Unschooling is learning in which the child takes the lead. The child learns at his own pace and according to his own schedule. So, is it possible to unschool your children using your schedule? And, if it is possible, is it desirable?
My view is that it is possible to unschool while also referring to a number of schedules. This is how I unschool and the key is in the goal-setting.
Base your schedule on your child's abilities and interests.
Set goals for your children and think of interesting and fun ways of achieving them. Discuss these goals with your children. Explain why you think the goals are important. It's really important that you and your children agree on the goals that you are working towards.
Unschooling means that children have a lot of control over their own education. They have a lot of freedom. My children have the freedom to choose specific activities in their unschooling day. A part of my job as an unschooling parent is to keep my children's activities aimed toward achieving their goals. Unschooling is successful when both the parent and children are heading in the same direction.
The goals can be specific or general depending on the context. The more long-term goals can be fairly general, whereas the short-term goals should be quite specific.
My children are aged 5 years and 3 and a half years at the moment. The current specific short-term goals I have for them are:
- learn to count up to 50
- add numbers up to 10
- subtract numbers from 10
- learn to read
- associate phonological sounds with letters
- learn to write letters of the alphabet
- speak more clearly eg work on "sh" sound
We have a flexible schedule which we refer to every day. The specific goals just mentioned are worked on daily according to this schedule:
|
Daily Unschooling Schedule |
Maths
| Count up to 50
Add and subtract objects (up to/from 10)
Maths CD-ROM |
Reading
| Letter Play
- learn weekly phonological sound
eg "un"
- free letter play
Phonics/Reading CD-ROM
Read some books |
| Writing | Writing practice
- one letter per week (see Writing Schedule in "Learning to Write" section)
- colouring-in or drawing |
| Singing | Educational and fun songs |
| Exercise | Dancing/Yoga/Running/Kicking a ball/Jumping, etc. |
| Free Play | |
As short-term goals are conquered, new goals can be set. My children's education will always be in a state of flux and so will my schedule.
There is no set time when a specific activity is done. The schedule is flexible and this flexibility really adds to the fun of unschooling, in my opinion. Each day is for living and is different. In unschooling, variety really is the spice of life.
While the more important goals are unchanging, the ways in which your children work towards achieving them can change. The more variety, the better. This is where your children can really experience the joy to be found in having more responsibility in their education. They have the freedom to choose which activity they will do for that day, as they work towards a particular goal.
Try to think of many different ways to achieve each goal. Ask your children for suggestions. I'm constantly surprised at the wonderful ideas my boys come up with.
One example is how my boys work towards their goal of learning to write the letters of the alphabet. There are a number of activities which they have the option of doing:
- tracing letters using the letter tracing sheets (see "Learning to Write" section)
- colouring-in using crayons or coloured pencils - colouring books or pictures printed off the internet
- tracing shapes
- tracing pictures from books using tracing paper
- drawing
- doodling
- writing with chalk on the vertical blackboard
- writing with chalk on the small horizontal blackboard
- writing with chalk on concrete
- watching my writing movements on paper and copying these.
And I'm sure we'll think up a few more activities in the future.
My main objective is that they practice holding the pen comfortably and strengthen the writing muscles in their fingers and hands. All of the above activities work towards this goal. A more obvious goal is that my boys produce legible letters.
Certain goals are worked towards using a schedule.
- There is the Writing Schedule (see "Learning to Write" section) which I refer to when printing off the letter tracing sheets for that week. The more easily-formed letters of the alphabet are practiced ahead of the more difficult letters.
- For Letter Play, I refer to the Phonological Schedule for the phonological sound that my boys are working on for the week. eg This week they are learning the sound "ug" and the associated words: bug, dug, hug, jug, mug, pug, rug, tug.
There are a myriad of different ways to complete each of the activities in the schedule and we keep discovering new ways also.
I have included singing and exercise in the daily schedule. Singing is one great way for children to work on their speech and to become more aware of language. Exercise is needed to balance the other activities.
Plenty of time for free play is essential for children so young. Make sure there is always an abundance of educational and fun toys to play with.
On top of this, I think it is very important that children become more aware of the world in which they live. Help develop their curiosity by helping them find the answers to their own questions. When you make your regular trip to the local library, help your child find the book/s which will tell him more about the subject he is currently interested in. Search for that subject on the net, find the links and discover the answers. Look up encyclopedias, etc, etc.
Make a fact sheet which helps simplify the facts. Tyler has recently become fascinated by the cheetah and has borrowed a cheetah book from the library. From this book and other sources we have written the Cheetah Fact Sheet. Sometimes facts are buried in books and it makes it quite difficult for a young child to clearly "get" the main points.
The other good thing about making a fact sheet is that your child can always refer to it later on, when the book is back in the library.
Everything mentioned here is really just the tip of the Unschooling iceberg. Unschooling is really an attitude to learning and to life. There are thousands of educational ideas waiting to be discovered by you and your children right in your own home. Unschooling is fun and is the way education should be.
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