All New

We are in our new house, I'd say settled but we still haven't finished unpacking lol - it has been hectic, but sooo good to be in an environment where it's easy to relax, the first month truly felt like a holiday! 

We've also been exploring unschooling more, it is the educational philosophy that I've always leaned toward but I feel like I'm actually starting to "get it" I admit I always thought it was more about leaving the children to their own devices and watching them choose to do lots of educational activities. Well I am realising that this is not the case at all. Children do need a little guidance and encouragement and "strewing" is vitally imporant. 

It actually takes a lot more involvement from parents than a more structured approach may take, you have to watch your children closely, see what sparks their interest and be ready to discover alongside them. It takes careful planning and then an acceptance on your part if they are just not interested in what you have planned and "strewed" 

I think its quite hard to explain and it works out in practice quite differently in each family, there are no 3 step programs to follow as its a way of life, its intertwining life and education, its grabbing every opportunity to learn and thinking outside the box. Taking your children shopping can be a more effective maths lesson than sitting doing pages of a maths work sheet. 

I am going to be focusing a little more on the unschooling aspects of our lives for a while, I think there needs to be more information of this type of lifestyle around, so many people misunderstand and some think its incompatible with the christian faith but its truly not! 

I will leave you with a few of my favourite unschooling quotes

"Our rapidly moving, information-based society badly needs people who know how to find facts rather than memorize them, and who know how to cope with change in creative ways. You don't learn those things in school." ~ Wendy Priesnitz

Life is learning, learning is life. Unschoolers simply do not think there are times for learning and times for not learning. They don't divide life into school time or lesson time versus play time or recreation time. There is no such thing as "extracurricular" to an unschooler - all of life, every minute of every day, counts as learning time, and there is no separate time set aside for "education." ~ Pam Sorooshian

“We can think of ourselves not as teachers but as gardeners. A gardener does not grow flowers; he tries to give them what he thinks they need and they grow by themselves.” ~ John Holt