Left on Their Own

We have been having blissful days of unschooling. Our daily schedule is roughly like this now:

Fajr -> Quran -> breakfast -> feed Baby Z breakfast -> play outside -> lunch -> feed Baby Z lunch -> chores ->Zuhr -> naptime -> reading/computer games -> Asr -> play outside -> dinner -> feed Baby Z dinner -> maghrib -> Isha -> bedtime

Well, the kids' schedule that is. Playing outside seems to provide them with a lot of hands on science lessons in the animal kingdom. Like always, they come back and chatter excitedly about the animals they found in the creek; frogs, beavers, groundhogs, fish.

Recently, they came home and told me they had built their home out of twigs and branches, and that each of them have their own rooms. I have yet to see this place. It reminds me of Bridge to Terabithia.

When they're home, they're either reading or playing computer games. I have to admit, I got hooked up on Pacman too at times, such that they had to tell me to stop. Nevertheless, after a while, they tired of playing computer games, and would go outside either to explore or play with the neighbor. For a while, they stayed indoors, prompting me to ask them,

"You guys are not playing outside today? How come?"

"There's nothing to do outside. We just ride our bikes and that's it."

I thought to myself,

"It's high time I get my behind off the computer chair and take them somewhere. It's summerish anyway."

Today, we went out in the morning. We were supposed to leave the house at 8:30 a.m. (my chosen time), but we ended up leaving around 9:45, what with all the eating, bathing Baby Z, getting the stuff in the van, nursing him. Alhamdulillah we weren't rushing. We did some grocery shopping, went to the library, and another library, and went back home.

H and N were forbidden from going out after Asr today because I had to remind them (not too patiently at that) to do their chores, when it is well known that chores come naturally after lunch.

"Can I do my orangutan essay on Powerpoint?" H asked me as I was cleaning the kitchen after dinner.

"You want to do an essay?"

"For fun?"

"Yeah."

I paused for a few seconds before exclaiming,

"Yeah! Go ahead! That's very good!"

"Me too!" chimed N, who was silently finishing her dinner.

"On cats?" I asked.

"Yes."

Before dinner, she brought the encyclopaedia of cat breeds to me to show me the different cats. This is her 'current interest'.

She was even reading a non fiction book on the History of cats, earlier today, that I remember thinking,

"Hmm...she seems to be the one most thriving in unschooling. S and H are obedient and submissive in schooling, but in unschooling, they don't seem to have that much 'fire', but N seems to flourish."

I was reading Christian Unschooling today, and one thing struck me regarding math. Consumer math (making change, balancing checkbooks, etc) can be learned naturally in daily life, or with some assistance. The author of the book said that she focuses on consumer math, and for the other types of math, if her children wish to pursue them later on, it will be up to them.

It kind of makes sense. I don't use the calculus I learned in college. I could have used that time to enhance my writing skill (something I'm interested in, only, I didn't realize I was interested in writing because of the schooling mindset plus the societal expectations that ruled all of the schooled children's lives).

So, I guess we will continue this relaxed experimental unschooling, and see how it goes. So far, I think the kids have learned a lot, all on their own, mashaallah. A take home message I got today from my reading about unschooling:

You're mostly a facilitator rather than a teacher. A huge difference indeed!