Kindergarten At Home.

I've been meaning to write about our "Home Kindy" adventures for a while but there is this funny little coincidence that DOING Home Education doesn't leave much time for blogging about Home Education. Also because I like to word things concerning children really carefully because lets face it Education is one of those hotly debated topics and one person mentions home education methods and all the parents who like sending their kids to school feel self conscious. I don't want that. I do not care what method of education your child has provided it works for them and they are happy and progressing well. So to be clear "THIS IS WHAT IS WORKING FOR US RIGHT NOW" 


We are currently using the unschooling methods with the Montessori learning approach. That is we use Delight Based Learning and we talk about and then ask questions in the Montessori Order "this is a butterfly, Show me the butterfly, What is this? *holds up the butterfly* .

For example Edison is interested in trains (one of many interests) we provide toy trains and train story books, we count wheels on the toy trains and those train pictures and talk about colors and he learns to read the words in the books. Three lessons in one: English, Art and Maths. See? in order for him NOT to learn these things I would have to keep them from basically everything life involves.   

Many people are new to Unschooling and so they think it is somehow "unparenting" or somehow uncaring or parents simply ignoring their children. This could not be further from the truth. In fact Unschooling is a very hands on approach and I dare say it isn't for everyone because everyone has different needs.

Monday through to Friday I dedicate my days to the boys learning. When we wake up in the morning we get ready for our day by dressing, having breakfast and then spending some time "just being" it is so important that we have time to "be" it as important as "belonging" and "becoming" *early years learning frame work* 
After we spend some time doing what we like I take the boys for a walk. This is our PE and involves bike or pony riding and when we get home they pick the activity and I go with it and use it to teach them most often water play or ball play- I find that children cannot bounce off the walls if there are none.
The PE ends and the boys are ready for some quieter activities, we sing some songs and our ABC's then we recite some Nursery Rhymes that the children pick. We act them out and we dance and jump and play Simon Says.

Art is by far Edison's main passion right now. I have bought some cheaper bundles of paper and he has access to pens, pencils and paints and chalk and oil crayons and sponges and brushes and he draws and paints to his hearts content. We have many many folders containing his works though the really impressive pieces go in a special folder.

Kicky loves ball play and bike riding so we do a lot of that too. He just rides around on the little balance bike and sometimes chases the dog. He's learning control and balance and how to judge whether or not his bike will fit through spaces and also burning a ton of energy. This is a good thing.

Another subject they both love is Home Economics. I know that some people are thinking "but they're only 2 and 3 years old!" but it's true, they are learning both to cook and sew. I haven't forced this on them they simply showed and interest and I gave them the opportunity to have a go and they loved it so it's become an almost everyday thing. Edison is especially good at it since he's 21 months older than his brother and he enjoys making simple meals like microwave scrambled eggs with soy cheese and pancakes and cupcake decorating. They both help to cut up vegetables and enjoy putting on aprons and serving each other fruit and drinks of water.

They learn the sewing machine by sitting on my lap and sewing different stitches onto scraps of fabric and we even made some outfits for their toys with (a lot of) help from me.

"BUT WON'T THEY BE UNSOCIALIZED!" I hear some exclaim.. well.. Unschooling doesn't mean we stay home and don't see anybody. We are also attending Play group, Healthy families, Rhyme Time at the Library, Childrens Church and Kinder Gym and the boys are having a wonderful time at all of these places and socialize well. Not to mention they interact with people of all different ages and ethnicity every day as they explore their world. They are I dare say MORE socialized than some mainstream children.

As I said before this is what is working for us, later on if it stops working, I have to work at the same time of day as MC or if the kids WANT to go to school then we will use a school and supplement that education with our own input. But for now we are happy and our children are thriving.