Other than Math, my plans and curriculum choices weren't working. Lots of resistance which led to bad moods, distrust and power struggles.
I asked them, "What do you want to do?"
The boy said that he wanted more science projects. The girl said she wants to build a play house.
Well, it's January in Upstate, NY. Building a play house can happen but not right now. I told her she needed a plan or a blueprint. We'll see if she goes anywhere with this idea.
The boy's idea is a bit more reachable. I put the curriculum aside and took out the dig a dinosaur kits, some books on dinosaurs, printed up some worksheets and fun dinosaur puzzles and cued up some things on Netflix.
Today, even with me not feeling 100% and the oldest being home sick, was a pretty good school day (or unschool day?), They watched a few Dino shows and dug out dino bones. This went on for 4 hours. 4 hours of us watching and discussing topics like evolution, the impending ice age, how the continents were one huge land mass and other assorted topics.
Currently, they have pulled out various art supplies to do an art project of some sort. This is completely their spontaneous idea. I hope this spark continues!
We may be moving in an unschool type direction which is a bit scary for me. I think I need more deschooling time!
I love that you are able to do this. I think there is so much value in child led learning.
ReplyDeleteIt's a huge leap of faith!
ReplyDelete