The Highest Form of Praise

It's been a real struggle to get school out of Bay's vocabulary. It's been a challenge to help her realize that what we're doing here at home is giving her a personalized education, not schooling her at home. 

She's needed a lot more guidance in learning via life than Tuna has. Perhaps because she's spent the last four years in public school, while Tuna only went through two years of it. 

Anyway, when we brought home Bay, we started her on Progress Academy, which is definitely "school at home" because that's what she preferred. Or, I should say, what she thought she preferred. I signed a contract agreeing to pay $89 a month for one year, no refunds. 

She hates it. 

So she and I sat down and discussed what her goals were. Her goal used to be to graduate high school and go to art college. Now, she's not sure she wants to go to college at all. And she knows she wants to take a year off between school and whatever it is that comes next. 

Again, school. She can't let go of that word. 

So we found some college courses that are offered on a not-for-credit basis. She will get the chance to experience college lecture and the way college works. She'll be doing "school" like she seems to crave. And, most important to me, she will be learning something, anything, moving forward. 

Tuna likes some aspects of "school," too, such as knowing what she will be doing each day. So we read and go through a chapter of Life of Fred each day. We do science-y stuff twice a week. We do history stuff twice a week. And we have Free Art Time, which is her "art" class with no rules. She likes that. She does not like repetition, worksheets, textbooks, or anything remotely like that. 

Unschooling, I've learned, is more than getting away from school. It's doing whatever education matters, pertains, interests, drives, motivates, and pleases each child. 

Unschooling, in our house, looks like this:

Bay taking online college-level courses. Bay and I reading good, modern literature together (aloud). Bay and I watching documentaries on forensics. Bay writing a book (she is always, always writing). Bay taking a course in writing so she can better her craft. Bay memorizing song lyrics and discovering new artists. 

Tuna and I cuddling on the couch, reading Story of the World, Life of Fred, and the (ugh) Little House on the Prairie series. Tuna and I watching The Happy Scientist and then trying some of his experiments. Tuna and I cooking together. Tuna learning all there is to know about Minecraft, setting a goal in Minecraft, meeting her goal, and running over to me, squealing with excitement while she relays every detail. 

Unschool looks like the girls and I taking off to go explore Germany on day trips. 

Unschooling looks like board games and blankets and pillows and paint and paper and ten different internet-capable devises in the house. 

Unschooling looks different to different people. That is our family's definition of it, and it works. 

How do I know?

Ahh....here I come to the point of my entry's title: The Highest Form of Praise....


Tuna announced to me that she wants to create  You Tube channel and create her own Minecraft tutorials. She came up with a title and everything. She said she wanted to do this when she was an adult. I looked at her and said, "Tuna, I think your Dad would agree with me that if you continue on your current path of being honest, trustworthy, true, and safety-conscious, I think your Dad and I would be just fine with you establishing your own channel when you're a teenager. Is that right, Charles?" My husband agreed and said that he sees no reason to keep her from it in a couple years (I think she's too young for You Tube right this second). She beamed, ear-to-ear, and said, "I love the words you're using about me right now. They make me feel great." 

Unschooling = peaceful parenting = open communication= love

Yesterday, Bay and I were cleaning the kitchen together. Bay helps out around the house a lot. She does a lot of dishes, kitchen cleaning, sweeping, mopping, laundry, whatever I need help with. And she never complains. She just helps, willingly. And she does a great job. We were at the sink, me rinsing, Bay putting dishes in the dishwasher, and something occurred to her. She said to me, "You know, I do a lot more housework than any of my friends. But I have a lot more freedom, I do a lot more stuff, and you give me everything I need and almost everything I want. I don't mind helping. I get more than anyone I know."

Unschooling = teaching real world values = cause and effect, check!

Friday, we're going to Nuremberg, Germany, home of the famous Nuremberg War Trials. So we're watching movies about the war, Hitler, and the city's general history, so we will know what we're seeing. 

Other than that, this week is "spring break" for my school-free kids, and they are enjoying things like learning to use a boomerang, hanging out with friends, sleeping late, learning to use chopsticks, watching movies, and hanging with Dad, who has the week off, too. 

Moral of the story: There are varying degrees of unschooling. Don't judge yours by someone else's standards. Just go with what works for your kids and for you.