A Nice Little Story

One of my favorite unschooling books is called the Teenage Liberation Handbook. Last night Kaitlyn started asking some questions that were sparked by the very methodical education plan that one of her friends is on, and I read this first part to her called A Nice Little Story. It is a great illustration about how our attempts to teach can often squander, even kill a real love of learning. Those things fleshed out in the realness of everyday life are a real education, and the rest is often just jumping for paper fruit. Read it, you'll understand.

FYI - because somebody always tends to react - I do not endorse the site or any of the content therein - only this one story from Grace Llewellyn's book, "Teenage Liberation Handbook".

Sick & Twisted Unschoolers

It is almost midnight on a Saturday night.
I just went through the house where everyone has scattered into their own spaces, doing their own things.
Guess what I found my 16 year old doing?
She was studying Biology II: Human Anatomy.
The 14 year old is sprawled out on her bed with her sketchbook and pencils designing formal gowns - amazing formal gowns I might add.
Weirdos.
What's wrong with them?
When you don't force kids to learn through compulsory education, inside a teeny tiny little box, all kinds of weird like this happen.
Freaks.

Real Learning

The co-op we joined this past week is such a delight. The people were so welcoming and friendly. Kendra blogged about it here. We were all so happy, deep inside like when you know something is right, something "clicked". The girls chose to nix Economics and high school Geography, but they both opted to take English, 20th Century Literature, Biology, Art and Drama. I was surpised that Kaitlyn was choosing to take Biology, having always liked science, but always shying away from a challenge, but choose she did. This week as she has worked on Module 1, she has had all sorts of questions, and been challenged in many new ways. Yesterday she was struggling with a question, and asked for my help. We stretched out across my bed and read the section together, and talked about it - and I couldn't give her the answer. Not I wouldn't - I couldn't. But here was the best part - in all our the ways our philosophy of education and how people learn has changed over the past couple of years, I had to tell her that it was okay to say "I don't know" for both of us. She has an opportunity if she chooses, to learn, really learn. We talked about how important it is to learn for the sake of learning - and not to let anyone else pressure her to feel compelled to focus on getting the "right answers" but to press on for the joy of studying something of interest. I told her that it might be helpful for the other kids in the class if she is willing to say she doesn't know or understand and to ask the question that everybody else wants to know but is too afraid to ask. Life just keeps presenting opportunities to learn. My job is to facilitate them with whatever they choose to learn. It is so awesome and liberating not to have to have all the answers, but to be a fellow student with them in the school of life.

Dinner after Dark - A Story About Daylight Savings Time

Kullen and I had an "ah ha" unschooling moment this afternoon. I called him inside because we were about to eat dinner. Several things were amiss - for one, Travis called to say he is going to start working 10 hour days beginning today. He wasn't here for dinner time, and it seemed so early. Kullen went to the sink to wash his hands and said, "Mom, how come we used to eat when it was pitch black outside, and now we don't?" No lengthy explanations - I just told him that it gets dark later than it used to, and that was called Daylight Savings Time. No need for a textbook, a diagram, or a clock. He made a keen observation, asked a question, and learned - without "school". Kids really are learning all the time.