The Basics of Unschooling
I homeschool my three children using the
Charlotte Mason method but I am very interested in learning more
about unschooling and may possibly start trying to implement this in
our home. Anyone familiar with the Charlotte Mason Method? I was
wondering if I could some how implement both.
With the Charlotte
Mason method we do nature, narrations after reading, listen to folk,
hymn, and classical music, picture study, short lessons, and we read
from real books instead of textbooks. I was thinking that I could
do unschooling and try to incorporate some of the aspects of
Charlotte Mason into our daily routine such as the following:
Playing classical music in the backgroud while during different
things, going on nature walks, keeping real living books around-
without telling they must read them but having them available,
Showing them a picture-taking it away- and telling them to tell me
about it, having a read aloud time with my family, etc.
What’s a typical day like for the unschooling family?
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Basics? Trust. Patience. Respect. Generosity. Kindness.
***
Here are some of the stumbling blocks I see:
There’s nothing wrong with playing classical music in the background,
if that’s what you all like, but if you’re valuing that style of music
above Rock-n-roll, bluegrass, folk, reggae or any other style of
music, then you’re limiting your world. Unschooling is about expanding
our world.
Classical music isn’t inherently better than any other style of music,
nor does it lead to more/better learning experiences.
Nature walks are great, if they’re allowed to be enjoyed by each
person rather than turned into some kind of “lesson”.
If someone showed me a picture and took it away, asking me to tell
them about it, I’d be really annoyed. Unschooling is all about
authentic interactions. If moments are contrived in order to “teach”
or get information into our children that WE think is important, we
miss the more important things that THEY think are important.
If you want to get to unschooling, take a deep breathe and realize
that Charlotte Mason was one person, with her own ideas and prejudices
about what is proper and good to learn. She had some great ideas too.
The problem I see with any learning method that places certain
activities as more valuable, is it misses the point that the child
right in front of us has their own interests that may or may not
coincide with that method.
The most important thing for me is to assist my children in exploring
the world in their own way. The Charlotte Mason ideas appealed to me,
but my video-game loving children have their own ideas!:)
***
So expose your children to everything….books ..art ..nature
..music..handicrafts etc … create that rich enviroment, BUT don’t have daily lessons or a daily routine. For instance don’t *require* a narration after your child reads a book, but you might find yourself just chatting * together* about the book *IF* your child *wants* to. Don’t *require* daily copywork, but you might find your child *wants* and *enjoys* writing in a journal or keeping a book of quotes, etc.
And YOU go ahead and do the things YOU are passionate about, whether from CM
or not…. and they might join in…or NOT. But respect their choice.
We unschool… and our days are *filled* with nature and art and books and
music and handicrafts…. AND TV and video games ! <<G>>
Just live life doing what you all love and see …..
***
Here’s something I started doing a while ago whenever I thought of
something I thought my kids would like to do. Rather than push it on
them – whether it was a movie or a book, a garden or a nature
journal. I do it myself. I have read children’s books that I thought
looked interesting. I have discovered so many wonderful things that
*I* enjoy. I started keeping a list of backyard birds on the back
door. Every time I see a new one, I identify it with my bird book and
write it down. In the process, through watching me do it and asking
questions, my kids have learned about identifying birds. One day a
bird got into the house while I was outside. My son described it to
me in detail and we discovered that it was a Carolina Wren.
***
