Unschooling Day 1....

Yesterday was our first day of officially unschooling. After much thought and prayer, I am giving this a trial run until Christmas. This wasn't an easy decision for me and I'm not sure I'm totally on board yet. :)

I was a kid who LOVED school. Loved it! I loved learning all sorts of new things. So I tend to glamorize school in my head. I tend to block out the fact that I hated the social pressure, I didn't understand math, science was incredibly hard and confusing for me, etc. What I did love, was history, and art, and English, and drama. Those classes came easily for me.

Something occurred to me last night as I was turning this whole unschooling thing over and over in my brain. It wasn't so much the classes that I loved, it was the other. The reading, the writing about what I read, going home and finding more and more books on subjects that interested me. Drawing in my room. Creating.

Hm.....

So in reality, my biggest so called "school loves" were the things I did ON MY OWN.

Eye-opener.

Seriously wow.

And I thought about all those things I didn't like in school. I realized that those things never interested me, but that in my adult life, I've used some of them.  I used them after I learned about them on my own! I took Chemistry in High School and only passed because two guys helped me through. When I became a nurse, I had to take Chemistry again. Strange thing, but this time round I completely got it. I needed it for the point I was at in my life, and what was previously useless became currently useful.  I am still learning every day. My passions cycle in and out.

What it boils down to is, I. Love. Learning. I truly do. I love to fill my head up with  knowledge of things I have taught myself.

So.....

Why am I asking my kids to do anything different than what I do every single day?

What if I just let them and let them find topics that are interesting to them?

Am I ok with that????

I don't know. It's hard for me. But I definitely see the wisdom and value in it. It's pretty much a leap of faith.

Beasty Boy will love it. MissesHerMama, maybe will be confuesed a little. Corazon will be completely lost. At first. But I do think they can all take ownership of their learning.

It's ME that needs to revamp my thinking and get out of their way. ;)

(On that note, isn't this an interesting map?? My latest desire is to learn about Native American medicinal healing. When I was a little girl, the Native American culture was something more than fascinating to me. I absorbed anything I could get my hands on. Now that desire has come back full force. Unschooling?)