Category Archives: unschooling

children, homeschooling, imagination, siblings, Uncategorized, unschooling December 9, 2015 1 Comment

A few days ago, a giant box arrived with a Christmas gift for the kids. Foster spied it outside first and called “dibs” so he could have the first shot at playing with it. So I when it was emptied, I respected his “dibs” and gave it to him alone. As you can see from the pictures above, he didn’t keep it to himself for long. He realized quickly that playing alone isn’t as much fun as designing a tank and fighting a war with fellow soldiers. They all had their roles to play. Katie helped with the tank design and decoration, Foster used his knife to carve holes for the front guns, Jonah and Parker had missile launchers so they could walk alongside or behind the tank. Theodore was allowed to drive the tank with Foster. I’m not sure what their exact jobs were once they were navigating the battlefield.

I shared one of these pictures on social media yesterday with the hashtags imagination and homeschooling. I should have added siblings to the mix.

Recently, our decision to homeschool has once again been questioned. Even after 8 years and obvious success, there are naysayers who either don’t approve or just really don’t understand.

So when I labeled the picture #homeschooling, I wanted to double check myself. Was this 3+ hours of experimental, imaginative, building, teamwork play able to happen because we homeschool? Couldn’t any 5 siblings ages 4-11 have an experience like this?

The answer is no. While it is possible they could, it is not likely. Children, once grouped with peers for a number of years, do not “play” with much younger children and they have less tolerance and patience with their younger siblings.

Foster and Katie have their patience tested multiple times daily by the three younger brothers. The reason they persevere is because these three younger brothers are also their most common companions and playmates. They don’t have to just deal with them for 3 hours at night and then escape them to be with their same-age classmates for the majority of their days. They have an internal motivation to get along with each other.

The other reason this is not likely to happen is because time is finite. Our schoolwork is usually done by noon. This gives ample free time for this kind of creative play. Unfortunately, not only are kids in school all day following a tight schedule, they are often times overscheduled afterschool with sports, music lessons, church activities and more.

If there is no unscheduled, being at home with nothing to do time, then children won’t have the opportunity to turn a heap of cardboard into a tank, a yard into a battlefield and brothers into an army.

 

Grayton Beach 2015

adventures, blessings, children, Family, field trip, Grammy, Grandad, gratitude, homeschooling, unschooling, vacation December 4, 2015 Leave a comment

My parents’ generosity allowed the kids and I to experience another adventure. We left 2 days after Thanksgiving and made the 9 hour trip in their RV to stay at Grayton Beach State Park. This park has a lot of restrictions like no pets on the beach, no walking on the dunes, that kind of thing. Also, you either pay to stay in the campground or you pay by car to visit for the day. The restrictions didn’t bother us and we were thankful for the pristine, peaceful beaches. It was the prettiest beach I’ve ever visited. Even on the weekend days, there were maybe 30 other people around. Filled with plenty of places to bike and walk nature trails, it was an excellent destination for people who aren’t looking for a lot of partying or shopping. There was a Publix close enough and some small little shops around but it wasn’t overgrown or overcrowded. Of course, we were there in December so that could have a lot to do with it. We lucked out and had 3 days that were above 75 degrees. While back home our friends and family were virtually floating away from inches and inches of rain. The last day there the rain caught up to us, so we decided to watch the new Peanuts movie at a local theater.

The kids had a wonderful time. And I enjoyed being with the people I love most in the world. But, I missed Chris (he was bear hunting and working). I also missed personal space, quiet and solitude. With 8 people (5 of them under the age of 12) in an RV you don’t have much of that. Being an introvert has its challenges.

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saying yes for 50 bucks or less

Foster, parenting, unschooling June 8, 2013 Leave a comment

I have a really bad habit of saying no to my kids. 

Let me explain.

Yesterday, we went to a fairly large public park in Knoxville. We were meeting a friend and her son and decided we would start at the playground and then move up to a splash pad later.

Foster had been there previously and knew there was a pier on a lake not far away. He had hung out with some other boys a few days before and really wanted to go check out the pier again.

I told him that was fine. I just let him know that if we weren’t at the playground when he got back, we would be at the splash pad up the hill.

He trotted off happily.

I could have handled that differently. I could have demanded that he stay with us, where I could see him, at this playground for small children.

Instead, he came up to the splash pad about 30 minutes later and told me he had helped some guy start his jet ski and watched some other guys fishing but “they didn’t catch anything.”

That yes didn’t cost me a penny. But it meant the world to him. He went, alone, without a cell phone, and made it back alive.

Last night, a neighbor kid was over playing and it started to storm while we were outside burning some tree limbs and playing.

Foster asked to get the umbrellas we have. You know what I said? No.

I bought those at the dollar store for less than 10 bucks and I said NO.

Sometimes I am such an idiot. Imagine if I had said yes? If I had just let them have the umbrellas, there is no telling what they could have experienced or learned, what they could have created or even if they would have broken them and learned from that.

So from now on, I am going to try and say YES.

Well, as long as the thing they want to use or play with is worth less than 50 bucks.