Unschooling Works

Two days ago, Big Sister nestled onto the stone steps in our back yard, mapping out our house and yard. She drew a grid first, and then placed all she saw within the grid. I did not teach her this; she picked it up from reading and observing. What a neat project! Only, if I had thought of it and imposed it as an assignment, Big Sis would not have gotten as much out of it.

Remember the joy of discovering and implementing your own ideas as a child?! Ahhh....

Big Sis, Little Brother and a Friend have been enjoying the Swiss army knife this spring. Thy carve sticks into...sharp sticks. My first reaction upon seeing all these sharpened sticks was to want to give a formal lesson and teach them how to wittle a figurine. But again, my intrusion is the antithesis to learning! I remember spending hours wittling sticks in the same manner. I never created anything but wittled sticks, yet now I can sculpt quite effectively! I was allowed the time and space to understand how the knife works with the wood, on different types of wood and grains, and sense my hand's work. That is more valuable than any instruction.

It reminds me a little bit of The Karate Kid. For those of you beyond your 30's you will remember the Karate Kid craze! The boy wanted to learn karate from an elderly sensei. But the sensei did not start by teaching karate moves. He had the boy learn to use his body by washing cars, painting a fence, using chopsticks... Of course, later on the boy become a karate champ.

Learning about our bodies and our brains is integral to unschooling. Who, truly, can instruct us best on our own senses, our own perceptions, our own thoughts and critical processing? No one but ourselves (and maybe God who knew us before we were born).

Today, again without prompting, Big Sister completed an task that only she assigned. She alphabetized a series of 'feelings' magnets on our fridge.

And Little Brother tackled the marble run with a goal to make two paths merge into one. He acheived his goal with no suggestion or agenda on my part. And THAT is what makes this kind of learning SO precious.