We didn’t have curriculums, piles of books, exams etc because traditional schooling did not work in our household.
(But when they were older two of our girls did want to take exams, see below!)
We chose another route and the route we chose was completely different to bringing school in to our kitchen. There were no piles of exercise books that they had to get through by a certain date. I did not pace up and down behind them checking the clock and waiting for them to finish things by a certain time.
So how did they learn if they were not being taught around the table like at school? As young children they learned through playing and through life. See the list below!
Life is long but childhood is so terribly short. Time is moves fast and in a flash your adult child is borrowing the car and is out the door, then they move out, it goes quickly even though when you are in it with small children it sometimes feels like forever.
Childhood will be gone in a flash. click on that link and you will see that very beautifully shown is a series of photographs called ‘A Portrait of Lotte.’ That is a great example of time speeding by.
Here was our kids alternative non curriculum…
They cooked and created chaos in the kitchen
They read
They made things
They danced a lot
They sang out loud
They talked non stop
They ran through the trees
They chased the cats
They cried and got cross
They sorted it out again and cheered up
They washed up
They played computer games
They did adhoc science projects on the kitchen table, when they felt like it
They researched their own projects, or projects they ask people to set for them
They looked things up on youtube and wikipedia
They wrote letters
They played with friends
They sat on a pile of stones and stared at them for ages looking for the shiny ones that glinted in the sunshine
They flicked elastic bands
They did their hair, in various styles, then they did their hair some more
The played on The Khan Academy
They did Mystery Skype’s
They were involved in doing SOLE’s with School in the Cloud
They went to circus classes and two of them are now circus perfomers
They did maths by doing the shopping, or baking, or by trying to remember their times table for fun
They’d get me to paraphrase what ever novel I was reading and they listened to the story
They laughed a lot
And they talked a lot
They lived a full expansive childhood
But we didn’t bring school in to our house. We brought the world in, as best as we could and then when they wanted to they went on to study for exams. They went on to do things that they were really passionate about and I think that is the key here. As an automous learner will only go on to do what they truly love and when they get the bit between their teeth they go for it, as their motivation comes from within. Nobody is making them do it.
So for any of you worrying about the speed of learning, have faith in your children they love to learn and often the learning goes on and it is not even noticeable till you look back and realise ‘Wow!’
i love this post, it carries echoes from my heart 🙂
Thank you.
Your days sound similar to ours.
I\’m going to check out the School in the Cloud. It looks very interesting. We recently started on Khan Academy two weeks ago and my older girls are enjoying it.
Hi Darcel, yes School in the Cloud is great, the Big Questions are lovely. It is mainly aimed at schools but anyone can use it. I also really like Skype in the Classroom, or Mystery Skypes they are fun, are your kids up for doing a Mystery Skype with us? Do you know about Mystery Skypes, they are quite fun!
Lovely. I just love finding people \’like us\’. Of course that means we are not superficially alike at all. But philosophically- spot on. I have all my hair
and yes your son definitely has your eye brows! Just looked at your lovely blog!
Really needed to come across this today. It isn\’t a race. Thank you.
It isn\’t a race, it really isn\’t and life is one long learning journey. Am glad that it was of help to you you today.
By the way, lovely Tumblr site!!
love this! we did the same, and it was wonderful! my sons are now 23 and 18, motivated and driven. we just celebrated my younger son\’s graduation (our style) yesterday. bittersweet that our time together has come to an end (my husband and i are moving to italy in september, the boys are staying in the u.s.), but the freedom to learn will never end (for any of us).
It is very inspiring to hear from parents with older children, well they are adults now. Well done for following this road how wonderful. Enjoy your time in Italy!!