Unschool-ology

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

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Planning for Next Year

I'm back! Well, kinda. I'm still on the edge of any bit of food that I don't want to see or hear about could make my stomach turn. BUT, I'm not in constant pain so I'm okay with that. I have been able to clean a little and cook very simple things. What a relief. I'm not sure if it is the meds (which however, are giving me horrendous headaches and making me a little sleepy, which I will take any day over nausea) or if my hormones are evening out. Seriously...I caught a stomach bug last week. On top of my morning sickness and allergies. I thought I was dying! Then when I got dehydrated, I really thought I was dying. I didn't have the strength to stand up. It got scary. This pregnancy is taking it out of me completely. With Sam I could walk miles in the Summer he's in my second trimester. So far, with this one, I can barely make it down the isle at WalMart. Of course...it has been close to a decade. So...on to what this blog is about. Unschooling. We unschool. This year I decided to be a little more "laid back" and in turn ended up being too hands off I feel like. She accomplished some things. Made some major strides due to age. And of course took some classes and had some cool new experiences. And...I really hope all her play time has paid off, but even she feels like she has too much time on get hands and she can't fill it. She wants more. But doesn't know how to get it at this age. By no means do I regret letting her just play until she is 8. But if she wants to move on, it's time. Right now, "school is out." This pregnant lady cannot promise a good tomorrow. So we shall wait until I feel better. I found a curriculum and a guide on how to piece it together. (I was going to buy but it is hard to find Charlotte Mason completely pre packaged.) I just know Sam will love Charlotte Mason. I told her what she would study and she was in awe! We are going to skip put on grammar, dictation, and spelling. We will do History, Science, Geography, Composer, Classical Art Study, and Poetry. That's what she is wanting. And Math will be separate. Most curriculums do not include math. We will keep using Right Start. Looking over the curriculum, it seemed simple, lots of living books and reading poetry and looking at art. A true classical education. Kind of what what we were doing, but on a higher level. BUT, we have 4 day weeks. And a lot going on. Plus, a new baby on the way. I don't want our time taken up by curriculum. It's restricting. I don't want to be doing things for the sake of getting them done so we can check them off. I want us to have lots of time to cuddle with baby and learn about our new family member. I still want time for nature walks. And when my brother comes over, I want them to still build forts. And when her friends come over, I want them to build things and discover things. I want her to still have a childhood. I don't want to have to rush through school and threaten her, "if she doesn't get ger work done in time for the CHEA field trip, she can't go." With that said, S and I talked it over and decided on having school two days a week. Year round. Of course I'm going to try to do as much of it informally as possible. And maybe give her some work at night once she is 100% independent at reading. But even then, because she will be reading classics, it'll be hard. She will start on year one. (Year zero is just reading Aesops tales and such.) They don't go by grade. We may move to Year 2 for some stuff like Geography, because it teaches N, S, E, W, etc. She knows all that. They advocate for delayed academics, so while there are thirteen years, including zero, by year 9 they have read more classics than the average privately educated high school student. And the Science is quite in depth too. I'm nervous. This year is a lot of changes. I am not volunteering for CHEA anymore. I'm not on the board at all. And I'm serving in a small position with AHG. Of course Ill still be at the Center. But a very big part of me died a little inside when I stepped down from the board. I guess it was real then that a lot would be changing very soon. It will be good. Just different. And I'm just praying everything goes well. My labor with Sam scares me to no end. Anyhow, we will have enough to fill our time. Until then, lazy days. I'm going to enjoy an entire night of sleeping. A date with my Husband. Going random places with S. (as soon as I feel 100%.) And I'm going to start preparing for our baby and our school year next year. I'll be a real homeschool mom....feels odd.