Unschool me!

[~*heket*~]

My daughter has finally given up lists!

But I'm struggling with it myself. I worry about what she is learning, and that she is learning nothing - when I like to believe otherwise ostensibly. It's a double edged sword for me this week!

I also have the added worry of registration. I've done NOTHING towards it. And I think that I could de-school a lot faster if I wasn't concerned about the govt sending my child back to school.

This is probably little more than a gripe .... but I'd like some consolation anyway :lol

[~*heket*~]

Sheesh! your responses are OVERWHELMING ME!!! :rofl Am I really that boring? :jawdrop

[ThirdArmBabySlingProject]

What books have you read?

The Teenage Liberation Handbook by Grace Llewellyn provided me with a key shift in my deschooling - I SO wish I'd read it when my first child was young...

My Otherways (magazine of the Home Education Network) always arrives at a crucial moment and keeps me on track.

Get your hands on a copy of the Australian Home Education Conference of 2007 - DVD available from the Home Education Association for $40 - priceless - hours of John Taylor Gatto, Alan Thomas, Eleanor Sparkes...

You're not boring ;-)

[Ceres]

Given up lists? I could not live without at least one to-do list. I have several.
Documenting what you're doing in some way - by journal, a diary entry, portfolio etc - should reassure you that she's learning stuff and also double as something to show for registration I'd think.

[~*heket*~]

yeah, but I don't do stuff that they'll think is "good edumacational STUFF" ykwim? :lol

[Beatrice]

What does Stylish do?

Another way to get over the fear of "not doing anything" is to think about what kind of "life skills" you would like your kids to accumulate along the way, then make a point of recording everything you see them doing. Write up the list in educationese as part of your Health/Personal Development KLA (probably where it belongs in NSW? that's where I put it anyway) and then tick off or somehow note everything she is learning just in daily living which is relevant to any of them. You might also notice that she's using other subject areas - eg. anything she does towards financial literacy (big edumacational brownie points for that one) will involve maths, cooking can involve science or maths, etc etc. HTH...

[ThirdArmBabySlingProject]

Honestly Heket, the most 'boring', 'unhappening' everyday real life can be turned into edumababble...Maybe a thread on turning everydayness into edumababble might be useful...?

Also confirming what They are allowed to ask, assess and require (my understanding is there's a lot of limitations on Them).

Have you been in touch with HEN & HEA for advice on learning the Art Of Edumababble?

This being covered is a big liberating step towards letting go of 'doing'/'schooling'...

[Eir]

Thanks for starting this thread Heket -- I'm getting very excited about unschooling as I'm reading Holt's Teach Your Own at the moment, but I've got to learn to let go of my love of lists, order and erm, schoolishness :lol

I just caught up with a friend yesterday who works in policy at the WA Ed Dept (who was really encouraging!) and I'm hoping she can help me learn to speak edumacababble fluently for when the time comes.

[Ceres]

yeah, but I don't do stuff that they'll think is "good edumacational STUFF" ykwim? :lol
I'm sure it's plenty edumacational. Just have to add sufficient edubabble and you'll be sweet.
Give me an example of something she's done in the last few days.

[~*heket*~]

Found a second hand rat :lol

she's reading Adrian Mole - and keeps having to read the funny bits to me

[ThirdArmBabySlingProject]

I loved Adrian Mole in its/my day - even got to see the stage show musical on the West End and toured the stage/back stage, played with the amazing dog puppets etc courtesy of a friend of a friend who was the stage manager...

That I'd love to translate that into edumababble LOL

Geography lesson ~ Falkland Islands being hidden under a crumb.

Animal care ~ never kick the dog but it's OK to throw it downstairs

Economics ~ Don't be like the vicar buying cushion-soft toilet roll - buy the cheap brand and give the savings to the poor.

Biology ~ Dad + Mistress = baby. Penis measuring....

And so on...

Memories flooding back. Might go see if they're in the library...

