Center Parcs Unschooly week 2020!
Showing posts with label Unschooling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Unschooling. Show all posts
Monday, 27 January 2020
Thursday, 4 July 2013
Independence Day!
Happy Independence day to all those in America.
It is a special day for us too as it is officially a year since we began home educating!
Of course today really just marks the day they left school. In some ways we weren't really officially home educating until the September when they didn't go back to school. Actually though that long summer holiday last year watching the children and already seeing how naturally they learnt was very important!
I must admit when I realised it was a year gone by I did have a minor panic about what we have to show for a year, especially when a fellow home educator following a more traditional path has piles of workbooks! In that case though that particular child is definitely going back into the school system whereas I feel we are able to take a longer slower path as it were.
Our achievements for the year are more subtle but more significant. Both children have grown in confidence and sense of self. I have a very clear idea of each of their interests and how to nurture them. Both have vastly increased in reading confidence and most important discovered the real joy of reading. Both have made many friends and retained old ones. Best of all both are curious, inquisitive and interested in learning.
We have done a lot so I put together this slideshow to help me remember just some (but by no means all!) of the amazing things from the past year.
The biggest changes have probably taken place in my head. I am so much more relaxed about it all and loving supporting the children as they learn. Here's to the next year!
It is a special day for us too as it is officially a year since we began home educating!
Of course today really just marks the day they left school. In some ways we weren't really officially home educating until the September when they didn't go back to school. Actually though that long summer holiday last year watching the children and already seeing how naturally they learnt was very important!
I must admit when I realised it was a year gone by I did have a minor panic about what we have to show for a year, especially when a fellow home educator following a more traditional path has piles of workbooks! In that case though that particular child is definitely going back into the school system whereas I feel we are able to take a longer slower path as it were.
Our achievements for the year are more subtle but more significant. Both children have grown in confidence and sense of self. I have a very clear idea of each of their interests and how to nurture them. Both have vastly increased in reading confidence and most important discovered the real joy of reading. Both have made many friends and retained old ones. Best of all both are curious, inquisitive and interested in learning.
We have done a lot so I put together this slideshow to help me remember just some (but by no means all!) of the amazing things from the past year.
The biggest changes have probably taken place in my head. I am so much more relaxed about it all and loving supporting the children as they learn. Here's to the next year!
Sunday, 11 November 2012
Portal to a change of mindset
We're still "deschooling" but I've already been surprised by how much the children are learning. The more we do and the more I read we seem to be being led towards "unschooling".... although I think I prefer the term "interest-led learning" :)
Permanently in my browser right now I have a tab with the Randomiser page from Sandra Dodd's website. Sandra Dodd is an unschooling advocate who has published articles and a book on the subject. She has three children who were always unschooled and all her writing is full of the most wonderful calm, common sense advice. The randomiser page is lovely, it has an image (by the talented Bo King) of what could be seen as an elevator, portal or doorway.
By having this page permanently in my browser I can click each day to be taken to advice and wise words which somehow always seem to be pertinent to my current thoughts. When I was wondering what to do about how much freedom to give the children it took me here.... when I was worrying about how much time Povey spends on the iPad it took me here... and when it seemed all the children had done all day was argue it took me here. It doesn't have all the answers, but it's definitely been a great springboard for my own thought processes. That little portal is helping me deschool ;)
Permanently in my browser right now I have a tab with the Randomiser page from Sandra Dodd's website. Sandra Dodd is an unschooling advocate who has published articles and a book on the subject. She has three children who were always unschooled and all her writing is full of the most wonderful calm, common sense advice. The randomiser page is lovely, it has an image (by the talented Bo King) of what could be seen as an elevator, portal or doorway.
By having this page permanently in my browser I can click each day to be taken to advice and wise words which somehow always seem to be pertinent to my current thoughts. When I was wondering what to do about how much freedom to give the children it took me here.... when I was worrying about how much time Povey spends on the iPad it took me here... and when it seemed all the children had done all day was argue it took me here. It doesn't have all the answers, but it's definitely been a great springboard for my own thought processes. That little portal is helping me deschool ;)
Friday, 17 February 2012
Different Types of Home Education
I'm still doing lots of research and have been amazed how many different types of home educating methods and philosophies there are. Here are some I've come across.....
Structured learning.
This is the one that is most like how you would imagine "school at home". The children work out of text books following a curriculum. Some even follow the National Curriculum.
Interest-led Learning, or "Unschooling"
Apparantly the term "unschooling" originally came from an educational pioneer called John Holt. Advocates of this method believe that children are by nature curious and able to learn and don't need a formal structure to do so.
Eclectic Learning
This is a mixture of the first two. Parents use a combination of structured and child-led learning in conjunction, using textbooks for some subjects and not others. They mix and match to create an education suited to the individual child.
Virtual On-line Home-schooling
This is where a child is enrolled at a school but participates online, either because they are unhappy in the school environment or live too far away.
Unit Studies
This is where parents take a literary text to incorporate most school subjects. For example Treasure Island can lead to study of history, geography, maths, culture, language, food etc.
Montessori
Used in many nurseries and schools as well as in homes, the Montessori education method focuses on hands-on experience, movement, choice and order.
Waldorf
Also known as Steiner Education. This method has a humanistic approach, developing the student as a whole: head, heart and hands. The ultimate aim is to help children develop into free, morally responsible and integrated adults, helping them to fulfill their own unique destiny.
Charlotte Mason
The Charlotte Mason Method uses living books, narration, habit training and dictation. There is also a strong arts focus.
Classical Education
Classical education is described as a three part process to training the mind. The three stages (known as the "Trivium") are the Grammar Stage, the Logic Stage and the Rhetoric Stage.
It seems to me that we are heading towards the third one; Eclectic Learning. I also like the philosophy behind Waldorf though, and I have a kind of Unit Study for Around the World in 80 Days planned..... although my focus will be primarily on Geography with some work on other subjects.
Hmmmmmmm still planning.....
Structured learning.
This is the one that is most like how you would imagine "school at home". The children work out of text books following a curriculum. Some even follow the National Curriculum.
Interest-led Learning, or "Unschooling"
Apparantly the term "unschooling" originally came from an educational pioneer called John Holt. Advocates of this method believe that children are by nature curious and able to learn and don't need a formal structure to do so.
Eclectic Learning
This is a mixture of the first two. Parents use a combination of structured and child-led learning in conjunction, using textbooks for some subjects and not others. They mix and match to create an education suited to the individual child.
Virtual On-line Home-schooling
This is where a child is enrolled at a school but participates online, either because they are unhappy in the school environment or live too far away.
Unit Studies
This is where parents take a literary text to incorporate most school subjects. For example Treasure Island can lead to study of history, geography, maths, culture, language, food etc.
Montessori
Used in many nurseries and schools as well as in homes, the Montessori education method focuses on hands-on experience, movement, choice and order.
Waldorf
Also known as Steiner Education. This method has a humanistic approach, developing the student as a whole: head, heart and hands. The ultimate aim is to help children develop into free, morally responsible and integrated adults, helping them to fulfill their own unique destiny.
Charlotte Mason
The Charlotte Mason Method uses living books, narration, habit training and dictation. There is also a strong arts focus.
Classical Education
Classical education is described as a three part process to training the mind. The three stages (known as the "Trivium") are the Grammar Stage, the Logic Stage and the Rhetoric Stage.
It seems to me that we are heading towards the third one; Eclectic Learning. I also like the philosophy behind Waldorf though, and I have a kind of Unit Study for Around the World in 80 Days planned..... although my focus will be primarily on Geography with some work on other subjects.
Hmmmmmmm still planning.....
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