A Change of Course

The summer season is almost upon us, and I feel like I need to make plans. This is nothing new for me; every time we have a major change of seasons (spring to summer, or fall to winter) I feel the need to reevaluate what I am doing, and change course slightly. I think that it is akin to what I imagine the captain of a boat must do periodically: look at the map and compass, and if he has veered off route at all, take a few minutes to readjust.

The main thing I want to reevaluate this season-change is my approach to educating my children. My oldest (Shana) recently turned 8, and would just be finishing 2nd grade if she was in school. Except for a year of preschool at age 4, she has never been in a traditional school setting. The first two years that we did school at home, I created a curriculum and we kept up a rigorous and highly structured school-time routine. Shana participated successfully, but somewhat unwillingly, in the sit-down, book, paper, and pencil learning activities that I had planned. Then, last summer, I became really interested in unschooling. What sparked my interest was a quote I read somewhere that went something like this: "Humans are rational animals, and if they need to know something, they will find a way to learn what they need to know". This made sense to me because pretty much everything I do nowadays (run a business, cook delicious vegetarian meals, brew beer, sew, etcetra), I taught myself to because I was interested in learning the skill. I didn't learn any of those things in school. So with that in mind, we started our unschooling journey.

Since we began unschooling, I have seen positive changes in my daughter. The first thing I noticed was that without our structured morning routine, she began really engaging in free play way more than she had in a very long time. After breakfast, Shana and her 5-year-old sister (Stella) would immediately be engaged in some imaginary play, that would often last for hours. Another positive change is that she began to be interested in figuring out her own math problems. So at the store, she would add up how many items we have in stock, or add up the daily sales. Prior to unschooling, she had been very resistant to math. However, that being said, I have also been disappointed in our unschooling experiment to some extent.

For one thing, I imagined that if I empowered Shana to take the lead in her own educational experience, some fabulous ideas might result. I thought she might want to "publish" her own kids' magazine, or design and carryout some scientific experiments, or read every book she could get her hands on about the Revolutionary War, or whatever.... But that has NOT happened. She really hasn't taken the initiative to do anything out of her ordinary routine, unless it was something I led her to do. I think this is partly due to her personality: she is very laid-back, easy-going, and complacent. She is not shy, but still seems to be more of a follower than a leader. Still, whether her perceived lack of initiative is due to personality type or something else, I feel that something has to be done to get her interested in some projects. And that is why I am going to be setting some summer learning goals for Shana, her sister Stella, and for the whole family.