Since the calendar turned to September, it's been clear we're doing something weird. The only other people out on the trails and in the restaurants with us are retirees and the occasional honeymooners. In the quiet moments between steps, I've been trying to decide what were doing.
When Ben sheds real tears onto his math pages (and later notes that those pages may not be burning well in the fire because he "cried on them") or throws a pencil at the wall so hard that he breaks the lead right off (separate occurrences on separate days - and we haven't even started the writing instruction yet 😱), it feels a lot like homeschool.
When we're discussing Nelson Mandela, or the devastating, lasting effects of Apartheid, or the 17 different species of antelope (that we didn't know existed a month ago but now can easily identify), I think: this is worldschooling.
And, while I've never claimed to really understand what unschooling is, as we walked the sandy shores of the de Hoop Nature Reserve looking at scores of shells and limpets we had never seen before and Chris and I debated whether a (regularly occurring) aqua blue jelly-like thing was a plant or an animal (and called the kids over by saying, "come look at this weird thing"), it occurred to me we may have to call this "unschooling".
And then....When Chris announced that he had spotted yet another southern right whale (in their natural breeding ground not far off the South African coast) and ended his assessment of the joy in watching these large mammals play by saying, "I love it when they stick their paw up and slap it on the water," my first thought was: yep, definitely unschooling.
To learn about this fascinating species we had never heard of (Hint: They don't have paws - they don't even have dorsal fins.): click here
Whatever it is, as I sit with Ben and teach him math, I am reminded of how much I enjoy teaching... all children....but, especially, my own.
When Ben sheds real tears onto his math pages (and later notes that those pages may not be burning well in the fire because he "cried on them") or throws a pencil at the wall so hard that he breaks the lead right off (separate occurrences on separate days - and we haven't even started the writing instruction yet 😱), it feels a lot like homeschool.
Eland: one of the weirdest of the antelope species
And then....When Chris announced that he had spotted yet another southern right whale (in their natural breeding ground not far off the South African coast) and ended his assessment of the joy in watching these large mammals play by saying, "I love it when they stick their paw up and slap it on the water," my first thought was: yep, definitely unschooling.
Whatever it is, as I sit with Ben and teach him math, I am reminded of how much I enjoy teaching... all children....but, especially, my own.
Fantastic post Jennifer. You all are so fortunate to have each other!
ReplyDeleteWhat you are doing is probably like how parents schooled their kids on the frontier where there were precious few schools. They probably had few books and little paper and pencil. But kids learned about animals, farming, nature, and getting by with the basics.
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