Labels

When I look online for curriculum material, I often like to attach labels, how do you ensure what you find is going to suit your style, how do you avoid the stress of implementing strategies and goals that may not even fit your family's needs?

When I hear the term unschooling I imagine gifted young teens working together as a team, bouncing ideas off of one another and sharing what they learn in their spare time. I love the principles of naturalistic learning, letting what occurs in the day-to-day life to be the foundation for education, the focus of growth and desire for enlightenment. When I leave the kids to do what they want, more often than not I find them shifting from casual play, to a serious study, and cycling through these phases over and over, as they get older, the transition is smoother and more pronounced. We don't look at 'stimming' in our house, we see it as experimentation and inquisitive play. Or maybe because of this take on education, we see less Need for stimming entirely.

When I hear of others struggling through lessons of a pre-set curriculum and schedule, I find myself trying to understand what the problem is. To my mind, if you are comfortable in your knowledge of your children's abilities and believe that a fully structured curriculum is the best option, then surely there must be some grounds to stand on, why not return to the basics of the plan, and work back up again.

For us, I have set tools, activities, and a structure of life skill habits that we maintain. Meals are generally held at the same time every day, snacks are opportunities for communication growth and development, while bedtime routines are cozy and when I feel most like a mom.

I am moving slowly into a more structured homeschooling arrangement with 'D' with the hopes of using a few different methods of employment for math and logic than from language and arts. He is open to timed drills, and is interested in lists. Language and arts are a more sensitive matter, where he needs more freedom and calm to think through his ideas.

With 'A' I am incorporating his needs and abilities into the hands-on activities set up for his brother, and focusing most of our time on maintaining learned skills and knowledge, while focusing on mindfulness and managing his own sensory needs in appropriate ways as possible.

So I may be an unschooler, I'm not sure yet, but when you include therapies into the mix.. labels become meaningless and disempowering.