Two unschooling books

I heard about the first from Pat Farenga's blog....Here is his take on the book

Free Range Learning: How Homeschooling Changes Everything "by Laura Grace Weldon is a welcome addition to homeschooling literature. Starting from the point of view that “Natural learning happens all the time,” Weldon cites many familiar, and some new, books, research, and data to support that claim. This information can be useful to present to skeptics, if they are open-minded, but it is probably most useful to any parent wondering how much teaching they need to do with their child at home. In short—don’t teach unless the child asks a question. If you create a relaxed, open atmosphere at home the questions will flow from the kids, as the families in this book show and the parents of healthy, pre-school-age children can attest. Dr. Raymond Moore used to say that he could determine a good learning situation by who was asking the questions: if the teacher is asking the questions, it isn’t good; if the children are asking the questions, it’s a good learning situation."

I love the emphasis on natural learning, which essentially is what unschooling IS.

And Amazon suggested the second for me...a more practical how to book...As in I'm unschooling, so what do we do if we don"t do school?

Unschooling, A Lifestyle of Learning......".Let's imagine a life without school! In the absence of school, what do children do? They play. That is, they do what brings them joy. They do what calls to them. They do what they need to do to get from point A to point B, learning useful skills along the way. Let's imagine a life of unlimited possibilities! Unschooling parents and their children live and learn together, helping each other, making discoveries, solving mysteries, and sharing adventures. Ready to have some fun?"

The Saints

The saints are often an inspiration for unschooling.

Recently, we had the feast day of St Philip Neri. Teacher of St John Bosco.

Both saints worked with boys and young men. Both saints had a lot to say about the care and education of the young.

And so both saints have been good mentors for me when it comes to unschooling.

Two quotes.

St. Philip Neri’s words: “Do as you wish, I do not care so long as you do not sin.”

"Run, jump, make noise, But do not sin…”-St. John Bosco

So...sometimes..let kids be kids.

And..sometimes..don't sweat the small stuff. Pick your battles. And keep the eternal in mind.

Very helpful for my Catholic unschooling.

 

Memories and Unschooling

Remind yourself that each moment we're creating memories. Think of those moments as photos in a photo album.

I put this quote on my blog yesterday - and several friends, in real life (? weird term but you know what I mean..) and in email, have commented on it. On how much it spoke to them. On how it reflects the why of homeschooling.

The why of homeschooling? Isn't homeschooling about education?

Not really.

Gasp! Did I say that homeshooling as not about education?

Well, yes. Simply because it is so much more than that .

Homeschooling, unschooling , is about life.

And creating memories. Memories that are stored away, that make up the child and then the adult. Formation, in other words.

I think that strong positive family memories, exposure to activities and ideas and to other people, are what make a strong case for homeschooling. For the advantages of homeschooling.

You never know what will strike a chord with a child. Ignite an interest. Be tucked away in the scrapbook of memories.

For this reason, we unschool. We live and thus, by living together, we learn. We laugh together, read together, play together , watch movies together, eat together, do chores together, do some schoolwork together, talk together, get cross together, go to Mass and pray together ~ and hopefully build on this storehouse of interactions.

Last night, we prayed the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Yes, I was a bit silly during prayers - moving my feet in rhythm and prompting dh, the leader, simply because I have memorised this litany. Sigh. I am bad in prayers...

However, we did pray together, we did smile together, we spent time together and with our prayer intentions. Creating a scrapbook of prayer and family memories.

Today, we had French class at another homeschooler's home. The kids laughed as they listened to the CD and followed along in the French storybook. They tried to learn the Lord's Prayer in
French. They did French copywork, a la Charlotte Mason. And shared morning tea and active outside games.

Followed by going to the movies, meeting up with Jonathon and a family friend.

Lunch at Coffee Club....

A day of memories, fun, conversation and perhaps some sparks of learning.

A happy unschooling photo for that mental photo album.

"Education," said Sister Miriam Joseph, in writing on classical education "is the highest of arts in the sense that it imposes forms not on matter, as do the other arts, but on minds."

The Church clearly notes in the Catechism that parents are responsible for their children’s“moral education and spiritual formation.” This responsibility is so intertwined with the family“that it is almost impossible to provide an adequate substitute” to the parents' involvement (CCC 2221).