[cgull]

Here's Beverley Paine's articles on recording. She's probably less radical in her natural learning approach than you might want to be, but perhaps they'll give you some ideas. I like her 'snapshots from everyday life' idea, and she's included examples from her own diaries.;)

http://homeschoolaustralia.com/index/recording.html


On another note:
I remember a teacher telling us that when the Tassie matric reporting system was changed to be criterion-based, they asked expert teachers in each subject to produce a list of criteria. The French teacher's list was returned, for being 'too simple.' She rewrote it (the same things) in the most complicated edubabble she could muster, and sent it back as a joke. They said, 'Thanks, much better.' :rolleyes
So even teachers have trouble with using the 'right' terminology. I think it's ironic that there's so much research going around about 'natural language' and even the home loan contract I signed the other day (congratukate me, we're finally going to be able to grow what we want in our very own garden:eager) was easy to understand, but the education system insists on making itself unreadable. It's also ironic that I insist on writing long meandering sentences about simple writing...:rofl

[~*heket*~]

Must have a game of monopoly for maths! I'm getting the swing of this now :lol Shit, I've just gotta bite the bullet and do it, I don't know why it's so painful for me :rofl

[cgull]

Hey, I just read this article "overcoming the...recording blues":

http://homeschoolaustralia.com/articles/recording2.htm

It's REALLY worth a look.

(Has anyone noticed I quite like Beverley Paine?)

[Beatrice]

Break down what Stylish did to find the rat :) How did she research "finding second-hand rats"? Online? Phone book? Where - google, rat fanciers website/forums, etc? What search query did she come up with, or how did she know who to ask? Did she have to display that she'd done any research to convince the previous owners that she was a suitable candidate to bestow their rat on? What does she know about housing/bedding/feeding rats? etc etc etc.

There you go, you've covered technology, English/language arts, life skills and biology, all in one rodent ;)

[cgull]

Must have a game of monopoly for maths! I'm getting the swing of this now :lol

"A few words about unschooling math" (NOT Beverley Paine:D)

http://borntoexplore.org/unschool/math.htm

[Sarasvati]

Hey heket are you self-sabotaging? :lol

[~*heket*~]

Definitely self sabbotaging :lol I think I need to have a rego party with a case of bubbly and JL members.

Thanx for those articles! They're wonderful :D

And although it's just ONE rat, it's a bloody BIG rat L :lol I might get Stylish to detail the process in a scrap book.

[Beatrice]

That sounds like a plan. Look up "lapbooking" and unit studies, you might be able to use that approach for a few of Stylish's passions.

ATM B is doing a unit study on the UK ;)

[cgull]

Thanx for those articles! They're wonderful :D

No worries, glad to help

[~*heket*~]

still going .... no recording has taken place either :imateapot One day next week I'm gonna make a whole scrapbook - wanna come over and help with that J? I know how you LOVE scrapbooking :rofl

I saw some really nice scrapbooking equipment at big w, that's all recycled and I love the designs. It's $18 :shock Who knew scrapbookng could cost so much!? But with some pics, and some writing, and some samples of work, and some invented dates I should be able to muster SOMETHING up - oh lord I'm over this :bang

[Ceres]

I haven't looked into this much, but this came across my email inbox the other day. It's called lapbooking. (http://www.squidoo.com/lapbooking)You could fluff this up to look like a unit study too, which would look good for the registration.

[asimplelife]

How are you feeling about it all now?

All I do is blog what we do and take photos and note what chapter books we've read together and inspiration that has come out of them. I don't keep any official records (don't actually need to here) but if/when we get reviewed I will just put something together. I keep drawings and things my kids have written etc and date them (although I have read that it's better to not date them so you can slot them in where you want) and chuck them in a drawer for now.

[~*heket*~]

I'm way better about it now, I still haven't done anything though :lol

I think it's hard to de-school when you've gotta record learning and make it all fit neatly into a crapiculum of sorts :blueroll

[asimplelife]

Yeah, can just imagine!