Moving around all the months of 2020 blows the dust off of these memories.
What about your unschooling path?
Did you do anything differently?
Did you overcome any obstacles?
What was happening?
What were you discovering?
What were the kids enjoying?
Any interesting conversations or topics?
Just to name a few general ideas that popped up in our world - some may have had a big impact on your day-to-day life:
- Social justice conversations
- Talks about protests - or participating in some.
- We had our geography as Coronavirus traveled across our country
- Listening to Gov. Cuomo explain how it was affecting New York - even though most of us didn’t live there!
- Photos of vacant streets and closed businesses
- But also singing and music from balconies in Italy
- Birthday party pivots (drive-by celebrators and other fun ways to share in the moment)
- Figuring out how to use zoom - for work, for classes, for family get togethers.
- Virtual field trips and story times.
- Elections, voting, learning details about the counties of Pennsylvania and Arizona!
- Holidays looked different this year too
Maybe this was your first year to homeschool and it wasn’t long before you saw that unschooling was a logical option for your family.
Or maybe you’ve been unschooling a while and discovered that the lock-down gave your introverted self an opportunity to take a deep breath.
Maybe you started a hobby or cleaned a closet or found an app to get you walking more.
Or maybe you learned how to connect better with people online.
Yes, we had lots of disappointment this year - for some of us, tragic losses.
But we survived!
And that’s the message to remind your kids - humans are resilient. Life throws curveballs. We can find ways to make things tolerable - maybe even enjoyable.
Many parents did this all year long. Their kids will look back and say,
“Yeah, 2020. Covid. But my parents made our home cozy and pretty stress-free. Yes, a lot of togetherness. But it was ok.”
We parents may remember the squabbles and the cabin fever - but time heals all wounds. It certainly affects our memory. That may not be how your kids remember it at all!
Let them look back at their photos and the calendar months to remember how things went. What were some of their favorites?
- Games
- Shows
- Movies
- Books
- Activities
- Foods
It might be a good time to focus on some gratitude activities.
Celebrate living through the historic Pandemic of 2020!
And then we’ll lean into 2021 TOGETHER!
We can definitely wrap up 2020 the way WE want to. We weren’t defeated by it!
And as you look back on some of these memories - you’ll see that Good existed right there, all the time.
I hope your unschooling adventures are full and rich and satisfying! I wish all the best to you!
Take care and we’ll talk again next week!
Happy New Year!