Beyond Unschooling

If you've been a reader of this blog for some time, you'll know that our main approach to owlet learning and living has been through unschooling. We've always followed their lead, since they were very small. Aside from that little moment of Steiner kindergarten for Big Owlet, we've just lived life and helped the owlets learn what they needed, when the needed. It's been beautiful and amazing, and a huge learning curve for us in observing and letting go and trusting that they will learn when and what they need. We wouldn't have it any other way.

As we stepped into last year, however, the owlets asked for more. They felt they wanted a plan mapped out for them. They wanted to learn more, explore more. And they wanted to work. Big Owlet was particularly keen to see where she was at and if she was on par with the peers that she knew at that Steiner kindy so many moons ago. But she was also adamant that she didn't want to go to school. She loves the freedom we have at home. Loves the ease and convenience of being where everything she loves and needs is, all day. All the owlets do - who doesn't?

So we set about finding structure and work, but balancing it with freedom. And we arrived at Oak Meadow. We've been using the Oak Meadow curriculum for Big Owlet for almost a year now. Little Owlet has also darted around the grades, then taken some time to focus on gardening, and she's now back on board and into her third week of a new year. Tiny began puddling around with her own "special books" (Oakmeadow Kindergarten) half-way through last year and is now into week three of Grade One.  I spent the first three weeks of this year planning and finding extra resources and mapping out our year. We're all in and we have a daily rhythm and we're working hard on all the things every day. Who even are we? Essentially we're still following the owlets' lead... Unschooling with book guides? Haha! It feels like the same life, but with different hashtags.

So how did the owlets measure up? Well, there were a few new concepts that curriculum based learning introduced. We found that the writing component of the program was challenging - there's so much writing! So we've been working through slowly, picking and choosing. We began at a level that covered much of the history learning Big Owlet was after and she's now at exactly the same place as those Steiner kindy peers. Little Owlet needed a little extra time with hands on work before she felt like settling down to bookwork. Her spelling needed some help, so using a formal program has done wonders for her confidence. Both bigger owlets can read very well, despite very little input from us. It really has just happened with time, patience, lots of reading aloud on our part, and effort on their part. Maths… well there are quite a few concepts which the owlets hadn't encountered yet. But they learn new maths concepts extremely quickly, so with Khan academy and extra time chatting it through with Huz, we've got them covered. Science - well, the Owlets find all those unschooling years and the way we live, observing and exploring, mean they have a great grasp on nature and science.

The beauty of the Oak Meadow program is that from Grade 4 onward, it is written to the student, so the owlets can work somewhat autonomously. The program is rather extensive, so they pick and choose the projects that really appeal to them and we supplement with extra outings, books, films and performances. And some days we put it all aside because it's a perfect beach day and there's so much learning and living to be done there.

I'm so glad for our unschooling years. They mean we learn creatively and resourcefully. They mean that I don't stress over skipped days or push things that the Owlets don't find interesting or essential. They mean that I know we'll get to where we need to be eventually, trusting the process of living and learning, together in partnership. Whichever approach you take, and whatever you decide to call it, that's really what it should all be about, after all. That's where the real learning is.

How's your year going?

I'll be sharing a little more of our learning adventures, past and present, in weeks to come. 

Have a gorgeous week.

Much love, 

~ Lauren. xx

Variations on a theme...

We learnt a whole lot last year. Not just about the world outside our little nest, but about the world inside it. As our owlets get older and reach for more independence, we learn and shift. Like how we play musical beds all the time. We meet their (and our) needs.

Last year we explored letting go all over again. Owlets spent days upon days at play, making new friends and strengthening old friendships. It was a wonderful life-learning experience. Most of it happened online. We thought we'd see how long it'd last... Minecraftschooling. How long they'd want to keep playing/watching all day (and I mean ALL day). They went hard. They learnt to touch-type and play online parkour. They figured out some tough mathematical puzzles and negotiated friendships. Oh, they learnt. They learnt lots. And we were always around to guide them (we learnt lots too). It was great! They didn't want to do anything else in their waking hours.



But underneath it all there was this strange, underlying... boredom. Our owlets seemed to be waiting for something. And yet not. If we were out, they'd count down until they could get back to playing and rage if it felt like too long. We'd suggest going out or trying something new... a craft activity or baking or an outing... anything... and it was met by this overwhelming sense of *meh*. They were grumpy lots. They didn't know what they could do without some direction or entertainment. Unless they were online. They were bored, but it was an unsettling kind of boredom. And despite one out of the three owlets being able to self-regulate, even she was caught up in it. It was almost dependency. It was all a bit much.

