In 2005 I created An Unschooling Life, a blog detailing our unschooling experience after adopting our three children. Over time, An Unschooling Life became a hub for unschooling support and advice. The blog has been featured in print and digital media and was home to the popular Unschooling Carnival. I’m in the process of updating and moving all the posts to this blog where they will be housed under the An Unschooling Life section. This post was originally published on May 20, 2007.
I’ve been a homeschooling mama since 2004. I’ve made some “mistakes” along the way, but I always tried to look at them as a learning experience. Getting advice and ideas from other homeschooling moms has been tremendously helpful and I wanted to pass along my five best homeschooling tips with you!
1. Give yourself some time to deschool
Letting go of preconceived notions about school and learning is a gift you can give yourself and your children. My own deschooling is a work in progress and the more I see unschooling first hand, the more I question what I once thought about education and learning.
2. Expect a period of deschooling from your children
It’s been said that one month per year of school is common. As I said in a previous post about deschooling, “your child has probably their natural desire to learn squashed and will need time to recover from that. With a parent’s help, they can gain back most, if not all of what they lost and begin to see the world as a place where learning is enjoyable, and all around us”.
3. Let your children feel your energy and passion for life
Light a fire for learning in yourself and let it burn bright so they see it! What are your interests? Is there something you’ve always wanted to learn? Do It! Let them see YOU learning and living life to the fullest. Be curious. Be interested in life.
4. Don’t make the mistake of duplicating at home, what you didn’t like about school
Sometimes we just automatically repeat the same patterns, without even thinking about it, just because it’s all we know, it’s what we’re used to or it’s what we’ve always done. Replace school with a full and interesting life. The public school system can not compete with that. They can’t even come close.
5. Don’t make cookies to teach math.
Make cookies because they taste good. 🙂
Good tips. I feel like the idea of homeschooling my child is a bit overwhelming. We have thought about it before, but just not sure if we should or not. Thanks for sharing!
Yes, children must be given time to overcome all the difficulties undergone and again we should not create a replica for traditional schooling at home. Your tips are really awesome!!
Hello! I’m happy to have stumbled over your blog cotreusy of the neighbourhood walk link-up. I also have a 5 year old (and 3 and 1 year olds) and am about to launch into the world of homeschooling in Denmark (unofficially, of course). I lean towards unschooling and Montessori too, so I will be following your learning adventures with great interest!Sincerely, Fiona
This is really a great blog discussed the tips of homeschooling which will be helpful for many of the homeschooled children and their parents. The points discussed here are awesome.
May I just add, always keep your schedule flexible. There is no need to complete one thing in a set amount of time. If you find that your children are enjoying a particular subject, stick with it. There is plenty of time to teach them what they need to learn. Staying flexible will reduce the levels of stress that can be incorporated with homeschooling.
Anne
http://HomeschoolingOption.com/
I love this site! And the 5 tips? Awesome! We have been unschooling since 2001.
Great quote about the cookie. What a beautiful, beautiful blog!
Dawns last blog post..Finished with Anne!
I remember doing a full breakfast as a chem lab once.:p
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This article has been included in the 4 February 2008 edition of Mom’s Blogging Carnival
Thanks for contributing this post to this week’s edition of the Carnival of Family Life, hosted at Confessions of a Novice. The Carnival will be live on Monday, January 28, 2008, so be sure to stop by and check out all of this week’s excellent submissions!
Thank you for reminding us how easily it is to replicate the mistakes of the past without ever intending to.
Hey feel free to post a link to your blog in the HUMM group on Maya’s Mom. 🙂
Yes and I think that’s the most difficult part of it all. My girls took to unschooling like a fish to water…me, I’m the one who had all that crap to work out.
This a great post! And all I’ll say about math lessons and cookies is that as soon as I try to make something wonderfully fun (baking) about something horribly dull (a lesson), my kids stop wanting to help! The little buggers can sniff an ulterior motive a mile away.
And that takes us back up to #1, doesn’t it? Deschooling ourselves.
Hi.. i agree with the comments before..
PS: Greetings from argentina!
Hi Tracy…yes, I totally agree. 🙂
LOL. I was once teasing my daughter about eating her cookies. I said, “If I take one of your cookies how many will you have left?” Then I asked if I took two. Then I asked if I took all of them. She said, “You’ll have a tummy ache!” … Now that I think about it, maybe it was M&Ms. But I loved her answer. And that was back before I figured out you are right… there is no need to teach math at all, the math just happens, cookies or no! It’s a small distinction, but a worthy one.
Hesheys!! M&M’s!! Now I’m craving chocolate AND cookies. 🙂
Your welcome Kelly-it was fun. 🙂
It has been so interesting to hear all the different thoughts on homeschooling. Thanks so much for chiming in for the Homeschool Tips and Advice project!
No save the Hershey bars for fractions and the M&M’s for graphing.
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/midwifemom/
Oh yeah, it goes something like this…if I eat 1/2 the cookies before the kids get home, I’ll have 1/2 to share with them. LOL!!
Joanne–there’s fractions in there, right? Surely you can squeeze some math out of the break and bakes? 🙂
I’m no baker-the closest thing I come to baking cookies is those squares you break apart and throw in the oven. LOL
I can’t get my nine year old son to help me make cookies, but he’ll sure eat them!
Great tips.
LOL! I love cookies, but if a math lesson sneaks in, that’s ok too 🙂
~Leslie
LOL…who are we kidding? We make the cookies for ourselves. LOL
Good tips. Except #5 can’t we teach math and get something good to eat?! 🙂
Here’s to more cookie making and less math obsessing!