Thursday 28 February 2013

Our Unschooling Story so far.

Well it all began in May 2011 when I deregistered my son after years of being bullied at school and being suicidal id decided enough was enough. Originally I did the school at home type thing with timetables books etc but soon felt it wasn't right but at the time hadn't learnt a lot about home ed/unschooling etc so tried different more relaxed ways of doing things trying to find what worked and although things got better the more relaxed things were it still wasn't 'right'. I had obviously then heard about autonomous but again it wasn't really explained to me then unschooling and a whole load of other terms so though ok need to learn more so started to join groups and research and soon discovered Dayna Martin and her blog and her family and it seemed so right and so I knew unschooling was the way to go.

I've always tried to parent with attachment parenting and respectful/peaceful parenting even before knowing there were terms for it so the Whole Life Unschooling really made sense. Before researching id always thought unschooling meant no learning but realized it was in fact child led which was what I was looking for. My lad does like some structure and routine so likes to know the night before the next days stuff but its not as in lessons at x,y,n z times and x,y,n z lessons ...he likes to do Maths as he wants to do a GCSE maths class at home ed group in September so I've got a subscription to Conquer Maths for him, sometimes he likes to do English 'work' but other times he just likes reading, same for the other 'topics'....he covers them but not in a sit down and do this book on history type thing. He has learnt about Desserts after watching a golf competition on telly and it snowed in the dessert and so the next day he spent researching desserts, he has learnt about Samurai, you name it...he learns off games, learns off telly all sorts. He also likes to play console games and PC games and also plays and competes at golf. Learning happens at all times in all ways.

I always respect his choices and decisions in life, he has been a Christian from a young age (im atheist and interested in paganism but its not my place to decide his beliefs). Yes there have been times when ive had to work through my feelings or fears but that's what you do when you love and respect your child, for instance he tried Sea Cadets and wanted to join the Navy but im against war and Queen and country etc but I pushed that aside and got fully involved, he got to the point were he had learnt n done enough so left....its his choice. I don't limit television or consoles or games time, we don't have set meal times and he doesn't have to eat what I eat, if he wants his hair long, short, pink, blue is irrelevant...its up to him its his hair. He kind of has a bedtime....he cant sleep at all without melatonin, its in us all but like a lot of kids with autism, tourettes n adhd he doesn't produce it so without it would be up 24/7. If he is playing golf the next day he tends to go to bed earlier, same if its the night before home ed group but this is not me telling him, we have chatted and he wants to go earlier to be awake for the activities.

I realize the way we live is not for everyone but it is for us so many blogs will include inspiring quotes or blog posts etc. but also the usual updates on what we have been up to.

Well if you got this far thanks and I hope you enjoy my blog.

Dayna Martin...

http://thesparklingmartins.blogspot.co.uk/

http://daynamartin.com/

Our Home ed group...Bridgend Home Educators.

http://bridgendhomeeducators.org/

My friend Sonya's site which has an article written by me and a link to my old blog.

http://www.homeschool-activities.com/homeschooling-children-with-autism.html#.UTAPwKLF-So

3 comments:

  1. Love all these 'favourite things!' We started our home schooling journey 3 weeks ago and it is the best thing I ever did for my boy ( aged 5 Asperger's , hypermobility, SPD, twice exceptional) Would like to have a t- shirt made up saying , Keep calm it is only home schooling and YES it is legal and NO I'm not a teacher, Im more qualified... I'm his mum . Going to enjoy looking through all the links too:) Beth x

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  2. We are new to unschooling too, though not to homeschooling. I finally realized they learn what they need to/are passionate about naturally. Loved reading your blog :) Sounds like you are doing an awesome job with your son!

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  3. Thanks both. We love unschooling. That T-shirt idea you wanna patent I bet you could sell loads lol :)

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