the deep

Some passions have blossomed here: the deepest depths of the ocean and Imaginext toys. We're watching the BBC Blue Planet episode The Deep a LOT here. Bowie's blown me away, memorizing facts, the narration, identifying animals from thick book we have about oceans, "Here's the fangtooth. It's teeth are so large it can't even close it's mouth." His favorite is the hairy angler. We have some books getting delivered tomorrow: Down Down Down and Manfish. I just love that we can immerse ourselves and go deep.

Safe Hand Positioning

Correct Hand Positioning
Originally uploaded by autumn fawn

Today I posted this photo of Bowie cutting up apples for applesauce on flickr. Someone wrote me asking about unschooling and it was a chance to spend sometime being reflective about it. Here are some of the things I wrote in response to her interest:

"I was a teacher, toddlers to 3rd grade, public school and private Montessori. So I am in process with that (unschooling myself), as you can imagine. But one of the most amazing things is that this unschooling approach actually feels the closest to the things in my education that really excited me: the journals, the child portfolios, the book clubs, all the stuff we studied called “authentic” learning through authentic tasks. I was on fire with passion for all of that. By having so much time to live life together, we are doing all of these authentic tasks driven by authentic interest . I don’t often come to Bowie in the morning with the tasks in mine. Leaving our days open allows us to really dig deep into whatever our interests are (for instance making the grocery list together, discovering that Bowie wants to make applesauce, looking up the recipe to add ingredients to our list, going grocery shopping, cooking it, enjoying it, photographing it, reliving it through the pictures and telling people about the experience, etc.)

This quote really captures what feels so right about it to me:

“ ...if the child is left to himself, he will think more and better, if less showily. Let him go and come freely, let him touch real things and combine his impressions for himself, instead of sitting indoors at a little round table, while a sweet-voiced teacher suggests that he build a stone wall with his wooden blocks, or make a rainbow out of strips of coloured paper, or plant straw trees in bead flower-pots. Such teaching fills the mind with artificial associations that must be got rid of, before the child can develop independent ideas out of actual experience." -- Anne Sullivan

Well there I go on and on…but I imagine that you get the idea that I love it for our family."

And this:

"And I totally relate to your desire to make childhood magical. What I never imagined was how magical it would make all of our lives. It allows me to learn and meet my needs as well. Now don't imagine that we don't have our hard moments, even hard days. We ARE living life here!"

I am in such an early stage of unschooling. There are many areas in which I have yet to give myself over to the flow. But I accept it joyfully in the places that it natural fills and I give attention to areas that are damned up as I begin to trust my need for it there. I am filled with the anticipation for our future and so utterly in the joy of each day in a way that I have never been.

Unschooling

I have been inspired by some of my friends to begin exploring the idea of unschooling and autonomy for our children. It is truly mindblowing. Just what I needed right now. Bowie is on explode lately: he is learning SO much in so many areas, he is really feeling powerful with skills for independence. I've parented gently and lovingly and responsively all along (imperfectly to be sure, but almost always accessing those motivations) and philosphically was aligned with unschooling but hadn't really delved into it. But in just a couple of weeks, I can feel it hugely impacting my relationship with Bowie and confidence in this path we have chosen. Confidence in Bowie. It feels so good to be in this place.

Few things feel more right to me in the world than this...

This is quoted from this site: http://sandradodd.com/beginning

"Parent's job (since it isn't the controller of the child) is something like being the Provider of Joy. When in doubt, go for the option that offers the most joy."