Our early experience with homeschooling and trying to adopt an unschooling style of learning was a challenge. But over the past few weeks, we’ve seen how well unschooling is working for Ethan. He is even more engaged in learning, experimenting and discovering new things.
What’s also been cool is that we, as his parents, also feel far more comfortable with unschooling. There are still moments of not being sure, but overall, we’re getting the hang of it.
We’re still working on ways to introduce new things to Ethan and to encourage him to explore other forms of learning and expression. In particular, we’re wondering when or how Ethan will write more.
It will likely be a situation where he feels that writing is the best way to communicate his thoughts or an idea, rather than if we ask him. For now, Ethan is busy absorbing and immersing himself in science and math.
Morning
This morning, Ethan picked up Maker Lab, and checked out the various experiments he could try. He also read a few other science books.
There was also a very cool rainbow outside and we could see the entire arc of it. Ethan asked what was at the end of the rainbow and we had fun making up different things that could be there.
I also explained what a leprechaun was while we talked about how a rainbow forms. It was also neat to see the rainbow slowly disappear.
Later, Ethan had swimming lessons and we went to the library afterwards. It was nice to see how Ethan behaved when we ran into my aunt’s 93-year-old stepmother. Ethan was polite and patient as I had a quick conversation.
Afternoon
After some lunch, Ethan watched some videos on Khan Academy about the lifecycle of stars. He followed that up by watching Discovery Education’s ‘How the Universe Works.’
Playing with friends
Before heading to taekwondo, Ethan played outside with one of his friends, an old schoolmate who lives nearby.
Ethan also went to the library and borrowed some new science books.
After dinner
We had a nice meal and after dinner, Ethan watched some more shows on Discovery Earth about the solar system.
Ethan and I did some taekwondo practice. We practiced his pattern and kicks, but I wanted to have a taekwondo style kick pad for Ethan to practice with so the practice is similar to the class.
I decided to take one of our cushions and wrap one end with a belt. and made our own kicking pad from a cushion and a belt. This worked surprisingly well and didn’t cost a thing.
When it was time to get ready for bed, Ethan and I read a book about black holes, then the Norse Myths book. Ethan quite likes the Norse Myth book.
When we were done reading, Ethan suddenly wanted to practice algebra so we printed some linear equations for him to work on.
Some of the problems were confusing, but he finally figured it out and he did surprisingly well.
So that was our unschooling journey for today. Let me know if you have any questions or comments.
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