I think I'm becoming an unschooler

This is a month of craziness for us. I won't bore you with details, but my vision of homeschool days filled with nature study, artwork, baking and plenty of read-alouds has fallen a bit by the wayside. We're not entirely off track, but I feel I've said the words, 'hurry up and finish' at least 10 times too many... This is not exactly the relaxed learning environment I had hoped for this year...

I know life will calm down, hopefully in the next month or so. But, sometimes, when I don't have as much time to direct things, I realize that life happens anyway. And the kids keep learning. Too much rushing around is definitely a detriment to their creativity. When we're just at home, though, and they are left to their own devices, I"m often amazed at what they come up with:

-a pretend debate pre-election, complete with pre-written questions by the 7-year-old moderator on several issues, including what to do about a child who doesn't want to go to bed and how to handle a boss who doesn't pay his workers enough.

-plays, poetry, and lots of book writing.

-'toddler school' where lucy seriously teaches victor stuff. and he likes it. the other day, they were poring over world atlases.

-when the weather permits, gardening outdoors. in the spring I turned them loose with a packet of seeds, and we had a sweet corner of one bed full of zenias.

-plenty of reading. lucy loves to just curl up with a book. And she's great about reading to the little ones, too.

-art work. I never realized there could be so many uses for a box or so many ways to draw a flying boat.

We stopped by a used book store today, and guess what I found! John Holt's How Children Learn (he's basically the father of unschooling) . I always vowed I would never completely be an unschooler, but I may have to eat my words. There's math, though, that I"m not sure my eldest would ever meander toward on her own. I might have to give it a month or two and see what happens.

Eustace, if you're reading, don't panic.

By unschooling I don't mean I'll never teach my kids anything. I just think there's something to the idea that kids learn better when they follow their interests.

Victor already knows more about cars than I do. Case in point.

And he can spell c-a-n-d-y. (He also says things like, "mommy, what does i-o-n-d-9-2 spell?" So, don't go on thinking he's a prodigy.)

While I think this over, we'll keep plugging away at our math and spelling workbooks and see where life takes us. Hmmm... sounds like an unschooler talking.