thoughts on life learning

I'm so in love with unschooling aka life learning aka learning all the time. I love that the learning is not separated from life. I love that it goes beyond education to include interpersonal communication and building strong trusting relationships. I love that it has given me a better perspective on my life past, present, and future. I love the joy, the fun, the compassion, the mind expansion, and the peace it brought to my inner thoughts as well as my family dynamic.

As for a method of homeschooling, if you do the research- read some books, check out a few websites, and talk to other unschoolers-there would be no question that it is an effective way to learn. It goes right to the core of how people learn. Its not creating a workforce drone like public school does, its not segregating the intelligent/rich/religious from the drones like private school does. Its not basing a persons worth on how many facts they can memorize, or how good they are in team sports, or how many extra curricular activities they can cram into their day. It doesn't separate learning from living. To a person who doesn't understand unschooling it can be difficult at first to recognize what's being learned. After a while though, if a person can take their own schooly education experience out of the equation, they can see how much an unschooler is learning and more importantly how much they enjoy living and learning from life. "School" isn't a chore/hated/feared because to an unschooler, school isn't separate. After learning about unschooling I noticed all the unschooling in my own life. I realized how much more information I retained, more enjoyment I got out of the process of learning, and how accomplished I felt when I learned from life as a child. As a child growing up during the summers on the farm we were allowed to play for hours without much supervision. Our creativity was boundless, we resolved conflict on our own, and we were in great shape. I learned cooking, sewing, gardening and crafts from a grandma who loved doing those things. She taught with her own enthusiasm, patience, experience, knowledge, and her willingness to let us try it hands on. And in school the things I still remember fondly are the projects that let us explore the topic and work with it hands on-like building topographic maps, cooking "chinese" food to learn about the chinese culture, writing a report about our favorite country (mine was New Zealand), reading The Iliad and the Odyssey, and constructing our own portfolio of every aspect of our ideal church. In my adult life I learn the unschooling way. I've expanded my sewing, gardening, and cooking skills. I taught myself to knit, craft, use the computer, manage my time. I;ve sought help to learn to drywall and other remodelling projects. I still read fiction, non-fiction, biographies, spiritual, current events, and how-to books for the pure pleasure of it. I write, I hike, I swim, I listen to music, and I play for the pure fun of it.

Unschooling demands parental involvement. This requires, first of all, that I actually enjoy spending quality time with my kids. Secondly, it means respecting my kids as equals. Thirdly, I must recognize that they have their own individuality. I can't expect them to act, react, think, feel, learn, or be like me. While I can't sit back and ignore my kids, I can passively allow them to figure out some the answers and resolve some of the conflict on their own. I don't force them to learn facts that don't apply to their lives at the moment, demand they practice writing over and over til their hand hurts, require them to mindlessly read a book just because its a classic, or quiz them out of the blue or after we do something "educational". What I do get to do is be present in their life. This means when they have a question I answer it or help them find the answers. When they express an interest in something I do everything I can to let them explore that interest. Sometimes it means saying yes to messes and stains, yes to getting us out of the house, yes to spending a little cash for whatever tool (although 2nd hand stores means a little less cash), yes to just sitting down and having some conversation, and taking the time to educate myself on how to guide her in that interest. Its not just about education though.

Unschoolers love life and each other. We've learned(or are still learning) to really listen to each other and respect another persons opinion. I've personally learned that my happiness depends solely on me. In this household we're learning to allow each other to work through our own issues without reacting negatively-to let each other go through the emotions and find our way to our happy place. We don't place value on each other for their accomplishments but rather we value each other for just being. Basically we're learning to live by every major religious premise-to love unconditionally.

I wonder how many more of us would be happy in their careers if they were allowed from childhood to adulthood to follow their passions-to really dig into the things that interested them and expand their minds as far as they wanted to take it. How many more happy people there would be if their caregivers had allowed ( and helped) them to make the messes, the music, the models, and the mistakes that spark their neurons, trigger some dopamine, and give a rush of adrenaline. And how many more would be happy in relationships if, as children, they were treated with respect, listened to as equals, had trusting relationships with their caregivers, allowed to express themselves without shame, and given the freedom to define themselves..

the creativity has left the building

Ugh...I've been having trouble with my creativity lately. Even my blogs over the long while have seemed...boring. There is a little word play here and there but nothing too insightful. And its not that I write to impress other people- alot of times its just to get what is in my head out-but the thing is nothing has been going on in my head. Josh got a new ipod touch and is so excited about podcasts so we listened to one the other day in the car. It was then I realized that I haven't been exposing myself to other forms of creativity (like music) -and art begets art. So I'm trying to make time to take pleasure in art-first with music. I miss reading, writing, crafting, going to (music) shows, and walking around in the biggest art display (nature).

I have to remember this is natural when you have a new baby-a baby requires attention-not just because she is helpless but its important that first year to form an unbreakable bond of trust. I'm getting a little better at managing my time so I'm able to write this blog now while she's sleeping. And of course many things she can enjoy with us-we've been hiking when it was warm and I want to take her canoeing and to some outdoor music shows when it warms up again. Crafting, reading,, and writing are a little harder right now because I still like to sleep when she does and when she's awake I can't focus much on those kind of things. I'm looking into podcasts and audio books and when we can drive more I'll invest in an ipod so I can enjoy those things in the car.

I also need to get over that feeling that I need a clean workspace before I can start a new project or enjoy some crafting with Adeline. Its taken a long time to finally get the house cleared of enough junk that I'm only now starting to feel like a clean workspace is even possible. We've missed out on a lot of quality projects together because of that hump I've struggled to get over. But the house is clearing up and I'm ready to make some creative messes.

The hardest part about losing my creativity is that is hinders my facilitating Adeline's exploration of the world. Although that's not entirely a lack of creativity-the winter hasn't helped and we've overstayed our time in a place that doesn't allow for us to get out for weeks at a time. Josh says that next winter we can move someplace tropical for a few months-even Rapid would be tropical compared to here. Now that the weather is warming and the roads are clearing we'll be getting out more. Adeline is starting a weekly fencing class that takes place in Rapid so I hope to take advantage of Rapids other offerings-the library, museums, socialization, swimming, galleries. Twice a months she is taking a wilderness day camp that I'm excited to participate in as well. Cooking is still on the back burner til my stomach settles but Adeline has been experimenting with some smoothie recipes. She even started writing a smoothie recipe book but has abandoned that idea-I think its great that she even started and I have to learn that she doesn't have to finish a project in order to learn something from and enjoy it.

So, the cobwebs are in my brain but I'm starting on a little spring cleaning.