Our Month of March

I became an unschooler a year ago this month, after reading Free to Learn by Peter Gray. I jumped right in, putting away the schoolbooks and focusing on my kids' interests. It was a wonderful time. I got to know my kids in a way that was impossbile when I was always barking at them to get their schoolwork done. We went on adventures together, did fun projects together, I asked them about their interests and we learned together. 

But somewhere between then and now my old way of doing things crept back in. I added a teeny bit of handwriting work, telling myself "Well, they need to learn to write, don't they?" And I added three days a week of math, thinking, "Well, they really need to keep up with their math work." 

Before I knew it, they were doing a load of schoolwork three days per week. It took away a big chunk of our day. It caused lots of tears (on their part) and then yelling (on my part). It hurt our relationship. So a few weeks ago I decided to have a spontaneous spring break. We would do no schoolwork at all. 

With no schoolwork to do, I saw what my boys chose to do with their time: They both read books like crazy: Tommy read about magnetism and light waves. Ben read a book about a dog that spent the day at the beach, then its sequel where the same dog spent a day at the circus. To see my crazy active 7 year old read a book without me telling him to just about bowled me over. Tommy built complex domino rallies. They rode their bikes in the street at 9 o'clock in the morning. We went to the Children's Discovery Museum twice in one week, just because we could. We went to the beach. They played with friends in their junk playground.

And so I've realized that I need to constantly remind myself: 

That even though my oldest son is 8 years old and technically in 3rd grade, he's still not ready to do schoolwork. And that's okay.

That my 8 yr old is dyslexic and dysgraphic, which makes schoolwork just about impossible, and that forcing him to do so only frustrates him and makes him feel dumb.

That my 7 year old 1st grader is just a little boy that wants to build Lego cities and show me his creations. 

That my 7 year old loves to read, but only when it's his idea.

That I am not a very nice mom when I try to make these boys stick to a school schedule. 

That we are much happier as a family when we learn together. That means reading books together, watching YouTube videos together, going on adventures together.

We've put the schoolbooks away and I don't plan to take them out anytime soon. The exception is (there's always an exception, right?) is math. Mark would like to work with them on math on the weekends. (They like doing it with him much better anyway!)

 We found this awesome tree at a park in San Jose, while waiting for Baby X during her visit.

 I had some one-on-one time with my girl and she wanted to paint the Very Hungry Caterpillar with me. :)

 Jumping off the chicken coop with friends. Because that's what boys do.

 Natural Bridges

 Exploratorium

 This is what breakfast usually looks like for us. 

 Our seedlings are growing!

 Tommy made a chocolate cake all by himself. 

 A domino rally by Ben.

 Nature Study. This week we studied poppies.

 Junk playground

 We watched ladybugs hatch in our front yard. Like, we literally saw them emerge from their pupa stage. It was so cool! 

Tommy's domino rally.

 Hike at Uvas Canyon. They look sweet but after I took this pic they said, "Mom, did you know that we are pinching each other and trying not to laugh?" Ha!

 Tommy made up a missionary game using Risk. The object was to send missionaries to different countries and build churches there. It was actually a pretty good game!

We went with friends to Natural Bridges State Beach. It is always more fun to go to the beach with friends!

Lucy's first time at the Children's Discovery Museum. She was obsessed with the fire truck. I actually "lost" her several times, and every time I found her here.