It is really strange how people have tunnel vision about things that they have done all their life. All I have known about educating kids in our society was what everyone else knew…getting up early, riding buses to school, sitting reluctantly in a class room, listening to the teacher and getting homework to complete. Year after year until they have to get a job or go to college and get on in the real world.

The thing that really bothers me at this point in my life is I thought until recently that going to a public school was the only way to get educated. That’s it…a tunnel vision…straight and narrow view of how kids learn. Public School!! Not until my two oldest grandson started having trouble in school and feeling helpless to help them did I discover that legally we can home school!

Now, I feel I am somewhat a open minded person, an awake person, not the normal Johnny be good like person. Just imagine my surprise when I realized I’m still one of the Sheep walking around in circles because everyone else is. Baaa, Baaa…Wow, I don’t want to be a sheep however I still am. And I hate that! So I began to research the world of homeschooling, and to my surprise you can teach your kids or g-kids (as I call them) anyway you want! I mean anyway!

You can teach them the same hours and months and a traditional school…you can have them work on subjects a few hours a day all year long…you can have them work on one subject a day…you can allow them to pick what they want to learn…you can pick a online school…a workbook with a very large roll from the parent… a part time on line school with a set schedule for kids to do or you can pick an online school with only they subjects you want them to work on. And no truant officer is going to come take them away. I think that was the hardest thing to get in my mind. NO TRUANT OFFICER!!!!!

There are lots of different types of a homeschooling. I am not a professional on this subject, the following is my interpretation of some styles of Homeschooling. The Classic Method is workbook focused…Charlette-Mason believes we must educate the whole person, not just their mind…Unschooling Method focuses on experiencing things and learning through experiences, life skill, and allowing your child to learn skill they are interested in…Traditional Method is going to public school on-line, with the standardize testing…Unit Studies is teaching a number of different topics…Eclectic Method is taking what you want from different methods and making it your own…

You don’t have to teach just one way, you can mix and match any of these approaches, or do what ever you want. You are the teacher…you are in control!

I think I am drawn to…Can you guess? Of course I am drawn to the Eclectic and Unschooling Methods. Remember I think I am a Free Sprit, Hippy Child…with out a care in the world! I however know deep down that I’m a little uptight. Krystal says “A Little” Some may even say, a lot uptight! Which makes me sad

Anyway, I will be using The Eclectic Method and Unschooling! I am able to help the boys learn by providing the best approach for them to learn easily. The school system has a all for one approach. They have certain subjects and moves along at the pace that the POWERS BEYOND tells them too. And if a child is struggling in a topic, well too bad…You Better Keep Up! I am also really drawn to Unschooling. Unschooling allows the boys to discover what they are interested in. It is a very laid back approach to teaching a subject. Because you don’t teach them at all…They teach themselves!! Yes I said it…THEY teach themselves.

The child picks a subject or topic they want to learn, such as Matthew loves Science. So what Matthew has to do in the UNSCHOOLING METHOD is figure out what he needs to learn in order to be a scientist. He should need math…He needs to learn how to read…he needs to understand the Scientific Method…and on and on. So it is up to him to start learning what he needs to become a scientist.

Collin wanted to learn how to play the guitar. I had a guitar already but it needed strings. So we together learned how to string a guitar. He was able to access guitar lessons via YouTube and it was up to him to find the time to practice. He quickly lost interest, never picked up the guitar unless I asked him how it was going. So ok this is not his passion right now. He wants to play Minecraft or video games all day… He is almost 13!

After saying all that…We have not started Homeschooling either boy yet. They are still attending public school, however due to the Coronavirus they are being schooled via virtual schooling by me at home. So I am teaching them but we are not using my curriculum. We are doing Unschooling, Just getting our feet wet, learning the in’s and out’s, playing with the concept of Unschooling and encouraging the boys to think outside the box.

I just happened on a video on YouTube about Unschooling. It was a mother and her son talking about how he learned through their travels around the world. He didn’t have step back into the tradition method of Public school. I was very inspired by this video and the Unschooling Method. The video is linked below