Real...

I have been thinking a lot lately about what creating a learning environment within the context of unschooling looks like to me. Its interesting to me how all my unschooling posts are pretty much about the logistics and semantics of unschooling. About applying it to our lives, instead of how my kids are doing with unschooling. I think its because unschooling is so new to me that I feel like I am still very much wrestling with how this looks for my life. :) I realize its a phase and that some day I'll be on the other side of the spectrum as "just" an unschooler living life, but I am learning to embrace exactly where I'm at.

Whew!

That took a turn I didn't anticipate! Lol!

What has been on my mind is creating a real world in my home for my kids. I am slowly and surely replacing the cheap version of toys with real items. I don't know. I just feel that things would be so much more exciting if they were able to touch and use and play with real items. Real musical instruments, not toy versions. Real colored pencils, acrylic paints, linseed oil, color pastels, not the cheap Crayola versions. ;) Baking for real in our real kitchen. Buying games not for their "educational value", but to match them with my kids' interests. Strategy, fun, humor, word games, etc. Real tools, a hammer, a saw, nails, and some duct tape. Great books. Fun books. Books on CD. DVD's I know my kids will love. Xbox games they'll love. Downloading apps on my Kindle that are challenges for my kid who is crazy good with computer games, and fun apps for my little one who gets so easily frustrated. 

Exploring life WITH them. Giving them tools and being excited to see these kids blossom. Walking with them and guiding them. Valuing them and their opinions. Being available. Answering and or researching the one million questions they ask.

Saying yes, that sounds like fun. Saying sure when they say mom look!

It is a different life to be sure, but it is one we are on the path to fully embracing. And this replacement of "fake" with "real" is just the first step. :)

(RockyGirl..should have been radically unschooled her whole life...and still she benefited greatly from the little bit she DID do at home. Oh, and Cat. Lol!)