Those of you who are unschooling how did you transition?

Question

I know many are unschooled from day one but my 9 yo daughter has been in public school K-4th and we've had it. Next year, 5th will be homeschooled. We really believe unschooling is the best way to go.

My concern is 'deprograming' her. Those of you who started later in your education career, how did you transend? I have a friend who simply give her boys books and let them read. They loved it. However, my daughter is Dyslexic and has ADD. She is intelecteually sharp but slow in processing, movement and speech so we feel the homeschool/unschool route will be best, I would simply like ideas for jump starting this endevor.

Answer 1

No offense, but we're all born dyslexic and ADD is a made up illness by school officials so they can't be held accountable for s******g up a child. Let the child play for a year. Provide a nurturing, safe & loving environment for your child. Also provide some resources and/or activities and let her choose among them. If she chooses not to use them or participate then that is also fine. She needs time to heal from the damage caused by being institutionalized all these years. Most parents naively send their children to public school but eventually learn that is the worst place possible for a growing child. Count your blessings you learned now and not years from now. This happens all the time. I could give you a timeline for what you've experienced and could tell you just what you've been through without you ever telling me first. Don't recreate the school at home or pressure her to 'school'. Read 'The Homeschooling Book of Answers' by Linda Dobson http://guerrillahomeschooling.blogspot.c... and 'The Underground History of American Education' by John Taylor Gatto http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/index.htm... Good luck & remember to let her be a child free of labels and school induced failure.

Answer 2

My son was in public schools through fourth grade. I actually pulled my kids a week before school let out because the last few weeks were such a nightmare. I have a child with severe autism, she doesn't enjoy reading, in fact, at 8yo, when I pulled them from school, she could not read at all. She can now, thanks to homeschooling (individual attention and time to develop on their own)

I would start by exploring. She doesn't enjoy reading at this point, so let it go. I'd learn hands on, visit as many places as you can, not just zoos and museums, but stores and groceries and any place. Let her explore lake shores and woodlands and parking lots. Just let her play for a while. Let her ask questions, no matter how stressed or embarrassed you are. My 7yo spent an hour at the cookie factory (at the mall?) today asking all kinds of questions about how they decorate the cookies, how they get the pictures on, where the dough comes from, etc etc. It was amazing. I had to be patient because I had my list of things that I wanted to accomplish, and I was kind of embarrassed, but they were kind and enjoyed explaining things to her.

Also look at unschoolingbasics yahoo group. You'll find a lot of information. But why wait? If you've had it, pull her now! Let her spend the next six months decompressing. We started with a school-at-home, and thank goodness I was put on bedrest! WIthout that I might still be thinking that School At Home was the way to go...this has worked better for OUR family.

Answer 3

You are on the right track; de-schooling is very important.

It takes a while for her to trust that she can learn without having to be told what to do next, when, where, and how.

Don't be surprised if she asks several times a day, "what do I do next"?

The hardest thing for parents, and children alike is to come to the conclusion that learning is not confined to certain hours, days, or a specific place (classroom).

Learning is also NOT confined to separate subjects, or textbooks.

Everything in life connects to each other.

With us the process of moving from structured "schooling" to unschooling, although we have home schooled for several years, was slow.

It was the children who lead us there slow but sure; we saw they could, and gave them a say in how to proceed.

We went from traditional classical, to unit studies, to relaxed, to unschooling.

We still do math, literature, and writing in a more traditional manner, but everything else we learn by reading great books, together, or on our own.

We play lots of games, and use 4H and other activities as "electives"; 4H has many great programs, including toast masters (speech, debate, and demonstrations).

for a great game selection try;

http://www.educationallearninggames.com/...

Computer:

http://www.planetcdrom.com/cgi-bin/shop?...

Unschooling means learning at your own pace even more freely than home schooling with a prescribed curriculum; we call it books (school) in a box :)

It works for some, but given a choice I have not met a youngster yet that would choose that route for themselves, why?, because it's not natural to learn in that manner; it's forced, and disconnected from real life.

There are many great sites that have information, and ideas.

It's like a buffet, you pick and choose what works for your family, and dismiss what does not.

At first it will come with a bit; in our case a lot of trail and error, but do not give up.

Even if she jumps from one subject to another at first, once she sees she can learn about what she is interested in, and learn as much about it as she'd like she will start focusing much more.

Here a a few sites that may be of some help:

Click on the purple box for a nice little video to illustrate why home/unschooling can work for so many children.

http://www.raisingsmallsouls.com/

Click on methods/unschooling.

http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/

http://sandradodd.com/unschooling

http://ulfaq.home.comcast.net/~ulfaq/ULf...

http://www.unschooling.com/