Unschool-ology

Unschool-ology
Unschooling: Living Without School; Living Free Range-Freedom to Learn What One Wants When One Wants

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Space Studies

Well, Samantha has a new interest, and that is space. We have been adding a little space stuff to her room here and there and I have shown her some silly move clips about space and played some games about space, got her some books, and the more we do, the more excited she gets, so we decided to buy her a telescope. (Like with the butterfly garden, if she sticks to something at least a month and shows a growing interest, we will spend about $20.00 to $25.00 to get her something big to go with that particular interest. With the butterflies it was the butterfly pavilion and eggs. With this, we got her a kids  telescope.) Now, telescopes are expensive, so I have to say that in this case, Craigslist was my friend. We got it for $15.00. It came with two extra lenses, the tripod, and the telescope itself. We set it all up on Wednesday night and Jessie found the moon for her to look at, and she got to see a star up close. She was extremely excited, but I told Jessie next time we will let her play with it herself so she can use it how she wants and get familiar with it. Afterwards, in her journal, she drew a picture of what she saw. She drew the moon, stars, her telescope, Dad, Mom, and Sam. The description she had me write said, "I saw star and moon and love and a heart and the candle that I blowed out." (Not sure what the love and heart thing was about, but the candle was something from earlier that day.) Here are some pics. 







Saturday, July 21, 2012

Homeschool Expo 2012


This year I was able to walk into the homeschool expo with a whole new view. I actually understood what was going on and what I was looking for.

I got Samantha some cool stuff too. There were a lot of used book stands there, so I got her Diary of a Worm- Cutest book ever. It is just what it sounds like, a diary of a worm. You learn some facts about it, but the other part is just silly. Sam Loves it though. There are also a few others, Diary of a Spider and Diary of a Fly. Samantha has been checking them out from the library constantly, so I figured it was time to buy it for her. And then I got her a Magic School Bus book about Space. (We also recently ordered her the entire series of Magic School Bus on DVD for her birthday off Amazon.) Then I got her a magnifying glass because she has been begging for one. And a plant root viewer. (We tried to do a homemade one where we planted a seed in a water bottle, but we got no results, so I am hoping that this will work better.)

I attended two seminars, both based on the Charlotte Mason method, called Learning Through Living Books, which basically explained the best ways to use detailed stories, fiction and non-fiction, to learn about History, Science, etc. instead of using textbooks. The other one was "Quiet Schooling of Nature" which explained in detail how to best use things like journaling and photography and such to help your child learn more about nature.

I also learned a lot today by talking to the HSLDA. I was asking about the legality of unschooling in Georgia. And he informed me what I could and couldn't do. And also told me that I don't have to enroll Sam with the county until she is 7, which means that is less time they will be over us. And I pick her grade when I turn her intent for in, so it isn't like we are holding her back. 

Her telescope also came in today, but unfortunately, they only sent one part of it, so now we are having to wait for them to send the other part. She says she can't wait to see the phases of the moon up close. It makes me so happy to see her get excited about that!

Sorry. Everywhere. Just...Excited.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Unschooling Thoughts

We are finally all moved into the new house, and able to relax. :) Ah...a very nice feeling. And I have realized how many new opportunities this house will give us for unschooling! All the extra space for projects and the area outside for exploration. She has more freedom to express herself without the landlord breathing down our necks. She can even be loud here! Which means we turn up the Dr. Jean CDs a LOT! Now that she is getting older, I have decided to put more learning opportunities in her reach, for her to initiate of course. So I am going to try to figure out a way to link different pages with references and information onto my blog for Samantha to look over if she chooses. 


*Side Note: We have decided to purchase the Magic School Bus series on DVD for Samantha. I am very excited! :p 


Now to do figure out how to link these things...