3 February, 2017

It’s been a while. I’m sorry for those of you who enjoyed and looked forward to my blog, but life happens. Fortunately, when you unschool, you know that learning still takes place whether you facilitate a structured learning time or not. Not that we haven’t had any structured learning these past months, but mostly we have leaned on the knowledge that children inherently want to learn, and will learn, whatever we as parents do or don’t do.

In short, late September began a string of happy family visits. We found we were so busy spending time together that school had to wait. Then I got pregnant. We were so happy. Then I got sick and spent weeks with headaches that left me too tired and sore to do much of anything, let alone school. Then I misscarried. Almost immediately afterwards, my beloved grandfather got very sick which began a string of sudden trips to TN. Chip and I had very little time to spend together and were often in different states; I was struggling emotionally with the loss of the baby, the hormones coursing through my body, being away from Chip, and my grandfather’s deteriorating health; and we were still trying to prepare for the holidays. The children benefited greatly from my family and from educational television because I, literally, just couldn’t. My grandfather passed away on December 13, we had a whirlwind trip for his funeral, a whirlwind week of preparations for Christmas, and then trips both to Blowing Rock and back to Tennessee to celebrate with family. The children and I got home on January 2 and I feel like we have been letting our breath out slowly ever since. Finally, I think we have slowed down and feel mostly normal. Finally, I think we are ready to get back to daily school.

This isn’t to ask for sympathy, only to show you that life happens, and that is okay, and that unschooling (and homeschooling in general, I expect) makes adjusting to life’s surprises so much easier. In the time I have been gone Chase’s reading has improved dramatically, but not nearly so much as his ability to regulate his emotions. Eliza has taught herself how to ride her bike without training wheels, identifies all her letters, and is beginning to recognize words and memorize short books. Aidan has changed his name to Aidan Purpleman Racecar. I am grateful for unschooling and my understanding of the philosophy long before this series of events – I am sure I would have felt much worse if I had forced myself and the children to sit down with workbooks and “learn,” or if I had spent the months feeling guilty about not teaching them.

Chase got home last night for a long visit with his mother in the mountains. He went to both ski and snowboard school and came home with cards from his teachers showing all the skills he has mastered.

This morning he was happy to step back into school mode. He completed an addition worksheet, a phonics worksheet, listened to a chapter of the first Magic Treehouse book (I know we are just going to love these!) and painted a watercolor of what he imaged the scene in the first chapter looked like. Then he read a chapter of a reader in his room and told me what happened. No fighting, no tears, just happy to be back in the routine. All along Eliza flitted around the edges, tracing her letters, copying words, listening to the book and painting with us. Aidan did a little painting and a lot of climbing on everyone who was trying to do real work – but that is how it goes.

While Chase was gone I did a lot of thinking about his struggles with reading. I’ve decided to stop nitpicking. Yes, I am concerned about some of his struggles. Harping on them isn’t going to fix that. Instead, I am aiming to choose books that he will enjoy reading. Instead I am focusing on the enjoyment he gets from reading a story, and his ability to tell me the story after he has read it. I figure everything else will come with time – and if it doesn’t, well, we will cross that bridge when we get there.