Hi everyone!
As you may know, I started homeschooling my children a little over a month ago. If you want to read my post about my decision it's right here. At first I was deschooling them, and letting them take a break, but then (as you also may know) CPS started investigating us, and implied I was homeschooling to avoid truancy laws, so I got them on a curriculum right away. In my heart I want to go the unschooling route so badly, but I feel I can't under their watchful eye.
I thought in the mean time I could kind of poll the homeschooling/unschooling community and gather some information from you guys! I'd like to ask you some questions, as well as seek some advice, and kind of speculate and plan on how school will play out in our home - once they're off my backs. Some people homeschool when they say they're unschooling, some people unschool when they say they're homeschooling, and since the lines are sometimes blurred because each family is unique, I'm throwing you all in together! (I suppose these questions are for the most part directed at unschoolers, but everyone's welcome to comment. :)
I've also recently heard of radical unschooling, so if you consider yourself a radical unschooler, would you please answer my questions as well?
Here are the questions I would like to ask:
* 1) Do you limit screen time? If your kids beg for their tablets/shows/computers how do you get their mind off of them.
* 2) Do they have a bedtime? What would you do if they got into a pattern of staying up all night and sleeping all day?
* 3) Do you have a lot of land for them to roam? If so, what advice would you give to someone who only has a small yard.
If not, what have you done to remedy this with them being home all the time?
* 4) If you've homeschooled/unschooled, and your journey is over, what did your children move on to do? How are they?
* 5) Do you have a schedule or not? For radical unschoolers, what if anything, do you make your children do? What if they don't listen to you if, say, you ask them to brush their teeth and they don't want to?
That's all I can think of right now. I can't think of everyone who I've interacted with in the past who homeschools/unschools, but I'll try to think of some people off the top of my head...@squishysquid, @canadian-coconut, @cecicastor, @richq11, @papa-pepper, @allforthegood, @bluerthangreen, @ladyrebecca, @crosheille, @thefarmerswife, @sultnpapper, @jaytaylor ...I know there's more people I'm not thinking of...if you could answer my questions, and give me some insights into these issues, I'd be very grateful!! Also if you would like to add anything I should know, that would be appreciated as well! Thanks! 🤗😃❤
Love, snowpea ❤
I Do limit screen time, or at least make them have breaks. They get depressed and cranky if on for too long. They are teenage now, so I can just tell them to come off, but when they were younger we only had one computer and small devices were easy to confiscate for a bit. I'd try to make them aware that too much screen time was not beneficial (we are prone to depression in my family and that doesn't help).
We've always had a bedtime routine. I found they were more settled that way. I also don't want to be up all hours and need routine myself.
Our yard isn't huge, but we have parks and ovals nearby that we've always made use of. I've also been fortunate in that were could afford for them to do dance and gymnastics, so we're often out and about. I used to take them to the gardens and museums in the city too.
My oldest is 17 and just finishing a maths university entry course. She'll be going to England for a few months to visit family soon, after saving up from part time work. When she returns hopefully she'll have decided which course she wants to do at uni.
From my experience so far: I gave up on homeschooling, as we barely managed to get anything done, so now my little one (aged 10) is happily unschooled.
I hope you get the CPS off your back so you can take care of the kids as you see fit!
I think our sons are long lost twins haha! He's 10 too, has a symbiotic relationship with his tablet, he stays up way too late also, and he's not very interested in going to parks anymore, but always has fun when he's there. He's one of the most intelligent little boys I know, but It's hard to manage at times lol. Thanks for giving me a window into your life as an unschool mom! I'm following @honeydue now as well! :)
Sorry to have waited so long on responding, I saw this when it it but was busy that day and let it slip.
1.)Screen time is basically unlimited as long as their school work and chores are done. We limit what they can be on also as far as sites and most of them are educational in some way, shape or form. So even though it may seem like they are just having fun, they are exploring and learning even then.
2.)Our kids have Ehlers-Danlose and their body clocks get off and sometimes they are up all night. Having set bed time just doesn't work with it, and my wife said it was the same with her as a kid, as she has it also. I will say that the kids do a lot of their school work at night and it hasn't been a issue thus far.
3.) We have a decent amount of property for them to be outside on and we are set back off the road so they can be outside pretty much when they want as long as the wife or I am home.
if you only have a small yard, plan so trips to some local parks and very those trip times so you don't get in a pattern. Also get in a home school group that is active, most do field trips around here and it is good learning and good socialization for the kids and parents.
4.)We aren't over yet so I'm not the one to ask on this.
5.)The schedule as far as school work is that the wife lays out the work needed to be done over the weekend and on Monday the kids get their list. On Wednesday, she will get with each kid and review where they are at , and give a quiz or help them if they are having a problem.
Friday afternoon all the work has to be done and turned in, and then she tests them on the subject matter.
If they pass the test and there work is complete, they move on, if not they spend the weekend getting caught up and all privileges are suspended until they are back on track. The girls are really good about getting their work done, usually by Thursday, our boy is one who waits and procrastinates a little but he gets it in by Friday afternoon, I think he has only had a few weekends where he had to do school work.
We are not radical unschoolers so I don't know what that is all about, but as a parent you are in charge and responsible so if the kid isn't doing what you deem necessary, start taking things away from them, until they understand completely what the pecking order is the nest.
Just ask them if losing XYZ for a day is worth the 5 minutes it would take you to brush your teeth? Kids pretty much will listen to reason and that is a big part in home schooling is teaching kids how to think and reason things out, unlike public education which is nothing more than memorization of materials in preparation for a state wide proficiency test.
Hope this helps you, but most importantly, find a local home school group for support and ideas. There are more people going this route each year and the numbers are growing.
This is pretty complicated for me, but I must I'm impressed that you've taken the onus upon yourself. You sound like the woman described in Proverbs 31. Your husband is super blessed and so are your children @snowpea..