To be honest, I am not necessarily the best person to talk about spiritual formation, being still in formation myself ( as my two or three regular blog readers know! ).

I hold, however, that creating memories, positive memories, educational and spiritual and relational memories, is important to the intellectual and spiritual formation of the child. Of the person. And of the family.

This is why I homeschool, why I am glad that we have homeschooled.

Memories.

The Little Way of Homeschooling

Our new book about Cahholic unschooling.

Thirteen of us describe how we live unschooling in our homes.

Drawing from St. Therese, St. John Bosco, John Holt (How Children Learn and How Children Fail and Teach Your Own), we try to give you a picture of education and life without the constraints of typical modern education.

Suzie Andres addresses the question of whether a Catholic can happily unschool by explaining it as a sensible approach to the mystery of learning, certainly not as an ideology in competition with our faith.

The heart of the book is our honest description of our homes and education ... descriptions by mothers who have embraced unschooling in varying degrees.

Time

How do unschoolers spend their time? It's often quantity, sometimes incidental time.




-picking up DS when he toddles out and wants to see what I'm cooking

-letting DD help chop things in the kitchen

-stopping in the middle of my chores to sit on the floor and read to DS when he asks so nicely--"Pees!"

-listening to DD "read" a book to me

-looking out the window with DS and talking about sounds we hear

-sweeping with both kids--each has a little broom, and everyone likes to pitch in!

-talking about all the instruments  the dental hygienist used on DD's teeth this morning

-going for a mother-daughter jog before breakfast at DD's request and talking with her about hiking and camping while we go

-helping DD find a missing knee sock and missing (chewed) piece of gum in our playroom--reorganizing together after items are found!

-watching The Waltons together and discussing the lives of those Depression-era kids! :)

~ watching the birds at the feeder and trying to figure out how many species and what kind we have
~ going to the library's butterfly garden to do nature study
~ teen making food food for Michael (tube fed and on a blended diet), talking about nutrition and calories
~ working in the garden
~ talking in the car (the radio is broken!)
~ working on CGS things together
~ talking about Church issues in our parish - looking up things in the GIRM and CCC
~ reading books and discussing
~ having teatime
~ just trying to keep the house in order
~ talking about child development while watching Joseph and Peter - comparing them as they are only 3 months apart
~ attending some weekday Masses with whomever chooses to go
~ going to a parish mission and discussing what was said
~ going to the Lenten reconciliation service at two different parishes and talking about the differences
~ Wii fit
~ shopping together
~ cooking together
~ eating together
~ working in the garden
~ talking in the car (the radio is broken!)
~ working on CGS things together
~ talking about Church issues in our parish - looking up things in the GIRM and CCC
~ reading books and discussing
~ having teatime
~ just trying to keep the house in order
~ talking about child development while watching Joseph and Peter - comparing them as they are only 3 months apart
~ attending some weekday Masses with whomever chooses to go
~ going to a parish mission and discussing what was said
~ going to the Lenten reconciliation service at two different parishes and talking about the differences
~ Wii fit
~ shopping together
~ cooking together
~ eating together

Kids and Chores

Sharing some links that help me in this area..again...and again....

Serving others as a gift

It is in the giving and serving and the listening that I grow. That the family, too, grows.

Chores with gratitude

Really, I think it’s better to have a dirty house and minimally prepared food than to have filth in the air from guilt, manipulation, and griping

Cleaning in bursts

Unschooling chores by working in service, with a positive attitude, in spurts and with others. Creating a new unschooling landscape. Doing cleaning while being with family..A two -for- one.

Creating an unschooling landscape

The answer for my family is that Unschooling impacts and changes our entire landscape: no schoolroom at home, but a rich, full, exuberant landscape that ranges from room to room and spills out into our yard and the woods beyond.

Helping Little Children With Lent

A very helpful article.

HT ~ Beate.

The first and most important help for little children is that we as adults understand Lent and enter into it ourselves with real devotion and joy. If Lent makes its way into our home and into our conversations and practices that children can see, they will naturally grow up in a culture that embraces Lent as a season of grace.