unschooling

These past three weeks we have been living an  unschooling life style.


 I have cast aside the normal morning routine where the children do set work from the waldorf curriculum package i brought back in the summer. I have not asked of them to compleate any reading or any worksheets or alike.


I have allowed free access to the t v s and computers .And iv tried ever so hard not to show any frustration when Gypsie happily sits in her room on her computer all day.
I am saying yes to my children as much as i can, and now see myself a s a facilitator of not just there childrens learning but also of there happiness.I am embracing all of there passions.

I feel a massive amount of freedom and a small amount of ....am i doing the right thing???


Iv recently read Dayna Martins fantastic book .
I purchased a copy from amazon.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Radical-Unschooling-Revolution-Revised-ebook/dp/B004NIFKFU

It was a very inspiring read, it gave me the little push i needed to to really focus on the joy we share  as a home educating family.
It renewed my belief that i can trust my kids and that they can and will learn what they want when they need to.

So the journey continues as we embrace an unschooling life!


 I one was of the opinion that unschooling would be a lazy option . Well i can tell you that is so untrue.Firstly you need to be tuned in to your kids and to provide them with what they need in order to make the most of every interest they have and totally embrace all that comes with there desire.

I'm working hard to on my positive parenting , being an attachment parent i feel a very strong bond with all of my children . Iv never subscribed to nanny 911 or super nanny tactics of using time outs or the naughty step or left a baby to cry. But now im focusing harder than before on seeing things from my children's perspective . Let me tell you this also is no mean feat for a mum of five with an emotional, hormonal 12 year old daughter, a very sensitive 10 year old daughter, a strong willed 9 year old daughter , a creative 6 year old son and an independent 1 year old daughter.
But its so worth it , our home has felt much more peaceful.





so let me show you what child lead activities have been occurring this week ....

Charlies passion for electronics is being nurtured by Paul , he brought him another little kit to play with.

 

 He is also really interested in dinosaurs , so when i saw a post a friend had shared on Facebook i asked charlie if he wanted to make some dinosaur fossils...of course he did!

 We have been doing lots of baking as usual, With Gypsie making jam tart and biscuits with next to no input from me.

 Summers following her passion and is becoming very flexible, in fact she was asked to demonstrate the splits to the whole of her dance class !

 There have been ice experiments , when we found some icicles in the garden .After pretending to be a mystical unicorn summer decided to note how long it would take for it to melt in our kitchen.

Clay has been played with, i liked this little mouse that Gypsie made.

 Inspired by my friends beautiful blog
 http://www.herewearetogether.com/2013/02/14/mindful-salt-and-watercolour-mandala-meditation/
 I made a salt mandala design with glue on a paper plate and as i sat down to drop on water colour paint Summer decided she would like to paint it for me. Its very pretty!

 Jasmine has been out a lot with friends ,catching the bus in to other towns and such like. Shes also been for a lot of walks with my sister. After one particular stroll she brought me back a few daffodils....spring is here!
Shes also really in to her diablo and learning lots of new tricks from on line tutorials.

Charlie has been digging for fossils in a rice tray, as you can see Eva liked the rice tray too.
Charlie used a puzzle we made from a picture online and then some other bones from a set he has. It was interesting to watch him wrap up all his finds in tissue..."Because real paleontologists use plaster of Paris mummy!"

This day he made a dinosaur museum on the kitchen window sill and invited me to come on a tour!

Just last night i was juicing some fruits and he was excited by the huge seed inside the mango.
He has cleaned it all up and kept it inside a lunch box.He then ate an apple so he could get the pip from that too. He made notes about the seeds in a jotter and is planning on planting them to see which one will grow first.

 Summer has been really busy, shes decided she wants to make a cartoon and has spent lots of time creating characters. She also told me she was going to bake a cake because today apparently is Justin Biebers birthday. i ll admit im not really in to JB myself and where as in previous weeks id have told her not to be daft .....my new positive , respecting voice inside my head took over and i though If she wants to make him a birthday cake and its going to make her happy then why not!

So here we have it ...Summers vegan chocolate birthday cake for Justin Bieber...she has tweeted him a photo of it!

Oh... and actually there were some work sheets too...because charlie and i cam across them while looking online for star wars activities.

 

Obviously so much more has been going on too, we have had family round, cousins to play with , planted seeds, had neighbors round to chat with , read books,we have been out for walks, been to the shops, discussed topics, watched documentaries and such like.

So there you have it ... learning happening all the while here just through living and embracing the children's passions.

We are having so much fun!