizing his time, keeping totally busy, completely coming up with his own schedule and ideas about what to do. This is going great so far. He's such a capable kid! Sorry - total brag, I know, but after my initial fears it feels so good to have it work. I just love to hear unschoolers days! So exciting. We do that type of schooling here for the most part. I guess you would say we are very relaxed homeschoolers rather than unschoolers but I just love listening to your day. Thanks for sharing it. Sounds like your son is learning just great and in such a fun way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maria/ME Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 Very encouraging...this is what I, too, dream of for the future! I love success story's like these! I agree w/the poster who mentioned that it was due to early training! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.