They'd forgotten how to daydream. 

This worried us. Daydreaming and boredom are big friends of creativity, in our book. Boredom isn't something to be afraid of usually. It pushes you to be creative. To be perfectly honest, we adults fill quiet moments with screens too. We work online. We organise social outings online. There's no time to be bored or daydream. No time to be quiet. Always, always busy.



We had a family chat about all the things we hoped to do this year. It wandered into what we'd like to do in years to come. Hopes and dreams and all that stuff you talk about as a new year approaches.

Big Owlet wants to be an artist. Little Owlet wants to cook. Tiny Owlet wants to be a tiger. And so we talked about how they are and can be all those things NOW. That they can work at them and master them and perhaps do them for a living (tiger may be tricky), but they have to DO them. We pointed out that right now, at that moment,  they were skilled online gamers, which is totally cool if that's what they want to be, but they seemed bored with it. Like it was their job. Not their passion. Turns out we were right.



They needed balance, just as we do. And they just weren't equipped to find it on their own yet. They were ready for a push. Big Owlet was ready for a challenge. She identified gaps she found and didn't know how to go about filling. From birth, this owlet has adored routine. She loves the comfort of order and a programme. Which is, I suspect, why screens appeal so much.



If you were to label it, we'd probably have one sort-of-waldorfy-homeschooler, one unschooler and one radical-or-bust unschooler. But we don't have to label it because it is what it is. And how it looks now will most likely look different next month. I'm being a bit careful about the words we use to describe what we do these days. And I'm ignoring the voices out there who try to package it and tell me how it should look. Labels are unhelpful other than to help identify a tribe. And, wonderfully, thankfully, we have found it.

So we're working with variations on a theme. We're life learning, living and loving. And doing what we want and need for now. Looking out for each other so there's time for all the good stuff. So far, so good.

advent :: stones

We've had such a lovely time weaving our way through the week with our Waldorfy themed activity advent. Our week of stones saw some lovely quiet crafting and time together during the week, after our more adventurous weekend. I'm really enjoying the moments to pause each day and remember to put aside all the busy-busy that happens at this time of year. It's keeping me in line so I don't get carried away with the tide...

How about you? How are you travelling? xx

Advent day three :: paint and adopt a pet rock :: Gift :: stones
Advent day four :: make a summer seasonal table :: Gift :: crystals
Advent day five ::  read a bedtime story together :: Gift :: a beeswax candle
Advent day six :: make a necklace or decorations from shells :: Gift :: shells

unschool monday :: this is how we roll

It's been a little while since I updated exactly what a day looks like in our nest. A home day. One of those ones where we just wander and let the day flow over us... Actually, I find the happiest days around here require a little nudging along to keep things fresh and relaxed. Not a plan as such, but most certainly a gentle rhythm, which I have talked about before... Quiet home days can turn into a day in front of the screen, for all of us... Or I can get distracted by the million and one things to do and somehow the day ends up in a big mess. Winter days can be like that and while the screen can be helpful and lots of fun for all of us, when we are not getting so much outdoor time, I find the energy becomes a little stale and angsty. So we look to a rhythm and I assume the role of gentle nudger... Kind of like the sun keeping all my planets in orbit...

Big Owlet has always responded to a plan. She loves being surprised with a whole bunch of activities carefully designed just for her. Then she reserves the right to reject said plans... I'm getting to a point now where I can almost predict where she's wanting to go and I've been quite amused to observe that she's kept fairly on track with her peers at the Steiner school she started out at, choosing topics of interest and working on things at a similar time. This year she's all about building, which happens to be what they do in grade three at most Waldorf/Steiner schools. So with this in mind, I have a loose waldorfy curriculum sitting in a file on the computer for those days where we need some nudging. We'll use it for a prompt if things get stale and talk about what's in the pages, then explore it in our own unschooly way, if we feel like it. In the picture above, the owlets are working together to build a lego treehouse, a model that we might replicate and build in the garden in the warmer months.

Little Owlet is happy to join in and work on whatever Big Owlet is doing, but in her own playful way. I see now why so many home educators pitch their learning at the eldest child and the younger children join in. When Little Owlet tires of what we are doing, she dives back into that play world of hers and drags Tiny Owlet along for the ride....

