Working Hard

I question our choice to unschool. I question it so much, that often I do not even use the term unschool. I would rather use the terms interest led learning, or self-directed learning. I feel as if the term unschool implies that my kids are not working or learning. Unschooling at our house means my girls are FREE to LEARN in any manner of their choosing. Being free to learn does not mean they are not working hard. They are simply working on what interests them. When there is an interest I am amazed at how deeply involved they become in discovering and learning.

My youngest was peeking over my shoulder today as I was watching an animated video on ecosystems and food webs. She suddenly looked at me and said, "Oh, I have seen that before." I asked her when she had seen the video, and she informed me she had been "Googling" science videos the other day and watched the same video I was looking at. I was dumbfounded, and Ella apparently could clearly see how surprised I was. She continued by asking, "Remember the day we were talking about places animals live. I just went and looked for more science stuff." Of course she went off on her own to learn about science, I mean doesn't everyone explore and discover more about topics that interest them?!

Olivia is obsessed with learning about psychology and the mafia. She was so concerned a few weeks ago that she would not read enough each week to get through these books that she asked me to help her create a schedule. Currently she reads more each day than she had scheduled herself to read for an entire week! She loves the topics she is reading about and just wants to continue learning. I know this NEVER happened to me when I was attending school.

Natalie is completely absorbed in her web design program. She informed me that the program said they were to design a web page about raptors, but she said she was going to design one on dolphins. I LOVE that she had complete confidence in making the program interesting for her. The freedom she has to learn in her own way is completely apparent in this single moment.

My children do not work in the same way as school children do. Our day does not resemble a typical school day. I am thankful for this, because my children are working hard at learning about what is most interesting to them. The freedom to choose to learn is an amazing thing!