Over at Radical Unschoolers Network, Ren has challenged people to describe a normal day for unschoolers. Naturally, the whole idea of unschooling is that your family is doing things that they are interested in, and those interests change as children age. So, rather than one day, I’m going to dig back through my journals of yesteryear and pick out the same time every year. That ought to be interesting. Let me go fetch the journals. Yup, I keep journals. A little nutty no doubt but they give me pause and often transport me right back to the day. That will be a big consolation in my old age.

Oh, here they are.

Let’s start with this disclaimer: these are only a small slice of life every August for a few years. They in no way constitute all of our activities or learning experiences. Why August? Because it is August now and I just wanted to see what the heck we were doing each year around the same time. I missed a few years there in the middle. Let’s just call those years ’second toddler syndrome’ and commit them to my own personal brain journal. But you will see that I am no stranger to personal doubts and delusions and that throughout the maelstrom things with my kids have pretty much remained the same. They want to play and explore and meet people and try new things and one way or another, regardless of how on board I am, that is what they manage to do. Just as I accidentally learn to sew in one entry, they incidentally learn so many things while doing what they do that I couldn’t pretend to keep track of those learnings realistically. I’ve only just gotten a bit better at relaxing about it.

Early on, unschooling is easy. Math and science just happen and I don’t fret…

August 2000 (Anoif was 4, Mail a newborn)

We ended up at the park with friends. We also made green, lumpy goop for Anoif to squish. She put all of her littlest dolls on it to see their footprints. We got things ready for the big lemonade stand she wants to do tomorrow.

Uh, kid is 5. Pressure is on, and I am having issues, but I still know a bunch of hooey when I see it:

August 9th? 10th? 2001 (Anoif 5 and Mail 1) Well, whatever, it’s hot. We’ve exhausted the water options, swam at friend’s pool , and Whelan Pool (thefree pool) with waterslides twice this week. Anoif has sunburn under her eyes and on her shoulders. I slathered her up like a human toboggan but she still burnt a little. We’re staying away from the ball o’ fire called the sun today. Just as well, it is Smokey the Bear’s birthday.I discovered this because  I have reverted to a loosey-goosey  calendar based curriculum for August to give me time to regroup. Anyway, the monthly online calendar is full of suggestions like “Its national smile week. Make smiley face stickers today;)” Or, “Squirt paper cups over with squirt guns!”  Gee, thanks for the tip. Like we all have no imagination at all apparently. Anyway, today I’ll bring up forest fires and Smokey’s mission. Why not? It gives me a little base to start from. She might take the bait or she might swim by.

In which we continue to question the school model and seek out fun alternatives but try to  still make a buck;

early August  2002 (Anoif 6, Mail 2)

Tonight was a big meteor shower. Slightly overcast so we didn’t see much. Ken and I laid in the hammock and tried to see something. Recent motivators in our house:the Owl post Club. Hogwarts professors correspond with the kids. There are House trials (mainly writing assignments) through the local children’s bookstore. Oh, and sea sponges are fun to play with. Monday spent a long day working with advantaged children at the arts camp. They were better traveled than most adults I know. Also very competitive and in to being cool. Anoif gets to tag along and do art and I get paid so I’m not complaining too loudly.

Can you guess which one of these to do’s got ticked off of my list that week?

Late July 2004

Goals for the week;

Wake up at 7 and get coffee and email before kids wake up

no kids TV until afternoon

practice morning ritual and writing

do at least one thing on the kid’s wish list

hug kids and look them in the eyes more

research Latin curricula

open swim/splash pool playdate with kids and friends

exercise

I almost get it right, but I still have unreasonable expectations sometimes. Right before this entry which I am about to highlight below I spent a few lines complaining about how my daughter fought writing a letter to her grandmother in cursive.

Early August 2005 (Anoif 9, Mail 5)

Throughout this rather unschooly week I’ve been noting things the kids are up to.

M- building stuff with cardboard

M/A- Listening to poems I read them and talking about them.

M/A- Feeding and caring for neighbors birds and cats as they are on vacation.

A- Taking over breakfast prep and assigning me clean up instead.

M/A- Reading Harry Potter/computing at the library, swimming, playing make-believe games together, drawing abstract art and portraits of Baba Yaga.

M/A- Listening to Russian folk tales.

A and pal-Multiplication quiz game in the car.

A- bellydancing, climbing trees.

I’m stopping now.

The kids are getting older now. They are in to so much, they want to try everything they hear about and I’ve denied them no class or activity, but the balance is out of whack. Burnout looms as it turns out I was denying myself any time whatsoever and also fretting too much about ‘the basics’.

Second week of August 2006 (A is 10, M is 6)

Time for my annual crisis…too much or too little? It has been increasingly too much around here. And things have just heaped upon that. Frankly, I’m feeling about an inch from the dreaded burn out and ready to quit and send them packing. No one wants to give up an activity or change a dang thing except to add more classes and social opportunities and I’m starting to feel like I have to do amazing feats just to feed clothe and transport them, let alone homeschool. I’ve had another epiphany-unschool! But then returned to the ‘but wait” concerns. I want them to work on reading and math every day.

In which I realize, among other things, no stressssssssss, it is August dude.

Weds. August 1st 2007 (Anoif 11, Mail 7)

At gymnastics. Anoif just got her front. Yesterday we had kid 1 and kid 2 over for sleepovers. I took all four to the grocery store to get dinner and was so distracted by their antics around Spam that I forgot the tortillas and we ended up having taco salad with crumbled tortilla chips for crunch factor. We all went for a walk, watched Stick It. The kids played Hogwarts and the boys went to karate class.

Nowadays a typical day still involves chaos, but I worry less. We’ve found a rhythm which includes everyone’s interests, passions and hobbies.

Tuesday July 22nd 2008 (Anoif 12, Mail

In Berwyn at the skate park. Anoif is on day two of guerilla theater camp so Mail and I are cut loose. Yesterday we went to a fellow homeschooler’s house  and met several friends. The kids all ran around playing and the adults sewed shopping bags. It was a fun process during which I accidentally learned how to use a sewing machine. I’ve been a creative nut, sewing, sketching, knitting, felting soap,baking bread,blogging, podcasting, planning our vacation….Anoif wrote a really interesting children’s book with her partners at the writing workshop. Mail has been inspired to write too. We got some composition books on sale the other day and this morning over breakfast I saw him writing his first journal entry, ” July 22 2008. My name is Mail. I am 8. I love Runescape.”