Of course, there are days where we're all just feeling like doing not much aside from going with the flow of the day and seeing where it leads. That's the great freedom of Unschooling that I love most. Sometimes these days are the best. Somedays they end up in a great big ball of chaos. On those days, I remember that I'm the sun and pull everything back to that slow, gentle rhythm. We'll all tidy up a bit and sit down to afternoon tea and breathe for a moment before preparing for the evening. Somehow conversation flows and peace falls upon our nest and the week rolls on...

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I must confess, I've been a terrible linkup hostess the past couple of weeks... a holiday and the beginning of a new business will do that, I suppose. I have lots of catching up to do reading all the amazing blogs that have linked up here over the past few weeks! Looking forward to it! Do join in if you can, or enjoy reading along when you have a chance. There's a wealth of insight and inspiration shared on Unschool Mondays!

mandalas

This is one of the images that will stay with me from our beautiful, long summer. We've just spent a couple of weeks looking at mandalas. Completing a unit study on them, I suppose. We finished the summer looking at circles and relishing in our own little family circle. Drawing inward before Huz ventured out of the nest again for the working week.

At the beginning of the year, we had reached a point where we needed a little more structure, stability, to our days. Big owlet especially was wanting us to give her work to do. Set her on a path of learning, but in a way that she could get excited about. She wanted direction. Something I've observed happens when she connects with a screen more than her family. We also needed to find a way to boost her confidence with numbers. I suspect that her very logical brain will embrace them when she's ready, but for now she is in the complete rejection phase which has preceded all her major milestones. And I needed a plan. So we purchased a curriculum unit from Earthschooling, knowing that Big Owlet is particularly drawn to activities with a Waldorf leaning. It outlined some great simple activities for us to expand on and expand we did... in our own unschooly kind of way...



To begin with, we reflected on the mandalas we'd seen the Gyuto monks create last September. The owlets were fascinated and would have watched for hours, had I not had a wriggly baby to contend with. We talked about the process, the meditation... And we meditated too. That's what they're doing in that first photo...



We drew our own mandalas. Then we reflected on the colours and shapes we'd chosen and what they represented.



And we ate lunch, while talking about all the mandalas we might find in nature. I read a few stories and we sung some songs featuring circles and mandalas, particularly reaching Little Owlet and her love for a singalong.



The next time we visited mandalas, we played trivial pursuit. Big Owlet's first go and she loved it! After that, we looked at the colour wheel, creating our own...



And then seeing how it works. Little Owlet exclaimed with great surprise when she saw the colours blending. I think it was the first time she'd consciously created orange, green and purple and it was an amazing thing for her...



The next morning, we stumbled across Danmala's work and we were amazed. The owlets wanted to have a go too, using bits and pieces from our own garden.



They spent quite a while there working on them, Big Owlet working solo and Little Owlet working alongside me.



Later the wind blew the mandalas away and we were reminded of the monks and how they sweep the sand away at the completion of each mandala...



While the wind was doing its work, we began working with numbers. Counting in patterns and introducing multiplication concepts to Big Owlet. She loved this one so much she wanted to do it again.





But we began working on something a little more intricate, using protractors and compasses and parts of our brains we hadn't yet used (or hadn't used for a while in my case). Robinsunne's Multiplication Clock*, as inspired by my lovely friend (and Waldorfy mentor), Kestrel. Big Owlet enjoyed this too and  the point at which she understood how it worked was brilliant. She's not quite ready to grasp some of the higher numbers yet, but she understood the concept and that was enough for her.



It's all about the colours anyhow ;)



While Big Owlet was working on that, Little Owlet chatted about clocks and life cycles and sat down to colour some mandalas. It always surprises me which colours she chooses. She began with the loveliest earthy terracotta...



I sat down with her later to complete it. We love colouring together...



Somewhere towards the end of all that, between the time it took to buy a packet of Tic Tocs and eat it, Huz returned to work. Summer ended and the circle seemed to have broken for the most part of our days. We're back to watching the clock...



The days are noticeably shortening and the cool weather is here again. Autumn is upon us. So the owlets and I sat down for our last mandala meal, using our mandala-iest** tablecloth. We had our usual little morning tea circle, reserved for home days and joined hands, singing "Blessings on the Blossoms", as the owlets so love to do... And we are getting on with the year. Talking about the seasons, planning for what we might do next. Looking forward to the next long holiday, whenever it may be, and looking forward to warmth and snuggling and more time with Huz.


*The link was there just last week! Promise! I'm popping it here in the hope it'll be back...
** Is too a word.