Unschooling

There are many different approaches that people take with homeschooling just as there are many different philosophies that guide the way things are done in schools. In one course that I taught at BU about 15 years ago, my students learned about various approaches including Montessori, Waldorf, Reggio Emilia, High/Scope, Bank Street, etc. Some public and private schools have multi-age classrooms and others utilize a thematic curriculum. For example, I was assigned to supervise some teacher candidates who completed a field experience or student teaching at Greenwood Friends School, which is a Quaker school in our area that has multi-age classrooms. Similarly parents choose different approaches when it comes to homeschooling such as classical education (Socratic method), Charlotte Mason, unit studies, unschooling, school-at-home, etc. Distance learning via a public school is not really homeschooling in my opinion. If we wanted to save money, we could have enrolled our children in an online charter school, which is the way to educate your children at home for free, but that has never appealed to me. I would say that I have used an eclectic approach over the past seven years. I have never tried to imitate what happens in a school in our home. I don't grade their work; they've never received a report card. The only time Nadia has been graded is when she has used Teaching Textbooks on the computer for math. I will have to start grading her when she's in high school. Schooling might take place at the kitchen table, dining room table, on the couch, or a variety of other places in our house. Nadia likes to read in her bed, for example. We have a white board that we use for spelling. My kids don't write book reports or take quizzes or tests, except Nadia has had online quizzes in math the past two years. This year Nadia will begin taking tests in science for the first time. We do several of the subjects together, and others are done individually. Since Nadia and Ian are 17 months apart in age, they have done more things together in the past, but this year the boys will be doing science together. I use a thematic approach for some of the subjects - social studies, writing, and literature are usually linked together, and sometimes that topic also spills over into composer studies, cooking, Bible, and art projects. Although I haven't attempted to replicate school at home, I also haven't been on the other side of the continuum - unschooling.

I forgot to take a picture of the other side. They decorated the wood on the other side with glitter!

The first three years I was homeschooling, I was "under the radar" because until this year you didn't need to file any paperwork with the school district until your child turned eight; starting this fall families must file paperwork when their child turns six. The past four years I had to document that we had completed at least 180 days of school. I have found that 150 days is all we need for spelling, math, science, etc. We usually have 30-40 days a year that are comprised of things like field trips, theatre camp, history camp, and such. Before COVID-19, my lesson plans included more than 180 days for the 2019-20 school year. Because all but one field trip was cancelled from the middle of March through the end of June, I only documented 165 days of school for 2019-20. We were not required to submit any documentation last month because of COVID-19. If I had been required to do document 180 days, I would have used an unschooling approach for the other 15 days. My plans for this coming school year included 30 days of field trips and 150 days of our usual schoolwork. This is the first year that I also need to submit documentation for Oliver. Because I knew he wasn't going to be participating in theatre camp, I hadn't planned to count those as school days. The things I thought we would be doing for the first ten days of school were national parks (Sagamore Hill, Fire Island, Thomas Edison, Fort Stanwix, Saint Gaudens, Springfield Armory, etc.), science museums, factory tours, and other historical/cultural tours in Canada such as of the House of Commons, Notre Dame, Citadel, etc. All of those ten days have been scratched out because the national parks aren't open in NY/NJ, and we had to cancel our vacation. I'm assuming that many of the other field trips I had planned for 2020-21 will also be cancelled due to COVID-19. We haven't cancelled our trip to OH/KY/WV that I booked for the beginning of October yet, but I'm not holding my breath. The kids and I did eat in a sit down restaurant tonight for the first time since the pandemic began. We used part of a Bonanza gift card that Dad and Margie gave us for Christmas. The four of us enjoyed the buffet for less than $20 total. That doesn't qualify as a field trip though. 

Since Nadia was in an acting class for four hours a day last week, I decided to count those as school days for all three kids. I read them at least one new picture book a day. Yesterday we read a fantastic one called One Hen, which was a true story about a boy in Ghana. We listen to audiobooks for hours every day. Nadia and Ian read part of a chapter book of their choosing every day, and Oliver reads picture books or easy readers out loud to Nadia, myself, or Paul almost every day. Nadia does a jigsaw puzzle (300-500 pieces) almost every day. Ian and Oliver do a few jigsaw puzzles a week. I ordered another set of 8 puzzles (150-500 pieces each) on eBay last week that is supposed to be delivered this week. All of us listened to some of Dave at Night this morning. When Ian wanted to go outside and build a fort in our yard with Oliver, Addi, and Westyn, Nadia began listening to Anne of Green Gables while she finished her jigsaw puzzle. My documentation of school days for last week and this week looks different than what I've ever written in past years. I've included swimming for the boys (physical education) while Nadia has been at theatre camp along with listening to audiobooks, reading independently, picture books I've read to them, and practicing the piano. I even included a couple of the movies that we've watched such as White Fang and Bridge to Terabithia since they are based on books we've read. There are times I wish we lived in a state where documenting days wasn't necessary. Since there is no minimum number of hours given to define a day for grades K-8, it really is extremely subjective. We listen to audiobooks together almost every single day of the year, usually for multiple hours a day, and Nadia and Ian read in a chapter book independently almost every day of the year. Counting days of school is rather arbitrary in my mind. I don't document every little thing we do. Nadia did a personal finance course this summer which isn't included on my list of "days" of school. All three kids earned multiple Junior Ranger badges at home during the quarantine - also not documented. I do a slightly more traditional approach to schooling for 150 days of the year and an unschooling approach for the other 215 days of the year. Learning can take place in such a WIDE variety of ways whether it's building a fort outside or learning some new words while playing Quiddler. Nadia played that game with Paul and I after the boys went to bed last night.