Unschooling for the Summer?
I see you pondering. I hear the wheels turning…
Thinking, “OK, what would that entail?”
It’s going to take looking at learning from a different vantage point.
No more fear-based, “What if they don’t know this by…” whatever date people have told you is critical.
No more power struggles to make sure they “live up to their potential” or “stay on course.”
The “course” so to speak, is determined by the child. I know, hear me out.
Humans are hardwired to learn and be curious. We like a challenge - not too big of one, but enough to feel good about what we’re doing.
We don’t, typically, like to be told what to do.
We have ideas we’d like to pursue. Kids are no different - they're humans too!
And yes, that might look like trying to get a higher level on Minecraft, or playing legos or make believe for what seems like all day.
But what if I told you that the actual THING they’re doing isn’t as important as practicing what it’s like to chart your own course.
To follow through, succeed, fail, adjust and try again. Because these are the things that happen when you get to pursue something you really enjoy.
Truth be told, kids can pick up their times tables whenever they need them. Or they can use the calculator on their phone. They can learn to spell based on the words they need - probably in text or reading along in some fun book they’ve picked out for you to read with them.
The World Moved On... Schools Didn't
We’re no longer an Industrial society where it’s all about creating a good factory worker that has the same set of knowledge and skills as the guy next to him. Memorizing isn’t good enough. Rote facts don’t help you learn how to problem solve or collaborate. We’re in the Information and Innovation Era now. Schools have not adjusted - because they’ve created a big System whose wheels turn slowly. And while they might be onboard with makeing little shifts and incremental changes, they’re not willing to do the major overhaul that’s needed to catch up with the times.
My coaching group just read the book: Most Likely to Succeed, Preparing our Kids for the Innovation Era - by Tony Wagner and Ted Dintersmith. They aren’t unschoolers - they’re school proponents, actually. But they see the problems we’ve all seen. And they lay out a lot of details that will help reassure their readers that the school path is not moving in the right direction by hanging on to the past and focusing on more testing - instead stepping back to change the whole system.
I always thought that having opportunities in a library or even a community college way of learning would be so cool - no forced attendance, no testing - you know it or you don’t. You only learn the things you need. While this isn’t the direction SCHOOL is going, it can be a direction that we can go. Because we can offer flexibility on all the ways our kids can grow their knowledge and skill set. We’ve already seen how quickly things have changed since we were kids - it’s going to continue to grow at an exponential rate! Let’s help our kids learn more about how to communicate, collaborate and problem solve what’s in their paths. Let’s not continue to reinforce working for a grade, class rank, or some teacher approval. The real world doesn’t care about any of that anyway. It only matters when you live in the school system.
This is why the unschooling perspective is so effective. We want to know something, and that becomes the catalyst. We don’t need a task master or a factory boss to make us stick with it - we ourselves want the information or the skill, so we move toward attaining it.
Case in Point: Jackson
The question often then comes,
“Yeah, sure. But what about The Basics? They can do all that AFTER they know The Basics.”
But that’s not true.
My grandson, while I’m talking to you, is sitting on his grandpa’s lap watching and discussing a YouTube video about atoms and energy and matter and Einstein… He’s 7. His reading level doesn’t keep him from this information - he doesn’t have to read it. He listens and discusses it with his PawPaw.
Who knows what he’ll do with this information?
Who knows what direction they’ll go off in?
Who knows what all he is retaining?
But I can tell you a few things that are certain,
- He knows that YouTube can bring him information in a way that he can understand it.
- He knows that he can ask his grandpa questions about what he hears.
- He knows that learning is interesting and intriguing.
- His vocabulary and knowledge is growing.
- His connection to the adults in his life are strengthened.
So… I could have said, “Yeah, they’re in there watching Youtube.”
But it’s more than that. A lot more than that.
OK... I got derailed.
Unschooling this Summer.
Think of it as an experiment you’re going to dive into.
You’re going to learn about unschooling - you can go to the Unschooling Mom2Mom website and start working your way through the information. Or you can take the Jumping Into Unschooling course - it’s going on sale next month - but it’s always on sale for those in the membership group.
You could grab the Strewing Calendar, just to loosen the grip Fear has, telling you that some things to learn are legit and others are more fluff. I’ll put the link below for that - I’m offering a 3 month - summer only - subscription.
Move in the direction of their curiosities. If you have fear about them, like you think it’s too much screentime, or whatever is worrying you, lean toward the fear. Gather more information. This will help you understand what’s happening…. What they like about it. And that will help you know more about your child and help you connect.
And the key is in the connection.
Podcast #16 is called Unschooling Curriculum. That’s a good follow up to this one, so you can see more specifics about HOW to unschool this summer.
I have a ton of worksheets to help you do this in the membership group - so it might be a good thing to join us and use those tools - even if just for the summer. Even if you don’t think you’re going to continue to unschool next fall.
How to Unschool this Summer
Your Tips on how to be Intentional about Unschooling.
