Unschool-ology

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

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Without a Plan

I wake up most mornings without a plan. By time I wake up DD, I have been up myself for 3-1/2 hours. Cooking, Cleaning, doing my Bible Study, getting something done on my "To Do" list. It is 8:30 when I wake her up most mornings. Which is reasonable considering she usually passes out around midnight.

We might lay next to each other and cuddle or talk before we grab something quick for breakfast, usually a fruit, cheese, granola bar, or toast. Some mornings we make homemade pancakes. Yum.

Whatever we decide to do, it usually leads to something else. Making pancakes leads to science experiments or doing more with fractions. Which might lead to board games. Which leads to computer games. Then lunch. Then a tired girl who wants books. Then there are mornings like yesterday. We have random items laying around for use. After a quick breakfast of cinnamon bread, (baked two days before) DD noticed I had finished wrapping gifts which meant empty wrapping paper rolls. Oh....the endless opportunities! She opted to make her own road map. Yes, Geography done! We have two left. She wants to make a giant roll out card for Daddy. Reading/Writing! Then she got bored so I showed/taught her to make origami hearts, which lead to further research about that as well as her creative plan to make a butterfly out of the hearts. (She decorated it with stickers of bikini tops, bottoms, hats, a purse, etc.) Then she remembered we never finished her most recent issue of High Lights magazine her Nana sent her. Filled with reading and games. We finished it. And so of course that lead to more reading and practicing reading scripts for her audition next Fall. We have a long way to go...and so on. This morning Grandpa will be here shortly after she wakes up. I know we'll make brownies for the librarians tomorrow, exchange gifts, go over some state quarters and post cards he is bringing her and work together on making a family dinner. No telling what else. Some mornings DD wakes up asking to bake or build an air plane. Some mornings we do nothing but play games on the computer or build blocks. Other days I might have in mind an activity we can do for our unit study, which she is usually more than willing, but can decline nicely. There are the days at the Center. And days we have gymnastics. Or like lately, visiting relatives, holiday baking, Christmas parties, wrapping, homemade gifts, and special lessons on Jesus' birth. All of it relevant. We just let the day take us wherever and juice as much from it as we can.

I have seen the results in my child and I like what I see. One day we may be more structured, but right now, I like learning as we go.

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