Monday, January 10, 2011

Unschool Monday

Or is it?
Of late we've embraced quite a bit more of what looks like "structured academics". This is not in the interests of pushing any kind of educational agenda but rather in the interests of maintaing household peace. Put quite simply, ms 4.5 thrives on the kind of one on one attention provided by workbooks, reading aloud practice etc etc etc. She also seems to really enjoy being told what to do, as long as she has a certain element of choice. So not "it's time for maths now" but "would you like to paint a picture or do some [cuisenaire] rod activities?" . Maybe it's not technically unschooling but my wonderfully calm little girl who has gone to bed every night this week telling me "I didn't get upset at all!" tells me it is meeting her needs for now and that is far more important than getting stuck in any dogma no matter how radical.

2 comments:

Yeshe said...

I'm probably wrong but I thought natural learning was about knowing your child and how they like to learn and then facilitating that, personally I'm jealous! I suggest something for Ms eight to do and she shouts at me for suggesting something schooly!

greendraggon said...

Hey T Y, thanks for your comment :)
I agree, it's about knowing your child and responding to their individual needs. I'm just aware that some don't see it quite the same way. We are all sensitive to imagined criticism in our own ways huh?